In The Blood
by justplainrii
Summary: Almost 30 years after the end of the war, Sasuke finds a boy that looks exactly like his brother. He doesn't handle it well. Especially when other lookalikes begin to surface, and all signs point to an old foe being responsible. A mystery.
1. Duckling Row

**Author's Note:**

The following story contains both original characters and settings, but is largely set within the confines of canon.

It takes place place in a speculative future, 27 years after the end of the Fourth Shinobi World War.

The Rookie 9 and their comrades are now in their 40's. Naruto is the seventh Hokage.

For all intents and purposes, any individuals revived by Kabuto's Impure World Resurrection during the war have since been put to rest, with Kabuto himself and the individual known as Tobi being similarly dealt with.

Uchiha Sasuke is married with children and living in relative peace in Konoha, after having been granted amnesty for his actions in the war.

_Relative_ peace.

This fic is rated T for occasional language, and non-explicit violence and sexual content. Further chapters feature depictions of emotional and domestic abuse. Fair warning will be given when these chapters are posted.

I hope you enjoy this story. It's going to be a very long and very wild ride.

* * *

**In The Blood**

* * *

_It is in my honest opinion that the Uchiha clan has produced some of the finest shinobi and kunoichi that I have ever known. And I know that it will doubtless continue to produce men and women of exceptional caliber, so long as the clan exists._

- Senju Hashirama, in a letter to the 123rd Daimyo of the Land of Fire; May 19th, Akiharu 29 (109 BU)

* * *

_I have no idea what you see in those guys._

- Senju Tobirama, in a memo to his brother; August 8th, Akiharu 29 (109 BU)

* * *

**ACT 1**

**SHADOW**

* * *

_Chapter 1 - Duckling Row_

* * *

"I'm through." This was the first thing Sasuke said, upon entering. "That's it, I've had it. I am not handling these brats any longer."

This was the third time Naruto had heard him say those words since becoming Hokage, and for the third time, Naruto frowned and asked, "What's wrong with them?"

"They're just... terrible. Awful. Incompetent. Shall I continue? I could go on for hours." Sasuke sighed instead, pacing around Naruto's office, not even waiting for a reply. "Honestly. I can't handle them any longer. I'm through. This is a terrible idea. It's always been a terrible idea. Why do I keep doing this?"

_Because your wife keeps talking to Sakura, and she keeps telling me that it'd be good for you_, Naruto thought, but said nothing, instead standing, searching for, and finding the files on this particular batch of students. He flipped through the papers. "These guys were assigned to you only three days ago..." None of Sasuke's students tended to last more than a day, much less three. Odd. Naruto looked up. "Did you do the bell test?"

"Yes."

"And did they pass?"

A pause. "...yes. But only barely." The annoyance in his voice returned in an instant. "I asked for the best, I _always_ ask for the best."

Tired eyes looked over the paper, and records of test scores and grade placements in the single digits were what they saw. First, third, fourth in their classes, never below the top five in any rank. "Sasuke, these _are_ the best. They're top in their class, y'know. I even had _Sakura_ make sure when I chose them."

"Then, please, explain to me why I find myself so disappointed," Sasuke continued. Naruto could hear his foot tapping on the floor. "Honestly, I'm waiting."

He put the files down and looked at his best friend with as severe a look as he could muster. "Sasuke, they passed the test, didn't they?"

"I don't care. I'm not interested." He had his arms crossed, and his red eyes were narrowed. As always.

"Just... explain to me what went wrong this time, okay?" Naruto said, managing a slight smile.

"One of them fainted before I could even introduce myself."

Naruto chuckled, almost nervously, almost knowingly. "Well, uh, maybe she was just a little nervous? First day of class, y'know."

"He."

"Oh." He frowned and thought this over for a moment. "Well, either way. Was he okay?"

"Of course he was fine. Took us five minutes to wake him up, and after that he was quaking like a leaf," said Sasuke. "I told him he should just go home, but no, it was 'I'm f-fine, I s-s-swear.'" He scoffed, starting another loop around the office. "Didn't say a word after that. Unlike the other one."

"Chatterbox, huh." Naruto was looking through the files again, though he wasn't really reading them. Three students, three photographs; two boys and a girl.

"Thinks I'm some sort of idol," was the half-grumbled reply.

Naruto glanced upward to see Sasuke glaring at him a bit more than usual, tapping his foot again. "That meaning...?"

"I was given a basket of tomatoes," Sasuke replied, "as a 'welcome gift.' And then I was offered a backrub. Apparently," he added, after a brief pause, "I look tense."

Naruto wondered, for a moment, if Sasuke still had as many female fans as he'd had when he was younger. If this was any indication… Pff, tomatoes. He struggled to turn his smile into something more like comfort, rather than amusement. "So'd you let her give you one?"

Sasuke didn't even reply, just glaring.

"Well, I dunno... Maybe she was just trying to make a good impression," Naruto continued. "I mean, I guess you're still pretty popular with the ladies. Girls are like that, y'know?"

"The _girl_ was the one who gave me the least trouble."

Naruto paused, took a quick glance at the files again, and the photographs. He guessed that the boy that didn't look like the camera was going to eat him was the one that Sasuke was talking about.

Well, the world had shown him stranger things.

"It still doesn't sound that bad," Naruto said, putting the files down again. "And besides, man, they passed the _bell_ test. That's _huge, _y'know."

"The bell test is nothing more than a diagnostic tool. It means nothing," Sasuke said.

"Well there's a reason, like, everyone uses it, y'know," Naruto replied.

"You _do_ know that only Kakashi-sensei used it, don't you?"

Naruto opened his mouth to say something, paused, closed it, then began to speak. "Well we use it, too." Sasuke rolled his eyes and resumed pacing, as if that _didn't_ answer everything. "Well none of your _other_ students passed it, y'know. Didn't you send _them_ all back to the academy?" Naruto continued.

"I did."

"So just take these guys in, I don't think it would be fair to send them back after getting this far, y'know." Naruto leaned forward on his desk and laced his fingers together, shrugging thoughtfully.

"I never said I was sending _these_ three back to the academy. I'm merely requesting that you give them another teacher and leave me to my own business. I have enough on my plate already."

Naruto smirked. "So they're not _that_ bad, then? Worth another shot?"

Sasuke stopped his pacing, not looking at Naruto. "...I'm too busy to handle them."

"And what, exactly, is keeping you busy?"

"That is between me and my clan." His Sharingan spun in annoyance, or intimidation.

Naruto sighed. Of course. He always did the whole eye-spinny-thingy whenever his family came up. "That's not the issue, Sasuke. Look, obviously, you think they have potential. Why not train them yourself? You can't be _that _busy, y'know."

"Trust me. I am."

And that was where Naruto found himself in a hard spot, a promise and a favor repeating in the back of his mind.

_("Do it for her, Naruto. And their kids. They're overwhelmed and they could seriously use a break.")_

"Well, that's not an issue. You can make time."

Sasuke stood there for several seconds, looking like he could annihilate a small fleet with his discontent.

"I'm saying that I'm not gonna let you just dump these kids, Sasuke," Naruto continued. "Give them a chance before you go off and request another teacher 'n whatever, y'know? You're just being dramatic."

A pause. "Dramatic. Really."

Well, Naruto wasn't going to deny it. "Look, even Kakashi-sensei didn't like us when we first met. But, well, that turned out all right!" And Naruto smiled, laughing, leaning back in his chair with his hands behind his head. "I'm sure these guys are all right, too, you just gotta give 'em a chance. Maybe you should start by taking them on a mission. Learning on the job and all that, y'know?"

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched slightly.

"Just hear me out." Naruto stood, opened a drawer, sorted around for a moment, and produced a scroll, unrolling it on his desk. He looked up to see that, fortunately, Sasuke was still in the room, standing stock-still, arms crossed. At least he wasn't pacing, though his stare was almost as bad.

Naruto read over the scroll. "Here we go. This village up in the Land of Rice got hit pretty bad by a landslide a while back, they're asking for people to help them rebuild. I was gonna send out Yamato but… I've been sending that guy on enough missions these days, y'know. He needs some time at home with his kid."

"Oh, so you're saying I can't have time with _my_ family?"

_("Just anything to keep him out of the house. Please.")_

Naruto sighed and fixed his mouth to the side of his face. He'd made a promise. "Come on, Sasuke. It should be really simple, a perfect first mission for your team."

"They're not my team."

"These documents and your Hokage say otherwise." Naruto smiled a little smile, folding up the scroll and holding it out over his desk. "You leave in two days."

Sasuke glared, took the scroll, and left without another word. Naruto could practically see the scorch marks in his wake.

* * *

Sasuke was greeted by Karai when he came home. She'd been getting better at not assaulting him with hugs like she did when she was younger, and instead bowed, politely, as was expected of her, after sprinting down the hallway. "Welcome home, Father! Didja have a good day?"

"Where's your mother?" Sasuke asked, instead.

"Oh, she's cookin' dinner," Karai said, bouncing on the balls of her feet, hands clasped behind her back. "You get what you needed t'get done all done an' stuff?"

Even though Sasuke didn't respond, sitting to take off his shoes, she continued, more enthusiasm leaking into her words. "So I'm awful excited, Father, 'cos Masao-sensei said that we're gonna go on our very first mission tomorrow! We're gonna be pickin' up walnuts an' stuff. It sounds like a lotta fun!"

Walnuts. The things they made children do these days, when it would be so much more worthwhile for them to spar, learn _practical _skills. Sasuke stood and walked down the hallway, his youngest daughter in his wake, still talking, though he no longer really heard her.

He could smell frying rice from the kitchen, and he opened the sliding door, stepping inside.

Inou, his third son, sat at the kitchen table. Upon Sasuke's entrance he shifted his position, crossing his arms and looking out the window, dark hair falling over his right eye. The rings he wore around his neck scraped against the table's surface.

"Oh hi, honey, you home?" His wife was hacking at some rice and vegetables in a wok with a spoon. She was wearing the lavender apron that day. "I'm making fried rice and beef stir fry, I hope that's okay. Making use of those lovely tomatoes you brought home the other day."

"Mm."

She went back to her cooking. "So how'd it go with Naruto?"

"It went. He's making me go on a mission with the genin in two days." He felt the scroll in his pocket, but didn't feel like taking it out, much less reading it again. It had been long since memorized, anyways. "I have to 'give them a try,' apparently."

There was a subtle rise in her shoulders as she breathed in. It was good news. To her, at least. "Well that'll be exciting, won't it?"

"It's a waste of my time."

"Oh come on, Sasuke. I keep telling you that you should try teaching a little genin team." She flipped the rice around in the wok, and it sizzled and hissed. "It'll be a _good_ experience."

"I think it's much more worthwhile to train my actual _children_, thank you very much." Sasuke looked at Inou, whose eyes snapped from his father to the window again. "And what have _you_ been doing today? Just sitting around?"

"Chouko-chan an' Shikake-chan an' I had a mission today," he replied, adjusting himself in his chair. "I just got home…"

"What _sort_ of mission?"

"Just a mission. C-rank." He glanced at his father and then back out the window in an unconvincing display of dismissal. Sasuke's expression was not one of approval. "It wasn't just an errand, Dad, it was a bodyguard thing."

"Oh? Was there a skirmish?"

"Well, no, but I did get to use this technique I've been working on…"

"What sort of technique?"

A slight shrug. "I… I used it for surveillance, to scan the area an' make sure we weren't gonna be ambushed or anything."

Sasuke sighed. _Surveillance_. Inou was better than that. "When was the last time you practiced throwing kunai? Your long-range attacks could use some work." He crossed his arms, staring the boy down from across the table. "Since you never seem to get any practice in on-mission."

Inou looked up with something resembling guilt, folding his arms tighter into each other. "I get a lotta practice in, Dad. An' Grampa said that I'm really good at the Mind Disruption technique, even better than when he was my-"

"Don't even start with that, that's not a _true_ offensive technique. You need to work on skills that'll actually be _useful _in battle. The Mind Disruption technique is useless unless you have backup. Besides," he added, "no son of mine will ever be reduced to _surveillance_ work."

His wife had begun looking over her shoulder again at them as she cooked, a slightly worried expression on her face. Karai remained in the doorway, saying nothing.

"But, Dad…" Inou said weakly.

"Go outside and practice throwing kunai until dinner's ready."

Inou opened his mouth as if to protest, and then he sighed, knowing better. "Okay..."

He stood quickly, and would have made it out had Sasuke not caught a glimpse of something as he moved towards the door. "What are you hiding?"

His hands shot behind his back. "I'm not hiding anything."

"Oh, really." Sasuke reached over and pulled a thin book from out of his hands before he could leave the kitchen. The cover was a sickening shade of pink, with an illustration of doe-eyed young men and women on it, and he scowled. Inou's shoulders fell. Karai got out of the way. Bracing for impact.

"Comic books? _Comic books_, Inou? I can't believe this. I cannot _believe_ this." He held the thing up and looked Inou in the eye. The boy didn't look back at him. "What have I told you about these?"

"It's not… mine, I'm just… holding onto it for Chouko-chan…"

"Don't lie to me," Sasuke continued. "These things are a waste of time. How many times have I told you this?"

Inou didn't respond. Sasuke flipped through the pages as if trying to prove a point, but snapped the book shut halfway through. "Honestly, Inou. I keep catching you doing this. Are you _trying _to disappoint me?"

His wife made a half-hearted attempt. "Sasuke, it's just a book. There's no need to be so harsh."

"You stay out of this," Sasuke told her.

So she did, and went back to her cooking.

Sasuke went back to Inou. "If you're going to be sitting around and reading all day, can't you at least read something _useful_?"

"I don't sit around and read all _day_, Dad, I _told_ you, I had a mission-"

"That's not answering my question. What have you read lately that was worth anything?"

Inou didn't respond.

"Inou, I'm waiting for an answer."

"…been reading this book about using psychology in interrogations, some Yamanaka clan technique scrolls, an' I found this really cool study on Two-Mind Syndrome…"

"What's that?"

Inou looked up suddenly, confusion and a strange sort of hope in his expression. "Two-Mind Syndrome…?"

Sasuke sighed. Inou, while book-smart, was not always head-smart. "I'm not asking about that. You were mumbling, I couldn't hear you."

"Oh…"

Sasuke didn't feel like arguing any more. He held the book up again. "If I catch you reading these _things _again, there will be consequences."

"I know."

"Now go outside and train until dinner's ready."

For a moment, Inou gave his mother a pained glance. She didn't acknowledge him, and he sighed, defeated. "Okay, Dad."

He left the kitchen, slouching with discontent.

"Mom, can I help with the dinner at all…?" Karai had returned to the doorframe.

"Umm... start chopping the tomatoes, sweetie. Large chunks," her mother replied. "For the stir-fry." There was an uncomfortable silence as Karai went to get the cutting board. His wife looked over her shoulder again, eyebrows tilted upward. "Sasuke, maybe you should get something to drink...?"

"Where's Takeru?"

She sighed. "He's probably at the training grounds, Sasuke."

Sasuke smiled slightly. His second-oldest, Takeru never disappointed. "I'll go check on him, then."

"And before you ask," she added, before her husband could exit the kitchen, "I got a letter from Hajime today, he said he won't be back for a few days yet. And Nadeshiko-"

Sasuke left the kitchen, not letting her finish, tossing Inou's comic book on the kitchen table as he went. He didn't want his mood to be darkened any further. Takeru—his bright one—would help so much with that.

Karai asked her mother a question, once her father was gone, as she chopped tomatoes a few feet away. She sent the words directly from her mind, just in case. _Should I have told Father that it was really my book?_

_It probably would have made things worse, honey. I know it's not really yours. But you're a good girl for thinking to do that._

Karai was very good with a knife, chopping the tomatoes quickly. _I just feel bad for Inou. I should've told him that I heard Father coming home._

_He'll be fine, Karai. Your father's just in a bad mood._

Karai finished with the tomatoes, eventually, but she stared at the cutting board for a long while after she was done, a helpless look in her eyes.

Ino glanced at her daughter, giving her as reassuring a smile as she could manage. None of this was new.

_Just keep your head down. He'll calm down by dinnertime. We'll be fine, and so will Inou._

* * *

Sasuke woke up the next day in something of a bad mood, rubbing his eyes and scowling in the early morning light. One day until the mission, and he had to tell his... _students_ what was going on. As much as they could qualify as such. They were nothing but a trial run, he told himself. He'd just send them back after the mission. So he could at least say he _tried_. Naruto would stop bothering him after that, he was sure of it.

How was he even going to contact them, anyways? He figured he'd start at the academy. See if they were there, or something.

The house was quiet when he left an hour later, Karai gone on her frivolous walnut mission and his other children busy with their own teams and jobs. He didn't bother putting on his green flak jacket, seeing no real use for it. It was just a temporary thing. Not like it was required, anyways. Jounin had no real uniform; hell, Yuuhi Kurenai's child was out there, running around in little more than cargo pants and a few strips of cloth for a shirt, as a matter of fact. The way people went about things those days.

Ino saw him out with leftovers tied into a bento box and a dry kiss on the cheek, as usual.

In the end, he had to resort to phone calls. Unfortunately.

Except in the case of Senritsu Go'on. The fainting boy. "Apparently, his family doesn't have a telephone," the school records secretary said, scratching at the skin of her temple when she went to look up the numbers. "We can contact his mother at her workplace, though; that might get the message through, Uchiha-san."

"Just do whatever," Sasuke replied, with a sigh, and went to go make the other phone calls.

The other boy, Houkan Kyou, was at the academy within five minutes of Sasuke's call, gasping and out of breath but grinning like a fool. His shirt was half-tucked in and his forehead protector was slipping over his eyes, having been hastily tied onto his head. "I came as... soon as you... called, Sasuke-sensei...!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, unable to really say anything else. Kyou leaned against the wall, still panting.

"You know, you really didn't have to run here," Sasuke said, after a minute or two had gone by with the boy still breathing heavily. "I said to meet by noon so I could discuss some things with you and your teammates. That's in an _hour_."

"Oh, but it's... a good thing to be early!" Kyou replied, swallowing halfway through his words. "Promptness is a _good_ thing, don't you know."

"Promptness means that you show up _exactly_ when you are called," Sasuke said. He crossed his arms. "When I say come at noon, come at noon."

"Oh! I get it now, Sensei! I'll try to be more _punctual_ from here on out, then." He grinned, and reached up to adjust his forehead protector, which had fallen over the bridge of his nose again.

Sasuke wondered, for a while, about who the boy reminded him of, kneading his temples as Kyou jabbered on about what Sasuke-sensei could possibly want to talk to them about, if it was a mission, it is a mission isn't it, oh goodness what kind of mission could it be, he couldn't wait, finally, a mission with the great Uchiha Sasuke-sama, on and on and on.

He sent the boy to wait in the hallway for his classmates when he began asking about Naruto and "war stories," after all, Sasuke certainly had many fascinating stories to tell didn't he after all he was a great war hero and surely a significant player in the history of Konoha and he was the head of the Uchiha clan and all, wasn't he?

Kyou was more than happy to leave, on Sasuke's command. It afforded Sasuke a blessed silence, and time to think. And, most importantly, time enough to calm down and not want to hit something any more.

He had a vague idea about who Kyou reminded him of by the time the other two, Namigata Sunao and Senritsu Go'on, showed up, roughly around the same time. Minus the otherworldly eyebrows and caterpillar-green jumpsuit, Kyou was a dead ringer for Sakura's husband, Lee. Personality-wise, anyways; they didn't resemble each other at all, in terms of appearance. Kyou's hair was messy, brown, and coarse, and his eyes were ovals, pale-irised.

Likewise, Lee wasn't nearly as annoying as Kyou. Lee, at least, had some restraint.

"So what did you need to talk to us about, Sensei?" Sunao, the girl, asked. She leaned casually against a desk with her ankles crossed over each other.

"It's a mission, I know-" Kyou began, but Sasuke cut him off with a sharp wave of the arm before he could continue.

"Let me explain. We haven't been together long, and I haven't really... gotten a feel for your skills. Strengths, weaknesses." Despite the fact that the papers they had given him about the team clearly outlined everything, courtesy of years of academy observation and training. But Sasuke didn't know what else to say that sounded decent. "So we're going on a mission tomorrow."

"I _knew_ it was a miss-"

"Please be _quiet_," Sasuke snapped, holding up his hand again before Kyou could go off on another ramble about oh, of _course_, Sasuke-sensei, he'll be quiet from here on out, anything for you, blah blah shut _up._ "Yes, it is a mission. We'll be heading up to the Land of Rice tomorrow for a volunteer job, helping rebuild some houses."

The boy named Go'on, with his black, fear-filled eyes, shivered visibly. His hands were already clasped at his collar bone, almost as if in prayer. Sasuke noticed, and spoke, cutting over Kyou's enthusiastic babble.

"Oh, what _is _it, it's not like we're going to be engaging in combat," he said, putting a hand on his hip. Go'on shook his head. Even his mouth was shaking. "Then what's the matter?"

"The La-Land of Rice... That's where Oro… Orochimaru used to live, right...?"

Orochimaru. Sasuke paused. "...that's no longer an issue, it's been years since any Sound ninja have lived there," he said. "There's nothing to worry about, it's almost entirely a civilian nation now."

"Almost...?" Go'on gulped.

"I don't mean it literally." The boy still looked like he was about to faint, like he had done on the first day, all the color drained out of his brown ash-colored face. "Look, you seriously don't need to worry about anything, okay?" Sasuke said, harsh eyes paired with half-comforting words. "Besides, if anything happens out there then it's my duty as your sensei to protect you." For the time being, anyways.

Go'on continued to shiver, before Sunao stood away from the desk to rest a hand on his arm. "Just trust Sensei, okay?" Her smile was far more reassuring than Sasuke's red, certain eyes.

"Yeah! Sasuke-sensei is the best, one of the greatest ninja in Konoha, don't you know! He'd totally wipe the floor with any sort of ninja that would _dare_ challenge him!" Kyou added, making fists out of his hands. "_Especially_ Sound nin. Don't you know? We've got nothing to worry about."

Go'on still shivered, but at least his twitching mouth was pulled into something like a smile now. Sunao took her hand off his arm.

Sasuke continued. "So, anyways. We leave tomorrow at nine AM. And _don't arrive any earlier_, you got me?" he said, staring pointedly at Kyou, who nodded eagerly. "We're to meet at the village gates. We'll be going on foot."

"What, we're not taking a transport up there?" Sunao said.

"No, we'll be traveling by foot."

(In the years following the war, a system of rail-based transports had been subsequently planned, commissioned, invented, and built, connecting first the capital cities of the Five Great Nations, and from there the capitals of the smaller countries, and so on, and so forth. They'd become something of a necessity in recent times, what with the civilian population rising, and the ninja population shrinking.)

(Sasuke, however, still insisted on traveling the old-fashioned way.)

"Well, that's fair, I suppose," she said.

"Yeah, great stamina training!" Kyou added.

Sasuke sighed, rubbing his temples. "So I trust you already know what to pack? We won't be there longer than maybe two weeks; the journey up shouldn't be more than a day or so."

"Of course, Sasuke-sensei! Basic camping and survival skills were covered in our academy classes," Kyou said, smiling widely. His forehead protector was beginning to slip again from all his nodding. "I'll be sure to pack exactly the right amount."

"I'm sure you will," Sasuke grumbled. "The rest will be covered when we get there. It'll be good stamina training, lifting lumber and the like. So, to get ready, we'll be doing some preparations, preliminary training. It should take up most of the afternoon. I'll give you the evening to pack and rest."

"Yes! Actual training! So are we gonna start with a more taijutsu-friendly approach, or ninjutsu?" Kyou clapped his hands together, but stopped when Sasuke glared at him, though he couldn't extinguish that crazed, over-enthusiastic smile of his. "Just lead the way, Sensei!"

Sunao shrugged half-heartedly as Sasuke left the classroom with a heavy sigh, Kyou tagging along behind him like a baby duck, chattering on about how many laps they were going to run, how many pushups, sets and things like that, right, Sensei?

Go'on remained inside the classroom, hands held tightly together. Sunao paused for a moment, head tilted, dark brown hair falling over her shoulder.

"Hey, you gonna be okay? It's only a _little_ harsher than academy training," she said. He was trembling, badly. "You're not gonna pass out, are you?"

Go'on shook his head vigorously. "No, no, I'll be fine. It's just... I've never really been outside of Konoha and I'm kinda... Well, the things I've heard about..."

The poor thing looked like he was going to cry, and, having very little idea about what else to do, Sunao reached out and put her hand on his shoulder. "Come on, let's go catch up," she said, with as gentle a tone as she could manage. "You can just ask Sensei if you need to take a break, okay? And if you want, I can ask him for you, okay?" It was a voice she used with her younger siblings and cousins, a well-practiced one. Just anything to calm him down.

"No, no, it's fine..." Go'on said, managing another crooked smile. He was still shivering slightly. "I can handle... it." He pulled away from her and continued onward and out of the classroom, hearing Sasuke's annoyed voice down the hallway calling for them. But he took his time, and he kept his eyes to the floor.

Really, the further back he was from Sasuke-sensei, the less he had to see those red eyes that he had heard all the stories about, the better.

Those eyes terrified him.

* * *

The village of Tamina was in shambles, to put it kindly. But Sasuke had never been happier to rest anywhere in his life.

Nearly two days of travel with Kyou and he had only barely gotten the boy to shut up about anything. The best he could do was ignore, ignore, ignore and hope that for every conversation Kyou attempted with him, he'd deflect to the other two after a while, which happened with a comforting accuracy.

This wouldn't have been nearly as bad if it weren't for Go'on's tendency to lag behind and need to rest far more frequently than his teammates, no matter how many times Sasuke told him to man up and hurry up. They would have gotten to the village by early afternoon the day after setting out, but because of him, night was falling when they finally arrived, the sun half-set behind the collapsed hill rising above Tamina. Remnants of houses stuck out of it like broken bones. By then, _everyone_ was tired, and hungry.

And Sasuke was not in a good mood. Obviously.

He kept himself sane by saying that once they got to the village he'd be able to get a good night's sleep alone, and then the mission would keep the boy out of his hair.

And afterwards? He was someone else's problem.

This was mostly an issue with Kyou. Well, and Go'on had made them late, so there was some anger directed towards him as well. And Sunao...

Well, one out of three wasn't enough, Sasuke figured. Much easier to swap out three students than just two.

In the distance, they heard a bell ringing out, and over the hill the glow of lanterns began to gather. The villagers greeted them with faces of dirty worry, and gratitude, illuminated yellow by the half-light.

And that was when Sasuke first saw it.

There was a shadow of something familiar in the crowd. Sasuke narrowed his eyes as they got closer, trying to figure out just what, exactly, it was. It had disappeared by the time they got within speaking distance of the crowd, but his mind was still elsewhere.

What was…?

"Thank you _so_ much for coming to help us, Konoha-nin," an older man said, from the front of the crowd—the elder, Sasuke quickly remembered, from the informational scroll. He snapped back to the situation at hand. "I trust the journey over was pleasant?"

"We had a lovely time, the scenery was so nice and I've never been to the Land of Rice before but-"

"My team is very tired and we are in need of a place to set up camp," Sasuke said, nudging Kyou and bringing at least a temporary halt to his rambling. "Since I doubt there's anywhere else for us to stay."

The village elder shrunk back, tapping his calloused fingers together. "Normally, yes, I'd have you lodged in my home, but..."

"We don't want to be a bother," Sasuke said, in a tone that said, "Don't waste our time."

"Of course, of course... Well you could probably settle down near the edge of the forest, there hasn't been much damage there. Of course you'll have somewhere nicer to stay once the rebuilding starts and-"

"Just show us where it is," Sasuke said, tacking on a half-felt "Thank you," to the end, eyes locked on the elder. He'd been avoiding eye contact until then, not exactly fearing intimidation, but wanting to avoid the use of it as much as possible.

And his eyes had been searching the crowd, for that thing he had seen.

The elder simply nodded hurriedly and asked a handful of people near the front with him to escort Sasuke's team.

Kyou thanked them the entire way, after Sunao managed a mild thank-you of her own. Go'on stayed silent, shivering in the evening heat, eyes to the muddy ground.

Sasuke looked over his shoulder at the crowd, which had begun to disperse behind them.

A flicker, there was _something_ in there, shoved out of sight in an instant, lost into the mass of people shuffling away. His mind stayed with the crowd long after they had moved out of sight, images he was trying to process clicking through his mind like shaky camera footage.

What was that…?

"We'll bring you some dinner soon, you must have had a long day," a woman said, and suddenly there he was at the forest's edge. The genin had started to unpack their things. How long had he been standing there...? "We don't have much to offer, but we hope it's appreciated."

"More than appreciated! I'm so hungry I could eat a-"

"That's fine. Thank you," Sasuke said. He began to take off his backpack, and when they did not leave, his eyes met theirs.

Hint taken, the villagers glanced at each other, nodded, and went on their way down the road back to the ruins.

Sasuke's so-called team continued making their arrangements, setting up tents, and the sun set.

Sasuke still had no idea what it was, exactly, he had seen there, back in the village. Though by the time a woman and her two children came by with a pot of rice and a lantern each, respectively, he had decided that it was nothing to worry about.

Just a shadow, nothing more.

The meal really wasn't much, but it was good. And there was something to be said about rice from the country—really from The Country—that just made any other rice pale in comparison. There was a richness, a freshness to the flavor that you couldn't get really anywhere else.

Sasuke knew the taste well, bitter memories included.

People said that smells had the strongest ties to memory.

He never thought he'd be thinking it, but he was almost glad that Kyou was talking at him almost non-stop during the meal, as it gave him something else to be annoyed at.

In all honesty, he hadn't really made the mental connection about where he was and what he had once done there, over two, almost three decades before. He'd folded those memories away, tucked them somewhere, and that had been that, not wanting, not _needing_ to deal with it any more.

Land was just land, what was in the past was in the past. There had been treaties, and amnesty.

Summoned memories were harder to get rid of. They threatened to unfold themselves. He could already hear that hollow laughter at the back of his head, the touch of those cold, white hands.

He nudged Kyou aside again and filled his bowl with more rice from the pot over the fire ("Oh, sorry, Sasuke-sensei, was I in the way? I hope I'm leaving enough rice for you, I think it's only fair that you get more, you're our teacher after all, you know?"), waiting for the distractions of the next day.

He woke from a dream about red eyes and a voice he hadn't heard in years, but that was nothing unusual.

(Sasuke only ever dreamed of things he had seen before, heard before.)

The things required of them in Tamina were perfect for beginners. Simple, hard work. Hauling felled trees, raising walls, retrieving things lost in the earth.

Sasuke had to admit it: the genin had their flaws, but they worked hard, and without question. The villagers seemed to like Kyou enough, in his enthusiasm, doing all and anything he was asked and with terrific speed. Sunao was more stoic, but at least she did not complain nor shy away from the more difficult tasks.

Go'on made himself hard to find, though Sasuke once discovered him crouched at the base of a tree, breathing heavily, covered in sweat, his forehead pressed against the trunk.

"Just taking a… break, Sensei…" he had gasped. "I'll be back in a minute, I promise… I just need to…"

Luckily, he didn't faint.

Sasuke was needed for most of the difficult matters. Putting the mountain back where it belonged. Child's play, that.

He tried not to notice when people pointed and stared at his red eyes, but his eyes kept him from missing anything. And, true, people were still kind enough, bringing them refreshments, just like the other workers. Though some acted shyly, hesitantly, or just outright avoided him.

Well, it was to be expected. Some people just wouldn't let bygones be bygones, as Sasuke did.

They returned to their camp when the sun set, to bathe in the lake about a half-mile away and then eat some dinner.

But when they were on their way back…

There, in a face caught for just a half-second, wrapped in a blanket by a fire, before turning over in sleep.

What was that there…?

They ate rice around their plain fire, under the stars. "Amazing how many you can see out in the country, isn't it?" Kyou said, after pointing out several constellations. "The city just swallows up the rest of the sky normally. I read somewhere that it's 'cos of light pollution. Weird term, right? I think it's so nice to see so much, don't you agree, Sasuke-sensei?"

Sasuke said nothing, but at least Sunao told him that she thought they were nice.

He could have sworn…

It was nothing.

He did not dream, that night.

The third day was cloudy, and without shadows.

The third night, they were relocated to the elder's house, which had been finished in the morning, after the hill had been moved and the foundations for the other houses laid. His wife made them tea, and it was hot and sweet.

Go'on managed to not only spill his tea but also drop and shatter the cup it had come in, afterwards going to bed early, his dark hair in his eyes. Nobody said anything about it in the morning. Sasuke's reasoning was that, if he _had_ said something, the boy would probably have a heart attack or snap or something, and he didn't want to have _that_ on his hands. He was twitchy enough as it was.

He didn't feel terribly sorry for the kid, but…

It was the fourth day, and the village was starting to look like itself again. People were sleeping under roofs, instead of around fires.

There was talk of maybe a celebration, once all was said and done. And once-mistrustful glances, Sasuke found, had been replaced with nods while passing in the road and subtle words of thanks.

He was almost enjoying himself, of all things.

Kyou's energy was almost tolerable when channeled into productive uses, and Sunao and Go'on more than pulled their weight. They would probably be done by the end of the week, a good four or five days before schedule. Sasuke was careful not to tell them this, lest a stray compliment erupt into another episode of hero-worship from Kyou. They continued to do their work.

Of course, there were things Sasuke would honestly rather do.

He doubted that Inou had been keeping up on his exercises; it seemed like the boy needed _constant_ reminders, else he'd be reading all day or otherwise wasting his time.

Like Nadeshiko.

Though Sasuke had long since given up on her.

And at least she was a chuunin.

(Well. At least, she _used_ to be.)

The next round of exams was coming up in a few months, and Inou had already failed twice.

Not again.

They enjoyed real baths, that night, after going home early. And the elder's wife chattered on excitedly about maybe treating Sasuke to some warmed rice wine later in the evening, she was so glad it hadn't been damaged in the landslide. "Managed to get it out of the house before it hit. A lucky thing, that!"

Yes, he was almost enjoying himself, wanting to go home and listening to Kyou jabber away to Sunao about something or another.

But it was on that fourth night that the flickering thing finally moved out of the shadows.

And Sasuke saw his brother's face again for the first time in years.


	2. Preying Bird

_Chapter 2 - Preying Bird_

* * *

The boy glanced to the side and shifted his weight from one leg to another as his mother ladled rice porridge into Sunao's bowl.

Just like Itachi had always done, when he was trying to avoid saying something.

Sasuke couldn't take his eyes off of him. And his arrival had been so quiet, so understated.

Even though he had seen, beforehand, in the village, in the shadows…

He was just another village boy, accompanying another village woman with a meal for the Konoha-nin.

But those eyes, that face, _his_ eyes_._

Sasuke wondered if, perhaps, his own eyes were playing tricks on him.

A thousand images of his brother flashed through his mind, superimposing themselves on the boy's face. With the years melted away, the expression shifted from anger to anxiousness, the match was undeniable.

It was impossible. But Sasuke's eyes _never_ lied.

But Itachi had been dead for 27 years. And this boy, he couldn't have been much older than ten, eleven…

"Something the matter?" The boy's mother, a woman with brown hair in a rope-like braid over her shoulder, was staring at Sasuke worriedly. And the boy's eyes met his for just the briefest of moments, before shifting to the floor in something like awkwardness or fear.

Sasuke closed his eyes, folding up the memories.

"Nothing. Thank you," he said. He cleared his throat, and dipped his spoon into his own bowl of porridge. There was a moment of quiet as the woman finished serving them, and put the lid back on the cast-iron pot. Kyou was already eating, too polite (or preoccupied) to pollute the air with his mouth full.

He heard the fire crackling in the elder's hearth, built just a few days before. He heard Go'on's spoon rattling against his bowl as he ate.

He heard the boy saying nothing. And he wondered if, maybe, his voice matched his eyes. If maybe he was only seeing things.

(But his eyes didn't lie. Why would he think his ears were any better?)

And then Sasuke found himself hurling words into the air. "If… you don't pardon my asking. May I have your names?"

"Excuse me?" The village woman's round eyes widened, her words halfway through an astonished chuckle.

"Your names. Please. So I might tell the elder how much I enjoyed your… rice." Sasuke could hardly believe what he was saying. The rice wasn't even that special. But, anything to…

Why did he feel so _desperate? _The woman replied before he could answer his own question.

"Well… gosh, I don't think there's much special about _our_ rice. I mean, it's all from the same fields as everyone else." She laughed, blushing slightly as she pushed her braid behind her shoulders.

The boy just shifted his weight again, from one foot to the next. Eyes to the floor.

Kyou spoke next, between swallows. "Well maybe you're just a really good cook, ma'am! I really like it, myself!"

The woman blushed even harder, and she laughed. "Well, thank you very much, then! It's nothing but rice porridge, mind, but…"

"Then, so I might recommend this rice porridge to the elder," Sasuke continued, Kyou eagerly going back to his meal, "your names?"

"Oh, well, I'm Satoko. Honbo Satoko. And this is my son, Yakata." She nodded slightly, efficiently, pot still in hand.

"Hello," the boy, Yakata, said, with Itachi's voice.

The voice was lighter, younger, and yet it seemed like it had been only yesterday since Sasuke had last heard it.

"Thank you, Satoko. I shall give my compliments to the elder, when I next see him." He nodded slightly, barely smiling, just enough to dismiss her.

She left, the boy Yakata with her.

Sasuke, of course, didn't give her name to the elder when he came by to check on them and to bid them a good night, later that evening. Nor did he say anything to his wife, when she poured him a small cup of warm wine and thanked him, again, for his and his team's services.

But that face, that voice, that name invaded Sasuke's own thoughts for hours.

Surely it was just a coincidence.

An utter coincidence that he had just met a boy with the same face, the same eyes, the same _everything_ as Itachi.

And Sasuke's eyes never lied.

What did it _mean?_ He turned over in bed, scowling.

"_Hello._" That was all Yakata—that was his name, Yakata—had said. Enough to convince him.

…convince him of _what, _exactly? That, somehow, this boy _was _Itachi?

He turned over in bed again, onto his back, and he stared at the new ceiling.

It was impossible, for a number of reasons.

For one, Itachi was dead. That was undeniable, there was no arguing that.

…and even if he were still alive, Yakata was so _young_. No older than his own genin. Itachi would have been… forty-seven, forty-eight years old, if he were still alive.

…too young to be Itachi's child, if he had been born before then, horrifying and strange as that thought was.

Unless he _was_ still alive.

…which he wasn't.

…and reincarnation was just stupid.

Sasuke turned onto his other side and scowled in the darkness, eyes spinning.

There _had_ to have been an explanation for this. Everything could be explained.

…though what could possibly explain _that?_

The sun rose, and Sasuke was still not satisfied, the same handful of questions needlessly repeating in his mind. He didn't remember falling asleep.

His team rose later in the morning and stretched and ate the elder's wife's breakfast, and went down into the village to do what was asked of them.

Except for Sasuke.

He was following Yakata.

He'd been following the boy all morning.

Yakata was just there, in the town, when the genin were helping assemble more houses, making sure everything was accounted for. His team could take care of themselves, they were competent enough.

Sasuke watched him get tugged around by some boys—friends? Little scuffle-kneed children with messy hair like him. They played with slingshots, pestering some village girls, laughing. The girls shot glances at them, and the boys shot pebbles back.

Yakata, however, did not shoot girls, though the girls shot him looks well enough. He didn't even have a slingshot on his person, mainly hanging back, hesitantly, his eyes always elsewhere. But when a slingshot was forced into his hands, an ultimatum barked at him, he shot the trees, instead. And even then, it was reluctantly, as if he didn't wish to harm even unfeeling branches.

He had the best shot, Yakata. They used little stones and they aimed at the high branches, and even when they dared each other to shoot higher, at smaller targets, he always seemed to hit them, without fail.

But his eyes were downcast, he'd always resist when they pressured him to participate further, shoving him around.

"No, guys, come on, stop… stop it…" he'd say, with Itachi's voice. But they'd keep making him show off—"C'mon, witch-boy!"—until they got bored, or ran out of trees, Sasuke couldn't tell.

They got onigiri from their mothers—that had been Itachi's favorite food, hadn't it?—and ate them and got rice all over their faces.

All but him, that boy, Yakata, who ate politely, cleanly, and licked the rice off his fingers when all was said and done. He sat apart from them and made no attempts at conversation.

Sasuke did not ever follow him home.

The observation continued for two more days.

Two more days of Kyou's blathering at night, two more days of Go'on's shivering, two more days of Sunao's sighs and reassuring words.

Two more nights of dreams where Itachi seemed to draw nearer and nearer to him, his voice louder and louder.

The village seemed to grow and come more and more alive, though very little of it was due to any of Sasuke's actions. There was the occasional chore here, the occasional favor there, but the houses rose and rose and rose and he did not remember touching a one.

And with every passing day, with every second more that he saw of the boy, the more he believed, the more he _knew_ who he was.

And then, one day, Yakata walked into the forest in the afternoon, removing himself from the tangle of children that seemed so much dirtier than he was.

And Sasuke followed. He took to the trees, keeping to the shadows, almost afraid that the slightest sound would make him disappear.

Catching glimpses of those eyes. His eyes.

_Itachi's_ eyes.

And then, there were words.

"I know you're there."

The boy had spoken.

Sasuke held his breath. Eyes fixed.

The boy Yakata looked up and around, searching. "You're that ninja, aren't you? You're that, um… you're that man. With the, with the red eyes."

That man with the red eyes.

How was it possible that a voice could sound so different, and yet entirely familiar?

"I… I've seen you around the village. You know, um. Helping rebuild, and…" His face was tilted away from Sasuke's; he was talking to an empty tree. "You—you and your students, I know you have three, right? You've… you've all done a very good job." He stared at his sandals, and shifted his weight, once, twice. "So, thank you! From me. And, uh, my… my family, I guess…"

Sasuke said nothing, did nothing but marvel, breathe, observe.

"My name's… my name's Yakata, by the way! Um."

Sasuke's chest rose and fell.

"But, I… I think I, I told you that already, or, uh, at least, I think my… my mama did…"

She had. Sasuke remembered.

"But, anyways, I don't, um. I don't think I know _your_ name…"

_I'm Sasuke. Uchiha Sasuke. You know me,_ he wanted to say. _You're _supposed_ to know me._

The boy looked up again, looked around, eyes filled with worry. "Look, I know you're… I know you're listening! I know you're there. I _saw _you. I've, I've _seen_ you. In, in the village."

And Sasuke had been trying so hard to stay out of sight. Was it really that-

"Why are you following me?"

Sasuke's breath caught in his throat. The only sound was the rustle of the leaves, the wind.

_Say nothing, do nothing, or he'll leave, and it will be all over._

"I, I mean, I knew you were always, um. Always just, just a few steps away…" A shift in weight from one foot to the next. "I didn't… I didn't want to say anything, because, um…" He looked at the sky, clasping his hands behind his back, and he groaned very, very softly. "I, I, I just don't know! Did I… d-did I do something wrong? I mean, Papa told me to st-stay away from you, or…" he continued, then trailed off, looking at his feet again. "I, I'm sorry, I was trying to stay out of the way, but, um. If, if there was something I did..."

_That's not it_, Sasuke wanted to say. _That's not it at all. Don't apologize. Your father's wrong, you don't need to stay away._

"Or, maybe…" The boy walked in a half a circle, and then back, almost talking to himself now. "Well, if it's… if it's not my fault, then… Well, there _must_ be a reason why you keep, um. F-following me…"

_It's because of who you are._

"But, though, I didn't know if I was just, um. _Imagining_ things or not… So that's why I… why I went into the woods, you see? To see if you'd really f-follow me here. And you did. So, um…" Fingers ran through his black hair. "Ugh, what do I do? I don't, I don't even know if you're listening…"

_But I _am_ listening._

"Maybe I thought you'd… you'd talk to me, or something? And tell me what was going on? Um. Who are you? I don't… I don't even know your name."

Say nothing.

And the boy said nothing.

And then, this.

"Wait… maybe you're my…?"

And he stopped talking, stopped pacing, ten year old eyes blinking in frustration as the question ended itself before it could be fully asked.

And in Sasuke's mind a million possibilities began to blossom.

Wait what? Maybe what? Maybe he was his what? What did he mean?

What did any of it mean?

But Sasuke said nothing. Waiting. Listening. Barely breathing.

"I, I, I just want to know why you're following me. C-can you, um, can you come down from there and just… just talk to me?"

And it was in that instant that the boy looked him right into the eyes.

With his brother's eyes.

"Please?"

Itachi's eyes.

And then Kyou was yelling for him and the moment was just.

Gone.

"Sasuke-sensei! Sasuke-sensei! Come quick, come _quick!_" Sasuke could hear him gasping from so far off. He must have been running for a while. Like _always._ Hadn't Sasuke told him that he didn't need to _run_ everywhere…?

The boy, Yakata, his brother—he knew this, somehow, he just _knew_ this—turned his head in that graceful way, searching for the sound.

Damn it, damn it, _damn it_.

Sasuke leaped away, leaving nothing behind but his anger in the trees.

Gone.

"Sasuke-sensei, I _need_ you, this is _serious-_"

Kyou bumped into Sasuke's chest, and after regaining his balance, looked at his teacher expectantly, shoulders rising and falling with heavy breaths.

"I'm here. What do you _want?_" _And how dare you, _Sasuke wanted to add. But he said nothing.

"It's Go'on-kun! He… he's, I don't _know, _I just need your_ help_ and…!" Kyou gasped and reached for his forehead protector, which had fallen over his eyes. "There's something _wrong_ with him!"

Great. If it was a problem, and it wasn't Kyou, it was Go'on. Sasuke sighed. How _dare_ they. "Where is he."

Kyou took a few more deep breaths, before tying off his forehead protector. "Just… follow me, okay, Sensei? I'll take you there." He held out a hand, as if he could lead Sasuke that way.

"Just hurry."

The sooner they got this resolved, the better.

(Why did that have to happen just then? Why?)

And they ran.

He hoped his brother would stay put.

He doubted it.

A small crowd had gathered at the edge of the forest, nearer to the village. Sunao was making an admirable effort at calming people and keeping them away from… whatever it was that was happening.

The point of interest, as it turned out, was a tree. The tree was tall, an old pine, forty, maybe fifty feet tall.

And at the very top, there was Go'on, shivering, clinging for dear life, head tucked into his chest.

"Oh. I would _love_ to hear the story behind this," Sasuke said, crossing his arms. "Sunao, what happened here?"

"I don't _know_, he was getting really nervous about something and he looked like he was gonna throw up and—ow, please!—the next thing I knew, he was up _there_ and Kyou-kun went to get you." A villager shoved her aside, trying to get a look at the spectacle. "Sir, please, I don't think that's helping…"

Sasuke sighed, kneading the skin between his eyes. _This_ was what was so important?

More important than _him?_

"Let me take care of this. Both of you, pay attention."

Kyou's eyes snapped open in an instant, from where he was gasping nearby, hands on his knees. Sunao craned her neck, and even the villagers seemed to have quieted down a little, now that Sasuke was involved. They seemed to find him strangely fascinating, compelling, and would gather at the smallest thing he did, be it transporting several tons of earth up the mountain to making fire without any sort of match. Civilians. It was to be expected.

Chakra concentrated in his feet, Sasuke dashed up the tree. Might as well make this a learning opportunity, he figured. Lemons out of lemonade.

And hadn't Kakashi-sensei taught them how to do this during that mission out it the Land of Waves…?

Ah. Memories.

He ran. And when Sasuke was where Go'on was, he scowled. "What are you doing," he said.

Go'on lifted his head for a brief moment, and his eyes met Sasuke's. He dissolved into a string of incoherent, stuttered vowels, clinging to the tree even harder, eyes shut tight.

Oh, this was going to be _lovely_ to deal with. And he had such better things to do.

"Look, just calm down. Are you scared?" Go'on shook his head. A pause. And then a great deal of terrified nodding. Wonderful. "Okay, okay. I'm going to get you down from here." Sasuke held out an arm for Go'on to take. Quickly, now.

"No! No, just… just let me stay up here for a little while longer. Okay?" He clung more tightly to the tree, cheek pressed against the bark. "Okay..?"

"You know that I'm just gonna stay up here with you until you decide to come down," Sasuke said.

"…that's fine…" Go'on's voice was very, very soft.

Sasuke sighed again, and yelled down to his other students, "I'm gonna stay up here with him!"

"You sure you don't need our help, Sensei?" Kyou yelled back.

"Just _go_ already!" Sasuke replied, and settled down on a more comfortable branch, eyes on Go'on. Within minutes, the two remaining genin had scattered all but the most curious of onlookers, Sunao staying behind to shoo away any incoming rubberneckers, Kyou heading back to the village proper. Well, he couldn't fault those two.

And Go'on was still up in the tree, not saying a word.

Well, he did say _one_ thing: "…I'd really appreciate it if… if you didn't stare at me like that, S-Sensei…" That was about five minutes in, and Sasuke had obeyed.

It gave him a lot of time to think.

He was very quickly angry at Kyou again. And then back at Go'on (another glare from Sasuke, there—the boy had his eyes closed very tightly, so he didn't notice). Since, if he hadn't gone and freaked out and climbed up the tree or whatever, they wouldn't be here.

And he'd still be in the forest. Observing, again. Maybe _talking_ to him.

Though he had no idea what he would say.

Never mind the fact that if Sasuke hadn't been out chasing shadows, then _maybe_ Go'on might not have panicked, or whatever had happened. Or maybe he still would have! It didn't matter now.

What mattered now was Itachi.

…no, no, what had he said his name was?

Yakata. Where was Yakata? Was he still in the forest, waiting for him? No, probably in the village, somewhere.

…who _was_ he, really?

_It's Itachi, obviously, of course, why are you thinking otherwise?_ A tiny voice at the back of his head was insisting, tinny and persistent. _It's him._

And then, another voice. Flatter, more rational: _How in the world is that even _possible?_ Stop thinking strange things. It's just a coincidence. You're smarter than this._

(He'd been having this argument with himself for days.)

_That_ was just a coincidence?

Okay, so maybe it was. Somehow.

…right.

His eyes and his mind kept insisting otherwise. And that face, it was _his _face. And _his_ eyes, _nobody_ else had those eyes. How could it _not_ be Itachi?

Sasuke didn't want to have to list the reasons. Again. But he did, anyways.

He was too young, only ten years old (definitely ten, he _looked_ ten). If, somehow, he had been born before Itachi's passing, then he would be older than Sasuke's oldest son, Hajime; at least twenty-seven. And if Itachi _had, _somehow, had a child of his own, who'd had a child… Yakata was too old, in that case.

But if Itachi were still alive…

Itachi would be…

…no, that possibility was worse than that flimsy idea of reincarnation.

Itachi had died before Sasuke's own eyes. That was why Sasuke had _these _eyes, now. His brother's eyes were now his own, and they had been for years.

…but what if, somehow…?

Yakata had said something about his father telling him to stay away from Sasuke. "Or…" Else. No other words could come after such a statement.

Stay away from Sasuke, or else.

Yakata had said, "Wait… maybe, you're my…?"

Surely there was some reason for this? Surely he meant to ask something?

He meant something. This meant something.

Most villagers were polite, offering things, being _too_ helpful. Or avoiding gazes and words, but not outright everything.

And hadn't Sasuke not seen the boy's father yet, when he had met or at least seen practically everyone else…? He would have noticed anyone even remotely resembling the boy.

The mother did not resemble him, with her brown hair, with her round eyes. But the father, the hidden man…

Maybe it had been for the boy's own good. The boy's father had told him to stay away from Sasuke. Or else. Why wouldn't he?

And maybe, just maybe…

"_Maybe you're my papa's brother?"_

He could hear the boy's hesitant little voice in his mind completing the sentence.

Sasuke didn't know how or why, but… Itachi was still alive, somehow. Somehow! And Yakata was living proof.

After all, what else could it have been?

Sasuke had to do something. But what? He didn't even know what he would say to Itachi. Not now, not after everything that had happened.

What would he say?

It was only Go'on's slight movement from above that wrested him from his thoughts. "I think… I'm okay now, Sensei."

"Oh. That's good, Go'on. Wonderful." A million thoughts bloomed into a billion, clinging to the only rational explanation he had. Nothing else fit. He'd been too eager, projecting the wrong face onto someone who was only half-related. The resemblance was just so _strong_, though.

The words Itachi and Son and Nephew didn't fit together. They couldn't.

But here, maybe, somehow, maybe…

His heart felt so light, beating so fast, felt so hot, felt so…

"Sensei, are you… okay?" Go'on was hanging, almost upside-down, from an adjacent branch. The sun was setting, and it cast a golden glow on his skin, making it look darker than it already was. "I'm sorry, I… didn't mean for this to happen, I just…"

Sasuke shook his head, back to reality, back to _this_ matter. First things first. Couldn't let excitement get in the way of things. "You can apologize when we get down. Here." He offered his arm. "I'll help you. Grab on."

"Nah, that's okay, Sensei. I can get down just fine."

Go'on's smile was like one of those creatures you saw only in nature magazines, but never in the wild. It was quick and it was timid, and it disappeared very quickly.

And, in seconds, there was Go'on on the ground, having swung and dropped and jumped effortlessly between branches, like he had been born to do it. A far cry from the shivery little child from the days before, dropping tools and teacups and making a general fool of himself. The one who couldn't possibly have scored best in weapons use and taijutsu.

(Yes, Sasuke had read the reports given to him. He just found them hard to believe.)

Well, huh.

And a pressing little question that had been patiently waiting its turn in Sasuke's mind finally got his attention, braving the ideas that were crowding his thoughts of families and reunions and impossible circumstances and what would he ask.

How had Go'on even gotten up there in the _first_ place? It was a _tall_ tree, and the branches, especially near the top, were few and far between.

His mind was grounded as suddenly as Go'on was, neatly tucking away the excitement and the everything else, for later. How _had_ he done it, anyways?

Sasuke made his way to the ground to find Sunao asking Go'on if he was okay, what had been the matter, and did he need anything?

"You can explain yourself on our way back to the elder's house, Go'on," Sasuke said, crossing his arms.

And then Go'on was shivering again, hands shoved in his pockets, shoulders high. "Y-yes, Sensei…"

Go'on's explanation did not meet Sasuke's approval, but the boy certainly tried. He couldn't articulate what, exactly, had frightened him so, despite Sunao's gentle pressings. Half-words came out that resembled "too many people" and "staring at me" and "mean looks" and "kept talking" and "said I was sorry" and, over and over, "felt sick, felt _really_ sick."

However, he made one thing incredibly clear.

"I just felt more comfortable up _there_ than down _here,_" he explained, shrugging. "It really did calm me down, honest…"

Sasuke sighed. "Either way. How did you get _up _there, however?"

There was Go'on's rare smile again. "I like climbing trees."

"That doesn't answer my question." And Sasuke's eyes were on him again. The smile fluttered away.

"…well, I… _I_ dunno, Sensei. I just reached for branches an' I pulled myself up, I, I guess." He shrugged again. "M'sorry, I must have caused a lot of trouble."

"You didn't cause much trouble," Sasuke said, nothing in his tone to indicate sincerity, though he was technically telling the truth. "I'm actually a little impressed, Go'on. That was a difficult tree to climb. When we get back to Konoha, you'll have to show me how you did it." Since, really, he _was_ curious.

It wouldn't hurt, Sasuke figured. He could keep the team a little while longer. They were… surprisingly more competent than he had originally thought, and it made him just ever so vaguely pleased.

And besides, he _always_ made time for his family.

All he had to do was take care of the genin, first. Get their training out of the way. Work with them during the day, and tend to his clan at night. It'd be difficult, but somehow he found himself not minding this idea, terribly.

And maybe that night, he'd be able to…

"I… don't know so much about that, Sensei," Go'on said, after a short while. They reached the elder's house, and Sasuke opened the door to let his students inside. "I, I mean, I could certainly try…"

"You can do it," Sasuke said. It was a command, and not encouragement. "Besides, if you can't do it—which I'm sure won't be the case—I'll still teach you how _I _climbed the tree."

"With the chakra in the base of your feet, right? I think I remember hearing something about that."

Sunao, with the best test scores overall and the best general chakra manipulation. That, he had been able to believe.

"That's right. It's an invaluable ninja skill and the sooner you learn it, the better," Sasuke said. "It won't be too hard for you, right?"

"No! 'course not…" Go'on said, suddenly and loudly. He bit his lip, afterward.

Sasuke found himself half-sighing, half-laughing. "What are you, Kyou? Get inside already."

Go'on, managing a smile, entered the house with Sunao, who smiled too, relieved.

"You two rest up. I'll be in the village if you need me," Sasuke said, from the doorway, not bothering to take his shoes off.

"Oh, well, they're celebrating down there, so it'll be really busy!" Sunao said. "We finally got all the work done."

Had they really? Sasuke only vaguely remembered this.

Then again…

"Go have some _fun_ or something, then," Sasuke said, managing a faintly discernable smile. "I won't stop you."

"No, thanks…" Go'on was taking off his sandals.

"Why not, Go'on-kun?" Sunao asked.

Go'on gulped. "Too many…" He was shivering again.

And her eyes snapped widely open, pieces falling into place. "Oh… Oh! Oh, I'm sorry… I'll stay in with you, if you want," she said.

"No, that's fine… Go have fun," Go'on said. "I'll be fine on my own."

"You sure? I worry about you."

Sasuke smirked as he let them continue talking in the foyer, listening to their voices fade out of earshot.

So maybe he was getting a little fond of them. So what?

The good mood only deepened when he thought of what he had to do. The thoughts unwrapped themselves, finally, filling him with that white, hot excitement.

It _had_ to be true.

He'd find someone, ask about Yakata and his family—Honbo, right? That was the name he was using—and where they lived now.

He hadn't followed the boy home, not once.

And then, maybe, just maybe…

He'd see Itachi again, and not just the little half-shadow that was his son, Yakata.

Sasuke had been too eager, but this, this had to be true. It was the only thing that made a remote ounce of sense.

It couldn't hurt.

He'd really see his brother again.

But, as he walked, he found himself in the woods again, in the trees, watching Yakata look at him with his father's eyes.

He didn't know what he would say. He didn't know what he _could_ say.

Not to him.


	3. Vulture's Feather

_Chapter 3 - Vulture's Feather_

* * *

Oh, the Honbo family? Wasn't their house put over there?

Why, yes it was.

You did such a wonderful job, shinobi-san. We're so very grateful.

Village women all seemed to look the same. But Sasuke thanked them, as was expected of him, and he heard them titter away towards the fires and the wine and the dancing.

_He_ wouldn't be out of the house for something like this. Not without his eyes.

Unless, somehow, he still had…?

How was _that_ even possible?

Sasuke supposed that he would find out on his own, in due time.

Goodness, and Sasuke had thought that _Yakata_ was his brother… What had gotten into him?

That was blatantly impossible, for just so many reasons. Though the resemblance was just uncanny. But there were _explanations_ for that.

He found the Honbo house. He didn't remember helping to build it—probably the work of one of his students.

And he knocked softly on the door.

He could hardly believe what he was doing, but.

But maybe, just…

Yakata answered the door, and his black, familiar eyes widened. "Sasuke-san?"

Sasuke said nothing, red eyes blinking once, twice. Where had he heard…?

Yakata shrunk back. "Oh, um. I'm, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, I just heard your student calling for you, and…" So he had remembered. Yakata stopped, fidgeted, stared at his feet, then back at Sasuke. "Why, um, why are you here?"

"Is your father home, Yakata? I wanted to meet with him." And Sasuke was almost smiling, what in the world had gotten into him?

He didn't tell himself to not get his hopes up, to prepare for disappointment, because this was the only thing that made sense.

Nothing else could explain what his eyes could not deny.

Itachi was alive. And there was Yakata, the proof. Nothing else made sense.

His breath caught in his throat, like it had in the forest, when Yakata said, "Papa's not… he, he's not home right now."

"Where is he?"

"I-in the village."

"Where in the village?"

"I don't… I don't know."

"When will he be back?"

"Later." And Yakata looked up at Sasuke with his father's eyes, almost fearfully. "Um, why do you, um. Want to talk to him?"

What could he say? "Let's just say that there are some things I've been wanting to ask him."

That was vague enough, and true enough.

"Oh," Yakata said.

"Yakata, who's that at the door?" His mother arrived, peering above Yakata's shoulder, the woman named Satoko. Itachi's… wife? She was younger than Sasuke expected, now that he thought about it.

"Satoko-san," Sasuke said, nodding. He could at least be polite. He was even using honorifics. "I was asking to see if your husband was home."

"Oh, he just stepped out for a moment. He should be home soon, though," she replied, nodding back, then tilting her head at him. "What did you need from him?"

"Just to ask a few questions," Sasuke said again, "if it's not too much trouble."

He still didn't know what he would ask.

"Well he shouldn't take long. Would you like to come in and wait for him? I just made some tea."

The least he could do was accept her politeness. "I appreciate it. Thank you."

"Yakata, please show our guest in," Satoko said, disappearing into the house.

"Call me Sasuke," Sasuke told her.

"Ah." Her face shifted, so slightly, at his insistence. "Then please show _Sasuke-san_ in, Yakata."

Yakata stepped aside, keeping his eyes on Sasuke as he took off his shoes, then entered the wooden house.

The handiwork was much better than he was expecting. Guided by a carpenter, made by his genin. They had done a good job, everyone was saying this.

"Just a moment," Satoko said, waving her hand. "I'll go get the teacups. Yakata, find Sasuke-san a seat, please."

Leaving Sasuke and Yakata alone in the main room.

Yakata brought him a cushion, and even though it was somewhat dirty, Sasuke sat down on it.

Silence.

"Um."

Yakata.

"If you… if you don't mind me asking. What, what do you want to, um. Ask my papa?"

What _did_ Sasuke want to ask Itachi?

"A lot of things."

"Oh." The boy was sitting, now, neatly, formally, perfectly, on the floor. He'd been taught well. "Things about… about me?" he said, after a while.

Sasuke had a _lot _of things he wanted to ask about Yakata. "I suppose there are some things I want to ask him about you."

Yakata's hands held each other very tightly. "Oh."

They sat across from each other, keeping their words captive, wondering why the tea was taking so long.

Sasuke lost control, for a moment. "Is he good to you? Your father, I mean."

Why did he ask that, why did he _ask_ that? Was that the only way he could ask about Itachi?

"…yeah. I, I like him. Mama, too."

Why did he say that?

"…so I guess this means… you're… you're him, aren't you," Yakata said.

The words stuck in the air and got into Sasuke's throat, and he couldn't say anything.

"Since... since I, I look a lot like, um… A lot like you, I guess." He glanced to the side, but he was still talking. "That's… that's why you were, um. Following me, wasn't it."

_You look like me because you look like him_, Sasuke thought. _It's in your blood._

Still feeling like if he said anything now, did _anything _now, that the boy would be gone.

But the boy was not his brother, he was just the proof.

"I just didn't, I didn't think… you'd actually come. Here, I mean. Um." He looked at Sasuke, and didn't say anything more.

"Well I'm here, now, aren't I?"

He almost had to clear his throat, feeling like he'd broken through a crust of the unspoken.

Really, what else could he say?

Yakata's smile was small, but nervous, full of apprehension, like his voice.

Sasuke wanted to tell him to stop smiling like that, because there was nothing to be nervous over, but Satoko came by with the teacups, finally.

"Apologies for the wait. It wasn't quite ready yet." She put the cups on a tray, with the teapot. They were mismatched, but merchants and packages of goodwill from nearby villages had been slowly replacing what had been lost, so one had to take what one could get. She poured tea into one of the cups and handed it to Sasuke. "Here you go."

Sasuke held the teacup in his hands, but didn't drink from it.

"Yakata, dear, don't stare," she whispered, sitting down beside him. Sasuke still heard her. Yakata lowered his eyes. "So, uh, Sasuke-san. You were the one that enjoyed my rice porridge so much, weren't you?"

"Mm."

"Told the elder, didn't you?"

"Mm."

"I wonder, should I make something special for him, or is what I made for you what you liked so much?"

"I don't have an opinion."

Yakata wasn't staring, but Sasuke was. He couldn't see Satoko's expression.

"I… hope my Yakata wasn't bothering you too much," she added, after a while, resistance in her voice.

"He wasn't."

All Sasuke felt like doing was waiting. So he did. The tea cooled in his hands.

The door slid open, behind him.

He held his breath.

"I'm back."

Whose voice was that?

"Welcome home. We have a guest, dear," Satoko said, standing, going to greet him. "Sasuke-san, the ninja from Konoha."

There was no answer from the foyer.

"The grown one," she added, quietly, from behind; and then, much quieter: "The one with those eyes."

"…what does he want?"

"To talk to you."

Whose voice was that? Who was she talking to? Who was that sighing there?

"Just be polite and see what he wants."

Did they really think he couldn't hear them?

Sasuke could hear their footsteps coming closer. He could hear his heart beating in his ears.

Itachi was standing right behind him.

He closed his eyes.

What would he say? What should he say?

The seconds passed like years.

And then, the words came.

"It's been a long time," Sasuke said.

"…has it really?"

Who _was_ that?

The footsteps traveled around beside him, before him.

Sasuke took a breath.

And opened his eyes.

…where was Itachi?

There was Satoko, his wife; there was Yakata, his son.

But who was that man sitting there?

And where was Itachi?

"…no, really, have we met?" the man said.

He had a square jaw and brown hair and brown eyes. He was younger than Itachi, younger than Sasuke.

"…who _are_ you?" The words were lifeless as they fell out of Sasuke's mouth.

"Well my name's Honbo Gishi; my wife told me that you're Sasuke-san, from Konoha, yes?"

Sasuke didn't answer.

"Is there something I can do for you, Sasuke-san?"

Yakata stared at his knees. He looked nothing like his mother. He looked nothing like his father. Sasuke could see that, plainly.

But he looked like Itachi.

It had to be true. Nothing else could explain this. It had to be.

And Sasuke's eyes never lied to him.

But what could explain the two pairs of unfamiliar eyes, staring at him there, the air growing thicker and thicker? The one pair he knew refusing to look at him?

And all of this in that land where he had once been the prize of a snake, a land he tried to forget. That he had forgotten, once.

Gishi—not Itachi _not Itachi—_asked him something again, but Sasuke couldn't really hear him.

Something something mistaken for someone something no.

It was like a bad dream.

No.

A nightmare. All of this.

The man who was asking him what was going on, the woman with the tea that was growing cold that looked worried, so worried.

Yakata, that mirror image. That shadow. That boy with his brother's eyes.

Where was Itachi?

He had to be here.

But he had been dead for so long. Sasuke had seen him die.

And his eyes never lied to him.

But his eyes never lied to him.

Why was this happening? Why was this _happening? Why was this happening?_

Where was _Itachi?_

(Itachi wasn't there.)

Sasuke couldn't even remember what he had said to excuse himself, but he just needed to get out of that house.

He took his shoes, and he left.

Quietly, Yakata apologized, hating himself.

* * *

The elder's house was silent when Sasuke entered, the fire in the hearth down to glowing embers.

That boy's face swam in his mind. Superimposed, a perfect fit, those eyes, those very same eyes…

No.

No, no, _no_.

It was a coincidence. That, more than anything else, more than _anything_ else, proved that. It _was_ just a coincidence.

Itachi was dead. He had been dead for 27 years. And that was where the story ended. His eyes were with Sasuke, and that was where they stayed.

Sasuke was not tired, but he felt like he just needed to sleep.

He couldn't.

He sat up, he held his forehead in his hands.

He got up, he paced.

Wishful thinking. Was that what it had been? No, no, no, wishful thinking was "Gee, wouldn't it be nice if Itachi were still around?"

Wishful thinking was "Gosh, I wish I could just talk to my brother and tell him all the things I never got to say."

Wishful thinking was not "My brother's still alive, oh, and he's happily married with a wife and kid out in the Land of fucking RICE."

Sasuke was talking to himself, now, walking in wide circles around the elder's living room.

(There was nobody else in the house. Good.)

What the _hell_ was wrong with him? He didn't miss Itachi _that_ badly, did he?

Well of course he missed Itachi, ever since he had found out about the truth. But everything that had happened in Tamina, in the Honbo house; this little nightmare, this little cataclysm. What was it in the first place?

That, that was what he was concerned about. Was that—this, whatever _that_ was—even _missing_ Itachi?

To think that some random farm boy—no, not the boy, his _father—_had been him? However impossible that fact was? Why had he been so eager to accept that this was—had been—WHATEVER—the truth?

There was a table, and Sasuke had an urge to kick it, to destroy it.

There, and gone. He couldn't bring attention to himself here, he didn't want to have to explain himself in the morning.

Damn it.

He loved his brother, certainly. Not a day went by that he was not thankful for his countless sacrifices.

But to miss him enough to want him back. No, that wasn't wrong, that was a common thing.

(Sasuke, a grown man, with children of his own, still missed his mother.)

But… but to actually _convince_ himself that he _had_ come back or, or hadn't even died in the first place, though? To have those, those…

…_delusions?_

Damn it, damn it, _damn it._

Sasuke stopped to hold his forehead, his fingers clenching, his eyes spinning furiously.

That's what it was, wasn't it. Not wishful thinking, just delusions and coincidence.

He felt disgusted. His head hurt.

He wanted to leave. To just… fucking pack up everything and return to Konoha, to his clan. His _living_ clan.

He had five children. Hajime, Takeru, Nadeshiko, Inou, Karai. A clan. None of them were nearly as talented as Itachi—as Sasuke himself, even—had been.

Hajime was average.

Takeru, he was proud of, and for good reason.

Nadeshiko was…

A pause. A scowl.

His greatest disappointment.

Inou had failed the chuunin exams _twice_ already.

And Karai was too young for him to tell, but she disappointed nearly as much as Inou did, unmotivated and ordinary as she was.

They were Uchihas, but they were flawed, in a way. Incomplete. There was always _something_ wrong with them.

…was that really a reason to miss Itachi? Itachi, who had been…

…perfect.

Great.

Why was he still thinking about that?

Fine.

He was done thinking about it. He would fold up his little nightmare and never think about…

Those eyes, Yakata, his—

When he said never he meant NEVER.

_DAMN IT._

Really. That was it.

He would just forget about it, like he had forgotten about everything else that had ever happened.

And he would go home.

They were done with their mission, weren't they? They could leave whenever they wanted to.

Oh. Yeah. "They." He still had his three students to keep track of.

Where the hell _were_ they?

Sasuke figured he'd see them in the morning, anyways. He felt tired, and he was going to bed. Really, this time.

He and his students would return to Konoha in the morning. They would rest, and then resume training.

(Some small part of him really _did_ wonder how Go'on had climbed the tree, wanting to record it with his Sharingan.)

And he would forget that he had ever had those thoughts in the first place.

Embarrassing. He was better than this. He had better things to do.

He would take care of it in the morning.

He'd take care of it in the.

Morning.

He dreamed of Itachi, that night, and Yakata.

It was a nightmare.

* * *

Kyou was, in fact, in the village, listening with rapt attention as an older boy told him and a bunch of the other youngsters stories about the Riverman, who came out of, duh, the rivers at night, searching for the man who had made him out of mud and dust and bones, seeking eternal rest.

"No, no, no, you got it all _wrong_. He's searching for his _master, _who said he'd come _back_ someday," one child said, hugging his knees, trying not to show his fear. "An' he wasn't made by _nobody_, he's just waiting for his _master_."

"And how would you know _that?"_ said the older boy, who knew everything.

"Cos I've _seen_ 'im. I heard 'im say it himself."

And everyone called him out on it and okay, okay, _fine_, so he _hadn't_ seen the Riverman, his little knees knocking together as they shivered.

But they were still wrong about the thing about him looking for the guy who made him, he said. Nobody believed any of that, though.

And then Kyou, master of stories, devourer of history and fiction alike, who didn't care where the real ended and the fantastic began, said that _he_ had a story to tell.

About the Woman of the Woods. From where_ he_ was from. She was at least _ten_ times scarier than the Riverman.

None of them believed him.

So he told them about her.

About how she was an abductor of children, and how she would seal them into trees without a moment's hesitation.

Kyou and his stories were _very_ popular, for the rest of the night, and he was more than glad to tell them.

He was a smart boy, and he knew a million stories. He knew about the Sage of the Six Paths and the Hokages and the heroes of the Great Ninja Wars and the Sannin and the jinchuuriki and just _everything_. He knew stories about everything from before the Founding of the Hidden Villages to whatever new gossip the women who came by to have their clothes mended by his father had to share.

And Sasuke-sensei, the stories he could tell about _him._

He collected stories like most people collected stamps, or coins. But coin collectors never spent their coins. Stamp collectors never used their stamps. Kyou shared his stories as often and as easily as he collected them.

By the time he was through, practically _everyone_ knew about the Woman, some even claiming that she lived in the woods _right outside the village,_ that there were trees where, if you put your ear up to them, you could still hear the screaming of the children inside.

They were wrong, of course, but that was the nature of stories. They changed.

The Woman only lived in Konoha, everyone knew _that, _and in one forest and one forest alone.

Training Ground Number 44. The Forest of Death.

That is why she was what older people called an urban legend, and what younger people simply called a legend.

Sunao was among the women, asking about recipes, and they were more than willing to share. She was a smart girl, she learned by watching and by listening. And she wanted to bring _something_ back from the Land of Rice that she could use at home.

Practicality! It was her favorite word, after all. Well, technically, it was just "Practical," but what was the big difference?

Yeah, she had favorite words. She also made lists in her head about people she wanted to spar with—she had always wanted to see what it would be like to fight an Aburame—and her favorite foods. And least favorite foods. And not just hers, but her family's, her friends'. She'd been the one to tell Kyou that Sasuke's favorite food was tomatoes, after all, when he'd pulled her aside in the hallway the afternoon they'd been assigned to a team together.

That stuff was more important, especially when you had a five year old tugging at your shirt asking for a snack when you were busy cooking and could only reach for something within a three foot radius and he'd burst into tears if there wasn't even the slightest trace of strawberry in it. She just didn't understand her step-brother sometimes, but then again, he was five.

Whatever. She had a lot of time to think to herself when cooking breakfast and dinner for her siblings. She found ways to keep herself entertained when the rest of the world was so very boring.

That was the good part of all of it, really. When the world was so boring, it was so easy to find little pieces of happiness.

Her siblings had to cook for themselves for the first time in forever, since she was gone on this mission. She was worried about them, but at the same time, she knew they'd be fine. It had to happen eventually.

And then there was Go'on, who was still in the elder's house.

He heard every word that Sasuke said, after opening the door with an almost murderous intent, talking so loudly to himself that Go'on could hear him, even from the loft where he and his teammates slept.

He wondered who Itachi was.

He was a smart boy, and he figured it out very quickly. And he felt a supreme sadness, for Sasuke, for his children, for the poor soul that had been mistaken for his brother, whoever he was.

At least, he felt this way once Sasuke had finally gone to sleep, mumbling, "In the morning, deal with it… in the morning…"

When he was still awake, when he was stomping around and speaking like a man possessed, Go'on was terrified.

He had told Sunao to go on ahead, to have fun, that he would go to bed early.

He'd rather face a million crowds, a million faces of hatred and accusation, a million possible former Sound ninja than this.

If he had known that this, that_ this_ would happen…

His mother had told him, as a child, that Sasuke had once been a monster. She knew this because she had seen it herself, as a girl. That there were times when he used to get a fire in his eyes, when his skin became mottled with a black uncleanness like flames.

He wasn't a monster any more, of course. At least, not on the outside.

Go'on felt terrible for thinking such things.

And then he thought of his mother, eyes closed tightly, as he held his legs and listened and prayed that he would not be found, under his blankets.

He hated sleeping in that house, in that loft. He hated it, he hated not being able to see the sky. He hadn't been able to sleep properly, since moving to the elder's house.

With Sasuke there, with Sasuke ranting like that, he didn't know if he'd be able to fall asleep, not ever, oh, no, not ever.

He wanted to be in a tree. He would be safe in a tree. The tree would protect him against those red, hateful, pained, painful eyes.

He imagined that the darkness of the ceiling was the sky. And he managed to fall asleep before Sunao and Kyou came home with the elder and his wife, dreaming of that great forest he loved so much, his mother's arms around him, like branches.

In the morning, they began on their way back to Konoha, after warm but baffled thanks from the elder and what small payment accompanied the rice and lodgings.

"So early, though?" the elder said, still in his pajamas, rubbing his eyes. "The sun hasn't even risen."

"We need to make quick time," Sasuke said. "I hope you understand." And the elder said he did.

"Take care, loves. And thank you, again," said the elder's wife. And she gave each of the children a kiss on the forehead, for protection.

There were no shadows in the darkness. And the village of Tamina was already out of sight by the time the sun rose.

Good riddance.

And Sasuke thought of that village no more.

Already, his thoughts were on other things. How _had_ Go'on climbed up that tree?

Had Inou been keeping up on his training? He doubted it. The way he had to _hound_ that boy, _really_, it was pitiful.

"Since we left so early, Sensei, we should be back in Konoha by tomorrow morning, correct?" There was Kyou, again. His voice sounded hopeful.

"We'll be home by nightfall." Sasuke began to run. "Keep up."

And they did.

And they were.

They had done a good job. Even Sasuke had said it, so it _must_ have been true.

Though this, by no means, meant that they were allowed to slack off.

Kyou had his hands on his knees. "Not at all… Sensei…!"

Kyou had habit for running everywhere, but habit alone didn't keep him from gasping for air with a wild grin on his face.

"When are we going to meet… again…?"

Sunao had made them lunch on the way there, an incredible lunch of rice that seemed practically bursting with energy.

"Take a break. Two days. We'll meet again on Monday."

"…thank you, Sensei."

Go'on was not even winded. Funny, given how he had caused them so much trouble on the way up.

So, they parted. And each of them went home, to waiting mothers and fathers, exhausted and glad; Kyou full of stories, Sunao full of recipes, Go'on full of relief.

Except for Sasuke, who had to report to Naruto first. He was full of annoyance. Just more things keeping him from home.

He slammed the payment from the village elder onto his desk, after barging in without announcing himself, along the sacks of rice that came with the money.

"We're on a break until Monday, so don't give us any missions until then, you got me?"

Naruto grinned. "I told you so, y'know."

"Oh shut _up._"

And Sasuke went home.

When his wife told him that he was home early, she almost sounded disappointed. She had already set the table, only made enough for her and the kids. Hajime was home after such a long time on his mission, so she had made his favorite, soba noodles. She didn't expect Sasuke back until…

"Well, I'm here now, aren't I?" Sasuke said. He was hungry.

He didn't have to say any more, because she sighed and said she'd see what she could do. They didn't have to set an extra place for him, though. Nadeshiko got up from where she had been reading, waiting at the table, long hair over her shoulders like an old woman's shawl, saying she would get something to eat on her own. She left without another word.

Ten years, and Sasuke still couldn't stand the sight of her. Not after what she had done. He considered himself lucky that she so willingly rid herself from his presence, and so often; a redeeming feature, he told himself, without humor. But he didn't like to dwell on those things too much.

He talked to Takeru all evening, smiling, asking him questions, having questions asked of him, the rest of the family eating in silence.

Well, except when Takeru reminded him to ask about Inou's training—"Still working on those… _techniques _of yours, little brother?"

Sasuke had to make sure that it wasn't just him fiddling around with Yamanaka arts or anything like that, those wastes of time and talent.

But Inou _had_ been training. Proper training, too, that strengthened the body. Practical skills, for _Uchiha _techniques. And Sasuke told him to keep it up, since the chuunin exams were coming up sooner than he thought, and he couldn't risk failure this time around.

And Inou had said he would, and then he excused himself from the dinner table. Karai followed him.

And then Sasuke took a bath, rested his aching muscles.

And then he went to sleep beside Ino's thin body, an unmoving, distant mass in his bed that was already there when he settled in for the night.

And he did not dream of anything.

And it was good.

* * *

When the Honbo family went to the elder in the morning, the old man could do nothing else but say that Sasuke-san had left with his students long before they had arrived.

What had they wanted to ask of him?

"Well, Yakata?"

Yakata apologized for wasting their time, and asked to go back home.

Please.


	4. Spotlight Shift

_Saw the strangest thing in Kumo, by the way. I saw this kid pass me by on the street and I could have sworn I had seen him before. Wasn't until I got back to the hotel that it hit me—he reminded me of Zabuza. Must have been the face. Didn't have any eyebrows, that's not exactly common._

_You remember him, don't you? Momochi Zabuza, he was one of the Swordsmen. They used to call him the Demon. He died about 30 years ago, I think. Tough guy, hell of a glare. _

_Wouldn't be surprised if __you__ forgot, though. Most people don't even remember him any more, much less know who he was—I only do because he hired me for that coup. I wouldn't forget __that__, I got locked up for it until Terumi became Mizukage. You remember that, at least, don't you?_

_Feels so long ago now, doesn't it? What with the new government, especially. They barely even talk about the Bloody Mist in history books any more, just the bloodline genocide. That propaganda bullshit. Kids don't know anything about the past these days._

_I guess I'm just getting old. Not nostalgic, just old. My eyes aren't what they used to be. _

- Hibai Sammi, from a letter to a comrade in the Land of Mist; June, 22 AU

* * *

**ACT 2**

**ECHO**

* * *

_Chapter 4 - Spotlight Shift_

* * *

Karai couldn't control herself, when Sasuke returned home from training the genin that day. She hugged him tightly, shouting, "Father!" and rubbing her face into his flak jacket.

He laid a hand on her back, before prying the girl off of him. "Karai."

She bit her lip. What had he told her about such things. "I'm sorry, Father, it's just… I'm so happy right now!" she said. And only part of it was due to his arrival back home.

(Even though the house had been so mercifully quiet in his absence, like it always was.)

"Mm. Did something happen while I was away?" Sasuke asked. Oh, she nodded _so_ enthusiastically. "Well, what is it?"

She grinned so hard, bubbling with happiness, as if she might burst from it. "Masao-sensei said that my team an' I could take part in the chuunin exams!"

Sasuke already knew. "Oh. I thought something else had happened."

As it happened, he had just returned from telling his team the exact same news.

Naruto had called all of the actively-teaching jounin together just the day before to announce that the chuunin exams were to occur in about a month, and that if anyone had any considerations in mind then now would be the time to put them in, so they could spend the weeks getting their students trained up and prepared.

The chuunin exams were structured much like they had always been. A written exam. An elimination round with scrolls in the Forest of Death. And a tournament.

(Inou didn't get through the Forest the first time. It was the preliminaries that got him, the second. But the _Akimichi_ girl got promoted to chuunin that year.)

The big differences in the exam those days was in how the written exam was handled—since, well, they had a different chief examiner every few years—and in the additional time in between the announcement of the exams and the actual exams, for preparation. Naruto believed in proper warning, and also, it took longer to get answers back from the other countries about which genin teams they were sending and stuff. It was good to have a little leeway, y'know? Kept things friendly.

Plus, the tournaments were damn enormous events, now. Though not nearly as many hidden villages participated in the exams these days—though Cloud and Mist and Stone had been far more cooperative in recent years—the ninja that did participate were broadly supported. And with that support came Kages, and with those Kages came bodyguards and families and countless civilians, come to cheer on their best and brightest.

And there was also that jinchuuriki meet-up reunion thing that Naruto liked to have around the time of the tournament, but those guys could more than take care of themselves.

Regardless of all of that, Sasuke had only to think for a moment, when Naruto called him and the only other sensei of a first-year genin team forward—wasn't that one of Naruto's old students? Masa-something, a young man that was Hajime's age. Sasuke couldn't remember his name, even though he _more_ than remembered the name of the _girl_ on that team.

Murasaki. The one that unsettled even Sasuke, with her whisper voice and sick mind. He ran into her a disturbingly frequent amount; he'd forgotten how many times he'd had to chase her out of the Uchiha Memorial, where she was most certainly _not_ welcome. But she kept coming back, she always kept coming back, with her messages from the voices that she said she heard, with her lies.

Even though Sakura told him to be understanding, she was _unwell_.

(At least she had stopped coming by the main house, asking for…)

But back to the matter at hand.

Naruto had a pleased smile on his face, seeing Sasuke there. Yes, there were only two jounin teaching first-year genin. All the other students had been sent back, for further training.

Hm. So they _had_ been the best.

And Sasuke smiled, slightly, and pledged on the name of his clan that all three of his students were ready to make an attempt at the exams.

Their competence had surprised him, but then again, they had been under his care for quite a while, at that point. If they hadn't improved at all, _then _he would be truly disappointed.

Naruto's student, the young man with gold-coin eyes, swore on his clan, the Akirame, that his three students were also ready for the chuunin exams.

So he was Karai's sensei, Sasuke realized. Karai was one of the six that had remained.

Good girl.

Sasuke's team had reacted as expected, when he told them the news the next morning: overenthusiastic utter glee, a shivering but gently confident smile, and closed eyes paired with a knowingly pleased expression.

Though, predictable as they were, they still managed to surprise him sometimes. Usually in pleasant ways.

Kyou memorized things quickly, never repeating his mistakes. He'd even managed to cut down on his gossip and chattering, once Sasuke learned to stop ignoring him and just say when he was talking too much. He found himself even _asking_ Kyou things, now. Since, really, he seemed to know just about _everything_, at times. Even Sasuke had learned a few new things from him. Who knew?

Sunao had some of the best chakra control he had ever seen, and remarkable patience, not just with learning, but with her teammates. More often than not, she'd be the first to master a new technique, and instead of standing off to the side and fiddling about like Sasuke expected most girls her age to do, she'd go off and help whichever of her teammates Sasuke wasn't working with, to make sure that they were getting it, too.

And… the way that Go'on _moved_. It left Sasuke speechless, recording every movement he could with his Sharingan. That boy could _run. _

Sasuke _was_ impressed by his students, almost proud of them, but he would never really admit it aloud.

He put his hand on Karai's head, back in the foyer of his home. She had been saying something about no, no, it was the chuunin exams she was talking about, wasn't that just exciting?

"I expected nothing less of you," he told her. "Hopefully, I'll see both you _and_ your brother promoted to chuunin this time." He didn't have to specify which. "I don't want to be disappointed."

All Karai did was nod, smiling, giggling, savoring his approval.

(She could feel bad for Inou later.)

"Speaking of which," Sasuke continued, "where is he?"

(Inou was making himself invisible in his room, having heard his father come home.)

"He's off with his team," Karai said.

"Mm." Sasuke sat down, and he began taking off his shoes. He'd given a sharp glance to Inou's sensei, the day before. And Inou's team had been nominated, as expected, for the exams themselves.

"So nice to see you home so soon, Father."

And Sasuke smiled. "Does it really seem like I'm home that early?" he asked.

"You tell me. You're usually so_ busy_ training those students of yours. They must be improving, if you feel it appropriate to give _them_ a break."

Sasuke undid the strap on his second shoe, thoughtfully, taking his time. "Improved enough to participate in the chuunin exams this year," he said, and looked over his shoulder at Takeru, who stood with a hand on his hip, smiling as well. "I thought it would be nice to give them an afternoon off to tell their families."

"Oh, wow, really, Father?" Karai said.

"That's a surprise," Takeru said.

"Why a surprise?" Sasuke stood, and began walking down the hall with his son. "They've been making excellent progress."

He didn't really notice that Karai was lingering in the foyer.

(She already knew her father couldn't hear her.)

"Well, it's just _kids_ these days. Graduating so _late_," Takeru said. He glanced, ever so briefly, at Karai, the oldest graduate in the family, at the age of eleven. "You'd think that if they took that long to graduate they'd take even more time to train further."

Takeru was nineteen years old. He had graduated from the academy when he was eight.

"Don't be so sure of that," Sasuke said, chuckling slightly. "Not everyone's nearly as talented as you, Takeru."

Never mind the fact that Hajime had graduated when he was ten, Inou at the same age, seven years later.

(And Sasuke when he was twelve, all those years ago.)

Nadeshiko didn't count.

"Ah, I suppose it's true…" Takeru said, sighing dramatically. Sasuke chuckled. "Though, Father, I wouldn't get your hopes up _too _terribly. They'll probably fail the first time around."

"We'll just have to see," Sasuke replied. "I won't be _too_ heartbroken if that's what comes to pass, though."

Though he wouldn't be terribly astonished if at least one his students _passed_, during those exams, and became a chuunin. They had a way of surprising him.

"Just means they didn't try hard enough, eh, Father?" said Takeru.

Takeru, who had passed the chuunin exams on his first try, when he was eleven.

Sasuke nodded, in agreement. And the two of them were at the end of the hallway, near the sliding door the led to the courtyard. It was open slightly, letting a breeze through. Ino was putting up laundry.

"Up for a little sparring, then, Father?"

Takeru's smile was so much like Sasuke's, full of ambition.

"Of course, son. Any time."

Together, they walked to the training ground.

* * *

Halfway across the city, at the gates, there was a boy with red hair and a rucksack. His clothes were simple, made of plain cloth, a belted robe and a pair of trousers. He was yelling for assistance.

Well, not exactly _assistance, _but he sure was yelling for _something_.

And he had a _very_ loud voice.

The two guards on duty didn't quite know what to make of it.

"What did you say you wanted, again?" said the younger of the two, a man with sheepish black eyes and sheepish black hair named Yamada.

"Like I _said, _where do I go to become a _ninja?"_ the boy said, again. "There's gotta be someone I can talk to, yeah?"

The two guards looked at each other again. "I… still don't know what you want, kid," said Yamada, rubbing the back of his head almost apologetically.

"You idiot, he's probably talking about the chuunin exams," whispered the other, smacking his partner on the back.

"Ouch! Sorry…"

The other guard, named Hatsumoto, addressed the boy in a louder voice. "The chuunin exams don't start for a few weeks." The memo had just come in, and Hatsumoto had memorized it. Yamada still flubbed at times. "Besides, which hidden village are you from, anyways?"

"Hidden village? What? My village isn't hidden. That is _not_ what I meant." The boy sighed, groaned, rolled his eyes. "Look, who's the boss around here? You guys have, like, a Hokage, yeah?"

"Uh… yeah," said Yamada.

"So take me to see him already! Since you guys are pretty much no help whatsoever."

The guards looked at each other. Again. "Well, I dunno," said Yamada. "Y'think we should let him in and see what the Nanadaime has to say?"

Hatsumoto smacked him again, this time on the back of the head. "Idiot. The Hokage's busy. We can send a message to him if you really need to but otherwise you're just gonna have to wait," he told the boy.

"Then who the _heck_ is gonna help me out here?" the boy said. He dropped his rucksack on the ground and crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes and scowling. "Look, I traveled all this way, and I'm not gonna be turned away without getting _somewhere_, yeah?"

"We… never said we were gonna turn you away," said Yamada. He was rubbing the back of his head again. "We just wanna find out what you need."

"How many times do I have to _say_ it?" the boy said, waving his arms for emphasis. "I want to be a _ninja!"_

Yamada blinked. "Wait, so you're a civilian?"

Hatsumoto smacked him on the back of the head again, hissing, "Idiot. If he's not here for the chuunin exams then of course he's a civilian." Back to the boy. "Listen, how old are you?"

"I turned sixteen in April."

His voice was awfully high. "Your _real_ age, kid."

"I _told _you, I'm _sixteen_." He sighed. "So I'm small for my age, yeah? Big freaking deal."

Yamada was convinced, and Hatsumoto wasn't. But they continued anyways. "Your parents know you're here?" Hatsumoto said.

"Uh, yeah. I wouldn't be here if they didn't."

"Sure. And… why do you want to become a ninja, kid?" said Hatsumoto, crossing his arms and leaning back into his seat. He was a lean man, and his nose was set into his face like a knife stuck into a cutting board.

"So I can achieve my greatest dream_._ Duh," said the boy, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I saved up enough money to move to Konoha an' start my training. So here I am, yeah? So where do I go? You can answer _that_, can't you?"

"You… want me to take him to the academy?" Yamada offered, after exchanging glances with Hatsumoto. He was newer than Hatsumoto, and only by a little bit, but he was not terribly afraid to show it.

"No, idiot, _you_ stay here, _I'm_ taking him to the records office so we can get him registered as a student or something. You have to do that first. Since it sounds like you plan on staying here for a while," he said, standing, looking at the boy critically. "You _do_ have papers on you, right?"

"…'course I have papers. I'm not an idiot," said the boy, thinking for a moment, then scoffing. He grabbed his rucksack, light in his dark blue eyes. "Well come on, let's _go _already, yeah?"

"I'll hold down the fort, then," Yamada said, smiling. "Good luck!"

The boy was practically skipping as Hatsumoto led him toward the center of the city.

* * *

"So my dad sat me down about a month ago, an' he said, 'Son, you're old enough to decide things for yourself. And your brother'—his name's Hiroyuki, by the way, he's my _older_ brother—'is already taking over the farm, so what do _you_ want to do?'"

The boy, who had identified himself as Hanamura Yukio, was telling his life story to Hatsumoto as they walked together to the records office.

"And, well, I had always _dreamed_ of being a ninja or something, yeah? I played with toy shuriken and things when I was little, read all the stories about the legendary warriors. Y'know, that kinda stuff. So I was, like, 'Well, Dad, there's that ninja village a few days journey away from here. I wanna go live there and be trained to be a ninja.' And we argued about that for a while, but then he said, 'Okay, I understand.' So then he wrote me a letter for you guys and gave me some money to tide me over to go with my savings and then I went and left! So here I am."

"…you talk _fast_, kid," was Hatsumoto's conclusion.

"I get that a lot, yeah," was Yukio's reply.

There had indeed been a letter, written in a carefully sloppy hand, summarized thusly: "I place my son, Hanamura Yukio, in the care of Konohagakure as he undergoes training to become a ninja." It was woefully scanty by Hatsumoto's standards, but when dealing with bumpkins, you had to take what you could get. The government would accept it, at any rate.

"So, like, after we go through here and I get registered and stuff, what do I do?" Yukio asked.

"Well, generally, we'll get you checked out at the academy too. Do some diagnostic tests, see your skill level. You… _do _know the basics of ninjutsu at least, right?" Yukio thought for a moment, then uneasily shook his head. Hatsumoto sighed. "Well, whatever. And you _will _need a place to stay. Anyone you know who lives here?"

"Not… really."

"Well, you'll have to rent an apartment or get a hotel room or something, then. You said you had money. How much?"

Yukio's eyes slid to the side, staring at the wall. "That's none of your business."

"We can't have you sleeping on the streets, kid. How _much_."

"…enough. Okay?" Yukio rolled his eyes. Hatsumoto did also. Wow, this kid.

They had almost reached the record office when there was a voice down the hallway, behind them.

"He-ey! Matsumoto-san!"

Hatsumoto stopped in his tracks. "That's Hatsumoto, sir." He didn't bother looking back, as Naruto was by his side within a few moments, dressed in his usual orange track jacket and holding a pair of thin books in his hands.

"Oh, sorry, man. I keep messing it up. Anyways—who's this?" He blinked a few times at Yukio, who blinked back.

"Hanamura Yukio, sir. An immigrant from…?" The boy hadn't really specified yet.

"The Land of Rice," Yukio completed, a vaguely suspicious look on his face.

"Ohh. The Land of Rice," Naruto echoed. Man, when was the last time he had heard—oh! When Sasuke had come back from that mission with his genin team. Man, those guys were always together, these days. It really warmed his heart. And Ino seemed so _happy_ about it, too. And Sakura wasn't bothering him about it, either! Totally great, on _all_ accounts. "That's cool."

There was a moment of silence. And then, from Hatsumoto: "You needed something, sir?"

"Oh, yeah! I have a favor to ask of you, can you spare a moment?" Naruto continued, grinning. "I can't seem to find Andou-kun _anywhere_."

"I'm in the middle of something, sir," Hatsumoto replied.

"Yeah? Like?"

"…I'm escorting Hanamura-san to the records office so he can be registered as a student, sir." And he had a tough enough time with Yamada.

"Oh! I can do that for you, y'know," Naruto replied, with a sunny smile. "Trade roles?"

Hatsumoto considered this for a second. "What did you need me to do, sir?"

"Just take these books over to Kenji-kun, down at the hospital? They're a present from his sister, I ran into her just now on her way out but I don't have any time to get them to him myself." He held up the books; they looked like comics, and they had pictures of a woman on the cover with green spots all over her face like mold, or moss.

Well, it was preferable to having to deal with paperwork. "Sure, though… which Kenji, sir?"

"Haruno Kenji, who else?" A pause. "_You_ know, the one that does the stuff with the seal people," Naruto added. He waved his other hand for emphasis, _wa-ay_ up high. "The tall guy, y'know? He works at the hospital."

Ah, yes. Him. "I'll take care of it, sir," Hatsumoto said, taking the books from his Hokage and going on his way. Yes, much more preferable.

Yukio and Naruto stood in the hallway together for a while, in silence, before either of them spoke.

As it happened, their words were simultaneous and identical.

"So who are you, again?"

Naruto was the one who recovered first, after the two of them lapsed into giggles. "Oh, well, I'm Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto. And your name's Yukio, right?"

Yukio nodded. "Yup. Hanamura Yukio. Nice to meet you, Uzumaki-san."

"I could say the same about you, Hanamura-kun."

"Pff, okay, first off? You don't need to call me Hanamura-kun. I was gonna tell that other guy off but he just seemed like such a stick in the mud," the boy said. "It makes me sound like I'm some weird… important guy. Call me Yukio, yeah?"

"Well then you can just call me Naruto, y'know? Even though I guess I _am_ a weird important guy of sorts."

Yukio grinned, and so did Naruto, and they agreed to it simultaneously. They both thought it was hilarious.

"So," Yukio said, finally, "you that guy's boss or something?"

"So-omething like that," Naruto replied, laughing. "Hey, so you're moving here from the Land of Rice, huh?"

"So-omething like that," Yukio replied, smirking. "I was being taken to get registered or something."

"Ah, yeah, we should probably do that. Here, this way!" Naruto said, and pointed down the hallway toward the records office. "So, uh, why are you moving out here, anyways?"

And Yukio told him the whole story, with his brother and his father and how he just "wanted to be a freakin' ninja, yeah?" And Naruto nodded and listened with crossed arms and laughed at his enthusiasm, and the boy filled out papers, and showed the nice lady behind the counter the letter from his father, and paid for his processing fees with wrinkled bills from his pocket, and stood aside to get his photo taken. Cheese!

When he was all done, Naruto got an idea.

"Oh, yeah, I can have this approved right here!" he said, pounding his fist into his hand. "Y'think I could use a red pen or something instead of a stamp?"

The records attendant behind the desk blinked. "I… do have a red pen on me, but don't you think you should wait and use your official seal, sir?" she said. "It won't take long for the paperwork to get to _your_ office." Not with Andou around, _goodness_ could that boy skedaddle.

"Na-ah, I only use that seal 'cos it's faster than writing my name all the time, y'know," Naruto said, and laughed. "C'mon, hand it over."

The attendant thought for a moment, shrugged, and handed him the pen, shoving the papers across the desk at him. "Whatever you say, sir."

Naruto wrote his signature quickly and roughly, and underlined it after the fact, as if to prove a point. "Well, Yukio-kun? You are now, officially, a citizen of Konohagakure. Welcome!"

"Technically, he's something of a ward of the state, sir, since he's under twenty," the attendant corrected. "This is only a student visa, besides…."

"Eh, you're still a citizen to me!" Naruto said, hugging Yukio warmly around the shoulder. "We should head to the academy next, I think. I kinda wanna see what you got, y'know!"

"Hell yes!" said Yukio, clenching his fist. "Man, I am so _excited!_"

"I'll get this filed away for you, sir," said the attendant, taking the papers back with something like a shy smile. Typical Hokage…

"Thanks!" Naruto said, giving her a thumbs up, and really meaning it, too. "C'mon, let's go!"

The Hokage and the boy sprinted out together, toward the academy, steps in near-perfect sync.

* * *

It should not be found terribly surprising that, by the end of the night, Naruto had volunteered to take Yukio into his home until further notice.

Well, at least until he found his own place to live. Whichever came first.

The diagnostic test at the academy went by swiftly, after finding a chuunin with the time and experience to administer the test in the first place. Yukio surprised everyone with a loose yet forceful natural fighting style. Of sorts. Well, whatever the heck it was.

He also had, as the chuunin examiner so eloquently put it, "Shit-loads of chakra." Yukio was very proud of this, once he had it explained to him.

He still had literally no experience in ninjutsu and anything else requiring chakra control, but, well, he would probably take quickly to it. They'd find a teacher for him within the next few days, to which Naruto and Yukio both responded with a hearty "All RIGHT!"

That was about when Yukio finally noticed that _everyone_ was calling Naruto "sir" and stuff, not just the guys at the record office, and he asked what was up with that, anyways.

And that was how Yukio found out that Naruto was the Hokage. _The_ Hokage. Like, the boss.

Which was, instantly, the Coolest Thing Ever. The actual Hokage. The head honcho. The BOSS. Basically, a pretty cool guy. One of those weird, important types.

And that was when Naruto laughed and declared Yukio the bee's knees, and high fives were exchanged, and then Naruto decided to show Yukio the city.

Never mind the fact that he was supposed to be "too busy." He'd be able to catch up on his paperwork at home, that was a given.

This was Important.

And somehow, while walking together, somewhere past the Hyuuga compound, the conversation was brought to living situations. Yukio was alone, underage and without a guardian, and the city would be able to find an apartment for him, if he wanted to wait a night or two. Naruto refused to let him stay in a hotel. "That'd just be rude, y'know?"

And besides, he didn't really mind the prospect of acting as Yukio's guardian until further notice. The kid was really growing on him, and despite having truly known him for only a few hours, it felt as if they had known each other since he was very small.

Yukio did not mind this at all.

Which is what brought the two of them to Naruto's house. It wouldn't be for more than a day or two, but it was the least he could do to help out such a great kid, in so many words.

Yukio's eyes were not exactly wide, but darting, up and down, left and right, taking in every detail as Naruto opened the door for him.

So _that_ was the kind of house a Hokage lived in.

(It was _nothing_ like home.)

"You can put your shoes anywhere," Naruto said, kicking his own off in the foyer and turning on the light.

"Oh, thanks! Again, haha," Yukio replied. He bent over and started taking off one of his sandals, carefully, holding the shoe in his hand.

Naruto stared. "Why so formal?"

Yukio blinked, shoe in his palm. "Formal?"

"With the shoes. You're my guest, y'know. My house is yours! You can just kick 'em off, I won't care."

Yukio was silent, thinking. Then, a little smile bloomed on his face, like a paper flower in a bowl of water. He straightened up, put his shoe back on, and then kicked them both off unceremoniously, like Naruto had done.

Naruto laughed so hard he had to wipe the tears out of his eyes. "Oh, man, I didn't mean _literally_, y'know!"

"I know. I just felt like it. Your house is mine, yeah?" Yukio said, and adjusted his rucksack on his shoulder, smirking. "I'm lettin' loose."

"Pff. I guess you are! C'mon, let's head to the kitchen," Naruto said, and stepped out of the foyer, down the hallway. "I'm really feelin' like some dinner right about now."

"Oh, dinner?" Yukio said, following behind, eyes on every detail that passed. "Well, I _am_ a little hungry… but you shouldn't waste your money on me. That's too much."

"Hey, now! Where are your manners?" Naruto continued, turning the lights on in the kitchen. It was clean, save for a few bowls in the sink, and an odor of broth that seemed to linger in the air almost tangibly. "C'mon, lemme get you something. Part of your welcome package, y'know?" He laughed and opened the fridge, and peered around experimentally, eyes narrowed. There was very little in there, aside from maybe a questionably fresh carton of milk and lunch meats. Uhh… "What are you in the mood for?"

_Please don't ask for something homemade, ple-ease don't._

"I'm not picky. I can eat just about anything, yeah?" Yukio replied, grinning.

"Well, great! Let's get ramen, then." Naruto slammed the fridge door shut, and clapped his hands together, smiling widely. "Y'wanna drop your stuff off before we go? I could show you the rest of the city, when we're done, y'know."

"Uh… sure! Sounds awesome!" Yukio said, blinking. "Where can I…?"

"Here, over here." Naruto gestured with his hand, walking out of the kitchen and down another hallway. "I got a guest room, but I hardly use it. You can stay there." He turned the light on and let Yukio walk in.

It was a plain room, no-frills, with a bed, a chair, the usual. "Sorry if it smells weird or anything." As a matter of fact, it smelled very nice. At least, to Yukio. To Naruto, it just smelled _strange, _foreign and feminine_. _"It's… usually my daughter who stays here. She's left some stuff behind. Hope it's not _too_ girly." There were dolls on the dresser, floral prints on the walls.

"It's fine." Yukio dropped his bag on the chair. "You have a daughter? Does she not live with you?"

"Well, _sorta,_" Naruto replied. He scratched the back of his head, laughing once, twice. "It's… complicated. She lives in another country. With her mom, y'know."

"No, I… don't know." Yukio blinked once, twice. "Did you guys separate or…?"

"Nah, it's not that, we were never really _together…_" Naruto was looking at the ceiling. "Well, we were _together _but not in _that _way, y'know. It's all politics and stuff. I only see her, like, every now and then." He laughed. "'Cos I made a promise, y'know… Yeah…"

Yukio shrugged. He'd seen stranger families, stranger situations.

They stood in silence, for a while, in the girl's room, with the dolls and the floral prints from the Land of Demons.

"…so we were gonna get some ramen, yeah?" Yukio said.

"Yeah! We totally were," Naruto replied.

Together, they left.

Though Yukio tried to steal Naruto's shoes on the way out.

"Your shoes are my shoes too, yeah?"

His feet were almost the exact same size as Naruto's, and his smile was incredibly big.


	5. Prism Spectrum

_Chapter 5 - Prism Spectrum_

* * *

Chouko was working a shift at Ichiraku when they got there, and she greeted them extremely warmly, halfway through adjusting her handkerchief. She'd only been working there only maybe a month and was already a master at every variety served. It had been the exact same situation at her last job, the curry shop. And the hibachi place.

Then again, half of her family was made up of cooking-nin. She considered it extra training.

"Hokage-sama! Welcome! Same as usual tonight?" She had a soft face and a very soft smile, just like her father, but a loud, spicy voice, and hips that went on for forever.

"Well, we're gonna have to take an extra order. By the way, Yukio-kun? This is Akimichi Chouko. She's a… family friend," Naruto said, gesturing towards the girl. "Chouko-chan, this is Hanamura Yukio. He just moved here, an' I'm showing him around the city, y'know."

Yukio bowed, quickly, with a smile. "It's nice to meet you."

"Aww, well look at_ you_! Welcome to Konoha, I suppose!" She laughed. "So what can I get for you, sweetheart?"

"Order whatever you want, I'm paying," Naruto said, sitting down, winking.

Yukio stared. Ichiraku wasn't exactly known for having a small selection of noodles.

"Uhh…" Another moment. "…uhhh…"

"You want me to come back…?" Chouko asked.

"…salt ramen! Just salt ramen, yeah," said Yukio.

"Sounds good, honey. I'll be right on it." She disappeared further into the booth, shrouded by steam. "One salt ramen and one Hokage Special!" Somewhere in the back of the booth, there was a shouted reply.

"…you can sit down, y'know," Naruto said.

Yukio hadn't really noticed that he was still standing. "Oh! Right. Hehe." He sat, and fidgeted for a moment, humming slightly. "This a good place to eat, yeah?"

"Yeah, totally! I've been going here for ages." Naruto tilted his head, humming a little to himself. "It's a great place."

They sat together in silence, listening to the sounds of ramen being prepared.

"So, uh!"

They were talking at the same time again. Hahaha, what.

"Oh, you first. Please," Yukio said.

"Oh, sure. Well, y'didn't talk much about it back at the records office, but… what brings you here to Konoha, again?"

What, Naruto couldn't remember stuff like that so easily. He frequently needed multiple memos on the more pressing issues brought to his attention, to ensure that he'd absorb the information eventually. And, most of the time, it worked like a charm. Most of the time.

Yukio tilted his head. "Sure I did, I talked plenty about it."

"Well you sure talked about _how_ you got here. But I dunno if I caught exactly _why," _Naruto said, waving his hand around a little. "So what's your story?"

"Already told you. My brother Hiroyuki got put in charge of the farm, my dad said I could do what I wanted, so I came here to be a ninja. So I can achieve my dream, yeah?" Yukio said. He looked at the counter, then back at Naruto. "Why you making me repeat myself? I say something wrong…?"

Why did he look so anxious? Naruto could feel fear leaking out of him.

"No, no! You're fine, you're fine. Just… curious about you, y'know?" Naruto said.

Yukio shrugged. Eyes back to the counter, his fear fading so slightly away.

Quiet, mixed with the sound of the city, the preparation of noodles.

"So what's _your_ story, Naruto-san?"

Naruto blinked. "Huh?"

"Well you've made me tell _my_ story, it's only fair I get _yours_, yeah?" Yukio said. He was smiling, mischief in his blue eyes. "And you even made me repeat myself, I think I deserve _something_ in return, yeah."

"Haha! Well, gee, where do I start…? Like, from the very beginning? 'Cos that would take _forever_, y'know," Naruto said. "Where do you want me to start?"

"Well… you're the Hokage, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"So what's up with that?"

"What do you mean, 'What's up with that?'"

Yukio leaned against the counter, propping up his head on his palm. "Well, what's a Hokage _do_, really? You, like, the boss around here? Or are you more like a daimyo or something?"

Naruto laughed, waving his hand dismissively. "No, no, the Land of Fire already _has_ a daimyo, y'know."

"Well duh, I knew _that_," said Yukio. "You were doing paperwork and stuff back there, and something with books, or something, so what else do you do? And how'd you become Hokage anyway, yeah?"

"Oh, well, that's an easier question." He cleared his throat. "Well, see, I got chosen to be Hokage 'bout ten years ago."

"Chosen? Weird," said Yukio.

"Hey, lemme finish, y'know?" Naruto said.

"Fine, fine." Yukio stuck out his tongue, slumping a little more. "So you got chosen, yeah?"

"Yeah. And before me, there was Kakashi-sensei. And before _him_ was Tsunade-baasan. And before _her_ was my dad, and before _him_ was-"

"Wa-ait, wait, wait. Your _dad_ was Hokage too?" Naruto nodded. "…okay, now that just doesn't make sense."

Naruto blinked, tilting his head, resting it on the flat of his hand. "Why doesn't it make sense?"

"Well, if your _dad_ was once Hokage, then shouldn't you have come, like, right after him?" Yukio narrowed his eyes, frowning, as if deep in thought.

"No, actually-"

"Wait, wa-ait." Yukio took his head off his hand and pinched his chin, crossing one leg over the other. _Very_ deep in thought. "…you call your own brother and sister _sensei_ and _baasan?_ …man, your family is _weird_."

Naruto's laugh started as a snort, then a chuckle, and then a full-on attack.

"What's so funny?" Yukio's eyes snapped open for a moment, then shut even tighter than before. "What'd I say?"

"Kakashi-sensei… my brother… pfffff…." He waved his hand dismissively, when Yukio folded his arms, squinting even harder. "No-o, no, no. Where did you get _that_ idea?"

Yukio shrugged. He unfolded his arms, and laced his fingers around his knee. He looked at the ceiling. "Well, I thought that you were chosen by your _family_ to be the next Hokage after your brother and sister _failed_ or _died _or something. I mean, that's how it works for ninja stuff, yeah?"

"No-ot here, it doesn't," Naruto said, shaking his head, still fighting off the last of his laughter. The heck did he mean by that? "I mean, sure, the first two Hokage were brothers, and Tsunade-baa is related to them, and then there's my dad and me, but it's not a _given_ or anything, y'know?"

"Oh. So it was just a coincidence?" Yukio unfolded his legs, wrapping his feet around the base of the stool instead. He thinned his lips, in process.

"Sorta, I guess? The Hokage is chosen based on skill and stuff. I didn't even know he was my dad until I was, like, sixteen." He laughed once, sighed once, shoulders rising and falling. "Ah, now _that_ was pretty strange…"

"Strange how?"

"Eh." Boy, what to say to _that? _Um. "He… passed away after I was born. I didn't really ever get to meet him."

Two pairs of blue eyes focused on the counter.

"Oh… I'm sorry."

Unexpectedly, Naruto found himself laughing. "Hey, hey, what are you apologizing for? It's not your fault, y'know. And I_ did_ get to meet him, once."

Woah, where had _that_ come from?

Yukio's mouth dropped, wrinkling with thought. "…okay, now there is no way I can figure out _that_ happening."

Yeah, not in a million years. There was a reason why he tended not to talk about that sort of stuff with non-jinchuuriki. Other people just had the hardest time understanding that those sorts of things happened, sharing a mind with another. Or more than one mind, in Naruto's rare case.

Naruto told himself to think quick, and did.

"…as a baby, y'know? I mean, he was there when I was born."

"…oh. Ha. Haha. That's funny, yeah." Yukio's laugh was dry, though there was still a note of sourness in that voice for some reason.

And Naruto found himself wondering why he had even decided to bring _that _up in the first place.

No, seriously, why _had_ he?

"So when was that," Yukio asked, smirking, "like a hundred years ago?"

"I'm forty-three this October, y'know!" Naruto laughed, in return, already putting his worries out of his mind.

"Well it's better that you were made Hokage as an old fart, rather than a freakin' baby, yeah?" Yukio leaned back again, glancing to the side, smile sliding up over more and more of his face. "Wouldn't want no baby in charge."

"Oh yeah? Well, when I gotta pick a new Hokage, maybe I _will_ choose a baby, just 'cos I can."

He didn't even know what they were going on about anymore, but he didn't care. They were laughing in unison, and things were good.

And then there was the ramen, served with a honeyed smile and a wink from Chouko. The Hokage Special, a massive bowl of miso ramen with a healthy serving of pork cutlet floating in the broth. And, for Yukio, salt ramen.

"Thanks for the food!"

As the two of them broke their chopsticks, neither of them managed to split cleanly.

* * *

If there was one thing about Yukio that was readily apparent, aside from the fact that he could talk a mile a minute when prompted, it was that he ate nearly as fast as he talked.

Naruto was barely a quarter of the way through his bowl when Yukio had finished his noodles. "More, please!"

"Woah. Hey, kid, slow down, y'know?" Naruto said. "The booth's not gonna go anywhere."

Still, there was Chouko, and her exquisite ears. "Another bowl of salt ramen, sugar?"

"No, _salt_ ramen, not _sugar_ ramen," Yukio said, making a face as Chouko took his bowl, the silver rings on her thick hand shining in the steam. "Sugar ramen would taste _weird_, yeah?"

Chouko laughed. "Oh goodness _me_, aren't you something. Another bowl of _salt_ ramen, for you, then."

When it was brought to him, he had it inhaled in less than a few minutes. Naruto was still only halfway through his bowl.

It was maybe after his fourth bowl that the ramen really started to hit him. His eyes were dull, glazed-over, and his mouth hung open slightly.

"I think maybe you shouldn't have eaten so fast, y'know," Naruto said, finishing off his own bowl. "You gonna be okay?"

"Ugh… That was so… _good_," Yukio replied, before falling over onto the counter, resting his head on his arms. "Haven't had anything that good to eat in… _ages…_" He closed his eyes, sighing happily. "I think today's been a good day, yeah?"

Naruto looked at him fondly, head tilting slightly. And, not quite knowing the reason why, he put his hand on the boy's back and gently patted the space between his shoulders, like he used to do when Andou and Kurunari were younger, when they fell asleep in his lap.

Red hair fell and parted over his neck; the skin was marked with little red spots like freckles, and Naruto squinted, trying to place where he had seen something similar to them before. He was interrupted before he could get a better look at them.

"Now what in the world is _this_ here?"

It was a man in a mask with a tired expression on his face, half-buried in a book, standing behind them.

Naruto's face lit up, instantly, and his hand jumped off of Yukio's back. "Oh, hey! Kakashi-sensei! What are you doing here?"

"Back from watching Kotoji." Even his voice sounded tired, like his eye.

"Like _always. _ Why was it this time?" Naruto said. He craned his neck, almost looking backwards, as he spoke.

The man named Kakashi sighed. "Yamato didn't elaborate."

"Ahh. Okay. Well, it was fun, I hope?"

"Yeah. It was fun."

Yukio sighed again, shifting his head deeper into his arms. Kakashi noticed. "So who's the kid?"

"Ah, Kakashi-sensei, this is Hanamura Yukio-kun, he just moved here. I'm sorta acting as guardian for him, so I took him out to dinner." He nodded as he spoke, and tapped Yukio on the shoulder. "Hey, hey, wake up, a little."

"Mwuh? Oh, hello. S'nice to meet you," Yukio said, waving his fingers.

"Yukio, huh," said Kakashi, and tilted his head experimentally, as if trying to recall something.

As it happened, Yukio was doing much of the same thing, trying to remember where he had heard the name before. Kakashi had a bandage wrapped over his left eye. He spoke before Kakashi could say something else. "…Naruto-san's brother, yeah?"

Kakashi's one exposed eyebrow went shooting towards the center of his forehead. "Excuse me?"

Naruto began laughing. "No, no. This is my old sensei, Yukio-kun. And, as a matter of fact," he added, almost prideful, "the Hokage that came before me."

Kakashi sighed. "Naruto, please."

"…but I thought you were dead…?" Yukio said. He narrowed his eyes, like there was light shining in them, as half-remembered words floated to his head and jumbled together. "You a ghost or sommin'?"

Kakashi's eye widened. "What in the world?" he said, looking at Naruto.

"Pfff… No, Yukio-kun, he is _not_ a ghost." Naruto managed to smile a little, trying to collect his own thoughts, before Yukio's face twisted itself into a grimace again. He moaned, holding his stomach. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Think I ate too much," Yukio managed to mumble.

Naruto sighed, laughed. "_Now_ you say it. It's fine, we can head home soon, y'know."

"I still wanna know why he thought I was _dead_, Naruto," Kakashi said, half serious, half humorous. He had folded his book over one finger, head still tilted curiously.

"Confused you with another, uh. Hokage. I guess?" Naruto said. He shrugged. "That's what we were talking about, before." He paused, searching for words. The ones he found tasted bitter, but he used them anyways. "You know… My dad."

"Ah. I see."

In reality, Kakashi was only slightly interested in the Hokage talk.

(Generally, he tried to keep his retirement as quiet as possible. Though his face on the cliffside made that hard, sometimes.)

What was preoccupying him more was the boy, Yukio. His face was painfully familiar, but Kakashi could not recall where he had seen it before.

"Ahhh, my stomach _hurts_," Yukio said, sliding off the stool. "Shoulda stopped at three…"

"We're probably gonna head home," Naruto said. "Sorry I couldn't introduce you two more, y'know? I'm sure we'll see each other later."

"No, no, it's fine. I'm just heading home myself, thought to check here and see if you were around first, though," Kakashi replied. His eye rested on the boy again, who was leaning against the wall of the ramen stand. "Next time, maybe you shouldn't…"

Where had he seen that _face _before?"

"…overdo it so much. With the ramen, I mean."

"Thanks for the advice," Yukio said, some of the strength returning in his voice. He moaned slightly. "Ugh, okay, false alarm… But I _really_ gotta go."

"Go where?" Naruto said.

"To the _bathroom_, yeah?"

Naruto laughed. "Okay, okay, I'll get you home," he said, and took out his wallet (simple, brown, no-frills—a gift from Kakeru to replace his ailing frog-purse) to pay for the ramen. He left the money on the counter. "Seeya, Kakashi-sensei."

"Bye." His wave was friendly, but strangely hollow, in a way, as he watched the two of them leave.

That boy's face was _far_ too familiar.

Kakashi went home feeling uneasy, but it abated after a while.

* * *

"You okay in there?"

Naruto was standing outside of the bathroom.

"Stop talking to me while I poop!"

Yukio had been in there for about a half an hour.

Naruto couldn't help but laugh. "Well okay, I just wanna make sure you're not, like, gonna die, y'know?"

"You can't die from crap!"

He laughed again. "Call if you need anything," he said, and wandered a bit further down the hallway.

Night had since most definitely fallen, and the lights were on, the darkness of the city outside. Naruto's bedroom was down the hallway, and so was the guest room that was now Yukio's, for the time being.

For some reason, he just couldn't bring himself to stray too far from the bathroom door. He was worried about the kid. Yeah, yeah, you couldn't die from poop. But still.

At the end of the hallway was the table where Naruto kept a few photographs. He didn't like putting them on the walls, because he was utterly useless with a hammer and nails and it wasn't the adult thing to do, to tape them to the wall like he used to do with his posters, so he just let them collect on the surfaces of his house.

He had almost three decades worth of photos, and one from outside of that time, but all in all he hadn't amassed more than a handful of snapshots, a handful of memories. But there was a thing that people said about quality over quantity, and he loved his photos like he loved the people in them.

The most recent jinchuuriki meet-up photos were there, the rest stored in albums that Sachiko, the two-tails, made for everyone and updated out of the kindness of her heart, every time they met, the dear that she was.

There were ten people in each of them, their heights changing, shifting. Some individuals disappearing, others taking their place. Gaara, Bee, and Naruto were the only constants; the others—Morizuru, Sachiko, Yuu, Kakeru, Kemuri, Kurunari, Tonbo—hadn't been around for nearly that long. Kurunari was the oldest, at twenty-one. He had lasted the longest.

Naruto had a few pictures of him and Kurunari, that white-haired boy with the six-tails sealed into him, together, when they were both younger. Kurunari had gotten so _tall_ lately, but once he hadn't even reached Naruto's waist, Naruto's shoulder. Now it was Naruto who came up to his shoulder, funnily enough. But his smile was still the same, a smirk of a thing that barely matched his painfully shy demeanor.

There was that picture from when they had finally brought Sasuke back, and everyone was bruised and bandaged and horribly broken, but still grinning like idiots. Even Sasuke had a ghost of a smile on his face, though his eyes were bandaged, though bruises were growing on his arms, though he'd be in the hospital for weeks afterward.

Which was why Naruto liked that photo so much.

"That's that Kakashi guy we saw earlier, yeah?"

Yukio had gotten back from the bathroom, and was pointing to a photo. In it, Kakashi slept on a couch, book covering the bottom of his face, a dark-haired baby likewise sleeping on his chest, face away from the camera; little red freckles dotted the folds of skin on the back of his neck. The afternoon streamed over them from a window above the couch.

(Yamato had given Naruto the photo a few years ago, after reporting in from a mission, laughing. "I found them like this when I came home, isn't that precious?" Naruto totally agreed.)

"Oh! Yeah, that's Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said. "You okay?"

"I'm fine, I feel a lot better," Yukio said, and tilted his head, taking in the photo a bit more closely. "Whose kid is that? His?"

"No, no, it's Yamato-san's," Naruto replied, smiling. "His name's Kotoji. Cutest kid, he's about three, four years old now?"

"Huh. Yamato. That his wife or something…?"

Naruto had to clamp his hand over his mouth to keep his laughter from getting too bad. "Nah, nah, not his… pff, wife…" He shook his head, toning it down for Yukio's sleepy, perplexed expression. "They're just friends. Kakashi-sensei's practically Kotoji-kun's second dad, though. It's kinda funny, really."

Yukio shrugged. "Cute kid." He yawned.

"Tired, huh?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah."

"Well you can go to bed whenever, I'm gonna be up for a while longer," Naruto said. He put his hands in his pockets, instead of on Yukio's shoulder. "You can take a bath too, if y'want. You know where the bathroom is."

"Nah, I think I'll pass. Thanks, though." Yukio had that look in his eyes that kids got when they were a lot more tired than they really were. "Really, I can't believe my luck, yeah? Housed by the boss of the city… Don't wanna be a bother, though…"

"I wouldn't have you if I didn't like you, y'know," Naruto said.

Yukio ambled towards, and then lingered in the doorway of the girl's room, slight smile on his face.

"G'night, Yukio-kun," Naruto said.

"G'night, Naruto-san," Yukio said, and left.

Naruto stayed for only a moment longer, before heading to his own room, keeping the light on in the hallway.

He kept many photographs, but in his room, there were only three, on his bedside table.

The first was of his team, him and Sasuke and Sakura and Kakashi-sensei, when they were younger. A photo they all owned a copy of.

The second was of him with his own genin, Shusuke and Masao and Murasaki, from when Shusuke was still alive.

And the third was a photo of his parents.

He had found it when he had moved into the house, more than ten years before, hidden behind a bookshelf, wrinkled and forgotten. It was blurry and out of focus. He had put it in a frame, but he could still see the creases behind the glass.

In the foreground, a quarter of a woman's face, a blue eye, red hair parted to the side, a perplexed expression. He could practically hear his mother saying, "How do I work this thing, again?"

In the background, his father, nothing but a smile, a soft aura of blond hair. Naruto couldn't hear his voice nearly as well.

He stayed awake for about an hour doing some paperwork he had picked up on the way home from Andou, who had graciously sorted it all into stuff he could do from home—literal homework, which is what they called it, almost like a joke. Which, in a way, it was, a little thing they shared that made them laugh.

He read some reports about the preparations for the upcoming chuunin exams; a memo from Ibiki about some crime syndicate causing a stink over their missing daughter in the Land of Silk, so be careful; progress reports on the seal therapy in the hospital; stuff from the field agents on the project; y'know, boring stuff like that. And, then, he went to bed.


	6. Display Matrix

_Chapter 6 - Display Matrix_

* * *

Yukio was still living in Naruto's house, a few days later. In fact, June had passed into July, and he was still there, leaving in the morning for his training, and returning in the evening to go out to dinner with the Hokage, once he was done with his work for the day. It was as if he had always been there, after a while.

He had been assigned a sensei on the third day, after, on the second day, there proved to be a decided lack of teachers who could spare the time (or patience) for a sixteen-year-old newbie, all busy with their own genin or academy-level classes.

Naruto went to Shikamaru about this, afterwards. Why he did this was anyone's guess. Yeah, Shikamaru was his advisor for just about everything when Iruka was occupied, but still.

Shikamaru, of course, sighed when he heard the request. "You want me to_ what_?"

"Yukio-kun needs someone to train him, 'cos there's nobody at the academy that can do anything," Naruto explained. "It won't be that hard."

Shikamaru sighed. And Naruto had even bothered to visit him in his home, and on a Sunday, too… That was his day _off, _damn it. Man, how _bothersome._ "I don't have time, Naruto," he said.

"C'mon, it'll be easy. He's really smart. No effort at all, y'know?"

"I don't feel like teaching anyone right now, thanks," Shikamaru replied, sighing. Again.

"But he _needs_ a teacher!"

"Man, calm _down_ already. Why's this kid so important, anyways? You're getting all worked up."

And Naruto stopped, and thought for a moment.

There was a strange, jingling sort of noise in the air, there in Shikamaru's living room.

Why _was_ it so important that Yukio receive training?

"_So I can achieve my dream, yeah?"_

Everything else he just couldn't articulate.

"It's his _dream_, y'know," Naruto said. And there was that inspirational gleam in his eye, whenever he talked about stuff like that. "And as Hokage, it's my duty to help him reach that dream."

A fourth sigh. No use arguing against _that_ logic… "Look, I'd help you if I could, but I just don't have the time. Shikake's keeping me busy as hell, and don't even get me _started_ on all the trouble I get from Temari."

From the couch, a hand rose and fell. "Sup."

Shikamaru glared sharply at the space it left behind. She'd been there the whole time? Of course…

Shikake was fourteen years old, and had developed a lethal sense of sarcasm instead of the usual obsession with boys that most girls her age seemed to have.

(Shikamaru blamed her mother for making her so difficult to handle. Temari blamed her father for making her such a smartass.)

"Well then who the _heck_, man?" Naruto continued, forcing Shikamaru's eyes back to him.

"…why are you asking _me? _You're the Hokage, you have other people you can talk to about this."

"But I already asked everyone."

"Even Masao?"

Describing Masao as a pinch hitter was a both a gross understatement and an insult to his character. He was the temp of temps, the sub of subs, the king of the caller-in-sick. And now, mysteriously, he was the sensei of a genin team for some reason. There was a story behind that, but Naruto didn't have it just yet.

"Yeah, even Masao-kun, but he's gotta train his guys for the chuunin exams and he just can't do it." Naruto had his face screwed up, meaning he was either confused or concentrating. Or both. "Come on, Shikamaru, help me out."

"You should ask Benio-neesan." Shikake spoke, hanging backwards off the couch. She had a little knife or a kunai or something in her hands, attached to a chain that was wrapped around her right wrist. She was playing with it idly. So _that's_ where the weird jingling sound had been coming from. "She shouldn't be too busy."

Oh yeah. Benio.

Benio was Kurenai's kid, a tall, strange woman that was beautifully dangerous, with a sharp nose and even sharper eyes. Naruto liked her a lot, to the point where he was half-considering naming her the next Hokage, once all was said and done.

No, he hadn't forgotten about Konohamaru, but that guy… had different priorities, these days. Not that Naruto had a problem with any of the things he did, and he thought that Yoh-chan was the sweetest thing, really, but he just didn't seem that interested in running a village, was all. He was practically living in the Land of Earth those days, anyways.

Either way, Benio would be a good person to ask about this. She was a jounin, but not attached to any sort of permanent project, like the Seal Rehabilitation Team, or ANBU or the academy. Why hadn't he thought of her before?

"Cool. I'll go ask her, then!" Naruto said, and was out in an instant with a bright, quick thank-you. Shikamaru stood in the doorway stiffly, watching him leave.

"Yo-ou're welcome," Shikake said, after a moment, in a mock sing-song. And then she disappeared again, messing with that thing on the chain, whatever it was. She was always playing with little things like that.

For the sixth time, Shikamaru sighed.

The things he had to put up with.

Benio, as it turned out, was more than happy to begin the lessons with Yukio. She showed up at the door of her apartment when Naruto came to ask her, sleepy, short hair in her eyes, in boxers and a wife-beater. She agreed to start with him on Monday almost immediately, now if the Hokage would please excuse her, and she closed the door and went back to whatever sort of guest one had over while one was still in one's underwear. Naruto could hear her apologizing as he walked away.

Man, the way that Yukio's eyes lit up when Naruto told him the news.

And Benio rather liked him, which helped things considerably. Though, embarrassingly enough, she had thought that Yukio was a girl at first, and was halfway through complimenting him on his lovely red hair before he said anything about it.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I am _so _sorry," Benio said, covering her painted mouth with her hands. "I promise, I won't make that mistake again, Yukio-kun."

"…uh, sure… Let's… just start training, then, yeah?" Yukio said, his face as red as his beautiful hair.

So what if he was kinda small for his age, yeah?

(Even though he was only a hair shorter than Naruto was. But Naruto was already on the shorter side.)

So what if he had a girly face?

(Though if Yukio's hair were any longer, then it'd be so much more embarrassingly obvious.)

Benio apologized again. Really, if she had offended him…

But she hadn't, not really.

So they got on with it.

He learned far better than anyone had ever expected.

"I hardly know where to _start_ with him," Benio told Naruto, one particular evening, about a week later. "It's like he knows everything already, or he _knew_ it once, and I'm just reminding him of how it all works. Oh, I don't know, I'm _bad_ with words."

Naruto just shrugged, smiling, and listened to Yukio recount his progress in the evenings when he came home, and they were both in the house.

Well, one night, he wasn't in the house.

He was on the roof.

"I think I'm getting the hang of this ninja stuff," he said, with a grin.

"Get down from there, you," Naruto said, echoing his smile.

It was only natural that the rumors started spreading almost immediately.

After all, when they weren't training or working or otherwise busy, Naruto and Yukio were together. Eating ramen, laughing, smiling like they were sharing some private joke.

The prevailing theory was that Yukio was the result of some sort of tryst out in the Land of Rice between the Hokage and some country woman, and that Yukio had somehow found out and come back to Konoha for… whatever reason it was that he would come back to Konoha. To get to know his dad, maybe? To blackmail him? Whispers and half-reasonable assumptions were swapped like snacks at lunchtime.

Naruto had no real children of his own. No, the child he had over in the Land of Demons with that priestess didn't count, as she was a purely political creature.

So, to make up for it, Naruto instead made himself a family of friends, and the children of friends.

The current generation of jinchuuriki, for example. They practically _were_ Naruto's family, from the way he went about treating them. He'd made it his personal mission, once all the tailed beasts were rounded up and returned to the countries they belonged to, to ensure that the children they were sealed into were given the love and respect that they deserved. Nobody could really argue with that.

Boy, did that ever work out well. It still wasn't easy, being one of those rare nine (especially for Kemuri, that poor thing), but Naruto made it easier. One could bet money on him always being there shortly after a sealing, with a hug and a genuine reassurance that everything would be okay from there on out.

Well, except for Morizuru. But that guy was a special case. And Naruto still kinda liked him, anyways, despite what he was. Er, used to be.

…yeah, it was kind of weird, talking about Morizuru. Which is why he was a special case.

Though there _was_ Hyuuga Andou, the young son of Hinata, who refused to say anything about who the boy's father was.

The public smiled smugly, telling themselves that they knew better, despite her firmly-pressed lips. It was so _obvious_, what was going on between them.

(Though certain parties also suspected Kiba, or even Shino as the father. But Hinata certainly wasn't saying, and neither were they.)

Andou was fourteen-going-on-fifteen years old, with dark hair and pale eyes and a great love, a great hunger for order and bureaucracy. Even though he had the Byakugan, and, as a result, flawless vision, he just seemed to be the type who would wear glasses, and his bangs were cut sharply and cleanly.

When he was younger, he would often play in Naruto's office, sorting paperwork. Surprisingly, he did something of a better job at organizing everything than most of the staff, which Naruto found hilarious and endearing, and left Kakashi wondering, "Where was this kid when _I_ was Hokage?"

He was now an intern at the Hokage Manor, to no ones' surprise. And Naruto utterly doted on him, often eating lunch with him in the break room. He and Yukio were introduced on his fourth day in Konoha. Andou had to leave early, but he assured Naruto, later, when delivering the usual pile of homework, that he found Yukio very charming, before pointing out that Ibiki had sent out another memo about that crime family, the Taki Syndicate, so it was probably important.

One could go on for hours about him and his students, and how deeply he had grieved for Shusuke, when he passed. And how worried he had been, when Murasaki very nearly followed in his wake. And she never really was the same, never was really quite _there_ after that, but that just seemed to make Naruto love her all the more. And maybe that was why she wasn't _as_ messed-up as she could have been, some people speculated.

Maybe that was why she had made such an upset at her chuunin exam debut the following year, with that _technique_ of hers.

Even if she tended to just wander around in graveyards and the Uchiha Memorial, these days, but _still. _

And this was saying nothing about the hundreds of children at the academy who adored their Hokage, whenever he came by to visit and make the occasional speech—well, if you could call them _speeches—_about how precious friends were and the power of love and how everyone was very special and a genius in their own way.

Naruto was very good at giving those speeches, not so much because he was particularly good at oratory, but because he was always sincere. And, hey, it had been working for him, and the majority of the world, lately.

Logically, Yukio fit right into the formula. A young boy, full of potential and fire, with a similar personality to Naruto's… Of course he'd be "adopted" in no time at all, into Naruto's little family.

But, see, it was the whole "similar personality" thing that was fueling those rumors. Among other things.

Because it would be a stretch to say that any of the current jinchuuriki resembled Naruto at all, except maybe Tonbo, the bug-catcher girl with the beetle inside of her. And Andou was all order and planning, while Naruto was all spontaneity and chaos. And Murasaki was sleepy and strange, and Masao was careful and constant, and Shusuke…

Well, Shusuke had been similar, too. But not as much as Yukio was.

And Shusuke had had black eyes, black hair, an angular chin. But Yukio had a round face and red hair, and blue eyes like a cat's, or a fox's.

And Shusuke didn't end his questions strangely, yeah? Just like Naruto always seemed to end his sentences in his own way, y'know?

And good lord, all that _ramen_.

And the two of them had connected over literally a handful of hours, practically no time at all, with no pretense, no introduction, just a chance meeting in the hallway.

It couldn't have been a coincidence.

Which was why the rumors were spreading, instead of confining themselves to the usual corner of gossipy housewives, who were always tittering on about forbidden babies and illicit romances. And even the most level-headed of individuals were starting to wonder what was _really_ going on.

Chief among them, of all people, was Sakura.

She just didn't _understand_ it. She had borne witness on more than one occasion to Naruto's astonishingly quick friend-making skills, but this was something of a new record, attaching himself to a person so very quickly. He'd taken the boy into his own _home_ on his first night in Konoha, for goodness' sakes!

And she was _more_ than a little suspicious of the uncanny resemblance thing. And she hadn't even believed it, at first! She had to seek the boy out, see him for herself, before she could draw any conclusions.

…damn, if he didn't look a _lot_ like Naruto.

But, see, that was the thing that didn't make any sense.

If there was one thing she knew about Naruto, it was that he was a genius at friendship, but an absolute imbecile at love. Seriously, the guy would not know romance if it punched him in the face.

Which it had, repeatedly.

…but that was another matter entirely.

No, the thing was, it hadn't been as noticeable when he was younger, but as he had gotten older, it just was more, and more, and more pronounced. It started to get really obvious after Sasuke and Ino had gotten married all of a sudden, and then Lee went and tried to propose to her in that _ridiculous_ manner, and then it seemed like just about _everyone_ was getting married.

Even Ten Ten and—of all people—_Sai _had settled down. Together. No, seriously. Though those two were a… strange case. Sakura had been in their house, once. It felt like a museum: very clean and very cold and very full of art. It surprised her very little that they didn't have children.

Though there were exceptions. Kiba was still perpetually single and ridiculously grumpy about it, but still hopeful that he'd be as successful at finding a mate as Akamaru (and his many, many, many progeny) had been. And the situation with Shikamaru and Temari was… complicated, to put it politely.

Nobody knew what the hell about Shino, but somehow, he had managed to reproduce.

And Chouji had taken his sweet time, as well, but eventually settled down with a woman named Chun, who was a cooking-nin with a heart as big as his was and a head of height over him, to boot. It was a curious and wonderful trick of fate, as well, that her much-younger brother, Haruhi, had come to meet Benio.

"Wouldn't that be _something," _Chouji had once said, to Sakura, with a warm chuckle. "I'd have Asuma-sensei's daughter as my sister-in-law, if they got married."

But Haruhi and Benio had been together for three years with no signs of marriage.

(Rumors said the only reason why they weren't already hitched, despite their living together and obvious devotion, was something to do with Haruhi's birth certificate, or some other legal knot, but those were just rumors, anyways.)

But, the fact remained. When everyone else was off making families and having children, Naruto was still single, smiling like always, content with his situation.

And when Hinata had Andou, and when those rumors took off that it had been due to Naruto fooling around with her, Sakura had gotten to the point where she could just about dismiss them without a second thought.

…just about.

Because, for one, she had never seen a half-Hyuuga with a Byakugan, and Andou had the beautiful, unsettling pale eyes of his mother's clan, undeniably.

…then again, she had never seen a half-Hyuuga _period_. They just… didn't seem to exist, within that clan.

Which supported the second, lesser piece of evidence: that it would never be allowed, otherwise, a little half-Naruto-half-Hinata child. She just got the feeling that the Hyuuga elders would ever so strongly object to letting Hinata marry—much less have children with—someone from outside the clan.

Even Neji had married a Hyuuga woman, a quiet soul from the Branch family whose name Sakura could never remember. And Sakura had thought, for _sure_, that he'd have chosen otherwise, especially given the things she had heard about him, over the years. But there it was.

And then there was the fact that Naruto just seemed so _oblivious_ to the fact that Hinata liked him so much.

(Even though her admiration became quieter and quieter, as years went by, as the two of them grew slightly closer, through his work, through her son.)

That almost made it less cruel, less heartbreaking. Almost. But all the more confusing, in a way.

When Shion and the dignitaries from the Land of Demons came with their suggestion, since they hadn't yet found an heir for their priestess (nudge, nudge), for a more _physical_ sign of a union between the two countries (hint, hint), and since Naruto had so graciously promised to help make this possible (yeah, you) they had to rely on a (ahem) "sample" provided by Naruto to produce the child, because he just didn't seem to understand that you had to have sex to make babies.

…okay, so maybe that was a slight exaggeration. He was more than aware of where babies came from. And he was more than happy to help make the baby, but he just… wasn't willing to go through the usual motions in making it. Which he apologized for, but refused to back down from.

Which was kind of funny, really, considering that sexy jutsu of his.

…then again, the things that Konohamaru had done with it, in the years following, made that initial creation seem absolutely _tame_ in comparison, much less the rumors of the things he had come up with that people _hadn't_ really seen. Rumors from foreign countries he had visited, especially the Land of Earth. Sakura had never seen anything personally, but…

Konohamaru had just been acting oddly in general, those past few years. Going off on foreign missions that Naruto couldn't remember assigning, hanging out in the lobbies of love hotels and… certain bars, always claiming "research" when approached, scribbled notes from "interviews" in a memo pad in his pocket. He had even spent a year or two in an energetic semi-internship at the hospital, mainly in the OB-GYN ward. Sakura had allowed it, because he didn't seem to have any… bad intentions, when he asked her about it—and besides, what was there to peep at in an _obstetrics_ ward?—and because he had turned out to be an eager study and an excellent nurse overall, by the end of it.

And then there was the time, five years previous, when he had just completely dropped off the map for months and months, and it had Naruto just worried as hell.

And then there he was again; he just showed up one winter morning at Kurenai's house with little Yoh in his arms, saying she was his daughter and he wanted everyone to meet her. Happy as everyone was to see him again, it was undeniably strange.

And it was suspicious as all heck when people asked him where he had been and he just said "Somewhere;" why he stayed bundled up in heavy clothes, even though they had the heat on; why, when asked about who Yoh's mother was, he simply replied "It's… complicated," with a dramatic flip of the voice.

The rumors that people made up afterwards about him and about Yoh made shivers run up Sakura's spine. That sort of stuff was _impossible_. Even with a sexy-no-jutsu.

(And besides, after Sakura insisted on performing a check-up on Konohamaru and Yoh to make sure they were healthy after having been missing for so long, the only thing she could walk away saying was that Yoh was a perfectly healthy baby girl, and Konohamaru was a perfectly healthy adult male.)

…yeah, back to Naruto.

Some people said that Naruto was so unwilling to, ahem, _be _with the priestess, Shion, because he was saving himself for Sakura. Which just made her laugh because, by the time the whole thing happened, she had long since been married to Lee, Sakari was almost three years old, and Kenji was well on his way. What was there to save _for?_

Others—mostly younger girls—said it was because he was saving himself for _Sasuke._

…Sakura wondered where in the world _those_ ideas came from. Ahem.

And others still, a vast majority, in fact, said it was because he was saving himself for Hinata. Just in case.

This, Sakura could _almost_ believe, and it absolutely broke her heart.

(Hinata, unlike her widowed sister, had never even been engaged.)

All of it just made Sakura feel so sad for Hinata, for so many different reasons, when she sat back and thought about it. Especially on the darker nights, after long days at the hospital, when she could think of nothing but her work, when she started thinking in terms of injuries and genes, when she started wondering if the Byakugan was a dominant or a recessive trait. The Hyuuga clan certainly wasn't letting them do any research on it, citing clan secrets, and there were laws that protected those secrets, so all she could do was speculate.

And if those eyes were recessive, if those pale eyes could only belong to a child born from two Hyuuga and two Hyuuga alone…

Goodness, then she certainly didn't blame Hinata for wanting to keep her mouth shut, if that was the case. If _any_ of that was the case.

Poor thing.

It almost seemed happier, in a bitter, synthetic sort of way, having that wordless possibility of Naruto as the father of her son.

And for those who knew better, the way he seemed to keep himself for her, waiting for a day that would never come.

And then Sakura would just start worrying about Ino, when she began to think about Hinata's sadness, and she'd just draw closer to Lee, across the bed from her, feeling his warmth, just incredibly thankful.

…so, clearly, it just didn't make sense. Naruto was just downright _incapable_ of fathering children—after all, what else could it be?

But Sakura was pretty good with likenesses—and she had seen Naruto's own daughter, and she looked almost _less_ like Naruto than Yukio did—and Yukio was just _suspicious. _All of this was.

Still, she wasn't the best. So she went to get the best, to try and clear some things up before she had to do anything drastic.

Because, obviously, talking to Naruto wouldn't change a damn thing. He'd just get confused and flustered—deliberately or not, she didn't think she'd be able to tell, when it came to this.

So, instead, she went to Sasuke.

* * *

Sasuke, of all things, was actually being _sociable_ and easy to find, those days. Which baffled and delighted Sakura, in that order.

She _knew_ that giving him a team of genin to train was a good idea. It just took a little time. And Ino seemed so _cheerful _lately, in a way, with him out of the house so much. That was more than worth the wait, seeing her, her kids in such a better way.

Especially with the chuunin exams coming up.

She sought him out around lunchtime, taking a break from her shift at the hospital. She found him treating his students to rice bowls at a restaurant near the training grounds, all but him looking slightly fatigued, sweat making their skin glow.

"Fancy seeing you here, Sakura," Sasuke said, without looking at her.

"Oh, hi there, Chief Medical Officer, ma'am!" Kyou added, waving at her. He had rice on his face. "What brings you here?"

Sakura waved back, an awkward laugh escaping for a moment. She knew Kyou through his father, a tailor with a permanent smile, who made or altered most of her family's clothes. Which was something of a necessity, given how very small Sakari was, and how very tall Kenji was, and how very useless Sakura was with a needle.

(Not to mention the fact that the green legacy unitard had to have come from _somewhere._ Guy was still incredible friends with Kyou's grandfather, the originator of the piece.)

"Sasuke, can I talk to you for a second, privately?" she asked.

"I'm eating. What is it."

Sociable, yes. Polite, hardly. "Just a favor I want to ask of you."

"You can ask me now, can't you?"

She looked at the three young faces that were, by now, staring at her curiously, cautiously, eagerly. For some reason, she just didn't feel _comfortable_ asking for this in front of them. "Just come over here, it won't take more than a minute."

"More than a minute? I don't have much time to spare."

"We're on a very strict training schedule, ma'am," Kyou added, nodding.

Sakura sighed. Did he have to be such a child about this? "Look, it's about Naruto. You can spare a minute for _him_, right?" She could say at least _that_ much.

Sasuke finally looked at her. "What about Naruto?"

"Look, just come with me, okay?" she said. She put her hands on her hips, her stance strong. "I don't exactly have all the time in the world, either. I have to be back at the hospital in twenty minutes."

He sighed and set his chopsticks down. "Lead the way."

So, she did. Just a few feet away, out of earshot of his students, but close enough so he could keep an eye on them.

"So what's this about Naruto?" he said. He stood with his weight on one foot, tapping the other in his obvious impatience.

"Well, it's not so much about him as it is about that kid he's taken in lately. Hanamura Yukio, that red-haired boy," she said.

"Ah, yes. That boy. I've seen him around," Sasuke said. "Naruto's _certainly_ attached to him." Every word was saturated with dry disapproval.

"Yeah, I know," Sakura said. "So you've heard the things that people have been saying about him, right?"

Sasuke's eyebrows knit together, his mouth tightening. "You didn't pull me aside just to _gossip_, did you?"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Please, what do you take me for?" She crossed her arms, presently, glaring at him. "What I mean to say is have you heard the rumors that Yukio-kun is his son or something?"

"Well, of course. That's everywhere."

"Okay, good."

There was a moment of silence, and she blew a bang out of her face.

"…again, did you pull me aside simply to gossip?" Sasuke said, glancing at his students, who were still hard at work, eating. "Because I could care less about any of this."

"Ugh, no, that's not it," Sakura said. Why _was_ it that she was always so tongue-tied around him? What was she, thirteen? "Okay, fine, listen, can you just… do a facial comparison for me?"

Sasuke blinked, slowly. "A _what."_

"I know what your eyes can do, so do you suppose you could compare their features, give me… a rough percentage of resemblance?" She waved her hands around, spreading her fingers wide as she tried to explain herself. "You know, between Yukio-kun and Naruto. It'd help more than you probably think."

And then Sasuke laughed at her. His laugh was hard and cold. "You honestly think that's _reliable?"_

She glowered, taking a few deep breaths. Easy, Sakura. "Well, yes, considering you have that whole photographic memory and such," she said.

"Resemblance is entirely subjective. What my eyes see makes no difference," he said. There was something like a growing darkness in his voice that she was more than familiar with. It worried and frustrated her. "The boy may _look_ like him, but it's probably no more than a coincidence."

A pause. "A coincidence? Honestly? You call _that_ a coincidence?"

She saw something like a shadow fall over his face. "A coincidence makes the most sense," he said. "Besides, do you _honestly_ think that Naruto would go off and have some illegitimate child with a woman out in the country?"

Sakura had been telling herself the answer to this question _all day_. "No, obviously, but Sasuke, I just want to see-"

His eyes spun, red and full of anger. "Then it's just a coincidence."

She gulped.

Regained her composure.

What was his _problem?_

The question remained rhetorical and unvoiced.

"Regardless," she continued, green eyes hardening, "even if Yukio-kun isn't his son, there's the possibility that maybe he's… some sort of… distant relative." Her words came slowly, as if she were dragging them towards herself, away from him. "That's worth looking into, isn't it?"

"Then what do you need me for?" Sasuke said. "You have tests for that sort of thing, don't you?"

"Well… I wanted to see if I wasn't imagining things," Sakura replied. "You've got the best eyes in Konoha, Sasuke. I just wanted to make one last check. I mean," she added, hastily, almost insincerely, "it's medically unethical to do tests without a reason."

He sighed. "I honestly do not understand you sometimes." He stood there for a few moments. "Are we done here?"

She sighed, too. "Yeah, we're done."

"Mm." Sasuke put his hands in his pockets, and swiveled on his heels, walking back to his students. "Oh, by the way," he said, throwing his voice over his shoulder, but not moving his head, "_do_ tell me how those blood tests of yours go."

Sakura had to count to ten. Breathe in, breathe out.

She didn't reply, instead returning to the hospital, making a mental note to visit Naruto later in the evening, so she could catch them both together.

Silently, Sasuke returned to his own table.

"So what was that all about, Sensei?" Sunao asked, slice of beef dangling from her chopsticks. "Something wrong?"

Sasuke did not answer, instead picking up his own chopsticks, and carefully, disaffectedly, returning to his lunch.

A number echoed and repeated endlessly in his mind.

Fifty percent, fifty percent, fifty percent.

And he'd been trying so hard to keep thoughts like that from poisoning his mind.

At least it was Naruto's issue.

Not his.

* * *

"So what did you say this was for, again?" Naruto said, as Sakura swabbed the inside of his arm with rubbing alcohol.

"Just following a hunch," Sakura said, carefully speaking, carefully preparing the vial to collect the blood in. Yukio watched, eyes wide.

"What sorta hunch?"

She paused and, instead of replying, stuck the needle into his arm. "Ow, hey! At least give me a little warning, y'know!"

"Quit being such a baby," Sakura replied, sighing, watching the blood flow into the little glass container. "I'm just going to be testing yours and Yukio-kun's blood for certain substances." She removed the vial, filled a second one, and after removing the tourniquet from his arm put a piece of gauze on the hole she had left in Naruto's arm, though she knew it'd be gone in seconds. Force of habit. "Okay, Yukio-kun, your turn."

"What sorta substances?" Naruto said, narrowing his eyes, tilting his head. "Like, germs and stuff?"

"…no, not germs. Goodness, Naruto, how long has it been since you've gotten sick?" Sakura said, and wrapped the tourniquet around Yukio's arm. Naruto shrugged, honestly not remembering.

"So what else can you test blood for?" Yukio said, chewing on his bottom lip.

"Oh, lots of things. Making sure your cells are healthy in general; chakra saturation, in some cases." Genetics; paternity, too, but she didn't want to mention any of that just yet. Sakura looked into Yukio's eyes, but he refused to look back. _Man,_ they looked like Naruto's. "You've had blood drawn before, right?"

"Uh… yeah, like, a few times," he replied. He glanced downward. "You think I'm sick, or something?"

"No, no, I think you're perfectly healthy," Sakura said. The application of alcohol. "There's just gonna be a little poke, okay?"

Yukio nodded, with his eyes closed. She was very gentle. She took the vial, the needle, and collected his blood in it. She filled two more—just in case—before removing the tourniquet, the needle. "There we go, all done." The application of gauze, a bandage. "Thank you, Yukio-kun."

He nodded, opening his eyes, shrugging once her hands were off him. No big deal.

"So, lemme get this straight," Naruto said. His expression hadn't really changed. "You're gonna test our blood for chakra stuff?"

"Well, and some other things," Sakura said.

"What sorta things?"

There were times when Yukio sounded astonishingly like Naruto.

"Listen, it's nothing for you to worry about," Sakura said, giving him a soft smile. "Really. It's a routine test, I've been meaning to do it for a while."

What, she really had.

He shrugged, and she tucked the vials away into the case she had brought them in.

"So you be sure to tell me what the heck the results are, y'know?" Naruto said.

He'd asked a lot more nicely than Sasuke had. "Well, yeah. Of course I'll tell you." And besides, no matter what the results were, they'd be worth talking to him about after the fact. "It'll take a few days."

"That's fine. Oh, you going?"

Sakura, picking up her bag, slinging it over her shoulder, nodded. "Yep. See you later, you two."

And she left, the answers to all of her questions safely packed away, waiting to be decoded. She could hardly _wait_.

No more sleepless nights, no more silly rumors.

Yukio didn't feel like going out to dinner, that night. But he and Naruto managed to amuse themselves with a spectacular failure of a meal, one that burned and crackled in more ways than one. It tasted horrible, but at least it was fun to make.

Yukio helped, but he ended up burning most of the stuff Naruto told him to handle.

"Sorry, I'm not really good at this… I guess only girls are really good at cooking, yeah?" was his explanation.

"Oh, what's that? Only girls are good at cooking?" Naruto said, grinning. "That's not very fair, is it? And for the record, I don't think my cooking's _that_ bad, y'know..."

They laughed, though Yukio's was more out of relief, rather than humor.

He was actually something of a decent cook, even though he stayed well out of the kitchen at home.

But cooking was still for girls.


	7. Red Beacon

Author's Note:

Shion, the priestess mentioned in the last chapter and the mother of Naruto's weird political-daughter-thing is from the first Shippuden movie. At the end of it Naruto made a promise that he'd help provide her an heir when the time came. I guess they made good on that promise.

Just in case anyone was wondering.

Please enjoy this next chapter. Thank you!  
- Rii

* * *

_Chapter 7 - Red Beacon_

* * *

It took three days for the blood to be processed.

This is what happened on the first day.

Inou woke up at 5 AM to train by himself, when the sun was just starting to rise and the ground was still wet around his toes.

Nadeshiko had gotten up earlier, when it was still dark, to make him breakfast and then leave the house, keeping it out for him without a word or any other indication that any of this was her doing.

Inou supposed that his mother had made it for him the night before. She knew how hard he worked.

Sasuke didn't notice any of it, since Inou had long since eaten it and cleaned up by the time he was awake.

Sasuke left the house at 7 AM, but Inou left the house much earlier.

(Inou didn't meet with his team until 10 AM, at Shikake's insistence, but he kept himself busy in his own way until then.)

Yukio left the house at 9 AM, after eating breakfast with Naruto, both of them still in their pajamas, hair sticking out at all angles.

"I'm gonna be a little busy next week, kiddo. You think you can manage on your own for a while?" Benio told him, when they met for training, shortly afterward. And Yukio had narrowed his eyes and asked her why, so she explained for him.

Benio had been asked, a while back, to serve as the second chief examiner for the chuunin exams, to oversee the elimination round that went on in the Forest of Death, which she was more than happy to do. Though she'd be _happier_ if they'd just send her a letter or something—seriously, if anyone ever wanted to tell her something, they always managed to somehow catch her _right_ as she was settling down to do something else. But, no, she had to report in person. Oh well.

She'd been doing it for the past few years, anyways, and thoroughly enjoyed it every time. 'Course, she wasn't a mean person, but there was just something so cute about seeing the first-time participants squirm in fear, looking up at the trees in Training Ground Number 44 with visions of death in their heads as she handed them the consent forms. But it was all okay. The Forest, she told them, was what you made of it.

Heck, when she was a little squirt of a thing, participating in the exams herself, she went in without fear, scoffing at the stories of spooks and spirits that the older students told her, no doubt to psych her out. That was probably due to Shikamaru-sensei, this confidence of hers. He didn't really believe in ghosts, and neither did she.

(The Will of Fire was another thing entirely, but that stayed out of the discussion.)

But… despite all her confidence, when she went into that forest, she always felt like someone, some_thing_ was _watching_ her. But she gulped and ignored it, and soldiered on.

(She still felt it, to an extent, even now, as a proctor. That watchful, watching presence.)

(…she liked to think that it was just the giant leeches making her think that. Holy damn, those were _scary_.)

It wouldn't be weird to say that it almost felt like forest had _allowed_ her to pass, because she showed no fear.

Well, and also because her team worked together and kicked a ton of ass, and so did she, and they weren't complete _idiots_, of course. You couldn't get through the Forest with courage alone. Guts only got you so far. You had to have skill, too. And teamwork.

Plus, there was a tendency for people who abandoned their teammates to be found, pretty early on into the exams, knocked senseless or nursing a bad poison-moss rash. Or both.

Basically? Bad things happened to people that didn't stick together.

(Though there hadn't been a single genin casualty in the Forest for decades. Just losses of consciousness and direction.)

(The same could not be said of the tournament, but that was for another time.)

The fear thing certainly worked as an excellent metaphor, though! So it was what she told the nervous hopefuls going in, and it was what she told Yukio. All of it, the teamwork thing included. That was just important, okay? Even though Yukio didn't have a team of his own, it was important.

His thoughts? "Neat."

Benio laughed. "Maybe next year I'll be seeing _you_ in those exams."

"You wanna bet on it, Sensei?" Yukio replied, grinning.

(If he even lasted that long.)

One thing that Yukio was really good at was hiding just how nervous he really felt about things. But Benio didn't really know this.

What Benio _did _know was that his aim with a shuriken was already so good that every seven or eight out of ten thrown would hit the targets set up in the training field. And after only two weeks. Benio was pretty impressed.

And she didn't even need to mention his taijutsu skills. She still had no idea where _that_ had come from.

He still had no idea what the hell about anything to do with chakra, but seriously, everyone had trouble with that at first. They'd tackle that later.

But the less technical aspects, the strikes and the stances and hand signs, he retained like a second language.

All throughout the afternoon, foreign teams, the little triplets of genin that came with their teachers, poured into Konoha. The paperwork that came with processing their arrivals was overwhelming.

Andou, naturally, was overjoyed by the challenge.

And at sometime between 3 and 4 PM, a strange assortment of individuals arrived at the gates of Konoha; ten, fifteen men in traditional clothing with swords and stony looks on their faces. They had an urgent message to deliver, a request from the head of the Taki syndicate himself: Boss Tensho. The way they said his name, it was clear he was important.

Despite attempts to redirect them by the chuunin posted at the gates, they demanded to speak to the Hokage directly, so that their message might be delivered and the proper actions taken afterward.

They left this statement unvoiced, but one could hear from the steel on their backs and in their eyes the words, "Or else."

Naruto was summoned immediately, and he had the Taki syndicate's representatives sent to his office, so he might help them out.

There'd been a memo about this, hadn't there. Oh dear.

The leader of the band introduced himself as Nobuhiro of the Inaba clan, and explained that he was acting on behalf of the Taki family, and that was where the conversation on his background ended, as far as he was concerned. He had a scar over his right upper lip, like a harelip; the skin was puckered and left his teeth exposed in a near-permanent snarl. Naruto tried not to look at it.

"So here's the story, Hokage," he said, roughly, quickly. "My boss's daughter, Lady Kiine, ran away from home recently, an' we got reason to believe that she's stayin' somewhere in Konoha. You heard anything about this?"

"Huh, really?" Naruto said, and set his eyebrows low, his face growing as stony as the bodyguard's. "No, I've heard nothing about this. When do you think she got here?"

"She ran off about a month ago, an' lemme tell you, we've been running around like chickens with their heads cut off tryin' to find her," Nobuhiro replied. He was playing with a pretty little knife in a black and white lacquer case, sheathing and unsheathing it. Slide, click. Slide, click. "Considering how long it took for us to get here, an' according to the stuff from our… inside sources, she probably got here 'bout two, three weeks ago."

Naruto's eyes narrowed as he looked around at the rest of the guards in their office, carrying identical swords, identical scowls.

Well, except for one individual, a boy, maybe fourteen years old, standing behind Nobuhiro's chair. He wore dusky purple robes, and he held a sword, a stunning piece of work in a white sheath, very tightly, with pale hands. His eyes were downcast, and his dark hair fell into his face.

He seemed very out of place, like a flower growing out of a pile of boulders. Something about him struck Naruto as vaguely familiar, but he couldn't quite place why.

"Sounds pretty serious," Naruto said, nodding, lacing his fingers together on his desk, taking his eyes away from the boy with the sword and back onto the scar on Nobuhiro's face that he was trying not to look at. "So what can I, uh, do for you?"

"Well, we'd rather not rely on the help of _ninjas_," Nobuhiro said, scarred lip curling, almost in disgust, as he spoke, "but given where we are right now, we ain't got a choice. So we gotta ask for your help. Desperate times call for desperate measures, y'know what I mean?"

Naruto tilted his head a little, mouth lowering. Uh, okay? "Sure, sure. So, what is it I can do to help you? I mean, we're kinda busy on account of the chuunin exams but-"

"What you can do to help us is find my Boss Tensho's daughter as quickly an' as painlessly as possible, you get me?" Slide, click.

"…sure, I totally understand that." And Naruto smiled because, hey, as painlessly as possible, right? "D'you have any photographs of her, or distinctive features we should look for? I can have a memo sent out and-"

"Yeah, s'amatter of fact, I do. Yuki, hand it over."

Silence. Slide, click.

"Yuki. Hand it over."

The boy standing behind Nobuhiro shifted the sword to one hand, dug into his robes, and produced a photograph, handing it to him. There was resistance in the exchange, the boy holding onto it tightly with his fingers, and Nobuhiro glancing at him for a moment with anger, before sliding it across the desk to Naruto.

It was a color photograph, a formal portrait of a girl of maybe fifteen, sixteen years of age, with red hair falling over her shoulders, held away from her face by gold combs. The kimono she wore was obviously expensive, all gold thread and embroidery the color of autumn leaves. Her blue eyes were harsh and almost intimidating, beautifully dangerous, her lips painted a deep and blood-like color.

Naruto tilted his head this way, that way, as he looked at the photo.

…huh.

"I'll have copies made of this and distributed to our staff around the city. We'll all be on the lookout for her by this evening, don't worry," Naruto said, picking up the photograph. "There any more details you can add? To make the search easier."

"She's got a buncha freckles on the back of her neck. And a scar on her left shoulder. That's about it," Nobuhiro said.

"Freckles on the neck, scar on the shoulder, got it. I'll have that included," Naruto said. There was a stack of sticky notes on his desk, and he peeled one off and stuck it to the photograph after writing "freckles on back of neck, scar on shoulder." "You're actually kinda lucky, y'know! We got guys all around doing surveillance work 'cos of the exams and-"

"There anything else you can do for us, Hokage?" Slide, click.

"Honestly, this is about all I can do. I'm sorry, I wish there was more. Plus you guys are still out there lookin' for… uhh…"

"Lady Kiine." Slide, click.

The boy with the sword's hands tightened their grip.

"Ah, sure, sorry. Lady Kiine, right." Naruto nodded, committing the name to memory. Hopefully. He smiled. "We'll be doing our best, Nobuhiro-san!"

"Yeah, you'd better," Nobuhiro said, and got up. "We'll be checkin' in with you tomorrow, after we do some diggin' of our own. C'mon, boys, let's go."

And they did.

Though the boy with the sword glanced at Naruto, for a moment, before leaving. He had brown, brown eyes, and his face was hauntingly beautiful.

(It serves to be said that any other person would have mistaken the boy for a girl, at this point. But Naruto just knew otherwise, though he couldn't quite place why or how he knew. Call it a hunch.)

Their eyes met for only a moment, and he was just as quickly there and gone, ducking behind Nobuhiro and his posse.

Naruto glanced at the photograph on his desk again, blue eyes meeting blue eyes.

He shivered from the déjà vu, not quite identifying what had caused it, the photograph or the boy.

By 5 PM, copies had been made of the photograph of Taki Kiine, and distributed amongst the Konoha staff, proctors and teachers and guards alike.

Andou confirmed that, yes there had been a memo about the Taki syndicate. Three, in fact, since the initial reports of Kiine's going missing.

Crap, had there really?

Yes, really.

Crap.

Naruto could only remember two. Sort of.

…crap.

By 6 PM, complaints were already coming in about the Taki syndicate's representatives.

The thugs—always described as thugs or goons or hooligans, by the people making the complaints—were being a nuisance, snooping around and being generally antagonistic to the chuunin guards around the city, refusing to answer any sort of questions. Heck, the closest things they gave to straight answers were akin to "We're lookin' for Boss Tensho's daughter, what have _you_ done lately?"

They were freeloading food, saying they'd "pay for it later." They were scaring away business from other shops, by hanging about with nothing better to do, "on surveillance."

And, as one concerned mother reported, they were corrupting the children.

"'Yer in a useless profession, kid.'" Her impression was hilariously exaggerated, but Naruto managed to keep himself from laughing. "Can you believe that? Saying that to _my_ child? He's _eight!_"

The terrified eight year old in the useless profession peered out from between his mother's arms, looking more frightened at the prospect of losing oxygen from her grip on him than the prospect of continuing in a career with no future.

Naruto comforted her, like he did with all the others, and assured her that he'd do something about it when he met with Nobuhiro-of-the-Inaba-clan in the morning.

Sasuke got home at 7 PM, after training with his team, meeting with Takeru along the way; he had been away on a mission of his own all day.

("Surveillance work, Father, can you _believe_ it? I'm better than this.")

Inou went home at 8 PM, after training with his. He had lost his breath, and spent most of the evening trying to find it. Takeru kept shooting him glances across the table, when they convened for dinner, as if his efforts disgusted him.

Karai was waiting at home for them, with her mother, helping prepare the fried tofu for most of the evening, talking to her without words, practicing, worrying about Inou. If she could find his breath for him, she gladly would.

She'd asked to be excused from training with her team early, so she could help out at home, and her sensei said he understood and let her go.

Hajime had gone out for the night.

Nadeshiko was somewhere.

Naruto didn't go home until well after 10 PM.

He entered the house, ready to apologize, when he saw that Yukio was asleep at the kitchen table, two empty instant ramen containers on the table, a third half-filled with cold, congealing noodles. His broken chopsticks were still in his hands.

Naruto's smile was tired, but it was genuine for the first time in hours. He walked over to the boy, reaching out a hand to rouse him, before noticing something odd.

There, on the back of his neck—what was that? A ring of mottled red marks, like someone had bitten him there.

It looked… familiar. But where had he seen it?

Sleeping on the couch, afternoon sun falling over their…

Wait, hadn't someone said something about…

Yukio stirred awake before Naruto could fully recall.

"Mmwhassgoinon…?" he mumbled.

"You didn't have to wait up for me, y'know. You tired?" Naruto asked, smiling again.

"Mmyeah." He sat up, rubbing his eyes, yawning. "Training went long…"

"I understand. You go get your sleep, okay?" Naruto said.

"Mmkay," said Yukio, and stumbled a little as he tried to get up. Naruto caught him.

"Think you'll be okay?" There were no words in the reply. "All right, all right, c'mere."

Together, the boy and the Hokage went down the hallway, and into Yukio's room.

Yes, it really was his room, now, wasn't it? There was his rucksack, on the chair. That was his bed.

The room no longer really smelled of the girl it used to occasionally belong to. It smelled, in a strange way, like him.

Yukio sat down on the bed and tucked himself into the sheets without taking his clothes off. "G'night…"

Naruto smiled. "Night, Yukio."

Naruto had no homework that night, though he could not sleep for quite a while, his mind swimming with images and half-remembered things.

Especially faces.

From the bedside table, he could almost hear his mother's voice in the dark.

"_How do I work this thing, again?"_

But for some reason, she spoke with Yukio's voice.


	8. Shutter Requests

_Chapter 8 - Shutter Requests_

* * *

It took three days for the blood to be processed.

This is what happened on the second day.

Inou woke up at 5 AM, again.

Nadeshiko was up earlier, again.

In fact, it was much the same as it had been the day before.

Though Naruto got up earlier than usual, after the sunrise. Yukio was still sleeping, so Naruto left a note on the fridge explaining the situation—chuunin exam preparations, talks with the guys from the Taki syndicate, so busy, so busy—and apologizing for not being able to eat breakfast with him, like usual.

He took extra care in reading the initial reports when he got to the Manor. No sign of Kiine, yet. No good.

When Nobuhiro arrived with his men, later in the morning, Naruto went to meet with him immediately. Nobuhiro's expression hadn't changed, either, still wearing that permanent, unintentional snarl.

"It's been a day, Hokage. Where's Lady Kiine."

Sli-ide. Click.

Naruto had read all the reports very, very carefully. "There's been no sign of her in the village, yet. I'm sorry, Nobuhiro-san, we're trying all we can-"

"No, no, see, if you were tryin' all you could, then you'd drop everything and you'd be scourin' the place for her, no questions asked." Nobuhiro was leaning forward now, his pretty little knife clamped in his hand. His fingers had square tips and big knuckles. "You guys ain't pulling your weight."

Naruto had a smile on his face, but it was a nervous one, a defense mechanism. "Honestly, Nobuhiro-san, we're doing as best we can with what we have at the moment. But the chuunin exams are coming up and-"

"I don't care about no chuunin exams." Nobuhiro rolled his eyes. And then, in a much lower growl, "Honestly. _Ninjas._" He spat the word out as if they were poisoning his mouth.

"Hey, hey, I'm serious, here," Naruto said. He managed to squeeze out a few laughs. "We're honestly trying our best. It's not just our village participating in these exams, though, we have guests coming in from several countries, and they've all gotta be taken care of, y'know? Any other time, I'd give you my… complete and _total_ attention, but right now-"

"Oh, sure. I bet, I just bet," Nobuhiro said. He was still leaning forward, brown eyes focused beneath thumb-thick brows. "Though I bet you'd be so much more cooperative if we were from a _ninja_ village, huh?"

Naruto wasn't smiling anymore. "Nobuhiro-san, I promise. Where you're from or who you are makes no difference to me. We'll find Lady Kiine. I swear on my honor as Hokage, y'know." He put his hand on his heart, looking the man into his eyes. "It just might take a while. And I'm gonna need your help."

The eyes that stared back at him were not welcoming, nor were they cooperative, not by any definition.

"We've been helpin' ourselves just fine, thanks very much," Nobuhiro said. "Like I said, I wanted this done as quickly an' as painlessly as possible."

"And we've been trying as best we can to get this done as quickly _and_ as painlessly as possible, Nobuhiro-san. Please trust me, y'know?"

"Oh, I trust you enough." That pretty little knife slid out of its case and shone a beautiful silver when Nobuhiro held it up to the light. "I just don't wanna have to resort to... _coercion_, is all. What with you being so very _helpful_ to us, Hokage."

Naruto was behind him in an instant, Nobuhiro's knife in his hand.

There was no denying what Nobuhiro had wanted to do with it, not with that anger fanning out from behind him like a cobra's hood.

And suddenly there was a blade, inches from Naruto's throat. It was held with both hands by the boy in purple, his hair a black curtain that framed his face, almost covering his eyes.

"Please step away from my brother, sir."

His grip on the sword was strong, and the blade did not even waver. There was a pattern of rabbits painted on the handle. His voice was like a girl's voice, young and high, and there was no anger or hatred in it. Only fear, and sadness.

Naruto found himself smiling again. He stepped away, sliding the pretty little knife back into its case. Click.

"Nobuhiro-san, I don't think you'll need to use this, y'know," he said, gently, passing the knife over Nobuhiro's shoulder. "But, hey, it's your knife. So I'll just give it back, so long as you promise not to use it. Sound fair?"

Nobuhiro grimaced, in pain, in scorn, and he took the knife from Naruto's hand very quickly. He grumbled, "Yuki, put that away."

The boy did, sheathing the blade gracefully, beautifully, wordlessly. His eyes returned to the floor.

"Mark my words, Hokage," Nobuhiro said, shaking the closed knife at Naruto as he leaned forward in his chair. Naruto returned to his desk, face fixed. Painless, pleasant smile. "If you don't help us find her then so help me…"

"Seriously, you have nothing to worry about." Ah, there were a few laughs, light, reassuring. Almost real. "We'll have better luck today. You won't need to resort to anything drastic, y'know."

And Naruto was almost right. Nobuhiro left with his men, his brother with the white sword, and left Naruto alone for quite a while. Enough time to settle a few more complaints—hardly anything he could do there—review preparations for the chuunin exams—things seemed to be going smoothly on that front, minus the Taki shenanigans—blah, blah… Oh!

There was a letter from Kurunari. Andou must have snuck that in there, to cheer him up.

Naruto read the letter with a wide smile that slid comfortably over his face, one that wasn't painted or forced into place. That kid, honestly. He was such a nice guy; a bit of a pushover, really. And so shy, even with his fellow jinchuuriki! Naruto joked that he didn't have a spine because he had a slug sealed up inside him, and Kurunari would just laugh nervously, big shoulders hunched, and say no, that wasn't true…

And his letters were beautiful things. Naruto's were rough, but friendly—even his official reports read something like actual conversations from him, more than anything. But Kurunari's letters read like pages from a novel, all sparse prose and precise detail.

He was about halfway through the third page when there was a knock on the door. "C'mon in!" Naruto said.

The door opened. "Hokage-sama? I hope I'm not troubling you..."

There was that light voice, and it was full of fear, and uncertainty.

Naruto looked up, and there was that boy. The one who had handled that sword so beautifully, but he wasn't carrying it now, having tucked it into the red-purple belt of his uniform. His hair was dark, and it brushed his shoulders, the corners of his eyes.

"I'd… like a word with you, sir, if you have the time," he said.

A sort of shiver ran up Naruto's spine, the sort he got when he was just a little too cold. And it wasn't even that cold in the room. What the heck.

"Sure, sure, I've got time," he said. He put down Kurunari's letter and gestured toward the chairs in front of his desk, where Nobuhiro had been sitting just a few hours previous. "You're… um…?"

"Yuki, sir. Of the Inaba clan. Nobuhiro is my elder brother." And he bowed very low and very formally before sitting, removing the sword and placing it beneath the chair as he did so. Naruto couldn't help but bow a little in return at the display. "I'm… very sorry for my actions this morning. I didn't want to hurt you, honestly…." And he bowed again, in his chair, white hands folded in his lap. "I ask that you please forgive me."

"No, no, it's fine! You didn't even touch me," Naruto said, laughing, waving his hand. He knew that the boy was sincere. "So Nobuhiro's your brother?'

"Yes, sir."

They both had brown eyes, and dark hair, but otherwise Yuki looked nothing like him, much less _acted_ like him. Nobuhiro's face was hard, with high cheekbones like cliff faces. Yuki's features were round, and very soft, like water-polished stones. Even their words were from different worlds.

"Never would have guessed," Naruto said. "You guys don't resemble each other very much… if you don't mind me saying, y'know."

"No, I don't really mind," Yuki said, softly, looking up. His eyes were clear and, for a moment, Naruto saw something in them that he could have sworn he had seen once before, a long time ago. "But family is more than just blood, sir."

Naruto shivered. Again. Man, what _was_ that? "You got a point, there, haha! Still, your brother's not nearly as polite as _you_ are. I'm really trying my best with him."

"Oh, I know you are. And I apologize for his behavior, sir," Yuki said. Another little half-bow in the chair. "He's not… terribly fond of ninja..."

"Yeah, I can see that. What's with that?" Naruto said. "I mean," he added, before Yuki could say anything, "if it's something you'd rather not talk about then, hey, I understand. We've all been through some tough times in the past, y'know?" He smiled reassuringly, to punctuate the sentence.

"No, no, it's not that." Yuki waved his little hand dismissively. "I'm sorry, but all I can do is to ask that you be… patient, with my brother."

"I can do that," Naruto said. He grinned. "Easy."

"…and, if you know where Master Kiine is, then please tell her to flee, immediately."

Naruto blinked. "Huh?"

"Master Kiine. I know that she's here in Konoha, and if my brother finds her then… Then… Oh, I don't want that… I already feel bad enough for allowing this all to happen and she'd be so _mad_ at me now if…"

The words came pouring out, and the more there were, the closer Yuki seemed to tears. Oh, jeez.

"Hey, hey, calm down, calm down. Just take a deep breath, okay?" Naruto said, reaching his hand across the desk. "Let's just slow down. This is about _Master_… Kiine?"

"Oh, no, um." Yuki sniffed. "Force of habit. I apologize." He swallowed, nodded. "I meant Lady Kiine."

"Right, so, um… what about her do you want to talk about?" Naruto said. Yuki remained quiet. "Well, uh, first off, how do you know her? She's a friend of yours, I'm guessing?"

"I am her bodyguard and personal valet, sir." He said it softly, as if he were ashamed by the fact.

"Oh. Um. Gosh," Naruto said. He scratched the skin behind his ears. "Wow, you must be really worried about her, then."

"…very much so, sir." He gulped again, swallowing his words. "It's… all my fault that this happened."

"Your fault that she ran away?" He nodded. "Why, how so? What happened?" Naruto was resting his head on the top of his hands, now, listening intently.

"I couldn't… Well, the thing is…" Yuki looked out the window, sucking on his lips. "Well she came up with this _idea_, and I _let_ her, I just let her _go_, and I shouldn't… I'm just… I'm just an absolute _failure_… And the only reason she went to Konoha is..." He couldn't say any more, his throat starting to barricade itself with his held-in tears. "Just… if you know where she is, _please_ tell her to leave, to run as far as she can. My brother will give up the search in a few days, he'll leave you all alone. I just… I don't want to see her _hurt_…"

Naruto didn't quite know what to say. In truth, he was still somewhat trying to process what in the world was going _on_ in the first place.

He went on something like auto-pilot, picking out things he'd heard and stringing them together, comfortingly, until he could get more answers. He was good at that. "Yuki-san, I'm sure your brother won't hurt Lady Kiine. He wants her home safe as much as you do, and I want to make that sure she's safe, too, y'know."

"That's not what I…" But Yuki didn't say any more, instead standing and bowing quickly after picking up his sword, hiding his face behind his hair. "Thank you for your time, Hokage-sama, but I believe I'll be going now."

"Hey, if there's anything more you wanna talk about… I mean, I wanna help, y'know?" Naruto said, as Yuki was leaving, moving too quickly for any other protest. The boy paused, facing the door, frozen.

"Then please, help her. Because I failed, sir."

Yuki said one more thing, before leaving.

"Oh, and… just to clarify, I… _am_ a boy," he said, awkwardly, still not turning to look at Naruto.

"I… never said you weren't?" Naruto replied. Really, why had Yuki thought…?

(Where had he heard something like that before?)

Yuki paused for only a moment more before departing, leaving Naruto alone, Kurunari's letter still half-read on his desk.

Long after he had finished the letter, gone back to paperwork, after meeting with a few more people, Naruto was still thinking about why in the world the boy had come to talk to him.

"_Then please, help her. Because I failed, sir."_

The hair on his arms was still standing slightly on end, like he had just seen a ghost.

* * *

"Kakashi-san, please, it's just going to be for a couple of hours."

Yamato was asking Kakashi to babysit Kotoji. Again.

"Yamato, I honestly marvel at how very _busy_ you seem to be, these days."

"It's an _emergency_. I swear. Not like last time."

"You said last time was an emergency, too."

"Well _excuse _me for being the only man in Konoha with a Wood Release. I was the only one they could call."

It was a lie and Kakashi knew it, but then again, Kotoji was three, and could hardly be considered a man. He made flowers burst out of the wall whenever he so much as giggled slightly. Which he did. Frequently. He was just a damn happy kid.

Which was nice, because when he was angry, it was even _worse_, even with Yamato keeping it under control. He had to remove all the potted plants from his house, when this started happening, after a hanging basket of ivy nearly took over his kitchen one afternoon.

And it was forbidden to talk about when he had to extend this to the neighbors. Kakashi thought it was funny until he had to deal with it himself.

"You're excused."

There was a bit of silence on the other end of the line. Then: "In any case, I only got the call from Haruhi-kun like ten minutes ago."

Kakashi didn't answer, not recognizing the name. Yamato'd fill him in.

"He was a student of mine, you probably don't know him."

Exactly.

"Ah, yes. From when Iruka told you to give teaching a try? Ha. Ha. _That_ was interesting."

"Okay, seriously, knock it off."

A quiet giggling from the background. Kakashi shifted the phone to his other ear to scratch his arm. Yamato continued.

"Anyways. Haruhi-kun's freaking out because Benio-chan's freaking out about _something_, I don't know what, and he's just asking for my help because everyone's busy with the chuunin exams and I have some time off for once."

Kakashi could hear Kotoji squealing, and Yamato telling him, laughter in his voice, to please be quiet, Daddy was on the phone.

"And I'm a little tied up right now, so could you please…?"

"Yamato, I can't keep doing this. I'm not gonna raise your kid for you."

If he had a ryou for every time he'd said that...

"I _know_, Kakashi-san, I'm _sorry_. But you know how it is."

"No, I don't know."

"Oh, come on. Please, Kakashi-san."

"I'm busy."

"You're _retired!"_

"And? I have a lot of things to do."

"Like _what?_"

"There's a lot of reading I've been meaning to do."

"That's _all_ you do, Kakashi-san."

"Well I was very busy as Hokage, and I didn't have much time to read. So I'm catching up on it now. Allow an old man his pleasures, won't you?"

"You're not old, Kakashi-san, you're only fifty-seven."

"And you're fifty-three with a three year old. You are just _raring_ with youth, aren't you."

"…did you really have to say that, senpai?"

"…you _do_ know how much I hate it when you call me that, don't you?"

"Yes. Senpai."

Kakashi could practically see him smirking on the other end there. And he sighed. They'd had this conversation a million times, and he knew when it was coming to a close.

"…how long do you need me for."

"Just a couple of hours. It's almost time for Kotoji's nap, anyways. I can try and put him down so he'll be asleep by the time you get here."

"You _owe_ me, Yamato."

"I know, senpai. I owe you a lot."

Kakashi found himself smiling, behind his mask. "I'll be there in a few minutes. And stop calling me senpai."

He swore, that was how Yamato won every argument. Every single one.

Kotoji was a pretty agreeable kid, anyways. Slept like a log, and was well-behaved… for a three year old. Which meant that he went to the potty like a big boy and mostly knew what not to touch in his father's house, though that didn't stop him from making a mess of Kakashi's things. He'd forgotten how many books he had to replace due to Kotoji's utter fascination with ripping out their pages and making things out of them. Usually more flowers.

But, hey. Books were books. Just stories in bindings. They were replaceable.

(Though his first-edition set of the Icha Icha novels, autographed by Jiraiya himself? Those he kept very much at home.)

Speaking of stories, there was a damn interesting one behind how Kotoji had come to be.

It wasn't a story that people told each other much, those days, though it certainly got around when it had initially happened. But no matter when or where it was told, there was always one section that was skipped over, only really noticeable by people who knew the whole truth.

The reasons, once heard, were obvious.

So what had happened was that, _apparently_, while up on a mission in the Land of Lightning, Yamato and the rest of the guys on his team had gotten a little bit c_arried away_, as it were, following the successful completion of their mission.

About a year later, a deeply-tanned, heftily-built woman with a put-upon expression and offensively pink hair was at Konoha's gates, asking for a guy with wood powers.

"It's kind of fucking urgent, so would you get a _move_ on?" she said.

Her lipstick was banana-yellow and even though she was clearly a civilian—if her looks weren't enough, her chakra-level was near-zero—she was kind of scaring the chuunin on duty, and since there was only really one guy with wood powers that fit her description, Yamato was summoned immediately.

The first thing she said was "Ignore the baby."

It was kind of hard not to, considering that she was holding it there on the couch in front of Yamato, and the fact that the blanket it was wrapped in was lime green.

What was this about…?

"D'you remember a girl up in the Land of Lightning?"

She'd have to be more specific.

"Her name was Yukarin. Runa Yukarin?"

No, that… didn't ring any bells.

"She had black hair. Kinda thick. Liked to wear it in pom-poms. Y'know, pigtails."

…sounded kinda familiar.

"She danced at a club called Kirin-Mi."

Oh! He knew that club. He and his buddies went there all the time whenever they were in the area. Well, Yamato always reluctantly, but…

"Pff. You would. But you don't remember _her?_ Wow, how typical."

No, no no, of course he remembered her! Now he remembered her. She was a sweet girl. _Sweet_ girl.

Silence.

…out of curiosity, why was she asking?

"Well, that your little one night stand with her? Resulted in a kid. _This_ kid, as a matter of fact."

Yamato had no idea what to say to that.

"Yep. You can stop ignoring him, now."

The baby was still sleeping, tan-skinned, dark hair, little hand pressed up against his face. Yamato swallowed.

"Oh yeah, and she's dead, by the way. His mom, that is."

The banana-lipped woman continued, as Yamato blinked in horrified silence. One of the chuunin in the room ran to get Naruto.

(That was about where people tended to skip over the story, to get to the punch line, dark as it was.)

(But not here.)

"She bled to death, after he was born. Called it a prolapse or something. There was nothing they could really do."

Oh no, oh _no_...

"Oh, yeah. I'm her best friend, by the way. And I kind of fucking hate your guts for that, let's just get that out of the way, okay?"

He was sorry, he was so sorry…

"Yeah you'd _better _be. She told me to find you, you know, before she died, so you could take care of the kid. I mean, she kinda doesn't have any family to take care of him. They kinda disowned her. I'm pretty much the only family she has. Fuck. Had."

Oh, no, that's…

"Oh _spare_ me. Here."

She held the baby surprisingly tenderly for a woman with such a cold, insincere tone.

"Take him. He's yours, now, okay?"

Yamato took him without a second word. His arms were shaking.

Oh, wow, he was just so _sorry_…

This was his _son?_

"Yeah. His name's Kotoji."

Kotoji.

Tears were beginning to well up in Yamato's eyes. Everyone else present started to feel more than a little embarrassed and ashamed and, well, _sad_ for him.

"This must be overwhelming, but y'know what? I don't fucking care, okay? I've busted my ass in trying to find you, and this is _way _more than a little unfair."

Yamato said nothing.

"She was gonna keep him, y'know. Get her life together. Settle down, move to Kumo, get a _real _job, okay. Cos she lost hers, when they found out she was knocked up. I was gonna help her, too, okay? She was gonna start all over again. Give the kid a good _life_, okay?"

There was something in her voice, like a bramble caught in her throat. Yamato nodded.

"She wanted him to be a _ninja_, even. A _ninja!_ Shit, Yuka, after all that…"

Yamato said nothing. Thick tears were coming out of his eyes, and he rubbed them away with the back of one hand, cradling the baby with the other.

"You asshole. You mother fucking _asshole. _I'm never gonna forgive you, okay? I'm never gonna fucking forgive you, you hear me? You hear me?"

Yamato's eyes were closed.

"Answer me, damn it!"

A chuunin stepped forward, cautiously, prepared to restrain her.

Her makeup ran down her face in two rivers of candy-like color.

…Yamato didn't expect her to forgive him.

"Well… well _good! _'Cos I _won't, okay? _I'm gonna hate you until the day I die, you fucking..." She sniffed, loudly. "_Damn _it_,_ and she didn't even know your _name! _Because you're obviously not _really_ named _Yamato_, I know how you ninjas fucking work, okay… Fake names every time you…"

Yamato shuddered, wiped his tears away again.

"I'm just… I can't even…"

She was sobbing, now. Almost as hard as Yamato was.

"You'd… you'd better take good care of him, okay? Or so help me…!"

She swallowed, and tried to close her mouth, but couldn't, her yellow lips pursing only in the middle.

…Yamato promised that he would. And that Kotoji would grow up to be a ninja, and a good one, too.

The banana-lipped woman stood there, mouth quivering, eyes whipping from the child, to the man who now held him.

"If you g-go back on your promise. I'm gonna fuh-fucking kill you, okay? I'm gonna come back and… and…"

Yamato said that he understood.

"If anything… _anything_ happens to him…!"

Nothing would happen to him.

"…just… take care of him. Take _care_ of him, okay?"

She was long gone before Naruto could arrive and ask what in the world was going on.

Nobody ever got her name.

Yamato never used a different name, after that. Not even on missions.

(This was where the story resumed, the space in between usually filled with jokes about how Yamato'd gotten in trouble with a fierce ganguro from up north, and how hilarious that was because, come on, _ganguro. _People still _dressed_ like that? Leave it to Yamato to go for a girl like that, ha ha ha.)

Yamato was utterly terrified.

Luckily, he had a lot of help. People were surprisingly willing to help a fifty year old newly-made single father, once the news got around.

Naruto probably had something to do with it. He had connections, and infectious compassion.

A crib and formula and diapers were donated, and baby clothes, too—quite a lot from Ino, since she wasn't going to be using them again anytime soon, thank you _very_ much, which led to some confusion when people sometimes saw Yamato walking around with the baby bearing a large red-and-white Uchiha fan on his back.

(Sasuke was a little miffed about this, but Ino was in charge of such things, and she had the final say on where her children's clothes were donated.)

("Could have at least taken the damn emblem off, he's not even a part of my clan.")

"He's not an Uchiha, he's just my son," Yamato would say, whenever people asked about this. His smile grew more and more genuine, the more he said it.

Man, did he ever love that kid.

And once he got the hang of it, he wasn't too bad a father, either.

The only thing that got in the way was, well, duty. Being the only user of the Wood Release in the world made him something of a high-demand sort of guy.

Before Kotoji could even crawl, he'd be scrambling to find babysitters for him, due to last-minute missions and laws that forbade the use of any sort of bunshin as babysitters—what did they _mean_, it counted as willful abandonment? And Naruto tried to be understanding and only assign the most pressing matters to him, but things still happened that required his skills, and with a worrying frequency.

Kakashi was, initially, the last resort. And if it weren't for the fact that Kotoji _liked_ him so much, he would have stayed that way.

It had started out innocently enough. When he was very small, and very fussy, he would only stop crying when in either his father's arms, or Kakashi's, no matter what the situation. Naruto was deeply hurt by this, and by that he meant it wasn't that big a deal, haha, but it was still there. Things like that.

But pretty soon, it became readily apparent that, if Daddy wasn't home and somebody else had to watch him, it had to be Kakashi. What luck that Kakashi was retired, and thus so very available to watch the boy when needed?

Yeah, he was well-behaved for a three-year-old, but he was also about as rational as a three-year-old, too.

Kakashi liked to tell himself that it was a huge pain to deal with. He was a former _Hokage, _for pity's sake_. _He didn't need to be treated like this, stuck with babysitting duty, time after time. But every time Yamato called him, he almost never turned him down.

He liked to tell himself that he resented when people called him Kotoji's Second Daddy, or, worse, _Kaka-Mama—_thank you so _very_ much, Konohamaru, you are_ definitely_ one to talk—but… he just couldn't bring himself to feel truly angry about any of it, so the feelings weren't really genuine.

Even when Yamato was late in coming home, leaving Kakashi exhausted from dealing with the little ball of energy. Even when Kotoji, right after learning how to walk, started making everything—from the mold on the cheese in the fridge, to the window planter from the apartment next door—start to grow uncontrollably, which lead to a great many, notable fiascos. Even when he could be alone, reading,saying he was _enjoying_ his retirement.

…well, this was enjoyable in a sense, too.

Besides, there was just something… he couldn't find the words to describe. But he tried.

There was something in seeing Kotoji's face light up with a gap-toothed grin when he came in the door that just reminded him of when things were simpler, in a way. When things weren't healing, weren't even that broken. He had a smile like new beginnings, and it made Kakashi…

No, Kakashi absolutely wasn't smiling about that. He was looking forward to getting some reading done.

Kotoji would probably asleep by the time he got to Yamato's house, giving him a lot of time to himself. That's how it usually was, those days. At least, how Yamato tried to have it. He knew how inconvenient this was to Kakashi.

And Kakashi appreciated that.


	9. Flash Signals

_Chapter 9 - Flash Signals_

* * *

"Hey, you! Jounin-brat. Where's the heck's your sensei?"

Kakashi was thirteen years old, cooling his feet in the river. He had his shoes arranged neatly beside him, left foot, right foot.

It was one of those hot, blue-sky days, a July day. Minato-sensei had given him the afternoon off.

He didn't turn back to look at her, but he knew that she was there, at the top of the hill.

Kakashi pretended that he didn't notice her and leaned back, splashing his feet, knocking them against the concrete river bank.

"Don't act like you can't hear me. I know you can, you little twerp."

Kakashi didn't reply. He started to whistle.

And then there was a foot on his back. "Tell me where he is or I'm kicking you in the river, yeah?"

"You wouldn't do that."

"Ah! He speaks. What, you want me to try?"

"No. You wouldn't be able to."

And Kakashi demonstrated why, a second later, disappearing in a moment and reappearing behind her. His feet were still wet.

And all she could do was laugh. "Man, I just can't get anything past you, huh, kid?"

Kakashi shrugged, glancing sideways, perfectly nonchalant. "Whatever."

She crossed her arms over her belly, her mouth fixed sorta sideways. She didn't bother turning around, instead looking down at him over her shoulder. "So, again. Since I got your attention, yeah? Where's your sensei?"

"I dunno."

Minato-sensei was in his office, of course. Taking care of some Things.

"Don't give me that, kid, I know that you know. Just tell me, yeah?"

Kakashi looked the other way, with his one uncovered eye.

"He doesn't want to be bothered."

"Pff. Really, now."

"Yeah."

"And how do you know _that_, yeah?"

"Because he told me."

She rolled her eyes. "Uh-huh." She wasn't leaving. "I still wanna know where he is."

Kakashi returned to the riverbank, sat down, carefully, dipped his feet back into in the water. "Ask someone else. He still doesn't wanna be bothered."

She scoffed. "You're concerned about me bothering him? I'm the mother of his freakin' kid, yeah? I _get_ to bother him. Since I'm bothered twenty-four-seven by this little octopus in my stomach, yeah?"

Kakashi was whistling again.

And then there she was, sitting next to him. It took her quite an effort, and she rested her hand on her stomach, sighing deeply as she took off her sandals, right foot, left foot. She let them fall where they lay.

"Kid, when you're outta here, I swear. First thing I'm gonna do is, like, a million backflips, yeah? You're makin' it hard to move."

Kakashi didn't look at her.

"…look, kid, I understand if you don't like me."

Kakashi was already well-informed of her frankness. He hadn't yet experienced it personally, and he found himself tensing up from it.

"Why wouldn't I like you?"

"Well I'm kinda stealing your sensei away from you, kid. Even _I'd_ hate me, if I were in your shoes."

She was sitting to his right. So she could see if he was looking at her.

He still wasn't.

"What makes you think I think that?"

Her red hair burned in his peripheral vision.

"Just a hunch. I know how close the two of you are."

"He's just my sensei, it's no big deal."

She laughed. Kakashi always thought it was strange, how she laughed without covering her mouth, like a man did.

"No big… pff, you are _such_ a kid. You try not to act like it, but you _are, _yeah?"

Kakashi wasn't a kid. But he didn't say this.

"You wanna know a secret?"

Not particularly. So he didn't say anything.

She continued anyways.

"Minato's kinda scared of having less time with you, too. The guy worries about you a freakin' lot, yeah?"

Kakashi looked at his feet, so he wouldn't have to look at her. She was probably smiling.

"Really, he talks to me all the time about how you're gonna get on, what with the baby keeping us busy," she added. "I mean, you're a jounin and everything. That's pretty impressive. But he still worries."

Did he really worry that much? His sensei?

The sting of losing Obito was still as fresh as the scar over his left eye.

"I really couldn't care less. I'll be fine."

"Right. And I'm gonna lose _all_ of my baby weight."

She laughed, but it didn't last very long.

"…there's nothing wrong with those kinds of feelings, Kakashi."

Did she have to use his name? Like that, like she knew him so well?

He almost preferred being called a kid.

"Plus… he told me about your dad. And he worries about that, too, yeah."

He had to look at her, for that. "What does my dad have to do with anything?"

Her face had an almost foreign softness to it, in her smile, her dark blue eyes. "He knows how much you miss him."

Kakashi glared at her.

The things he wanted to _say_.

But he said nothing.

"Really, this is less about me and more about you, I guess. I suppose I've been leading you on, yeah?"

Nothing. He looked at his feet again. Hers were uncomfortably close to his, in the water.

"Honestly, I'm a little worried about you, too. Because," she added, managing to laugh—how could she laugh so easily? "if you're not okay, then Minato's not okay, and I'm not okay with that. Yeah?"

He had no idea why he wasn't just leaving.

His shoes were neatly set beside him. Left foot, right foot.

"If I'm confusing you or annoying you or whatever, that's fine. I don't expect you to start liking me all of a sudden, if at all, yeah."

There was a sort of unspoken expectation in her words, but Kakashi couldn't tell if they were her expectations or his.

"I kinda don't know what I'm even doing here, at this point. I really _am_ looking for Minato, yeah, but I've been thinking about this a lot, lately, and I just wanted to let you know."

Nothing.

"Just know that… I'm not trying to steal him away from you. I know how much you need him. I'm not trying to take him away. I want you to be happy too, yeah? This kinda stuff is hard to deal with. I know how hard it's been for you."

She'd said that already. She didn't need to say it.

He didn't need to hear it.

"Just wanted to let you to know that, yeah?"

Sure.

She grunted a little as she hauled herself to her feet. It took a while. "Hup. Well. I guess I'll go ask someone else about this, yeah?"

"Ask Rin. She'll know."

Kakashi didn't know where Rin was.

She was quiet, for a while. He could hear her putting her shoes back on, right foot, left foot, starting back up the hill.

Then, suddenly, from behind him, this:

"For telling me that, I'm not gonna kick you in the river."

He didn't see her at all again, for the rest of the day.

Which was a relief, because he didn't want her to witness the confused smile in his good eye, the mess of his face struggling with that summer's emotions.

* * *

Kakashi'd had a lot of dreams like that, lately. He had no idea why.

It had been a long time since he'd had a dream that wasn't just a re-run of a memory, though. A very long time.

It was Yamato that woke him up from that particular memory, of the blue-sky river summer, the burning red hair.

Kakashi had fallen asleep on the couch, halfway through a book. This is how babysitting with Kotoji tapered off, a lot of the time, especially at night.

"Where's Kotoji? He hasn't gotten into anything, has he?" Kakashi asked. His reflexes woke him up at the slightest sound, but with Kotoji, you had to keep on your toes.

"Nah, he's still sleeping. I wasn't gone for very long." Yamato spoke very softly. He sounded tired.

Kakashi felt like he'd been asleep for far longer. He rubbed his eye. "Mm. So how'd it go with…"

"Haruhi-kun? It went well enough."

Kakashi yawned. "What were you helping with, anyways?" Yamato had rushed out so quickly that he hadn't given much of a reason for his departure, but this was nothing new.

"Well, Benio-chan's student didn't show up for training this morning. You know, that Hanamura boy, with the red hair."

Red hair…

Kakashi remembered him, and his frustrating familiarity, his closeness with Naruto. He had no idea what to make of the rumors claiming that the boy was his son. He supposed maybe there was some truth to them, though he couldn't quite articulate why.

"So you went looking for him?" Kakashi said.

"Yeah, she started to get really worried when a few hours went by and he still didn't show. He wasn't even at Naruto's house, when we went to go check."

"Oh, jeez. Naruto must be worried too, then. Did you go talk to him?"

"Of course. But he's just seriously bogged down with those Taki… guys." Yamato's face wrinkled. "You know, the ones with the swords. You've seen them around."

"Oh, yeah. I've seen them."

"Yeah. I get the feeling that Naruto's going to have to find that Taki Kiine girl, though, first and foremost. Wherever she is. We have practically the entire staff looking for her, it's absolutely ridiculous."

"Probably. It must be torture for him, you've seen how he is with that boy."

"Yes." Yamato's eyes were half-closed, his expression thoughtful. "The look on his face was just heartbreaking, Kakashi-san. Poor guy's just overwhelmed. Especially with the chuunin exams so soon." He looked up at Kakashi, who was getting up off the couch. "Was it ever this bad for you?"

"Hm?"

"As Hokage, I mean."

Kakashi thought for a moment, searching his memory.

His tenure as Hokage was a long and a lonely stretch of time, a period of resettling, a lukewarm age. Days of endless paperwork and picking up the pieces left behind by the Akatsuki and the war. It had its own pressures, its own set of stresses and circumstances.

Unlike Naruto, however, Kakashi didn't have a family, in those days. Blood or otherwise. This absence was both comforting, a lack of pain, and isolating, a constant reminder of it.

He couldn't really compare it to his current situation, his new life of gap-toothed smiles and books reborn as flowers, and old, familiar conversations.

"I don't know, really."

Yamato was quiet for a moment, breathing softly, in and out.

"I'll be heading home, now, unless you need me for anything," Kakashi continued, holding his book in his hand, keeping his place with his finger.

"Nah, you're good. Thanks a lot, Kakashi-san."

"Any time, Yamato."

And Kakashi was gone, lost in his book, looking at the words, but not really reading them. Force of habit.

But then he saw something in a face on the way home, out of the corner of his eye. It was enough to make him stop in his tracks, enough to freeze his blood.

There was a group of those Taki representatives shuffling about outside of a storefront; a big fellow, two medium-sized, and one very, very small.

It was the small one that caught his attention, and his face, especially his face.

It took only a moment for the memory to come rushing to the forefront of his mind. An old memory, and a violent one, of a face much like that one.

Blood-stained, eyes blank, dead, but defiant, almost happy.

Kakashi almost had to check to see that there wasn't blood on his arms, that it was a book he held in his hand and not the remains of a human heart.

They made eye contact, for just a moment. The boy had the face of a martyr and brown, living eyes.

Kakashi averted his gaze first, but he knew that the boy was still looking at him.

He had to make himself some tea when he got home, but his hands were shaking almost too badly to hold the cup.

It was like he had seen a ghost; that was the best way to put it. He didn't talk about it with other people, but that was how he would say it if he had to.

This happened, from time to time. He'd catch a glimpse of something and things would just come rushing back. Sometimes years would go by between incidents, but they still happened.

Like that eager, dusky-skinned Cloud nin with the small black eyes but no eyebrows to match them. He'd seen that face at many chuunin exams, in years gone by.

He'd already gotten used to the white-haired Kurunari, whom Naruto adored so much, enough to disregard his hermit's smile.

The things his eye had seen would give most people nightmares.

Kakashi had suffered from them, quietly, for quite a while now.

He tried to think of Kotoji's smile, and slowly, his hands began to stop shaking.


	10. Luna Moth

_Chapter 10 - Luna Moth_

* * *

Shikake decided to go home, after Inou passed out for the second time during training. "Seriously, dude, it is _not _worth keeping this up if we have to keep waking him up like this. Wasn't yesterday like this, too?"

Chouko, wringing out a cloth, glared at her teammate, and dabbed Inou's forehead again. "Inou-kun is trying very hard, Shikake-chan. Please be a little understanding."

"Yeah, but there's a difference between 'trying hard' and 'trying hard to kill yourself.' I'm freakin' out of here."

And Chouko sighed and waited for Inou to come to.

"I'm fine," he said, when she asked him if he was okay. His eyes were almost closed, like it hurt to even be awake. "I feel a lot better, honest. Let's get back to work."

He could barely stand, skinny shoulders shuddering, but his eyes were hard and determined.

So they had continued, because he wanted to.

But when his knees buckled and he ran to go throw up in the bushes, Chouko finally put her foot down, softly. "Inou-kun, sweetheart, are you okay?"

"M'fine, m'fine. M'totally fine." He spit on the ground, his eyes watering from some unidentifiable mix of emotion. "Just… need to rest for a bit…"

She rubbed his back for him, feeling his muscles tense, holding his hair and his necklace of three silver rings out of the way. When he was done, she offered him her handkerchief, but he refused to use it.

"Don't wanna get it dirty… M'fine, let's just keep going, I feel better now."

She wiped his face off for him anyways. "I think we should call it a day," she told him.

He paused, for a moment. Then, he asked, "What time is it."

"I don't know."

"What _time_ is it."

Chouko sighed, took her hands off of him. "I'll go check."

It was 5:32 PM, according to the clock in the nearby park. They'd been training together for a little over seven hours, minus breaks, of course. Even for ninja standards, and even though Inou couldn't stand to work on Uchiha techniques and physical jutsu for more than an hour at a time and had to space them out with Yamanaka techniques (which he hated and hated and hated), it was absolutely ludicrous, especially given how hard Inou was working compared to Chouko or (especially) Shikake.

But Inou was operating under an entirely different set of rules.

(Counting his morning exercises, his rooftop scans, had been training for almost ten hours. But he told neither of the girls this. Or his father.)

(His father wouldn't believe him, anyways.)

"We can keep going. We can. Another hour, I can make it."

He was still sniffling, trying to wipe his ugly tears away. He didn't want to touch the vomit left on his shirt.

His knees and his hands were shaking, badly.

"I'm taking you home," Chouko said.

"No, no, I can't go home, not yet."

"Inou-kun…"

"Dad doesn't get home until seven. I can't be home before then."

"Then we'll rest up and leave after then. He won't know the difference."

"Yeah, he will... He knew, last time…"

Chouko picked him up like a father picks up a sleeping child with her big, soft arms, and began carrying him home. He was too weak to really resist.

As they were walking, she marveled at how very light he really was. The only thing that really made her aware of his presence in her arms was the fact that he was shaking so badly.

His mother gasped when Chouko knocked on the front door and asked to be let in, putting Inou down and supporting him with his arm over her shoulders. "My _goodness_, Inou! What happened to you?"

"M'fine, Mom, I swear…"

"He got sick during training, Ino-san." Chouko sounded apologetic. "I thought to bring him home."

"Well come inside, both of you," his mother said.

"Mom, I'm _fine_," Inou said. Chouko set him down on the foyer step, and despite his words, he started taking off his shoes, but he couldn't get a strong enough grip on them to get them off entirely.

"Oh, Inou, honestly. Here." His mother knelt down and took them off herself, like she had done when he was little. His face flushed. "Look at you, you're a mess… What in the world happened?"

"Nothing."

"He threw up, Ino-san."

"Chouko-chan!"

"I'm not going to lie to your mom, Inou-kun." Chouko held her elbows, biting her lip, and looked at his mother. "He fainted during training today and yesterday, too. From exhaustion, not-"

"Shut _up_, Chouko-chan…" Inou's shoulders rose. "It was only for a few minutes, anyways…"

His mother set his shoes aside and sighed. "Inou, I told you not to exert yourself so much, it's not _good_ for you."

"Well, then, what else am I supposed to do?" He stared at his bare feet, not wanting to get up. "Gotta try my _hardest_."

His mother sighed. "Let's just get some food in you, it'll make you feel better. Thank you, Chouko-chan. Say hi to your father for me."

"Will do, Ino-san," Chouko said. "Feel better, Inou-kun."

"Thanks."

She left. Inou still didn't feel like standing up.

After a while, his mother sat down beside him, hands folded neatly in her lap as she looked at him. His hair fell over his right eye, just like hers did. "Your father's not going to be home for another hour, Inou, at least. I'm not going to make you wait for him."

"I might as well," he mumbled. "Show how _sorry_ I am for skipping out on training. Since this means so _little_ to me, obviously..."

"Inou, that's not true. You can't help that you got sick."

"Yeah, but he'll still find some way to blame me."

"Inou."

"_What? _ It's _true._ If I had more stamina I wouldn't have fainted. And if I'd trained harder I'd have more stamina."

She sighed. "Inou, please."

"And _Takeru_ wouldn't throw up like a _weakling_ after training all day." He looked like he was either going to cry or scream. Or both.

(He refused to admit to himself that, maybe, his weakness here was due to the fact that he had tried to work on Uchiha techniques for more than two hours.)

(What a disappointment he was. He was supposed to be able to _handle_ this.)

(Yamanaka techniques didn't do this to him. He could scan minds for hours without feeling tired at all.)

(What was _wrong_ with him.)

His mother sat there, staring at her hands. She was quiet for a long time. Then, she said, "Takeru isn't perfect, Inou. And it's not your fault. You probably just ate something that didn't agree with you."

Inou didn't answer.

She put her hand on his back. "Come on, let's go inside. I'll make you something to eat, and then you can take a nice bath. That'll have you feeling a lot better."

"I guess," Inou said. He finally got up, though his knees still felt like water. His head hurt.

"I'll tell your father that you're coming down with something, and that you were such a _trooper_ for lasting so long," she continued, walking down the hallway with him to the kitchen. "You've just been working yourself to the _bone._ You need some time to rest."

He couldn't bring himself to smile, but still, he said, "Thanks, Mom."

Nadeshiko was actually home, sitting at the kitchen table; though she was silent, her presence was heavy, like an omen or a stain. She looked up from her book as they entered.

"Take your shirt off, so I can wash it," his mother said, so Inou did, and she left to go put it in the laundry room. He lingered awkwardly in the doorway, arms folded over his chest, feeling the cold rings around his neck against his skin.

He tried not to look at Nadeshiko.

She asked him a question. "You feeling okay, little brother?"

Inou didn't respond.

He didn't hate his sister, but he still felt unwilling to talk to her, sometimes. A sort of revulsion by association.

Nadeshiko blinked her large, feather-lashed eyes once, twice, before going back to her reading. Inou caught a glimpse of it as he pretended to look out the window behind her. Black and white and grey print. A graphic novel, one he didn't recognize.

Nadeshiko loved to read. There were, in fact, three bookcases in her room, each nearly filled to capacity. The first, closest to her desk, held her books on botany, gardening, flower-arrangement. It wasn't terribly filled, so it was also where she displayed her handiwork, beautiful arrangements of ikebana, in the space of books. The second held her novels, her encyclopedias. And the third was devoted almost entirely to manga, art books, light novels. Everything was arranged alphabetically, and very, very neatly. Everything had a place.

Most girls her age preferred reading things like romances; the typical boy-meets-girl-meets-boy-meets-whoever plots, with gauzy art and enormous, sparkling eyes on every page. Either that, or screwball comedies. Family dramas. Harem-like wish-fulfillment. A million variations on the themes.

Nadeshiko's library was inhabited by the stories of a warrior telemarketer, who only wished to live a simple life; a wandering baker, whose bread changed lives; a doctor with a patchwork face who treated any patient that came her way, be they man or monster. The only volumes she owned that were even remotely typical of a girl her age were from a series called _No._ It concerned the life of a young actress trying to make it in the world of traditional theater, despite being a woman. The art was beautiful and it was by far Inou's favorite. He had no idea which ones _she_ liked most, though.

When he was younger, Inou liked to go into her room and read them himself, when she was out of the house, which was mercifully often. He'd sit on her bed, burying himself into her pillows, losing himself for a few hours at a time in those strange stories, surrounded by the smell of the flowers in the shelves and the marigolds in her window planter, until either she or his father came home, whichever happened first.

After Sasuke caught him there, the first (and the last) time, he started stealing them from her room, one volume at a time, and reading them where he could, hoping that she, that his father wouldn't notice.

If she did, Inou didn't know, and he told himself he didn't care.

Being like her was a sin.

He didn't even like reading all that much, anyways. Really. Especially not the girly books that Nadeshiko liked so much.

He had no idea why he still did these things.

But he did, and he just continued to disappoint, like he had been born to do it.

His mother returned with a new shirt for him to wear, black, long-sleeved, and he put it on. He didn't stop shivering. "What do you want to eat?" she asked him.

"I don't care."

"I'll make you some soup, then. "

It was quiet as she turned the gas on for the stove, and started heating up some broth in a pot. She looked over her shoulder. "For goodness _sakes_, Inou, sit _down!_"

He didn't want to sit at the table. Not with _her_ there.

"I'll get out of the way if you don't need my help."

Nadeshiko had closed her book and gracefully gotten up, her eyes closed. Her hair was very long, and it brushed the table surface as she stood.

"Nadeshiko, you don't need to do that," his mother said.

"He'll be home soon. I don't want to make things worse."

Her words were painful, true, and inarguable.

She went upstairs, leaving her book on the table.

Inou waited until he heard the door of her bedroom close before sitting down. He slumped over the table, resting his head on his arms.

"Oh, honey. You just take it easy, okay?" he heard his mother say.

He didn't respond. His mother began chopping some green onions.

His eyes drifted over to the book Nadeshiko had left on the table. It had a green cover, and he slid it toward himself weakly with his hand.

He almost had to laugh when he saw the title: "Hokage!" with an illustration of the Hokage Mountain on it in colored pencil. Having nothing else to do, he flipped it open and began to read.

It was obviously for children, the art style simple and eye-catching, with furigana beside even the simplest of kanji—seriously, like you needed to know how to pronounce "Hokage"? He managed to smile a little as he turned the page.

The history presented by the book was almost hilariously simplified. But, then again, it was for kids. Kids didn't want to hear about the politics and the ethics and the ambiguous morality of real history. They wanted to hear about how Senju Hashirama had battled it out with Uchiha Madara in what was now the Valley of the End. You know, Good Guys Versus Bad Guys. Clean-cut, black and white. And, above all else, _really cool._

Inou turned the page. Simplistic structure, really, but it was entertaining, which he supposed was the point. There were seven sections, one for each Hokage, with their contributions to history—only the important stuff, though, the cool stuff. The memorable stuff. The First Hokage founded the village; the Second organized it; the Third took up the mantle not once, but twice, to preserve it; the Fourth sacrificed himself for it; the Fifth protected it; the Sixth rebuilt it; the Seventh made it flourish. You learned those things early as a kid, when you were in school. They quizzed you on those sorts of things.

(And Inou always got perfect scores on his quizzes. He remembered everything he read.)

(But all his father would ever tell him was "You should have higher grades in the physical arts. Go out and train.")

He turned the page, ignoring the mild ache that budded in his temple with his thoughts. There were more things to laugh about. The Day of Pain, for example, the most devastating act of terrorism against any one city in the world? The damage was depicted in a series of cartoon houses with bandages drawn on them, and the most cheerful exclamation that "Thanks to the work of the Fifth, and the future Sixth and Seventh Hokages, very few people got hurt, and the village got to work rebuilding right away."

No mention at all of the death toll of that day. With such extensive damage, there had to have been _hundreds _of casualties. Inou had seen photographs, in books, at the library, when he was trying to stay out of the house. (Those books, curiously, made no mention of a death toll, either.)

But this was a book for children. Inou started to wonder why Nadeshiko had even been reading this. Then again, he didn't know what kinds of things she liked, really.

He turned the page. He could smell the soup cooking. He was feeling a lot better.

The book made mention of all sorts of people who'd helped the Hokages along the way, through the years. Naturally, the Sannin were mentioned—students of the Third, comrades of the Fifth. Teachers to the Fourth and, later, Seventh. That seemed to be a recurring trend here, teachers.

(Ishi-sensei was nothing special. He was largely absent, those days, leaving Chouko in charge of things, but he still had enough presence to nominate them for the chuunin exams that year.)

Inou turned the page when he saw his father's name mentioned near the end of the book, in the chapter about the Seventh Hokage. He didn't want to see how they treated the Fourth War.

(The book all but skipped over the Uchiha Massacre, the stories his father had told him about the martyr that was his late uncle.)

"The Hokage is a very important title, given only to the strongest ninja of Konoha," the book declared, with an illustration of all seven Hokages in a row, smiling, wearing the same clothes. "But any ninja can become Hokage! Maybe even you!"

Somehow, Inou doubted this.

He heard the front door slide open. He held his breath. "Mom, m'sorry I'm so late! I had to help with—you started dinner already?"

He exhaled. It was just Karai. She took off her shoes with lightning speed. "I'm just making some soup for Inou, I won't be starting dinner for a while, yet," his mother called to her, down the hallway.

"Inou's home? When did he get home? Dad's not home, too, is he?" Her breath quickened, and she zoomed down the hallway in a whirlwind of worry, gasping when she reached the doorframe.

"No, Karai, your father isn't home," their mother said, patiently, stirring the soup. "Calm down, everything's _okay_. Inou's home early because he got sick during training."

Inou shoved the Hokage book aside and put his head on his arms again. "I'm fine, Karai," he told his sister.

The clock on the kitchen wall said 6:27. He'd spent almost twenty minutes on the stupid book. Lost track of time. It had only been a kid's book.

He didn't even like reading all that much.

His headache started to come back.

"You're sick? Oh, no, are you feeling okay…?" Karai wandered over to him and put her hand on his forehead. He squirmed away.

"Hey, get _off,_ will you? I said I'm fine," Inou said, and rearranged his arms so that he didn't have to look at her.

"Inou, be nice to your sister, she's just a little worried about you. And why don't you start chopping up some vegetables for me, Karai?" their mother said. "It'll make things go by faster." She turned the stove off, and poured the soup into a bowl for Inou, and placed it in front of him. "There, this should make you feel a lot better."

Inou stared at the bowl for a while, before reluctantly eating. He didn't feel hungry. It smelled _good_, and it was warm and that was nice, but he just didn't… feel like eating.

He ate anyways. Karai talked to their mother about what they were making for dinner. And then she talked to him.

_Are you sure you're okay, bro?_

Karai loved talking to him without talking. He almost regretted teaching her how to do it, years before, when he was eight and she was five. He had only done it because he had no one else to practice with. Their mother was always busy, Hajime was always busy, Nadeshiko was… what she was.

And his father and Takeru were both out of the question.

Karai was the only real option.

_Butt out, I'm fine._

_Is that your book? Dad's coming home soon, you should probably hide it. _

_I know that, stop bothering me. It's not my book, anyways._

_Okay. I'm sorry, Inou._

He sipped spitefully at his soup, not really tasting it. It wasn't really helping.

_Do you want me to take it for you? Dad will probably believe me if I say it's mine._

"Shut _up_," he said, quietly.

Their mother looked over her shoulder. Karai paused for a moment, and then resumed her work.

He felt like he was going to be sick.

He slammed his spoon down, loudly. "I'm gonna go take a bath," he said, and got out of the kitchen before either of them could respond.

His stomach calmed down by the time he made it to the bathroom, and he got undressed, and spent a very long time washing his hair. He hated the smell of the shampoo that his father and brothers used, but he used it anyways, because he always seemed to get a lecture when he tried anything remotely flowery, even though he preferred it. The smell made him woozy. Everything was starting to ache.

"_You spend so much time on your hair already, it's embarrassing."_

His father wasn't even home, but he could still hear that criticism in his head. He stepped into the bath, trying to ease the hurt.

His father came home with Takeru, while Inou was in the bath. As usual. Inou closed his eyes and imagined that he was dissolving into the water.

The conversation was muffled through the steam and the distance from the bathroom and the kitchen, but he caught bits and pieces.

His father asked about him. His mother covered for him, and so did Karai.

His father didn't believe it, and his mother asked, what, did she have to show him his shirt? He was honestly sick.

Inou dipped his head below the water, not wanting to hear any more.

He had to surface, had to breathe, after a while.

They were still talking about him. His father was shouting.

He kept his ears below the water for what felt like an eternity, not bothering to try and listen for any more.

He slid down, further and further, into the bath, until only his nose, his eyes, his knees were the only things kept dry, and cold.

His whole body relaxed. The hurt started to go away.

And, suddenly, he was dreaming.

The Forest of Death. That was where he'd fallen, two years before.

The day had been hot and humid and his shirt was clinging to his chest and his hair was a mess and he was thirsty and tired and he just wanted to go home but he _couldn't_.

He'd told Shikake and Chouko that he'd go on ahead and scout for another scroll for them, Shikake called him a moron and he said that he wasn't, he'd go and get it and then they'd be all done, they'd be fine, so he went ahead to go scout for another scroll, he'd be back before they knew it.

They could depend on him, and he was gone before they could miss him.

It had been nearly a day and a night and he was starting to really get scared. He wanted to find somewhere to hide, to maybe possess the mind of a bird and look for Shikake and Chouko, wherever they were, but he was scared that maybe someone would find his body and do _something_ to it while he was out of it, and that scared him the most. He needed a spotter; that, or the world's greatest hiding place.

…yeah, right.

He hated this. He hated that he needed to depend on others. He could do this by himself. He had to do this by himself.

…no, he couldn't. He was twelve years old and he had no idea what the heck he was doing, the only thing he could really fall back on were either his mind or Shikake and Chouko and he couldn't _find_ them and there was the snap of a branch and he grabbed a kunai and he held his breath and he found somewhere to hide.

There was a team passing through. Three genin, older than him, from… Cloud, by the looks of it. A girl with hair like spun sugar and a boy with greasy black hair and a _much _older boy, gangly, eyebrowless. Did they have a scroll? They had a scroll, they had to have at least one, they were still all together.

He listened. They were talking about… having both scrolls, they were making their way to the tower.

They had both scrolls.

This was his chance, this was it, this was his chance.

Inou followed them, he followed them for a long time, from the trees. Very quietly, waiting for the right time.

They stopped to take a break. He observed very carefully, which one had the Heaven scroll—that one.

Arms out, chakra focused and suddenly he was looking through a new pair of eyes and he excused himself and said he had to use the bathroom and he took the scroll and he was gonna bring it back to his body and he'd bring it back to Shikake and Chouko and there was something by his body and he froze.

It was a strange thing. Crouched and tiny, child-sized, with enormous, enormous black eyes. It was poking at Inou's body experimentally worriedly and Inou froze and what was that, what _was_ that.

There had been rumors, stories, of things that lived in the woods, a woman, the Woman, and they had told everyone not to believe in them, they were just _stories, _there had been investigations into these things, but what _was_ that thing, maybe it was just another ninja from another country, but he couldn't see a forehead protector, and Inou climbed up the tree but he couldn't shout at it because then the Cloud nin would hear and then it would be ruined, he'd be doomed, for sure.

He reached his body and the child-thing was already climbing further up the tree, away from him, with incredible speed, unnatural. The thing could climb, oh, wow, no, it could _run_. Inou's hands were shaking. He could feel it watching him with those enormous, enormous eyes but it was leaving him alone so he ignored it, it was nothing, and he put the Heaven—oh _no._

No, no, _no_.

He'd grabbed the _Earth_ scroll, no, no, how could he, he was so stupid, this was, no, and there were those eyes still watching him, _watching _him, and he just had to go down and just act like nothing had happened and then release control and act like nothing had happened and just get out of there and try and find Shikake and Chouko and pray that they'd found a scroll of their own, he'd find a way to find them. He left the Earth scroll with his body, just in case, just in case, y'know, he needed it.

He was _such_ an idiot. Stupid, stupid, _stupid_, he got back to where the Cloud nin were gathered and said he'd done his business and then he released control and he heard, from away in the trees, his buddy, the eyebrowless, asking whoa hey you okay man?

The big eyes were looking back at him again and Inou almost yelped what _was_ that thing?

Would have yelped had he not fallen out of the tree and onto his back and there were spots in front of his eyes and he couldn't breathe he couldn't breathe they had heard him fall for certain oh no he was doomed he was just so doomed he was dead he was _dead _no, no, _no._

"You stay in there any longer, you're just going to make yourself more sick."

That was his father's voice, wasn't it.

Inou opened his eyes.

And there was his father, standing above him. He didn't look worried or concerned or particularly _anything_, he was just staring.

How long had he been asleep? Inou's fingers felt wrinkled.

"Fall asleep in the bath, did you?" his father asked.

Inou sat up, drawing his knees to his chest. He never took his necklace off, and he felt the rings against his legs.

He'd received them as a genin, and his father, of course, had had a huge argument with his mother about the matter.

Inou was their Yamanaka heir, because there had to be one and for some reason it just _couldn't _be Takeru. But Sasuke refused to let him get his ears pierced.

"Do you _want_ him to look like a girl, Ino?" he had said.

Wearing them around his neck was a compromise. Though Inou personally wouldn't have minded if they had pierced his ears. He thought that, maybe, it'd look nice.

Maybe if he became a chuunin he'd finally have it done.

…no, _when_ he became a chuunin. He (or his mother) would be able to persuade his father about it. It was stupid but he wanted to have a say in something, have a _sign_ that he'd actually done something worth _noting._

Chouko had already had it done, anyways, when _she_ became a chuunin.

(When she had first become a genin, she had, in solidarity, decided to wear a set of rings on her hand, while having the traditional rings in her ears at the same time, so Inou wouldn't feel so out of place. It was the first sign, to him, that they'd actually be good friends.)

(Shikake hadn't even bothered.)

"I'm getting out soon," Inou said.

His father stared at him for a moment more, and then left the bathroom. "I don't want to see this happen again."

He shut the door behind him.

Inou dipped his head under the water again and stayed there until he felt like he was going to pass out.

His family had eaten dinner in the meantime, but he wasn't hungry. He went to his room instead and put on his pajamas, and opened a book on chakra-concentration techniques that he'd gotten from the library, and began to read.

He didn't even like reading but it was too late and he was too exhausted to train, but too humiliated to sleep, but he had to do something _useful._

He didn't even like reading.

When he woke up a few hours later, there were wet marks on the pages that had not been there when he'd started reading, and a blanket on his back. The light was still on, to maintain an illusion of busy-ness.

He did not sleep well that night, after that.

As it happened, he was not alone.

In her bedroom across the hallway, Karai kept herself awake by reading scrolls on shuriken techniques, waiting for Inou's light to turn off.

In his kitchen, Kakashi nursed a fresh nightmare and poured himself another cup of tea, trying not to think of the Land of Waves.

In a hotel room paid for with threatening words and glances, Yuki sat awake at the foot of his bed in the room he shared with his brother, and he prayed for Kiine's safety.

In a city street, Benio called for Yukio, again. Her hair was wet from perspiration and worry. Haruhi had long ago gone home, saying he'd make dinner and wait for her to return. That was three hours ago.

In his office, Naruto sat and waited and tried very hard not to worry about Yukio—but how could he not? Even Benio and her boyfriend and Yamato couldn't find him, and they were all _jounin_. It was like he had disappeared off of the face of the earth. And Kiine was still missing, and the men from the Taki syndicate had come back in the evening about that, after Yamato came back to report that nothing had been found and he had to go home. Naruto had just smiled and borne it and said that they were doing as much as they could, just waiting for them to _leave._ He told Andou to go home after a while, but Naruto stayed. Benio was still out there, so there was hope. There was still hope. They'd find Yukio. And Kiine, too.

In an alley behind a restaurant, Yukio gasped for breath, staying as concealed as possible, making use of those last three weeks of training, compounded with years learning about stealth and hiding and making oneself unseen, waiting for an opportunity to escape. Eyes on the gate.

She had to run.


	11. Slight Illumination

_Chapter 11 - Slight Illumination_

* * *

It took three days for the blood to be processed.

This is what happened on the third day.

At around 3 or 4 in the morning a boy was caught trying to sneak out via the village gate, and he was raising a terrible fuss, so they held him at the guard station until they could figure out just who he belonged to.

In the holding cell nearby there were two other men, and a woman. The woman was there for getting into a fight with her boyfriend, which she loudly refuted at any chance as being "fuckin' unfair, 'cos he totally deserved it;" one of the men had had too much to drink and was currently asleep, drooling on the floor; the other man was from the Taki syndicate, and he'd pulled a sword on a bar owner who happened to be a retired jounin and would not tolerate any of this crap in his establishment. The underling that was with him at the time had been allowed to go get Nobuhiro, so he could bail him out. He still hadn't arrived, but that didn't stop the guy from asking about him every five seconds.

The boy sat very quietly in his chair next to the guard's desk, trying not to look any of them in the eye. He left his bag on the floor.

He was very quickly identified as Hanamura Yukio, and someone ran to get the Hokage and Yuuhi Benio. When asked what he had been up to, he didn't respond.

In the time that it took for the message to get there, the drunken man had awoken, wobbled to his knees, and thrown up in the toilet in the corner; the woman had yelled at him for it; the man from the Taki syndicate had stopped yelling for his underling and started yelling at Yukio.

"…hey! Hey, kid! Don't I know you from somewhere?"

Yukio kept his eyes forward. He shook his head, as if shaking off a shiver. He didn't reply.

The man moved forward, crouched like he was holding a sword, even though they'd taken it away from him. He was bald, and his robes were a faded red-purple, like a bruise. "No, no, could _swear_ I know you from somewhere. …the hell do I know you from?"

"I don't know. Stop bothering me," Yukio said. His voice was hoarser than usual.

"Please be quiet, sir," the chuunin guard added, flatly.

"Shut the _fuck_ up_._ An' don't give me no lip, kid. I'm just tryin' to—wait, _wait, _you're one of _us_, ain't you?" The bald man was in the cell because he had drawn his sword when the owner of the bar he'd been drinking at demanded payment for his extensive order of refreshments. He was still reeling from both the drinks and the ass-kicking the man had given him. "Izzat how I know you?"

Yukio didn't say anything. He clenched his fists.

"No, wait, only guys with red hair are the Boss and… hey _wait._"

"Is the Naruto-san here yet?" Yukio said.

"Show me the back of your neck, kid."

"He should be here soon," said the chuunin guard. He yawned. "Just hold tight."

"I _said, _show me your _neck_." The bald man was drawing closer to the bars of the holding cell, and Yukio kept his eyes fiercely focused on his hands.

"Leave the kid alone, you dick," the woman said. Though the fight was long since over, she still had some spark left in her for provocation.

"The fuck did you say?"

She smirked, behind her smeared mascara. There was a wad of tissue in her nose, and the blood was turning brown. "Just told you to leave the kid alone. You dick."

"If you weren't a lady," he said, shaking an alcohol-loosed finger at her, already forgetting about Yukio, "I'd punch your face in."

"How lucky for me," she replied. She knew she'd have a black eye in the morning, and she was proud of it. "Wouldn't matter, anyways. Already got my face punched in once for the night."

"Please be quiet," the guard said again. The door to the holding station opened.

"Honda, ya moron, what kinda idiot thing did you get yourself in trouble with _this_ time."

Nobuhiro had arrived, unshaven, his robe hastily put on, knife shoved under his belt. Yuki was still rubbing his eyes, barely awake, a smattering of other syndicate members behind them for support.

"Oh, Nobuhiro, I been waitin' for forever," the bald man, Honda, said. "It's these damn ninjas, they-"

"Save it. You can explain yourself later." Nobuhiro glared at the chuunin guard. "Well, you gonna let him out or what?"

Yukio's eyes widened. His knuckles turned white. He kept his head down.

(As it happened, Yuki did the same.)

"Technically, charges weren't pressed, so I'm allowed to release him," the guard said, carefully. "Though if action is sought later…"

"Well it _won't _be, so I'd appreciate it if you let my _friend_ outta there, thanks very much," said Nobuhiro.

The guard sighed, getting his keys.

"M'real thankful to ya, Nobu," Honda said. "Honestly, the way people run things 'round here."

"From what I heard, you got drunk an' pulled your sword on a ninja," said Nobuhiro. "So it's less a case of _them_ bein' ass_holes_ an' more a case of _you_ being a dumb_ass."_

Honda's face, already rosy from wine, flushed even further and he mumbled something resembling an apology. The woman in the cell with him scoffed. There was tired laughter from behind Nobuhiro, but not beside him. He noticed this.

"…Yuki, what's the matter."

Yuki tried very, very hard not to look to his left. "Nothing, brother. I'm just tired."

Nobuhiro noticed anyways.

He narrowed his eyes, rubbed them, as the guard let Honda out.

"Who's the kid?" he asked.

"A guest of the Hokage," was the reply. The guard shut the cell door behind him.

"Thought he looked familiar." Honda was stumbling a little.

Nobuhiro scowled, searching Yukio's face. His eyebrows lifted.

"Can't be…"

"No," Yuki said, softly. "Please, _no_."

That was when Naruto decided to show up.

"Yukio, where _were_ you?"

He shoved past Nobuhiro, parting the sea of thugs without much effort. Yukio didn't say a thing, rooted to the chair, even when Naruto knelt to eye level with him, worried expression and everything.

"What the—the _hell_ are _you_ doing here?" Nobuhiro said, eyes blinking from the jostling.

"Seriously, are you okay?" Naruto continued. "Where _were_ you? You had me an' Benio-chan worried _sick!_"

"Hokage, what are _you _doing here?"

Naruto finally noticed. "Nobuhiro-san?" He stood. "I could ask the same for you, y'know."

"_I'm_ pickin' up one of my guys, what are _you_ doing?" Nobuhiro said. Honda stumbled back into the fray, but he wasn't given his sword back. "It's four in the damn morning."

"I'm here on personal business," Naruto said. His face hardened into something like a smile. "Nothing for you to worry about, y'know?"

"Personal business? _Personal_ business? The hell does that even _mean?_"

Yuki was beginning to regret that he wasn't holding his brother's knife, in addition to his own sword.

"A friend of mine went missing, an' I'm here to pick him up, now that he's been found," Naruto said, glancing at Yukio and back. Yukio remained frozen. "We were searching for him all day yesterday and-"

Nobuhiro didn't even let him finish. "What, so you'll drop fuckin' _everything_ for one of your own, an' you find 'em within a _day_, but you can't even find a single _girl_ who's been missing for at least a _month?_" He reached for his sword, in its black case. "I cannot _believe_ the disrespect I am seein' here."

"Brother, calm down, please…" Yuki said, quietly, holding onto his sleeve. "They'll find-"

"Nobuhiro-san, we have our _entire staff _looking for Lady Kiine, y'know? It's not like we haven't been trying!" Naruto could feel that anger radiating out of Nobuhiro, hot and dangerous. "There were only three people looking for Yukio, and they-"

"Whole staff, huh? Whole staff? Gah, it's a wonder I even thought I could even _trust _you," Nobuhiro said. "If three people can find some snot-nosed punk after a day then your 'whole staff' shoulda found Lady Kiine in a couple-a minutes!"

"Well, you haven't found her either, Nobuhiro-san. We're having as difficult a time as you." Naruto was made of stone, but he couldn't help himself.

"That's _it._"

Nobuhiro had his knife in his hand and he was holding it sideways. It was a very sharp knife.

Naruto's muscles tensed.

"Stop it, Nobuhiro. Please, put down your weapon."

Yukio was standing.

"Who the—who said that?"

Yuki wanted to disappear.

"It's me, Nobu. You found me. So you can stop, now."

And there was Kiine, her red hair cut short, dressed in the clothes of a commoner boy. There was cold fire in her blue eyes.

"I'll say it again… Please, just… put the knife down. I don't want you to fight this man."

"L-Lady Kiine…" Nobuhiro's hand fell. The room buzzed, with words, with surprise, with worry.

Naruto didn't know what to say, or to think.

From the back, Honda slurred, "I knew you looked familiar…" He was leaning on his underling's shoulder. Nobody had given him his sword back yet.

Everything began playing out like a film, or a television show, where Naruto was just observing, where he was just a viewer.

"Lady Kiine, where in the world have you _been?_" Nobuhiro continued.

"Here. The Hokage's been keeping me as his guest."

"Keepin' you as a… guest? You mean you _knew_ she was here?" Nobuhiro said, glaring at Naruto. His face turned red.

Kiine spoke before Naruto could explain, but he doubted he'd have been able to say anything. His throat felt thick. "No, Nobuhiro, he didn't. Don't blame him for any of this." Her voice sounded different; there was no playfulness in it, no light. It was dark, and unnaturally soft. "Put away your knife, please."

Nobuhiro did. Click. The men behind him tittered and buzzed and mumbled.

Naruto couldn't speak.

In hindsight it was painfully obvious. Right under his nose.

"But… _how_, I mean, we were lookin' for you _everywhere…_" All of Nobuhiro's anger seemed to have disappeared, replaced by a chilling sheet of worry. "How the _hell_ could _he_ not have noticed you if you were _staying_ with him?"

Naruto asked himself the very same thing.

"I was very careful. Obviously, I've been in disguise, using a false name. There was nothing to suggest that I was who I am until you started looking for me here." She gave a cold, hateful glance in Yuki's direction. "I didn't _want_ to be found."

Naruto saw Yuki mumble something, but he did not speak.

"I'm sure that Papa's very mad at me," Kiine continued, quietly. She looked at her feet.

"Lady Kiine, he's _furious_. You've caused him an enormous amount of trouble." The worry sounded strange, coming out of Nobuhiro's mouth, but it was genuine.

"The Hakaza family's askin' questions, too," someone said, from the back. He was quickly and harshly told to shut up.

Naruto had a million questions, and he could have asked them, here. But the words just wouldn't come. The mysteries remained mysteries.

"…I'm sorry for all of this, Nobu." Kiine sighed, tired, defeated. "Let's just go home; I don't want this to get any more out of hand. Too much trouble's been caused already on my behalf."

She bent down, gracefully, and picked the rucksack off the ground. She turned to Naruto.

"I can't… thank you enough for your hospitality, Hokage-sama. You've treated me very well, and I apologize for any trouble my family's caused you. We'll be leaving now. Immediately." She shot a glance at Nobuhiro, who shot a glance at the rest of the men, who began to rustle and shift in anticipation. Yuki stood very still, his hands clasped together. "I promise, we won't trouble you any more."

She spoke to him like a stranger, like a dignitary, like his daughter.

"Sure, I'm glad I could… have been of service, y'know…"

Everything just felt so wrong. A few minutes ago, this was Yukio. Hanamura Yukio. This kid still _was_ Yukio. Right?

But… Yukio was a farmer's son. Benio's student. Naruto's friend. Yukio didn't call him Hokage-sama, he called Naruto… Naruto, he called him by his name. Just like he called Yukio by his.

"_Otherwise it'd sound like I was some weird important guy, yeah?"_

He couldn't imagine Kiine saying this, even though, even though…

Yukio wasn't… this cold, unfamiliar girl. The change was so sudden, and shockingly noticeable.

Why didn't he see it before?

Naruto struggled for words and almost forgot that he was supposed to be the Hokage, there.

"I just… don't understand why you didn't tell me who you were right off the bat, y'know…?" he said. "I mean, y'could have saved us a lot of trouble…"

She took a very long time to answer, pursing her lips, chewing on her thoughts. "…I had my reasons," she finally said, her voice sterile. "I'm sorry for lying to you about my identity." Kiine bowed, slightly. "Again, thank you for treating me so well, regardless."

But it was his duty as Hokage, he couldn't let his feelings get in the way of these things.

The Taki syndicate had found who they were looking for, had reclaimed what they had lost, and there was no reason for them to stay any longer.

He didn't want Yukio to go, but Kiine had to leave.

The representatives of the syndicate had been causing so much trouble, anyways; the village had been plagued by their presence.

He wondered, again, why he hadn't noticed, why he hadn't _noticed_.

He managed a smile, he tried to warm it up at least a little. "It was really great having you around, though, y'know? You should… come visit again, sometime."

Kiine barely smiled back. "I… had a good time, but… I doubt we'll ever meet again. I'm sorry."

Naruto tried to tell himself that it was okay, but he just… couldn't.

He didn't want her to go.

But here she was, leaving.

Kiine turned to face her father's men. "Come on, Nobu. I want to go home."

Nobuhiro put his enormous arm around her, and they began to leave the room, together.

"…thank you for your assistance," he growled, before barking at the rest of the men to pack up, get the rest of the guys, and get going.

Yuki was the last to leave, staying as far away from Kiine as possible. His mouth was drawn tight. He was rubbing his eyes as he closed the door to the guard house behind him.

A very, very long time passed.

"…send the word out that Taki Kiine's been found. I'm going home," Naruto told the guard on duty, who stood behind his desk, more than a little overwhelmed.

"Sir, I, I can't leave my post," he replied.

"Oh. Uh. I'll take care of it, then," Naruto said. He left.

The word was indeed sent out.

But Naruto didn't really go home, staying at the Hokage Manor instead.

Benio, when told, had nothing to really say about the whole ordeal. Naruto told her to get back to Haruhi, she needed her rest. He'd be fine.

Reluctantly, she obeyed.

Haruhi didn't wake her up to tell her he was making breakfast, a few hours later, preferring to let her sleep. He knew how much she hated being bothered.

The drunken man in the holding cell, now sober, wandered off at sunrise without so much as a memory for his trouble, though he was nursing a horrid headache.

The woman's boyfriend came to pick her up too, apologizing, a bandage over his broken nose, his arm in a sling. "I forgive you, ya asshole," she told him, and grinned, her bruises aching with her smile. "Besides, you are never gonna _believe_ what I saw while you were out getting stitched-up."

Nadeshiko made breakfast for Inou, and left the house as the sun was rising. Ino found it there on the kitchen counter a few hours later, when she woke up to make food for everyone else, Inou still asleep. She didn't say anything about it, heating it up and setting it out with all the rest of the food in the morning.

By 8 AM, word was starting to get around.

Inou woke up late, panicked and feverish, and his mother insisted after he came downstairs, half-dressed and delirious, that he sleep in and take a break from training for the day, no matter what he or Sasuke had to say on the matter.

He tried not to sleep, but he couldn't help himself.

By noon, practically everyone knew about Kiine.

Hanamura Yukio, that red-haired boy? You know, the one they all thought was the Hokage's son? Yeah, were they ever wrong about_ that_. Not only a _girl,_ _disguised_ as a boy, but a crime family _princess_ at that! You know, that Taki Kiine that everyone was saying to look out for.

Boy, if that wasn't _sensational._

Sakura's thoughts on the matter? "Freaking figures."

She heard the whole story from an intern when she started her shift at the hospital, in the early morning.

"Freaking. Figures," she said again. And Sasuke had said it had all been a coincidence.

He came to revel in his victory, later that afternoon. "Blood tests come in yet?" he said, almost casually. He'd caught her at her table in the hospital cafeteria at lunch.

Sakura wanted to punch him.

"No, not yet," she said, instead. She was dissecting the bento lunch Kenji had made for her with an almost murderous intent. The octopus-weenies didn't even stand a chance.

"I _told_ you it was just a coincidence."

Sakura wanted to punch him _hard_.

"I _know_ you told me that," she said, and glared at him. He was smiling, slightly. "What, happy you were _right?_"

"No, just amused to see you still believe in _rumors_ like this. You should see the look on your face."

Sakura wanted to punch Sasuke halfway across the city.

"Don't you have anything _better_ to do?" she said.

"Not terribly. I told my students to go find themselves some lunch. We're meeting up later."

"Then you'd best get back to them, hmm?" She gave him a sarcastic smile.

"Guess I will. And anyways, you know what they say. Fool me once…"

She rolled her eyes. "Just _go_ already."

So he did.

She sighed deeply, eyes returning to the bento, long since destroyed. There was a sort of ache in her chest, something like guilt or worry.

Ino was a much stronger woman than she was, if she could put up with _that_ every day.

…even with Sasuke out of the house so much, Sakura still worried. So, so much.

Kenji found her in the late afternoon, poking his head into the clinic, where she was checking the breathing of a four year old who was probably just coming down with a slight cold, but it was still worth making sure about. "Hey, Mom?"

She looked over her shoulder. "Ah, Kenji. I'm a little busy right now, can it wait?"

"Yeah, it can wait. I'll just be outside. It's something you probably wanna see soon, though. 'Kay?"

Sakura's eyebrows shifted higher, lower. "Sure, I'll be right out, as soon as I'm finished here."

The child she was examining couldn't stop staring at Kenji, eyes wide, mouth hanging slightly open.

…well, considering Kenji, who _wouldn't? _The boy was only eighteen, but he was nearly seven feet tall—where in the world had _that _come from?—and he always had to duck when he came through a doorframe. He had a face made of sharp, intimidating angles, and a mouth full of very white teeth.

Inside, however, he was all fluff and sunshine, and his black eyes, much like his father's, were warm. He smiled at the child and waved his hand at him. "My mom's gonna take good care of you! There's nothing to worry about, little guy."

The child giggled, and sniffled a little bit. Kenji left, and Sakura continued the examination. It was just a slight cold, as suspected.

"So what is it you needed to show me, Kenji?" she asked, after seeing the mother and son off with some good advice and a reassuring smile. She closed the door to the examination room behind her.

"Well, those blood tests you ordered a few days ago finally came back," he said. He was holding a manila folder, and Sakura must have made a face because he immediately added, "I know, I know, I heard the whole story, but Suiko-chan at the labs said you'll still want to take a look at these."

"Why's that?"

"Just... look at them, she said."

So Sakura did.

She asked Kenji, after the initial reading, "Are you sure this is the right report?"

"Absolutely." Kenji stood very patiently, holding his elbows with his hands.

She read over the results again, not sure if she should smile or wrinkle her forehead in more confusion.

"…Kenji, did you read this?"

Kenji shrugged. "Only sorta. I'm not terribly interested in these things, Mom."

"Of course, of course." Her voice was distant, her mind already processing the raw data, coming to conclusions.

Then, suddenly, it hit her.

She decided that maybe it was more worth it to smile.

"…can you go tell someone that I'll be heading off for a little bit?" She closed the folder.

"'Course, Mom. Why's that, though?"

"I think Naruto is _really_ going to want to see these."

Coincidence her ass.

She was going to punch Sasuke to the moon.

But she had to talk to Naruto first.


	12. Phosphorescence Trail

_Chapter 12 - Phosphorescence Trail_

* * *

Andou told Sakura that Naruto hadn't left his office since arriving in the early morning—he hadn't left since Andou had come in for work, at any rate, and Andou _always _came in_ very_ early. There'd been advisors in to see him, accountants, frustrated citizens—the usual.

"Those men from the Taki syndicate didn't even leave any payment for our services in helping with Kiine-san, or much of anything else, for that matter. That's a big problem…" he said, thoughtfully. He adjusted the papers in his arms. "There are a lot of people mad at him for just letting them leave like that."

"Oh… wow," Sakura said. _That _was how badly this was all affecting him? Naruto wasn't book-smart, but he was by no means _stupid_. He knew how to run his village. Though he was very much prone to charity cases—usually dealt with personally, because that was just the kind of guy Naruto was—but he always made sure payment was given where payment was due.

"Yes. All of these papers? IOU's," Andou explained. He shifted them again. "Well, most of them, anyways… I've got to organize them, put them in a binder, at least; maybe make a spreadsheet to keep track of which business got stiffed where; and there's also the investigations we gotta do on which claims are legitimate or not…"

"Andou-kun, can you get a message in to him, at least?" Sakura asked, before he could wander off, his white eyes shining with numbers and order. She could feel her foot tapping uncontrollably. "At least tell him that I want to talk to him soon. It's kind of urgent."

Andou smiled. If he wore glasses, this was where he'd adjust them, needlessly, smiling over the tops of the frames. "You don't need to ask me. He'll see you no matter what, Sakura-san."

Andou was a very truthful young man.

When Sakura entered Naruto's office, Andou opened the door for her. Naruto was sitting with his hands folded together on the desk, head down, shoulders hunched. He looked tired, and there were papers everywhere.

"Hey," she said, quietly. Andou closed the door behind her. "You feeling all right?"

"Huh?" He looked up. His eyes were half-closed. "Oh, hi, Sakura. What are you doing here?"

She took a breath, in, and out. "I need to talk to you about something," she said. "About Yuki—um—I mean, Kiine-san." She was still getting used to calling the girl by her real name. Everyone was.

She saw something harden in his eyes. "Oh."

"Is it… okay if I ask you a few things first? I mean, I get that you're a little stressed," she said.

"Stressed? Me? Nah, I'm fine," he said. His laugh sounded more like a sigh. "What did you wanna talk to me about?"

Sakura stepped forward, took a seat in the chair across from his desk. "Do you remember when I took some blood samples from you and… Kiine-san, a few days ago?"

He narrowed his eyes, struggling to remember. "Sorta. It was for… chakra-stuff, right?"

Good enough. "Well, not just that. One of the tests I conducted was…" Come on, Sakura, _man_ up! "It was for… paternity."

Silence and narrowed eyes. It took a moment for her to realize that it was less him being angry at her and more him simply not understanding what the heck she was going on about. Probably.

"I wanted to see if you two were related, Naruto. Like… father and child."

Naruto blinked a few times. "…but why did you wanna do _that_?"

"There were just rumors going around, I wanted to…" _Prove a point?_ She could practically hear Sasuke's voice in her head. "…clear up some things."

"…seriously, though, why did you think I was her dad?"

What, it wasn't obvious? "Look, never mind. The fact is that I had tests done, okay?"

"Okay." Naruto thought for a moment. "So… is this what you wanted to talk to me about? 'cos… well, I'm _not_ Kiine-san's dad, and she just went home this morn-"

"I'm not done _yet, _Naruto," Sakura said. She groaned slightly. How in the world was she going to explain this…? "Well, see, _normally_ I'd have just not told you about this."

"Why's that?"

"If you two weren't related," she explained, "then I wouldn't have even brought this up to you."

There was a moment of thought, internal processing.

"…wait, but… I just said that I'm not her dad or anything, y'know." Naruto was making a strange face, like somebody had just told him to perform long division while juggling. "At least, I don't _think_ I am… And anyways, I didn't even _know_ her before she came to Konoha. How in the…"

There was an opening here, and Sakura seized it before she could think too hard on what he'd just said.

"Well, see… technically, Naruto, you _aren't_ her dad. Not even remotely."

A pause.

"…huh?"

"All things considered, it's genetically more likely that she's your _mom_, rather than your _daughter_," Sakura continued. "That's how unlikely it is."

A _long_ pause.

"…okay, I'm confused. Kiine-san's my… mom?"

Sakura sighed. "No, no, she's not your _mom,_ Naruto."

"Then why'd you _say_ she was?"

"I never said that, I was just trying to make a point!" Sakura said. "Can you just listen for a moment? I'm trying to tell you how those blood tests turned out!"

"Okay, okay… Just don't go sayin' stuff like that, y'know?" Naruto seemed just so suddenly more awake, leaning forward. "I mean, it's kind of impossible for Kiine-san to be my _mom, _that's just _weird…_"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Sakura said. "I'll get to the point."

Naruto nodded once, twice. "Okay, tell me."

"See… okay. We tested your blood, and the funny thing is that you have enough genes in common with each other to be definitely related." She added, after a moment, seeing his eyes beginning to narrow in confusion, "Genes are like these things in your blood that determine things like… what you look like, or your chakra type. You get half from your mom and half from your dad."

"Huh." Naruto thought on this for a moment. "So these… gene things. You said there are enough for us to be… related?"

"Yeah, we found enough matches."

More thinking. "But… you just said that there's no way I could be her dad."

"Mhm, which is what made it so confusing at first."

"Well, how d'you mean that?" Naruto said. "I mean, I'm not her dad, so…"

"Well, I was getting to that. See, we looked into these other things, called mitochondria? They're…" She could see Naruto's eyes narrowing even further. "Okay, we'll say that they're like genes, too, but you only get them from your mom," Sakura explained. She opened the folder, looked over the papers again, as if to remind herself what they meant. "You and Kiine-san had the same mitochondria."

Naruto thought about this for a while. "But if you only get them from your mom… But how does that even?"

"Well, there's a lot of ways this can happen, Naruto," Sakura said. "For example… if _you_ were her mom, then you'd have the same mitochondria."

Naruto stared at her for a moment, and then laughed, mightily. "Okay, Sakura, get serious with me here."

Come to think of it… "Well, hey, you said that you didn't know if you were her dad or not…"

"But I'm _not_ her dad. Pff, you said so yourself…"

"But you're not her mom, either, right?"

Naruto just laughed at her.

Well_ excuse her _for wanting to get a confirmation!

…_why the hell were you thinking that was even a possibility, anyways…? Kiine is just flat-out not descended from him. End of story._

(Sakura really did wonder sometimes.)

"Okay, okay. Something that's not blatantly impossible, then," she said. Naruto was still sort of laughing at her, but they both managed to sort of compose themselves. "Well, if you two were siblings, too, you'd have the same mitochondria. Even half-siblings, if you had the same mother."

He fell silent. The look on his face was sort of hurt, sort of confused.

"…okay, so I know _that's_ impossible, too…" Sakura said, averting her eyes for a moment. "But… say your mother had a sister, and she had kids, then you guys would all have the same mitochondria. Heck, anyone from your mother's family that's female probably has the same…"

Naruto's face had frozen. Sort of hurt, sort of confused.

"…you see what I'm getting at?" Sakura said, softly.

Naruto didn't say anything.

"It means that… considering the genes you share, and the mitochondria, then maybe… she's from your clan, Naruto. That maybe you have… family, living somewhere."

_Real_ family, she almost wanted to add. Why did she think that, though?

_Isn't it obvious?_

She left this unvoiced.

There was something like a smile on his face, now. "So that's why you wanted to talk to me about this?" he said again, after a while.

She nodded. "Yeah. I mean, that's… kind of something important to know, I guess?"

"Kind of important? _Kind_ of?" His sort-of smile grew into something more real, and he was starting to laugh, in short bursts. "Well if I've… got a _clan_ somewhere, y'know… That's what this means, huh? Really?"

"Well, I'm going to have to look into the matter a little more, but… yeah." Sakura was smiling, now, the same smile she'd had when she first realized what the results meant. "That's what the tests are pointing to."

He laughed through his teeth and held his forehead. "Wow, I… I almost can't believe this, y'know…"

"I almost couldn't believe it either, at first!" Sakura added, managing a laugh of her own. "I mean, what a coincidence, right? That someone from your own clan is in something like the, uh… Taki syndicate…" She fidgeted, not looking at Naruto. "But more importantly! That Kiine-san came _here_, totally by chance, and that we had this done, right? So now we know!"

"…it means that I'll probably have to invite her back, huh," Naruto said, quietly.

Sakura's voice had a strange, uncomfortable laugh in it. "Naruto, where'd _that_ come from?"

"Well, if she's part of my clan, then this means I should call her and her family back to talk with me, right?" Naruto said. His eyes were very wide. "Y'know, because she's from _my_ family an' all. I almost _have _to, y'know?"

"Well by all means, I think you _should_ call the Taki… family back, to talk about this clan business," Sakura said, "but shouldn't you focus more on… well, the _payment_ they owe us? First and foremost?" How could she forget, with that huge pile of papers that Andou was holding?

And Naruto needed to reminded of things, sometimes. You know, memos. Sometimes multiple ones.

His eyes fell. "Oh. Yeah. That. Huh, I really should get on that, but they only left this morning…" He put his hand on his chin, thinking. "I dunno if it'd be the best idea to go chasing after them now, I mean, the chuunin exams are in a few days, y'know…"

No, Naruto wasn't stupid. He knew how to run a village. "I'm sure you'll figure out a good way of dealing with it. Just don't get too stressed about it right now, okay?" Sakura said.

"Stressed? Me? Nah, I'm fine!" Naruto said, and grinned again. His laugh sounded real. "Sakura, I just found out I got _family_ somewhere. And that Kiine-chan is a part of it. It's… some of the best news I've heard all day, y'know?"

"Well I'm still gonna do some tests, just to make sure this is really what we're dealing with here, but…" Sakura was smiling, again. "It really is wonderful news, Naruto. I know… how close the two of you were. I bet she'll be really happy to find out!"

"After the chuunin exams, though," Naruto said, nodding; strangely, his smile remained on his mouth, but it was utterly gone out of his eyes. "Thanks for, uh… talking to me about this!"

"Yeah, it's no problem!" She started getting out of her chair, when she noticed that his expression had fallen. "What's wrong?"

"…nothin'. Keep in touch, y'know!" And he was smiling again, a plastic smile.

Sakura waved as she left, feeling relieved, surprised, and slightly worried.

What had that frown been about?

(And why wasn't he happier about this, anyways? She'd have thought that surely…)

Oh, never mind. She had to get to the hospital.

She started laughing on her way down the road. The more she thought about it, the more fantastic it seemed.

What a coincidence. What a _fantastic _coincidence.

A coincidence that someone like Kiine would turn out to be someone like that. That there were still Uzumakis—_other_ Uzumakis—out there.

She couldn't stop grinning. Whether it was over a confused sort of happiness for Naruto or a satisfied victory over Sasuke's skepticism, she didn't know.

Oh, and speaking of Sasuke. Speaking. Of. Sasuke.

There he was.

Sakura's smile grew, if such a thing was even possible. She walked up to him casually, where he was leaning against a wall near one of the training grounds she passed on the way to the hospital, watching as Kyou sparred with the other boy in their team, the girl officiating, in a way.

"Fancy seeing you here," she said.

"Mm." His only other acknowledgement of her was a glance in her direction.

"So I went ahead and got those blood tests done," she told him, and held the folder up. "You know, on your suggestion."

He raised an eyebrow, but he didn't look at her. "Oh, really."

"Yes, really. The results were really pretty interesting."

A slight scoff, but it was a defensive sort of dismissal. "Interesting how?"

"Taki Kiine's an Uzumaki."

Sasuke finally looked at her, and his eyes were ever so slightly wider. "You don't mean."

"Well Naruto's not her _father_, you at least got _that_ right," Sakura continued, smirking. "But they're from the same clan. On his mother's side."

"…really." There was a darkness in Sasuke's face, one that she had seen a few days ago, when she first suggested the possibility of them being related.

"Yes, really. Fantastic _coincidence_, isn't it? That this is how it all turned out," she said.

"Yes. Quite the coincidence." He wasn't looking at her any more, instead observing his students. The boy with the dark hair struck another, soft blow to Kyou. "I'm sure Naruto's _very_ excited about this."

"He's pretty excited. It should make the negotiations with the Taki clan go more smoothly, now that we have this link."

"Mm."

Kyou was losing.

"So… I suppose this is a lesson to you, Sasuke!" she added. "Don't go dismissing rumors right off the bat. There's sometimes some truth to them!" She folded her arms, shifting her weight from one foot to the next.

He was trying so hard not to show how he really felt, but she could see it, plain as day.

He said nothing.

She couldn't resist. "Oh, you should see the look on your _face,_" she told him, almost imitating his own, dry laugh. "And anyways, you know what they say. Fool me once…"

"I've had enough," he said, and left the wall. "Kyou, your punches are sloppy! Tighten them, know _where_ you are going to strike!"

His walk was a quick and an angry one.

Satisfied in her revenge, Sakura left as well, and returned to the hospital.

"Suiko-chan, can you get me those blood samples from Taki Kiine? They should be labeled under Hanamura Yukio," she said, entering the lab, the blood test results under one arm. She put a pair of rubber gloves on, having already gotten her coat from the hook in the locker room.

And the samples were fetched, one vial's worth of blood left. Sakura had to be careful, but then again, she wasn't Chief Medical Officer for nothing.

She had a Hunch, see. And given how things had turned out so far, she knew better than to try and deny it.

In genetics testing, everything was uniform. Genes were genes, no matter who their owners were or where they came from.

Looking at blood under a microscope, however? There were certain things you could look for that _really_ identified someone, in a pinch, when you didn't have time to do a full analysis. You cut into an Aburame, for example, and they'd bleed bugs.

…okay, so maybe not _that _extreme. A better example might be something like a unique sort of cell in the blood that hyper-efficiently converted sugars into chakra. You found them only in Akimichi clan members, and they were _enormous_, those cells, incredibly hard to miss, and only an Akimichi, with their enlarged blood vessels, could even _have_ them without dying of some sort of blockage. Things like that. They were the sort of things that were published in medical books and field guides, and were often used to establish clan lineage before the advent of genetic testing. Long-established clans tended to have those sorts of things in the blood.

Naruto was no real exception. Sakura'd had a lot of experience looking at his cells, and she knew how to identify them. They were unusual, undeniably so. With him, it was… a resilience of the cells, a _toughness, _a…

…okay, so she didn't know how the heck else to describe it, because "like they looked like they were made of rubber or something" sounded horribly unprofessional. But his cells were unique, that was for sure, incredibly resilient. And she knew what _made_ them unique, and that was the most important thing.

His daughter had the same cells, too, so she knew it wasn't due to outside circumstances, or the nine-tails.

She took out a dropper and sandwiched a tiny drop of Kiine's blood between two slides and a drop of dyeing agent, and placed the slide under a microscope so she could take a look.

Another grin began growing on her face when she immediately recognized those rubbery cells. Uzumaki cells. Yes, confirmable, absolutely.

But… what were those?

She adjusted the focus on the microscope, narrowed her eyes. One weird little blood cell—no, there were a few others—what?—that just didn't fit. They were… rubbery, but not as much as the others, and slightly… discolored? She squinted some more, trying to figure out just what was going on.

It took a while for her to notice, but eventually, she did.

The handful of off-colored cells there, the ones that seemed so slightly out of place, were glowing. Faintly, _ever_ so faintly, but they were.

It was more than just a residual glow, the hallmark of frequent chakra use; it was the sign of a cell charged with chakra that was slowly ebbing out, from lack of control.

She tried again with another drop of blood, on another slide. And a third, with a different dyeing agent, just to make sure it wasn't just the result of a contamination, somewhere.

No, in every instance, those cells were there.

It startled her, for a moment. Because she knew only one other person with cells like these.

Karin. The only other known living Uzumaki.

But, see, none of that made sense. Sakura had analyzed Karin's blood enough, during and after the war.

Karin's blood was pretty damn unique, if Sakura had to put it that way. There was a strange property to its cells that just seemed to hoard chakra away, until, well, she… released it. In that way that she did. Or… otherwise… well, Sakura never bothered to really _ask_, it was _her_ technique…

And in any case, when it was discovered that she and Naruto were from the same clan, Sakura had taken blood samples and done a comparison, much like she was doing now.

The cells were nothing alike; every cell in Karin's blood glowed with a radiance lent to it by the chakra that Sakura had never seen before. And Karin admitted, with a half-hearted, defeated sort of shrug, that she'd been "messed-with so much" that she didn't know if her cells were at all "normal" any more, for someone from her clan. "Either that or I've just been an abnormality from the start. A mutation."

And Sakura must have sighed or given her some sort of sad little glance, then, because Karin just glared over her glasses there and went, "Oh, don't give me _that_. I'm not looking for pity, okay? I'm just stating the facts."

When Naruto's daughter was born, Sakura tested her blood as well, and it was confirmed just how abnormal Karin was, but Karin, again, really did not care, when Sakura wrote to her about the results. She didn't even use the last name that belonged to her, remaining unattached, clanless.

That was just the kind of person Karin was. She looked her past, shrugged, and went "Whatever."

In fact, she was the one to lead the expedition into Orochimaru's abandoned labs and prison complexes to retrieve the remains of his research, once the war was over, since she knew where each of them were and how to explore them without getting killed by the traps. "Developed them with Sasori's help," she explained. "True story."

And her research in developing the Curse Seal Suppression Vaccine—the Seal Rehabilitation Team called them CV's—was unspeakably useful. And dozens of individuals had her to thank for a much better way of life.

Still, some parts of the past she just insisted on holding onto. "Believe it or not, he _was_ a genius. Questionable as his experiments were, I refuse to see his work destroyed, okay?" she had said, after it was suggested that Orochimaru's notes on human experimentation be burned, among other things. "Besides, we'd know nothing about anatomy if it hadn't been for the first daring souls to cut into corpses and see what they looked like inside."

Karin had very red eyes, and they were almost as intimidating as Sasuke's, when she wanted them to be.

"Fortune favors the bold," she had said.

They let Karin keep the originals, after copies were made and stored away into heavily-classified sections of the Konoha archives.

She did make use of them. Rarely. And when she did, the results were always wonderful, beneficial, like the CV's; those wouldn't have even existed, had it not been for those research materials. It was making a good thing out of so much bad.

(Thank goodness.)

They were kept under lock and key, otherwise.

In the meantime, she had set up a clinic on the eastern coast of the continent, in the Land of Waves. Sakura consulted her occasionally, by mail, on more vexing medical matters, but Karin tended to keep in closer contact with the Seal Rehabilitation Team, and helped develop new strains of CV's when resistances began popping up here and there.

Sakura packed the slides of blood away into little sterile, plastic holders, and she had Suiko put the original vial put back into cold storage.

Then, she began writing a letter.

_Karin,_

_Enclosed are slides of blood taken from a 16-year-old female I examined recently. I found some abnormal cells that seemed very similar to yours when I was performing some tests, and I thought to see what you think of them. _

_I'm enclosing a copy of the results of the tests I performed on her blood, to see if they're of any use to you, as well._

_Hope that you are well, and get back to me soon._

_- Sakura_

She had copies made of the blood test results, and after crossing out "Hanamura Yukio" and replacing it with "Taki Kiine," and correcting the sex on the form. Sakura wondered, for a moment, just how accurate the form really _was _any more, but given that Kiine was gone, there was nothing she could really do about it. It was accurate enough for the time being.

Sakura had the package sent out via Courier Nin. The courier assured her that it'd arrive in the Land of Waves by the next afternoon, at the latest, before leaving with a jaunty little salute.

She decided not to tell Naruto about it, until Karin wrote back.

Then, Sakura went home.

Kenji and Lee had started dinner without her, since Sakari was out in the field—curry tonight, again? She couldn't help but laugh—but they had just enough set aside for her, kept warm, and waiting.

"You are just in time, my darling!" Lee told her, with his sparkle-smile. He was still wearing the yellow apron he always cooked in as he sat at the table with Kenji, and he got up to meet her, and give her a hug. "I am very glad that you are home."

And Sakura smiled, and hugged him back. "Me too."


	13. Held Candle

_Chapter 13 - Held Candle_

* * *

Sasuke did not go home, after training with the genin. Nor did he let his family know that he would not be home.

He had somewhere to be, first.

There was a building near the back of the Uchiha memorial grounds where all of the old family records were kept, where Nakano Shrine used to be. The records had managed to survive the Day of Pain, thank goodness, because they were largely underground. Just like all the other records.

And while technically part of a "memorial," it was still owned by Sasuke, and thus private property, kept far apart from the official archives of Konoha. It wasn't like they would be read and understood by most people, anyways. Uchiha records were written with a deliberately tiny hand, half of the time, easiest-deciphered by Sharingan and Sharingan alone.

Scrolls of genealogies were kept there. Records of births, and deaths. Weddings, the rare separation.

Sasuke wasn't all that interested in that, tonight.

He was searching for possibilities.

Exiled. Imprisoned. On a religious pilgrimage. Just flat-out missing. His eyes were hungry for those words as he opened scroll after scroll and whipped through the words at incredible speeds, and abandoned the records just as quickly when they yielded nothing for him to take.

Just a coincidence, how could it have been _just_ a _coincidence_.

He didn't even know why he was doing this in the first place. It was foolish, it was stupid, it made absolutely no sense whatsoever.

And yet, here he was. Frantically searching for any sort of chance that Yakata, that shadow-boy, was maybe, was maybe…

Not Itachi's, but… some other unknown relative's child.

After all, what were the chances of some random Uzumaki showing up, practically on Naruto's doorstep? The resemblance had been so strong that even Sasuke had shoved aside all of his preconceptions and almost believed that they had been father and child. Almost. For a while. And never aloud.

Who was to say there weren't other Uchihas somewhere?

Maybe that was fueling all this madness.

He tried not to think too hard on the matter as he opened another scroll, the paper unfurling with a dry whine. Focusing on the words.

So far, most of the records had been for people who had died long before he had been born. People who were old when his father was a boy.

He had laughed bitterly when he saw a scroll labeled "Notice of Exile: Uchiha Madara." He didn't bother opening it.

He finally managed to stumble into the present, the dates within a reasonable time. The names began to look familiar, and he checked each and every one.

There was a list in his mind, and he compared every name he found to it. For every match, he crossed the name out with a large, imaginary black line.

It started to get dark out. He got a candle, and lit it, even though his night vision was excellent.

(But Sasuke didn't trust his eyes much any more, and he wanted as much certainty as he could find.)

He didn't know what time it was when he finally finished going through every scroll. And every name had ended up being crossed-out, in the list in his mind.

The Uchiha clan was very efficient in the keeping of records on its members.

And his brother had been just as efficient in his eradication of them.

There were even reports, from shortly after the massacre, of a great-aunt of living as a nun in the northwestern Land of Fire being found murdered in her abbey. A third-cousin living as a vagrant found with his eyes gouged out in the Land of Rivers. A handful of stories, official Konoha reports in the thick binder of records on every victim, accounting for all of the distant others, picked off in the days following the Massacre. Too close together to be a coincidence.

Sasuke had little doubt as to who was responsible for those.

He threw down the final scroll and rubbed his face with his hands.

Every single one. Not even a remote possibility. And he had thought, for a moment, that maybe some distant exile from centuries in the past had remained unaccounted for, Uchiha genetics surfacing again after dormant generations. But no, everything was accounted for. An Uchiha was an Uchiha, and nobody could escape. Nobody _wanted _to escape, it seemed like.

There was no possibility that Yakata was…

Delusional. Sasuke knew he was just. Delusional.

Why did Sakura have to _say_ that, putting those _thoughts_ in his head.

It had been months. _Months_ since he'd last had those thoughts. He'd folded all of that away and tried to forget.

He started to put the scrolls away. Haphazardly, without much order, the way he had found them.

Damn it, damn it, _damn it._

He was better than this.

Really, was he that easily-swayed by a single coincidence?

That was all it was. Coincidence. All of it. All of…

"…all this time, and you _still_ feel that way…?"

And there was a voice above ground, coming closer. It was soft and almost childlike, and he recognized it immediately.

He grit his teeth.

_Her._

He threw the rest of the scrolls to the side, not bothering to put them away properly. He blew his candle out and went out to deal with her.

"…that's fascinating, really. Though it must be very difficult, all things considered…"

"_Murasaki."_

Sasuke stood directly in her path, and the woman stopped there. Her eyes looked closed, from where he was standing, like always.

She tilted her head slightly, after a few seconds. "…oh, did he really call me by my name? That's very interesting," she said.

He ignored her. "I have told you, time and time again, that you are forbidden on my clan's property."

"…I know, Sasuke-san. But they requested I meet with you tonight. I hope you understand."

He clenched his fists, a flood of new anger coursing through his body.

In the strange symbol-language that Murasaki used, "they" meant his family.

He started to forget about the boy.

"_Leave_," he said. He knew better than to get wrapped up in acknowledging her "ability," because then she would _never_ go.

("It's harmful to humor her," Sakura had even told him, "even though it's just a… coping mechanism.")

(That had been ten years ago, and Murasaki was far from "healed.")

There was always a strange sort of disconnect between replies, when talking to Murasaki, a period of… thinking, or processing, before every reply.

It took her several seconds, after Sasuke spoke, to change her expression from sleepy peacefulness to some sort of drowsy worry. "…please do not get terribly mad at me, Sasuke-san. I am only trying to help."

"Did you not hear me the first time? Get _out _of here," Sasuke said again. "You are not helping _anyone_."

There was the usual pause as she processed this. "…would you rather they have no way of contacting you?"

He grabbed her arm, and he held it very, very tightly. "_Enough_. Leave. _ Now._"

She didn't even squirm as his grip intensified. "…if that is what you wish, then I will leave. I am very sorry I could not stay longer, I hope everyone understands."

There she was again, talking to herself. Sasuke let go of her, sighing, and she brushed off the front of her fog-colored robe. She dressed like an old woman, and her hair was very long and very dark.

She suddenly smiled. "…now, now, I'm not going to say _that_, that is very rude," she said.

Sasuke glared at her, Sharingan blazing. He crossed his arms. She didn't seem affected.

"…all right, I'll try and tell him that, at least." She was still _talking_. "Sasuke-san, they want you to know that they're very excited for your son Inou in the upcoming chuunin exams. They all wish him the best, and hope that he will not shame the clan this time around with another failure."

Sasuke's eyes quieted.

"…that is what they wanted me to tell you, the most." A pause. She tilted her head, as if listening for something. "…oh, and some support for little Karai, but especially Inou. They know much of a disappointment he is to you sometimes. Doesn't act like an Uchiha at all, that's what someone is saying..."

It was at times like these that Sasuke almost believed Murasaki.

Almost.

He knew better now than to believe her strange little tricks, her sweet little words.

She wasn't well in the head. Anything that rang particularly true was just a coincidence.

(Besides, wouldn't she have been able to contact Itachi if she really _could_ speak to the dead?)

He grabbed her arm again and walked with her to the gate. He yanked at first, but he found her keeping pace, not resisting.

"If I catch you here again, I won't be nearly as kind," Sasuke said, letting go with a push.

She stumbled for a moment, but her face remained placid, sleepy. "…I cannot deny when help is asked of me, Sasuke-san. Please understand."

She always gave those same, frustratingly vague answers. And she _always_ kept coming back.

It was too much effort to try and get rid of her for good, because he knew, he _knew_, it wouldn't matter, no matter how much he threatened, no matter how many times it happened.

It was easiest to just ignore her, in the end, which is exactly what Sasuke did then.

He turned his back on her and began on his way down the road, leaving her standing in the cooling summer air, by the gate.

"…is there anything more that you want?" she asked.

But nothing more was wanted.

* * *

Inou closed the door to his bedroom behind him and sighed, tired, relieved. He'd just been in the bathroom—and he'd been waiting, patiently, to go and use it, so that his mother or Karai wouldn't fuss over him if they caught a glimpse of him.

He hated how they did that. "Oh, Inou, are you feeling better?" "Oh, Inou, did you have a good nap?"

He got back under the covers, and the sheets were still very warm. He'd get better on his own.

So far, he'd done a good job of staying out of their way. He'd napped, most of the day. His mother brought him lunch, and medicine, in the afternoon, and he ate it in bed. He dozed some more. Read a fair amount.

And when he started feeling a little better, he sat up and prepared to work on his technique.

He had started developing it about a year or so before. It was born from a comment of his father's, actually, during an argument in which Inou was trying to justify his training in the Yamanaka arts, when he could be _so_ much more well-trained in proper, _Uchiha_ techniques.

(In reality, Inou wasn't much suited for the techniques of his father's family. He was better at subtle techniques, tricks in chakra control, the arts of the mind. His mother's arts. None of this flashy stuff to do with fireballs and blades. Those left him exhausted. But he had to learn them, anyways.)

"Really. 'It's for surveillance.' Good enough," his father had said, with a scoff. "But is there anything _remotely_ useful you can learn that doesn't require you to faint like a _woman_ every time you use it?"

His mother had glared at her husband there, but she didn't say anything.

Now, Inou knew just about every trick in the book. Mind Disruption, which let you remotely control the body—Inou was already very good at that, but he didn't like using it, finding it brutish and rough, impractical. And the Mind Switch, which let you take over a body entirely—one of the first things he had learned how to do, and master. And Mind Reading. Which was almost second nature to him, really, but he didn't get to use it often.

None of them were "practical" enough. Mind Disruption was an offensive(-ish) technique, but it had little to no use in surveillance work. Mind Switch was useless unless you had backup—that most poisonous, offensive word, _backup. _And Mind Reading was absolutely out of the question, unless you had a lot of time on your hands—and, again, with the backup.

Inou didn't have an answer that night, but it did give him an idea as he curled up under his sheets and tried not to bring attention to himself.

He'd develop something useful. Something useful_ enough. _

He practiced, first, by seeing how far out he could extend a packet of chakra, the same principle behind the Mind Disruption and Switch techniques, without losing control. He usually did this in his bedroom, alone, so he'd be able to fall back onto his mattress if he if he lost consciousness. Which he did, frequently, in the beginning.

Next came developing the control itself. It was going to be difficult—he'd have to not only stay conscious, but also get a hold on the target's thought centers and thought centers alone, not their motor centers. It was so much easier just to grab the whole brain, or just the parts that controlled the body, but those were indelicate methods.

And besides, grabbing the whole brain meant devoting your whole control to it, and as a result losing control of your own body—the trademark fainting of the Mind Switch technique. And controlling just the motor centers meant that you were still conscious, but your own body was rather frozen from the concentration—the weakness of the Mind Disruption.

No, Inou just wanted to hear the thoughts. Which was where his experience with Mind Reading came in. He knew which parts of the brain to aim for, what he could reach his chakra into and pull things out of. But he didn't need the deep concentration of memory-scanning, no, that wasn't what he was interested in.

All he needed were the surface thoughts.

In theory, it'd work perfectly. Maintaining a strong enough link to get into just the surface thoughts and short-term memory—in essence, telepathy. But not the internal-dialogue sort of telepathy that could be shared between Yamanaka clan members. Inou was thinking real, honest-to-goodness mind-reading telepathy, that could work on anyone.

(Like the kind of stuff in Nadeshiko's comics.)

In theory, anyways.

Inou had nobody to practice with, but he tried, all the same. There was a tree outside his window, and birds liked to roost there. He practiced on them, first.

Birds didn't possess much, in terms of thoughts. But he'd practiced possessing animals before, with the Mind Switch technique. And they had smaller brains, anyways. It made things easier.

The birds helped. And, later, a little stray cat that showed up in the autumn; a black cat, with white paws. It liked to hang out on the roof, outside of Nadeshiko's room, though it was quick to leave whenever his father came home.

It liked to move in circles around the roof, lazily, as if on patrol. And Inou managed to figure out how to stay focused on a large, moving target before it disappeared, in the winter.

(Strangely enough, it reappeared in the spring, just a little fatter, just a little more reluctant to remove itself from near Nadeshiko's windowsill and her planter of marigolds.)

(The thoughts of cats were not much more fascinating than birds. Mostly feelings of contentment and superiority, and satisfaction upon the acquirement of foodstuffs.)

Inou found that he was able to get the best hold on a target if he held his hands palm-out, ring fingers and middle fingers touching, the space between them forming a diamond for the chakra to focus and pass through. It felt weird—it probably looked really stupid to others, Inou thought—but it worked.

His first human target was Chouko, who had smiled almost uncomfortably when he asked her if he could try out a new technique on her.

"Okay, so, what do you want me to do?" she said, laughter in her voice. "Is it a physical technique?"

"No, just stand right where you are," Inou said.

And he held his hands out in the stupid-diamond pattern that stretched his fingers uncomfortably but always worked with the birds, and the cat.

He concentrated his chakra, and out it went.

…_supposed to be happening? He's just standing there like he's doing one of those techniques with the mind body switching for Our Formation, goodness he looks like he's concentrating so hard, his face is so adorable when he's concentrating like that, he'd get mad if I told him that, what is he even doing anyways?_

"You think I look_ adorable_ when I'm concentrating?" Inou said, with a laugh and a wild grin, gasping for air, after he released the technique.

Chouko turned bright red, and then giggled and demanded an explanation.

After Inou told her what had just happened, and a further demonstration of his abilities—how did he _know_ she was thinking of chocolate-covered pretzels?—she gave him a hug and a congratulation that was nearly as warm as she was.

All Shikake gave him was a dry glance and a warning. "Before you even ask. I am _not _letting you probe my mind. Like, ever."

Inou was too happy to really give her anything more than a nod.

Then Ishi-sensei asked him who had taught him the technique; surely one of his family members? He'd known many Yamanakas, but he'd never seen anything quite like that before.

And Inou stopped for a while and thought.

"Yeah, it's a pretty advanced technique," was what he said.

Confirming it would be lying.

And nobody would believe him if he'd said that he'd made it up himself.

He began to push himself, in his practice. Whenever his team went out to lunch together, or something similar, he'd always excuse himself and walk a distance away, and try to hear Chouko's thoughts and memories from further and further distances. She was fine with it, for the most part. "How else are you gonna get practice? Go right ahead." As per her request, he never practiced on Shikake.

That was how Inou found out that he could hear the thoughts of many, if he directed the pulse in a certain way. It was a weird sort of feeling, like suddenly flipping through every channel in a television, every channel a mind. It had first happened while he was trying to get a hold of Chouko's mind, down the street and a woman had walked by, in the path, and Inou suddenly found himself bombarded with thoughts of a baby shower and she hadn't gotten a gift yet and then he was back in Chouko's mind as the woman walked out of the way.

A few tries later confirmed it. He could even redirect targets, with practice, shifting them from person to person, or just doing a slow, general sweep until he found something worth looking more deeply into.

Oh, this technique was _useful_.

And, on missions? It was _incredibly_ useful. Absolutely. He didn't need anyone to back him up, even. He could disengage it at any time. He didn't faint. He just needed to concentrate.

He was able to scan the area for hidden persons. Get intel from civilians, from hostiles. He seemed to find a new use for it on every mission.

This was the skill that would make him a chuunin.

He was unable to really practice it since the chuunin exams began looming, and with them the descent of his father's most-watchful eye upon his training. But he managed to keep improving while on missions, while making enough effort at conventional training while at home to keep his father pleased.

(And, in the early mornings, before he met with Shikake and Chouko for training together, he'd sit on the roofs of the city and listen to the thoughts of people waking up, knowing he was wonderfully alone.)

It was an incredible skill. He knew this. He _knew_ this.

But for however much he knew how useful, how _practical_ it was, he could never bring himself to show his father how it worked.

He didn't know why. Maybe it was the suggestion of rejection that kept him from saying anything; either rejection of the idea that Inou had the ingenuity to create such a technique, or rejection of the technique altogether.

He could practically hear his father's voice. _"Oh, so you can read minds. So, tell me. How is that useful, beyond being a neat little parlor trick?"_

He could come up with a million answers, but he had no idea which ones his father would want to hear.

And so Inou devoted his weak body in the daytime to the things he knew his father wanted to see. The things his father _could_ see. Tangible proof of effort.

Even though Inou had slaved for nearly a year and a half over his technique, there was nothing to really _show_ for it.

And besides, his father was such a skeptic.

Inou had heard the terrible things he had to say about that Murasaki woman, the sick one, who said she could talk to ghosts.

(And the things his father left unvoiced were even worse, even stronger, even more hateful, even more pained.)

(Inou was inclined to believe that she really had such abilities, though it was more out of pity and commiseration than any sort of true belief. She was crazy, after all. Everyone knew that.)

Mind-reading? Honestly? What a joke.

Maybe that was why Inou was trying so hard. At… everything, really.

This was His Year. The year he'd become a chuunin, finally.

And maybe he'd find a way to prove to his father that he wasn't such a weakling, dependent on everyone.

He'd find a way to show him his technique.

So even though his headache really hadn't gone away yet, Inou got out from under the covers and sat against his pillows. He made the diamond-sign with his fingers, and concentrated his chakra.

Maybe the _new_ technique would be working today.

The new technique was… experimental. He had a hard time controlling it. But he couldn't help but try and develop it, to see if it would even work. He couldn't help himself. Inou's ambition was a quiet, but insistent sort of thing.

(A little voice in his head told him that he shouldn't exert himself, he was sick, for goodness' sake, but he ignored it.)

He moved his hands, still in the diamond-sign, in front of his face, and he slowly began to move them apart. The chakra near his hands began to spread as well, and he could feel it stretching out. _Like blowing a bubble, it's like blowing a bubble_, he told himself. Concentrating.

His headache started to intensify, but he ignored it.

This technique was like a radio scanner; that was the best way he could put it. He _could_ scan for thoughts with his current technique, but it was so… slow. This was—when it worked—so much quicker. It gave him a more generalized feel for the thoughts in the nearby area, flipping through his mind without much control, but at an incredible speed.

(It was exhilarating, when he first tried this in the early morning hours. He felt like a king of rooftops and dreams.)

The only real problem was transitioning from this split-second scan, thoughts flooding into his mind, to his usual technique, allowing him to hold onto the thoughts instead of finding them zipping out of his grasp just as things were getting interesting.

He figured he'd work on that later. Had to get the basics done first.

He spread the chakra, thinner, and bigger. He could feel his heart beating in his eyes.

Then, finally—

—_visit Shusuke again on Saturday, I haven't—hasn't left his room in hours, I should go check on—_

Yes, yes, _yes!_ There it was! In his excitement, his concentration slipped. The thoughts grew quieter. He flooded his hands with chakra, a bigger bubble, a stronger bubble.

—_probably faking it for sympathy, what a—Sasuke's been gone for a while, I shouldn't probably ask him where he—honestly I'm worried maybe I should just try and talk to—_

He knew these thoughts. They sounded like the people they belonged to. More chakra.

(His head felt like it was going to explode.)

—_really who even does that—wonder where Father is—_

Inou pushed himself further, further. He could go further. He could do better.

He felt something warm on his face, over his lips.

—_the way you worry about that boy, honestly, it's more than just a little sad, it—_

He lost control there. His head finally exploded. He collapsed against the pillows.

But that last voice. He did not recognize that last voice, a rough, polite voice. And he knew that his house was too far removed from anything resembling a neighborhood for him to have reached into someone else's home.

What _was_ that?

Something about that fact left him incredibly unsettled. He tried not to think terribly hard about it.

When he finally got control of his limbs again, he noticed that his nose had started bleeding. He'd been out for so long, in fact, that it had started to run down the side of his face and onto his pillow, into his mouth.

"Oh _crap!_" he said softly, and pinched his nose, out of bed in an instant. Blood got all over his fingertips, his palms. He could taste it, and smell it, and it made him feel sick.

He had to get to the bathroom. Again. He prayed nobody would see him.

He ran into Takeru on the way.

And Takeru just tilted his head and almost smiled, not letting him pass. "What happened to your face?" He sounded like he was laughing.

"Godda nodebleed, ged oudda da way, Dageru," Inou replied, trying to shove his way forward. Come on, the bathroom was just a few feet away… Why did it have to be _Takeru_…?

"A nosebleed? What _from?_"

Inou didn't respond, trying to shove past him again. He was still too weak for much of anything, though. His lips felt disgustingly sticky.

"You aren't taking time off from training for anything _questionable_, now, are you?" Takeru widened his normally narrow, smug-looking eyes in mock surprise. They reminded Inou of Shikake. "For _shame_, little brother."

"Cud id _oud, _Dageru! Lebbe go clead ub!"

Takeru wasn't much taller than him, but he looked for all the world like a giant to Inou, there. Standing there, condescending, as usual.

"Fine, then. But I don't really believe you. I bet you're hiding something."

Inou could settle for that. He had nothing to hide, and he told Takeru this. His brother finally let him pass, and Inou went to the bathroom and washed his face.

"Mo-other! Inou got blood all _over_ his pillow!" Takeru was in his room, like he'd promised. Probably looking for… some sort of magazine or something equally embarrassing or incriminating. The sort of thing you'd find in Hajime's room, with his hidden pinups and questionable magazines under the mattress; not in Inou's room.

Inou didn't even like girls, not _that_ way. He'd read some of Hajime's mattress-books in a fit of relapse a few years before (from when he was still too scared to even glance at Nadeshiko's door, after he had gotten caught there), and he wondered what all the fuss was about, more than anything. It was boring at best, disgusting at worst. Nothing he'd want to keep hidden under _his_ pillows.

(Inou hid comic anthologies under _his_ mattress, but they were never kept there for long. What if he was caught? Again?)

But Takeru was his older brother, and he showed he cared by antagonizing Inou at every instance. Inou preferred Hajime's distance, personally.

"Wha-at? Inou, what _happened?_" His mother was coming up the stairs, accompanied by a flurry of smaller steps.

He came out of the bathroom, drying his face with a towel, and there was Karai, looking like she was close to tears or something, his mother at the end of the hall, looking mildly concerned.

Karai cared too much.

When they asked him about what had happened, he just said that it was because his nose had gotten dried-out from all the sneezing, or something.

And then his father came home, and he was in a bad mood, so they had a quiet dinner. Inou had gotten out of his pajamas before his arrival. He had gotten blood all over them. He wouldn't have kept them on, anyways.

"Recover soon," was the only thing his father said to him that night, from across from the dinner table. It could have been a lot worse.

Inou had all but forgotten about the strange voice he'd heard, earlier in the evening. But something still stayed with him that left him feeling jumpy and hollow inside, especially as he tried to get to sleep. He told himself that it was just because he was sick, convincing himself to doze off, not bothering to practice again.

The chuunin exams were that Friday. He'd still have time to work on it.

* * *

Karin's reply arrived on a Wednesday.

_Sakura,_

_Got to be kidding me. Taki in Konoha? Big trouble, likely._

_Hozuki and I both dealt with Taki clan before. He does work for them occasionally. I know them through Sensei._

_Boss Kuni asked Sensei to treat daughter, Mikan, about 30 years back. Uterine cancer, incredibly advanced. Very young, very unfortunate._

_Boss Kuni tried other doctors. Went to Sensei as last resort. Sensei asked for new body as payment. Boss Kuni agreed, no questions asked. Anything to save Mikan. Devoted father, heartless otherwise. Sensei liked him._

_Sensei brought me to assist. Used my blood as part of treatment. Possible explanation for cells in Kiine's blood, if Mikan were still fertile. Treatment was effective, not perfect. _

_Still wouldn't explain Uzumaki heredity. Know for a fact Mikan is not Uzumaki, neither is husband, Boss Tensho._

_Highly suspicious. Will look into this further. Send you information from archives if possible._

_Would come to Konoha if not weighted down. Apologies._

_Word of warning. Do not bring this up to Taki. Boss Tensho very touchy on subject of family. Worse when ninja are involved._

_Stay out of Taki's way. More trouble than worth. Lay low._

_Regards to your Sakari. Sweet girl._

_- Karin_

Sakura had to read the letter a couple of times before she felt like she really understood what it was saying. Notes from Karin were always like this. Terse, but precise. The language of a scientist with very little time to spare.

(It always struck her as more than a little unnerving that she referred to Orochimaru, in those letters, as Sensei. Just Sensei. Always.)

Sakura pushed a bang behind her ear as she processed all the information.

It was uncomfortable information, about uncomfortable things—the Taki syndicate, Orochimaru, cancer—then again, that was Karin, for you. Frank and direct. Unblinking.

Somehow, though, none of it surprised her. A crime syndicate going to _Orochimaru _for _cancer_ treatment? Goodness.

Then again, 30 years ago, Sakura doubted anyone was even remotely skilled enough to treat the more advanced stages of cancer, except for maybe Tsunade.

And 30 years ago, Tsunade was still living at the bottom of a bottle, surrounded by gambling debts.

…it still felt questionable to Sakura. Especially the whole asking for a body as payment thing. That… that didn't surprise her.

The way Karin had put it made it seem like Kiine's mother—Mikan, that seemed to be her name—wasn't even capable of having children. Did that mean… Kiine was adopted? That did nothing to explain Karin's cells in her blood, though. And Karin probably knew this.

So maybe Mikan had somehow become fertile again? But, how? And she wasn't an Uzumaki, but Kiine still was; that stood to be explained…

Karin was right, it _was_ suspicious. _Very_ suspicious. But Sakura didn't know what in the world it could mean.

Maybe Karin did. Or would, eventually.

Sakura decided not to tell Naruto about this, not yet.

At least until Karin got back to her again.


	14. Interlude: Big Red

**INTERLUDE**

**BIG RED**

-/-

Kiine had a lot of explaining to do.

She sat outside her father's meeting room, shoved into a kimono, gold combs forced into what was left of her hair, eyes shut tight in frustration. She sucked in her breath, trying to gather the words in her mind, for when he would inevitably call her in.

It had been her idea. All her idea. It really was, in… most senses of the word.

Well, okay, so Yuki had helped. A lot. But she didn't want to think about him right now.

It was all her father's fault, at the end of the day, anyways. It was his fault entirely.

Everything went wrong on the day he had called her to him with that smile on his face. She had almost expected _good_ news.

Well_ he _certainly thought it was good news.

"I've decided to give your hand in marriage to the son of Boss Shin of the Hakaza clan as a gesture of unity and goodwill between our families."

She didn't remember him saying much else, but she did remember her own lack of a smile as she nodded, gracefully, and thanked him for telling her the news.

Inside, she was screaming.

She was being _married off? _As a… as a gesture of _unity? _And _goodwill? _What the hell _was _she, some sort of _peace offering?_

It was wrong for so, _so_ many reasons.

She was only sixteen! Well, okay, almost seventeen, but _still!_ That was _way _too young to get married. _Way_ too young!

(She'd known people who'd been betrothed at far younger, though. It wasn't unusual. …but that didn't make it _right! _And she _never_ thought that it would happen to _her._)

And who was she getting married to, anyways? Did she not even have a say in the guy she had to spend the rest of her life with? She had nobody in mind _now_, 'course, but what if somebody came along that just… knocked her off her feet or something? That wouldn't be exactly fair, would it?

(Hadn't her mother had a choice, anyways? That was the only reason why she was married to her father, was because she'd had a choice.)

Her fiancé, apparently, was some kid named Kou. Son of Shin, the Boss of the Hakaza clan. He was the same age as her. Kiine had met his father before, several times, here and there, but she had never met Kou.

It was a political marriage.

See, the Taki clan controlled almost the entirety of the eastern coast's grey and black and all-shades-in-between market, and the visible sign of this control was the prevalence of what were called Curiosity Shops. You couldn't throw a rock in the eastern lands without hitting a Taki Curiosity Shop. They were as prevalent as the gambling dens of the Saigoro clan, as common as the brothels of Hanamachi clan.

Anyone going in and requesting the services of a Curiosity Shop knew _exactly_ what was being sold in there.

Beautiful smoking pipes from the Land of Water.

(You could buy the herbs to use it with in the room downstairs, if you asked nicely and knew when to give a tip.)

The silk that gave the Land of Silk its name.

(The Taki clan was proud of its silk. Monopolies took _generations_ to create, didn't you know.)

Swords from the Land of Iron. Custom-made.

(Most of them stolen from dunderheaded samurai. The swords used by the clan themselves were made on commission, never stolen.)

You could find anything you wanted in a Taki Curiosity Shop, if you had enough money.

Well, almost everything.

This was where the Hakaza clan came in.

The Hakaza had their fingers thoroughly entrenched in the western mountains, with their own chain of Curiosity Shops dotted across the range and the northern lands.

They sold a great many different things.

Modern art; paintings and sculpture from the Land of Rock.

(Many of them forgeries. Most of them real. All of them stolen in one way or another.)

Rare books and bootlegs of banned films from the Land of Lightning.

(You certainly weren't going to find that raunchy unofficial adaptation of Icha Icha Tactics in the Land of Fire.)

Questionable and dangerous looking medical(?) instruments from the Land of Rice.

(If it had more than three blades on it then you got treated to tea while discussing price with the shop owner.)

Yes, you could find anything you wanted at a Hakaza Curiosity Shop, if you had enough money.

Well, almost anything.

That was where the marriage came in.

Now, Kiine knew most of those things already because she liked to sit in on the meetings her father had with his underlings, his accountants, the guys that ran the shops themselves. Her father had been letting her do it since before she could remember, never turning her away when she began asking to join in instead of wandering in all haphazardly, like she had done as a toddler.

She used to sit on his lap in those accidental days, while he discussed who to off and who to cut, where to spend and what to steal. Now, whenever she showed up, with a shy, practiced, downward glance, she sat behind him and listened intently, taking it all in and actually paying attention, but never speaking. She wasn't expected to speak, not at her age, not in her position.

Eventually she tried making suggestions, after the meetings were over—because they always laughed at or ignored her when she first spoke up, during meetings. Her father would laugh at her, too—but warmly, not mockingly—and say "Lemme think about it, honey." He'd then kiss her on the forehead and send her on her way. She always glowed with satisfaction whenever a suggestion of hers made it into the next day's discussions, which began to happen with more and more frequency. She learned how to be careful with her words, and timing.

So there had been talks, for a long while, of a union or some other sort of arrangement between the Hakaza and the Taki clans, so that there would be a greater amount of goods offered over a much wider area. And Kiine thought it was a _very_ smart idea, overall, both economically and socially.

Alone, both of the clans were highly influential. But together? Well, the very thought of such a thing sent a shiver up Kiine's spine, a little smile taking root across her face. And she thought about how such a union would be made. Through peace treaties? Exchanges of men and sake, surely?

No, her father had decided to marry her off, instead. As a gesture of _goodwill. _And she thought he _knew_ better.

After all, what was it he used to say, whenever people complained and asked why he allowed her to be in the room with them when he was doing business?

"Oh, come on, she's not hurtin' anyone. B'sides, she needs to learn how things are run around here," he'd say, with a warm, doting smile. "For when she's grown up."

She used to think that he meant that she'd be Boss one day, maybe. If she kept up the good work.

After all, what was it he used to say when she used to hug him and squeal that she was gonna be a Boss when she grew up, just like him?

"Whatever you want, Kiine," he said.

Now she knew that he meant.

"When she's grown up." That just meant "when she's married and supporting her _own_ husband in the business."

"Whatever you want." In hindsight, his old, familiar comfort seemed like a vague dismissal.

Was that really the only reason he'd allowed all of that? Any of that? Because he didn't take her seriously?

It wasn't like Kiine had ever _expected_ to become Boss of her family someday. She never, ever _expected _it. Families like hers, like the Hakaza, like the Saigoro and Hanamachi and every other clan were made up of men linked not by blood but by brotherhood, and merit. It was rare that the title of Boss was passed down from father to son, much less father to daughter.

Though, her _grandfather _had been the previous Boss, that was true. But he had named her father his successor, a red-haired, unaffiliated youth, full of ambition and new ideas. The fact that he had married Kiine's mother, a Boss's daughter, had absolutely nothing to do with it. Children of Bosses were very, very seldom made Boss themselves, and their spouses had even less of a chance. They lived comfortably and were cared for by the clan after their parents stepped down, but that was where it ended.

(Well, unless the previous Boss was an asshole, then they and their family would be tossed right out by the new Boss. But that didn't happen much.)

Kiine's father had been chosen for his skill alone. And her parents had married out of love. And it was _real_ love, too. Kiine thought that was cool.

Along with that, there hadn't been much of a precedent for female Bosses, either. Though the ones that _had_ been in place? Holy crap. Kiine's role model was Boss Kanna, who, over a hundred years ago, chased away some big shot ninja clan leader that was bothering her with nothing but her katana in one hand and a frying pan in her other.

"So a sword isn't a woman's weapon, huh?" she was said to have shouted after him. "You know what _is_ a woman's weapon? _Fans_ are for women! So don't try to come back and fight me with one until you grow a pair of tits, you fire-breathing little bitch!"

Boss Kanna was _awesome._

So no, Kiine didn't _expect_ to be named Boss someday, because of her blood, because of her sex. But that didn't deter her. That just meant that she had to work harder to reach her goal.

She was going to be effective, whip-smart, intimidating, worthy of respect and power. Just like her father.

No, _better_ than her father.

Because she would _never_ marry off her daughter to some clan for the sake of _symbolism_. It wasn't even about politics any more. There was nothing to even _gain_ by them marrying. It wasn't like they were truly "heirs" to their respective clans. It was a useless gesture. It was symbolic.

It was _unfair_.

Kiine would never do that. She was too smart for that.

But if she was somebody's wife, she doubted she'd ever even have the slip of a chance she knew she had now. She'd be stuck, glued there, forever.

And there was nothing she could do.

And that was about where she broke down into sobbing tears, unable to come up with any more words.

All of this had been directed at Yuki, who sat on the floor of her bedroom and listened, patiently, as she paced and yelled and screamed and eventually sat down in exhaustion. He ran his cool hand over her back as her tears collected in her palms.

"It's okay, sir… It'll be okay…"

He stayed with her until she stopped crying, and once she was certain that her eyes weren't red any more, she sent him away so she could get ready for bed. She refused to have anyone help her.

She thought over the situation further while curled up under the futon.

Like hell she could go to her father and say she didn't want to do it. She could certainly try, but he'd probably just laugh at her, at best, and scold her, at worst, depending on his mood. Going to Hakaza Shin wouldn't be much better, she supposed, either. She was sure he was as stubborn as her father—from what she knew about him, he _definitely_ was, despite his relaxed and elegant way of speaking. And hadn't he come up with this plan _with _her father?

And putting her head down and just letting this happen to her was surrender. She couldn't do it.

She tried to tell herself that maybe it wouldn't be so bad. That maybe, even with this happening, she still had a chance of being a Boss.

She couldn't kid herself. Her dream was dead.

She was stuck. But she had to do something.

Might as well do something drastic.

Her only option was to run.

"But why would you want to do that, sir?" Yuki said, when she told him her intentions. They were in her room and he was brushing her hair, the day already over, her mood significantly calmer. She'd been ranting at him for a good hour or two already.

Yuki loved her hair, falling over her back in a curtain of red that went to her waist, so she let him take care of it, most of the time. She herself could really not care less about it, though. At least _someone _liked it.

"You already said yourself that it probably wouldn't be so bad if you went along with it," he continued. "And I'm sure that Kou-san isn't all _that_ bad a person."

"No, see, Yuki, it's the principle of the thing, yeah?" Kiine explained. She looked at him sitting behind her in the mirror. "I mean, I'm sure he's a totally nice guy. As nice as guys can be with dads like his and _mine, _anyway…" Which meant that he was a garden-variety smug asshole, at best. She frowned.

"Don't say things like that, sir. I think that _you _are certainly _very_ nice," Yuki told her.

She only barely smiled back. "I just can't help but feel that I'm nothing more than a bargaining chip or something in this whole deal, yeah?" she continued. "I mean, seriously, I think the Hakaza clan is great. Papa gets along with their head like freakin' nothing else. I _want _our clans to be united. So how come they gotta _do_ this? I'm sure there's other ways, yeah?"

"I… don't know, sir," Yuki said. He pulled the brush down her hair again.

"So that's why I gotta run away," Kiine said, seeing nothing else to say. "I gotta escape from this stupid stuff before it's too late, yeah? Since I'm totally screwed over already."

"Well, I suppose that's a fair enough reason, sir," Yuki said. "But…"

She looked over her shoulder at him. "But _what?"_

He put the brush down. "But where will you _go?_" he said. "And, more importantly, how are you going to live and not expect to be caught, sir? This isn't like one of our usual… adventures. Running away is very long-term…"

And Kiine thought about that for a while.

"Yeah? And so's marriage," she said. "I'll figure it out." Her father had told her that she wasn't going to meet Kou for a while yet, and that the actual marriage wouldn't be for at least a year, if not longer. But just because it was so far away didn't mean that it wasn't going to happen eventually.

And she thought about it for a good long while. Days went by.

It was only after hearing her father commiserating with the owner of a Curiosity Shop whose shipping lines were plagued by ninja interference that she got an idea.

Ninjas. Of _course._

The closest ninja village in the Land of Silk was Kuwabaranogakure, the Village Hidden in the Mulberry Field. But that was too close-by, and besides, the city—if you could even _call_ it a city—was too small, and her father knew the guys in charge there well enough (and they feared him enough to listen to him and generally do what he said) that she wouldn't stand a chance if she went and ran away there.

The better option was, of course, Konohagakure. It was a bit out of the way, and an _enormous_ city, at that. The largest in the Land of Fire. Kuwabara was _nothing_ in comparison to its size.

They'd never find her there.

And there was just something supremely exciting about the prospect of maybe becoming a ninja in the process, or at least learning a few new tricks.

Kiine was already a pretty fantastic fighter. She had Yuki to thank for that.

Technically, she wasn't supposed to know how to fight. She was expected to know how to _defend _herself, yes, but largely with words, instead of fists.

And, technically, Kiine was amazing at that, too. She could bargain and barter and intimidate as well as any other hoodlum, and have the strength to back it up. She knew this. She snuck out of the house with Yuki on weeknights to practice in the nearby village, which of course boasted a Curiosity Shop and a number of other, smaller, dirtier establishments.

She began this practice when she was maybe nine or ten years old, making a point at getting in good with the local child gangs and delinquents—where her father and Nobuhiro both had gotten their starts—and taking even _greater_ care to mask her connection to her family.

"I don't want no suck-ups," she told Yuki. "If someone's gonna respect me, it's gonna be for me, yeah?"

She and Yuki came to be known as Big Red and Little Blue, in time, and cleaner folks began to grow wary around tomboys with red hair and freckles on the backs of their necks, especially if they had dark-haired prettyboys with them.

(That was how she had gotten the scar on her left shoulder, when she got into a fight with a gang leader at least twice her age. Like her victory, she wore it like a badge of honor.)

(Her father never took permanent action for any of this once he caught word, however. "Let her have her fun, playing gangster," he would say, chuckling. "She's got Yuki-kun to protect her, anyways.")

(Her mother, meanwhile, was the one who quietly left pots of healing ointment and fresh bandages just inside the door of Kiine's bedroom, winking at her at breakfast.)

The only reason she even knew what the heck about fighting was because, when Yuki began his training, when he began that process of becoming a true Inaba bodyguard, she had insisted that he teach her everything he learned after the fact, clearing the space in her bedroom every evening after dinner so they could spar.

"I mean, what if we're separated and you're not there to protect me, yeah?" she explained. "I gotta be able to defend myself."

How could Yuki argue with that?

Besides, he was very new to the whole being-a-bodyguard thing at the time. There were still a lot of things he was trying to get right. He had a bad habit of misinterpretation, of being observant in all the wrong areas.

Like, when he was a child, still discovering etiquette through observation, he learned quickly by watching his brother to call everyone either Sir or Master. So when he met with Kiine for dinner that evening, after learning this, when he was four and she was six, he told her he was "Very pleased to see you, Master Kiine, sir."

Everyone laughed at him, but Kiine laughed the hardest.

(Yuki always thought it was so strange, the way she laughed. She didn't cover her mouth, like other girls did. That was the second thing he had noticed about her, after her hair. But it was the first thing he had really liked.)

She told his brother—he was only twenty-four, at the time—that it was okay, that Yuki shouldn't be corrected, and the names stuck. They were _really _best friends ever since. Nobody was surprised at all when, a year later, her father suggested to Nobuhiro that Yuki become her personal bodyguard. He was going to become a bodyguard anyways, given who his brother was, but his closeness with Kiine would be a true advantage to him.

Yuki also needed someone to practice with. So he taught her.

Even at the age of seven, Kiine was _very _persuasive when she wanted to be. And she knew exactly what she wanted to be when she grew up.

Oh did the servants ever throw a _fit_ the first time they found Kiine wrestling with Yuki on the floor, her hands on his shoulders, hair falling in his face.

"I started it," Yuki explained, after she got off of him. "I think I learned my lesson. Ow."

They were much sneakier from there on out, Kiine remaining always one step behind him in skill. At least, with fighting. Because no matter how much she tried, however long she practiced, Kiine could never, ever match or even come _close_ to his skill with a blade.

But she could punch like a bulldog when he couldn't, so it all evened out in the end, really.

So, yes, Kiine could fight. And so could ninjas. And ninjas, Kiine knew, were badass. Really great fighters. _Really._

…that was about all she knew about ninjas, really.

That, and the fact that her father _hated_ them. _Hated _them. And Nobuhiro, too. Everything else that Kiine knew about ninjas, _especially _ninjas from Konoha, came from their rants.

Like the fact that they were so damn obsessed with bloodlines and clans. Ninja clans were all about that blood purity stuff, knowing whose son was whose, passing down power to only their children. At least, that's what she had _heard _from her father, and Nobuhiro, and all the rest.

Really, she wondered what the big deal was most of the time, both with the hatred and the bloodline thing. An opinion they had (and one that Kiine shared, in a way) was that it didn't matter who was descended from whom, so long as the family was kept together. Hell, there was a reason why the Taki clan had survived for as long as it had, for generations and generations, with maybe only a handful of Bosses related by blood in between. That was because they picked the strongest guys to lead them. That was how they had stayed together.

Kiine couldn't think for too much longer on the matter, it was just getting her mad.

She didn't need to know much about ninjas, anyways. She'd learn. Cultural immersion, wasn't it? Yeah.

And besides, she felt almost a sick satisfaction, imagining running away to a ninja village, especially one her father hated so much, to live among the blood-obsessed freaks without any sense of honor.

There was only really one other thing that she knew about ninjas: Only the guys were got to do the cool stuff. All of the ninja she'd ever heard of that were worth anything, the guys that made the news and the history books, were men. All of the ninja that her father dealt with from Kuwabara were male, too.

And, well, Kiine needed a disguise, didn't she? She was used to sneaking out and hiding her hair underneath a hat—for practical reasons; beyond being a disguise, long hair was a serious weakness in a fight—but this plan would require something a little more… permanent.

Yuki looked like he was going to burst into tears, when she told him about all of this. "But _sir,_" he pleaded. "You don't have to do that, honestly."

"Hey, it'll help, yeah?" Kiine said. She ran her fingers through a section of hair, lazily, wondering how it'd feel to cut it all off. "Even if they did track me all the way to Konoha, they wouldn't be looking for a boy. They'd be looking for a girl."

Yuki paused, thinking, pursing his lips. "…even if you did cut off all of your hair, do you think you'd be able to live _as_ a boy for very long?"

"Pff. Are you kidding? I'm more of a boy than _you_ are, Yuki," Kiine said.

Yuki's face turned bright red. He didn't say anything.

"Besides, it's not like I have any boobs I need to hide, yeah?" she added, patting her meager bust with spicy laugh. "I think it'll be easy. I mean, I know how guys work yeah?"

"If you say so, sir," Yuki said.

(He'd silently agreed to help her the moment he knew she was really going to go through with this whole business of running away, and she knew it.)

They started working on a plan.

They decided early on for Kiine to go alone, even though Yuki felt uneasy about not being there to protect her and make sure that things went along smoothly. He was her bodyguard, after all, even if she didn't really need his physical protection.

"Look, if I just leave and you cover for me, I have a better chance," she said. "If both you and me go, things are gonna look suspicious. They won't think I'm _really _running away if _you're_ with me. They won't take it seriously. Besides, you gotta cover for me, Yuki. It's your job, yeah?"

Yes, it was his job.

They developed a cover story, created a name, an identity for her. "I'll say I got a brother named Hiroyuki. C'mon, it's sorta true," she added, writing it down in a notebook in katakana one afternoon. "Nobuhiro, Yuki, Hiroyuki. Both of you guys. You're like brothers to me, yeah? It'll be easier to remember if anyone asks."

And Yuki had already gotten very flustered over her choice of an alias.

"Like I _said_, it's easy to remember. I gotta get used to it, yeah?" she added. She smiled. "You're easy to remember, Yuki."

He didn't have anything to say to that.

Her mood improved the more they worked. No doubt her father thought it was because she was warming up to the idea of the marriage.

_Hell _no.

On the night that Kiine was to leave, route planned, fake letter written, food and clothing and money packed in a rucksack stolen from a storage room, Yuki took out the knife he always kept on his person, concealed in his sleeve, and cut off all of that beautiful red hair he loved so much.

"_Man_. That looks _good,_" Kiine said, looking in the mirror and shaking her head, feeling the newfound lightness around her ears. "Real manly."

Yuki just held the red bunches of hair in his hands, his face slightly sad. He hid them under a tatami mat, later, so he could get rid of them when nobody was around.

They had already set the plan into motion, as he had left dinner early that night, saying he felt drowsy. He waited in his room until 1 AM, and then went to go get Kiine ready.

They both knew about the hidden exits in the garden of the family's mansion, they knew where the guards were posted and where their patrols led, and they both knew how to move without being heard. It came with practice, which both of them had had plenty of.

She gave him a hug, when she said goodbye. His forehead against her cheek felt cold, like his skin always did, even in the evening heat. She paused when she noticed that he was shaking a little. "Hey, hey, it's not like we're never gonna see each other again, yeah?" she said. "Yuki, don't cry… I'll be back, I promise. After all of this dies down."

The plan was for her to be gone long enough for negotiations with the Hakaza clan to break down, at least enough for the marriage to be called off. If she could avoid capture for at least a year, she figured she'd be okay. And then she'd come back, rocking some new ninja moves, and she'd be back on the road to becoming Boss. After getting back in her father's good graces, but she supposed that she would figure that out when the time came.

That was the hope.

Both of them tried not to believe that they would never see each other again.

Worst case scenario, they'd find her out, and she'd spend the rest of her life on the run.

Second-worst case scenario, she'd never be caught, but she'd never be able to return, not knowing if the marriage had been called off yet. Or if she'd been disowned.

(But Yuki was used to sacrificing his happiness for Kiine's sake. That was what she wanted, and he knew she'd never be happy again if she didn't do this, if she didn't take this chance. He had hope, and so did she.)

He hugged her back. "Good luck, sir."

And then she was gone.

The plan was, when he woke up in the morning, late, for him to conclude with panicked breaths that she must have drugged his tea at dinner, so that he wouldn't interfere when she slipped out in the middle of the night. His room was, after all, right next to hers. He'd have heard if she had gotten up, normally.

Kiine had no idea if the plan would work, but she trusted him to get the job done.

(They believed him, even though, that day, only his tears and his worry were real.)

She reached Konoha on the fourth day of travel. It hadn't been a terribly difficult journey. In fact, it was actually pretty fun; camping out, cooking over a fire. She had enough money for a few months in a city, on her own, so she didn't waste it by eating out in the villages on the way there. She knew she had to make it last.

Konoha was a _lot_ bigger than she had thought it would be. And its ninjas were even less like she had expected.

_Especially _the Hokage.

Even now, kneeling and miserably thinking all of it over, Kiine couldn't quite believe that any of the things that she'd experienced in Konoha had actually, really happened. Accepting her so easily as Hanamura Yukio, and through chance and circumstance becoming the personal guest, the friend—could she still really call herself a friend of his?—of the Hokage. The Hokage! That was the closest thing to a Boss that ninjas had. Heck, they were even _chosen _like Bosses were chosen, appointed on skill, and not decided by blood.

Which just made Kiine wonder more about why her father ranted and complained so much about the way that ninjas went about things. Where was that blood-obsession she had heard so much about? Where was that heartless cruelty?

Naruto, the freakin' _Hokage,_ was probably the least ninja-ish ninja Kiine had ever met, if she went by what she'd grown up hearing. And she had been introduced to a _lot _of ninja during her stay. He was just… so friendly, so funny. She felt comfortable around him, not fearful. She couldn't imagine him killing anyone, much less _fighting_ anyone. He was just too _nice._

And, well, Kiine's father was nice enough, in private. He was a very loving man. Even now, angry as she was at him, she couldn't bring herself to _hate _him. He stupid, he was misguided, and he was making a _huge _mistake by trying to marry her off, but he was her father, and she still loved him.

But Kiine was still very, very aware of what her father did for his work.

(And Kiine's hands weren't necessarily very clean, either.)

But Naruto? He was like that _all _the time, that smiley goof, both in the office where he did his work, and at home. He was the _Hokage_, a ninja Boss. How did that even figure out? He didn't even ask her to pay him back for the innumerable times he took her out to dinner, either in money or favors. That's what her father would have done. If he were leading her family's clan, Naruto wouldn't have lasted for a moment.

Somehow, though? He was running a village. A _ninja _village, and a rather large one, at that. And had been doing so for ten years, and still held in high esteem by the many, many people who lived there. Weren't ninja supposed to be, she didn't know… even more intimidating, to stay in charge for so long?

The disconnect was even more intense, given that the most ninja-like ninja that Kiine had met was probably Benio-sensei, and that was only because she kicked _ridiculous _amounts of ass and commanded a lot of respect, even though she wasn't even that mean. And she was a _woman! _This absolutely amazed Kiine. But weren't the only good ninjas _guy_ ninjas? She had asked Benio-sensei this, after a few lessons, and Benio had just laughed at her.

"No, of course not," she replied. "What gave you _that _impression? Gender has _nothing _to do with being a good ninja, Yukio-kun."

Kiine couldn't really find an answer. And, after a while, she just started accepting things, because she was just being proven wrong in every other sense.

Benio, she had found, was ridiculously and strangely supportive of her role as a boy, telling her how strong she was and such. Which was strange and, at the same time, kind of comforting, though it did sort of make her wonder why she was that way in the first place.

Why in the world did her father and Nobuhiro hate ninjas so much? The ones she had met were nice guys, for the most part.

Man, especially Naruto. And he was the _Hokage_.

…she really missed him.

And goodness, did she ever feel bad for him for… getting him involved with her family like that. He didn't deserve that. He had been nothing but good to her.

And there'd probably be nothing but trouble for him, and Benio-sensei, and just _everyone _else in Konoha from there on out. Her father would probably just… harass them and everything, since he was a Konoha-nin and he hated Konoha-nin and… and…

Damn it, why did she have to get _caught?_

It was… it was Yuki's fault. Undeniably. He was the only one that knew where she had gone, the one who was supposed to cover for her.

She didn't feel like talking to him. At all.

She knew it was his fault. What difference did it make, what he had to say to her? He'd just apologize to her, anyways, and… and…

Kiine told herself not to cry. She couldn't cry. She had kept herself from crying for this long, and she could hold it in there, too. She had a lot to explain to her father, she couldn't get upset now and ruin her composure. If she wanted him to take her seriously, she couldn't be upset.

She had kept herself composed when they'd caught her at the gates and held her in that little guard station, even though she was absolutely _furious _at herself. She thought she'd have been able to run, she _had _to run—what else was she supposed to do when she saw that note on the fridge in the morning? "Meeting with Taki," with the exact same kanji of her family's name? So she hadn't been seeing things and she just had to leave Konoha.

She'd have been able to explain to Naruto, she was certain. Somehow. He'd believe her, he was just so nice, and…

But Honda had been there. She knew him, an underling of Nobuhiro's with a hot temper and a hell of a left hook. He had recognized her immediately—red hair, freckles on the back of her neck, but no dark-haired Yuki at her side this time—but she thought that maybe she'd be able to keep him from saying anything, that Naruto would take her away before he could do anything, and…

But then Nobuhiro showed up and, well.

That happened.

The journey home took four days, and on the fourth day she was pulled into her mother's vast silk arms and kept there for a very, very long time.

And now she was here.

Shoved back into her daughter's role, spikes of guilt and worry and regret and _anger _forced into her heart, she sat in front of her father's meeting room and let her breath hiss out from between her teeth.

She had a lot of explaining to do.

But she would not tell her father hardly any of this.


	15. First Steps

_The most common variations in the stories about the Woman of the Woods involve a young girl participating in the chuunin exams being killed or left to die by her teammates during the second part of the exams, in the "Forest of Death." The girl's ghost now haunts the training grounds, punishing those who forsake their teammates by sealing them into trees, and, in more benevolent interpretations, rewarding those who stay united and help one another by parting the forest and making their journey easier._

_The Woman herself is usually described as having long, dark hair, frequently appearing by descending from the treetops, or making her presence known by manipulating the branches of trees around her, and sometimes in controlling the surrounding wildlife, as well. More modern variations describe the Woman as a less human-looking creature, smaller in size, with large eyes._

_The most well-known versions of the story most likely began as propaganda pieces, to encourage teamwork in the chuunin exams through scare tactics and word of mouth. The earliest recorded tales, however, seem to have sprung up in reaction to the sudden regrowth of the Forest in the wake of the Day of Pain, now known to be the result of chakra-enriched soil, attributed to the First Hokage and his Wood Release._

- Excerpt from the chapter "Konohagakure" from the book _Understanding Urban Legends_, written by Kuchisake Sadako

* * *

**ACT 3**

**FOREST**

* * *

_Chapter 15 - First Steps_

* * *

The chuunin exams began on a Friday.

It was a cloudy day, sort of miserable-ish. But nothing could dampen the excitement.

Inou's consent form sat on his desk, already-signed by him, his father, his mother. It had been sitting there, staring at him, for hours, as he tried to fall asleep the night before.

He was feeling much better. He was feeling almost confident.

His father had even almost smiled—that was a smile, wasn't it?—when he had said that he was going to go to bed early, so he'd be at his best for the exams.

"Do whatever you need," his father had said, before turning his back on Inou.

When he woke up, there was also a bouquet of flowers on the desk. Small, understated; more of a gathering than a bouquet, really. There were daphne flowers in it.

He knew what they meant, and he ignored them, getting dressed and pulling his necklace over his collar and brushing his hair.

He felt good.

Everyone was at the table for breakfast. Even Hajime. Even Nadeshiko.

"Good day for a chuunin exam, isn't it?" his father said, after putting down his bowl of miso soup. "Hope everyone is _well rested_ and ready to go."

Yes, their father was almost smiling, that morning.

Sasuke had to leave early, a requirement from the academy. Inou and Karai left around 2 to meet with their teams.

"Good _luck_ you two!" their mother had called, from the doorway. "I'll be rooting you on!"

"Good luck," their oldest brother, Hajime, said. He looked tired, and uneasy, but he managed a smile.

"Don't die," Takeru said, smiling, smugly, as usual. "Oh yeah, and good luck, I guess," he added, after a dirty look from their mother.

Nadeshiko didn't say anything, only waving at them from the doorway with the rest, a gentle smile on her face, as if a word from out of her mouth would curse them with identical failure.

(She had left an arrangement of flowers on Karai's desk, too. It was the same as Inou's, but with a spray of foxglove instead of daphne flowers.)

Karai gave Inou a hug when she saw her two classmates, Sanji and Usui, in the distance, down the street they had promised to meet at. "Good luck, Inou."

"Yeah. Same," Inou managed. He didn't hug her back.

He went to go find Shikake and Chouko.

"So what's our plan for the written part, huh?" Shikake said. She was sitting, cross-legged, against a tree, hands behind her neck. "Since we got the Forest of Death pretty much covered from last year."

"Well, they change the rules almost every year…" Chouko said. She put her finger on her uppermost chin; she'd painted her nails a deep red. "But it's the same basic principle—information-gathering."

"I think I can handle this," Inou said. The two of them looked at him—Chouko slightly worried, Shikake clearly skeptical. "No, seriously. I can do a thought-scan, see where the plant is, and get all the answers from them if I don't know them already. Then I'll possess you two and write down the correct answers on your papers."

"You think you'd be able to do that without getting caught?" Chouko said.

Inou smiled. "Are you kidding? Of course I can. I've been working on this."

He'd been planning for ages.

"Well you can do that if you _want._ I got somethin' of my own that I'm gonna use for gathering info," Shikake said.

"Oh? And what's that?" Chouko said.

Shikake smiled. A smile that clearly said, "Nice try, but here's where it's _really_ at." Inou's stomach sank lower and lower. It reminded him of Takeru.

She produced a little device from out of that short-sleeved jacket of hers, a little mirror, with loops and knobs on the corners. "Oldie but a goodie. I can install this on the ceiling before the test and remotely manipulate it with chakra threads to get a look at just about anyone in the surrounding area. I can manipulate it so you guys can see—install multiple ones, if you can't. Won't take much effort."

…that was it? Inou frowned, almost glaring at her.

"That's… nice, Shikake-chan. But I think we're better off sticking with Inou-kun's plan," Chouko said, winking at Inou. "Sound good?"

"Whatever," Shikake said. She put the mirror away, and Inou's stomach finally returned to its proper place, his nerves realigning.

It sounded great.

And it worked perfectly.

* * *

Go'on was still shaking when the woman in the grey uniform with the pigtails in her hair—Moegi, that was her name, Examiner Moegi—smiled, dryly, and told them that they had passed the first test. Really, it had been an effort to even keep the letters in his answers on the sheet coherent. The grip on his pencil was very firm.

He'd balked at the questions, at first. And then, when it became apparent that he was supposed to _cheat? _He became even more nervous.

Go'on didn't like cheating people. He didn't _like_ it, but sometimes he had to. He was better at keeping secrets than stealing them, though.

Luckily, he had Kyou and Sunao on his team, and he was so relieved by this fact. Kyou was intimidating in his enthusiasm but it was only because wanted to help, always because he wanted to help. And Sunao was so much more understated, so patient. They helped him so much, in so many ways.

Go'on didn't feel like he gave back to them nearly as much, but none of them made a big deal about it, and neither did Sasuke-sensei, so he left it alone.

Sunao got Go'on's attention about midway through the test by tapping her pencil twice, heavily but quickly, like how you'd say his name. Go-On. And once she knew that she had gotten his attention, she compared her answers with him like the way one played a game of charades. Tap, pause; tap, pause; tap-tap-tap, pause. First question; first word; three syllables.

Kyou, listening nearby, caught on quickly enough, because he was tapping along with them about halfway through.

They were never caught. And by the end of the test, Go'on had his paper filled with what most of them felt was correct information.

Oh, it was _over_ now? Thank _goodness._

There was a new woman at the front of the examination room, now, with bright red lipstick and short, wavy hair. She had a nose you could cut paper with. "I'm Yuuhi Benio, Second Chief Examining Officer," she said. "You're all coming with me for the next part of the test, so let's get going, okay?"

Go'on took a deep breath in, and out. He stood up, and went to go be with his teammates.

"Thanks for your help, Sunao-chan…" he said softly, as he followed her and the rest of the passing students out of the examination room. "That was really clever, what you came up with."

"Really, you think so?" she said. Her oval-shaped face was low with thought. "I suppose it was clever, since it worked. But it was so simple, I was afraid we'd get caught…"

"But we weren't…" said Go'on.

Sunao laughed. "No, I guess we weren't! And besides, I guess we were a lot more subtle than some other people. Did you notice? The girl beside me was using a _mirror_ on the ceiling to look at other peoples' tests."

"Really, huh?" said Go'on.

"Yes. Seemed so convoluted…" she said. "I wonder how she got it up there…?"

"Well, I think what _you _came up with was wonderful, Sunao-chan! Great work!" said Kyou. He had his fists balled up in front of his chest. His forehead protector was tied on properly, for once. "All of us did great work, I think! We won as a _team_. That was the whole point, wasn't it?"

"Yeah…" Go'on said. "I guess it… was, really."

All that talk about team points totals and penalties seemed like a distant memory, now. They got outside, and a wave of fresh energy came over him. He always felt better outdoors, rather than indoors.

Kyou kept talking, almost the entire way. And a few people glanced and glared at him, which prompted Sunao to tell him to tone it down once or twice.

"Where are we going?" one kid asked, eventually. A younger kid. A few of the older participants scoffed and smirked and laughed. Examiner Benio simply smiled.

"You'll see," she said.

Go'on almost didn't want to see. His nerves were already all kinds of shot from the written test, and what he'd had to do. He wondered if he was even doing the right thing.

But Sasuke-sensei had said that he felt they were ready for the chuunin exams. "I believe in your abilities. You are all very talented," he had told them.

Sasuke-sensei, while terrifying, while strict, was almost never wrong. And he was an incredible teacher.

(Go'on had almost forgotten his mother's stories about him, even. He had been a monster, yes. Once. But not any more.)

So Go'on went along with it. He talked to his mother about it the month before, and had gotten her signature on the consent form. And she'd just smiled when he told her he felt nervous, and unsure about his sensei's judgment.

"You'll do just fine, Go'on. I know you will," she had told him. "You should trust your sensei. _I _know you can do it, at any rate."

He trusted his mother more than he trusted Sasuke-sensei, most of the time. To hear support from both of them meant an almost one-hundred-percent approval rating, in his eyes.

But he still had doubts. Then again, Go'on _always_ had doubts.

Sasuke-sensei was working on getting rid of them.

(Nobody had ever told Go'on that he was really talented, before. Above-average, yes. Special, yes. But never talented.)

His thoughts returned to the prospect of the second test. It _had _to be worse than the first. It wasn't wrong to get worried.

He was sure he'd get by fine, with the help of Kyou and Sunao. And he'd pitch in where he could, where he could help. Oh, but what kind of test _would_ they make him do? He squirmed and fidgeted and shivered. He shoved his hands in his pockets to try and keep still.

"Here we are," Examiner Benio finally said.

Go'on wondered, for a moment, if there had been some kind of mistake.

And then he remembered.

In his nervousness, he must have forgotten.

"This is the site of the second exam. Training Ground Number Forty-Four. A.K.A., the Forest of Death." Examiner Benio's voice was laced with playful, harmless malevolence. "It's a survival exercise. And I guarantee, right here and now, that fewer than half of you are going to pass his round."

Pangs of worry shot through the crowd, and Benio began to explain the rules, the business with scrolls and five-day time limits.

"Whoa, they're actually sending us _here?_ To the Forest of _Death?"_ Kyou said to Sunao, eyes wide, as the explanation continued. He grabbed her shoulder to try and get her attention. "Oh man, Sunao-chan, y'think we'll actually get to meet the Woman of the Woods?"

"Hey, hey, what was that you said back there?" Examiner Benio said. Kyou glanced around shyly as a crowd full of eyes all turned to stare at him. Benio shook her head, sighing, smiling. "It is my official duty as Examiner to inform you that we've conducted thorough examinations of the area, and concluded that no _Woman_ has ever been found in there, and that _none_ of you are gonna be turned into _trees_." Her words were flat, obviously rehearsed. "So rest easy! You've got more to worry about in there than some sorta ghost. Like bears. And giant tigers." She paused. "Oh, and heat-seeking giant forest leeches. Those guys are the _worst_."

"H-heat seeking giant forest leeches…?" Kyou said. His forehead protector slipped over his pale eyebrows, as the crowd lost interest in him, tittering as they worried over the leeches as well. "I've never read about those…"

"They're really nothing to worry about. You can usually avoid their nests by just listening closely. They make pretty identifiable squishy noises. But… if they get on you, just tickle them in the middle of their backs. They pop _right_ off…"

Go'on was smiling.

Kyou and Sunao stared at him.

"So… you've dealt with them before, Go'on-kun?" Kyou said.

"I… I, um… Well, _sorta_. I know a lot about… bugs and stuff, I guess…" Go'on replied. He scratched the back of his neck, losing the confidence of only moments before. "I dunno…"

"Three consent forms for one scroll, so all of you'd better sign up if you don't wanna fail!" Benio called out. Papers were being handed from student to student.

"Well you _are_ pretty outdoorsy," Sunao said, smiling warmly. She took three consent forms and handed one other each to her teammates. "Maybe you should lead our team for this round, Go'on? Since I guess I took charge last time…"

"Yeah, that sounds like a great idea! I mean, I don't know anything about giant leeches n' stuff…" Kyou adjusted his headband again, and took a pencil that was handed to him to sign the paper against his knee. "I think it would be best for the team!"

"Well, if you guys think so… then, okay!" Go'on said. He managed to smile again. His mouth wasn't shaking. "I mean, usually you guys are the ones helping _me_ out, but here…"

"You can help us right back!" Sunao said.

"Yeah! Let's all try our best," Kyou added. "As a team, you know?"

Together, the three of them went to turn in their consent forms, and were given a scroll with the kanji for Earth written on it. They were then escorted to a chained-up gate.

"Now… I know you're the leader, Go'on-kun, but might I make a suggestion?" Sunao said, as they were waiting.

"Go ahead," Go'on replied.

"Well, we have five days to get a Heaven scroll and meet at the tower in the center of the Forest. I think we should start off slowly, and get our bearings first," she said, thoughtfully. She was holding her elbow with one hand, cradling the side of her face with another. "I mean, we don't wanna burn ourselves out, you know?"

Go'on actually laughed.

Kyou and Sunao stared at him. Go'on _never_ laughed. At least, not like that.

"Don't worry about the time limit. We're… going to be fine. I think…" Go'on said. "All you guys need to do is keep up with me. We'll… be done before the end of the day."

The sureness felt almost foreign to his teammates, as he smiled and looked at the gate, anticipating when they'd be released.

"Is it just me," Kyou whispered to Sunao, hand to her ear, "or does Go'on-kun seem _really_ excited about this?"

Sunao just shrugged.

Well, Go'on _did_ like trees a whole lot. And whenever she managed to get small talk out of him—which was about as easy as getting conversation out of a shy toddler—it was always over nature-ey things. Plants and animals and bugs and stuff. Those were just the things that Go'on cared about.

So, scary and strange and intimidating as it all was (even to her), this was his element. Naturally, he'd feel more comfortable here than her or Kyou.

A signal went out, and the gates were unlocked. Simultaneously, twenty-three ninja teams were sent out into the forest.

"Follow me," Go'on commanded. And he leaped up and into the trees, and he _ran_.

He was in his native element, here.

The Forest was like a home to him.


	16. Second Opinions

_Chapter 16 - Second Opinions_

* * *

When Sasuke entered the teacher's lounge to wait for his genin to finish with the written exam, everyone in the room looked up to stare at him. He hadn't even come in particularly late. And there were others that came in after him, and everyone looked up to see them enter, too; but the way they looked at Sasuke made him feel… unwelcome. Like he was an uninvited guest, a party-crasher.

He couldn't help but feel out of place, but he ignored it, and went to go sit by himself in the corner, on a couch. Nobody asked to join him.

What, he had every right to be there. He was a teacher, after all. Why were they staring? Fear? He wasn't even making eye contact with any of them.

Either way, it wasn't worth thinking about.

(Especially not the fact that this wasn't his first time here.)

(But he wasn't thinking about that.)

So began the waiting. It was interesting, really, seeing things from this perspective. Normally he'd be at home or on a mission when these things were going on, and he'd receive the news after the fact. But here, he'd be getting it all immediately.

Which was rather nice, all things considered, since he doubted there were any other teaching jounin with three separate parties in the exams to worry about.

The room was largely silent for the hour allotted for the written exam, except for the occasional proctor stepping in and announcing teams that had just been disqualified. The teachers of the offending teams would then leave, shortly thereafter.

It almost felt like _they_ were getting tested, Sasuke mused, as he sat against the back of a sofa and sighed. Yes, it really _was_ like a test on them. A test of how well they had taught their students. If they didn't fail, it meant that they hadn't failed as teachers, really, either.

Sasuke waited for the names of his genin to be called, but they never were. Hooray.

(He was proud of them.)

His children passed, as well.

(As was expected of them.)

After all that was said and done, like students on a field trip, the passing teachers paraded down to a building near the border of the Forest of Death and proceeded to hang the hell out.

Cigarettes were passed around. Someone offered to go buy snacks and canned drinks, and there were takers. The stiff atmosphere all but disappeared.

It felt strange to Sasuke, unfamiliar. He made it to the building—apparently it had no real use beyond storing records, but the nearby proximity made it easy for the proctors to contact the teachers about developments in the Forest—by just following along and pretending that he knew what was going on. Doubtless he wasn't alone there.

He took the time to people-watch, from the back of the room, by the window. Get an idea of what his students, his children were up against. At least, against the people he recognized. And Sasuke knew a _lot_ of people.

He already recognized Shitsume Ishi, Inou's teacher, the man with the uncertain features. He was leaning against a wall, shoulders hunched, black eyes to the ceiling. Sasuke gave him only a passing glance, before letting him disappear into the crowd.

Mist-nin, Sand-nin, Sand-nin, Cloud-nin, Leaf-nin—oh, that was Inuzuka Mimi, Kiba's niece, wasn't it—Cloud-nin…

Sasuke frowned. He hardly recognized _anyone_ in the room. Many of them were from foreign countries. They all tended to gather around each other, talking to only each other. Though the Cloud-nin (and, of course, the Leaf-nin) seemed friendlier in comparison, the occasional lone agent socializing with other groups freely. And all of them looked so _young_, barely any of them over 30, by his estimation.

He looked out the window, ignoring that persistent feeling that he was very, _very_ out of place.

What. He had every right to be there.

"Uchiha Sasuke?"

He glanced sideways, and a young man with eyes like gold coins stood there, hands in his pockets. Straw-colored hair fell over his shoulders. He looked vaguely familiar.

"Hm?" Sasuke said.

"Just thought I'd introduce myself. I'm your daughter's sensei, Akirame Masao." He nodded slightly, in place of a bow. "We've met a few times, but I don't think we've ever really talked."

"I know you," Sasuke said. He glanced at Masao, eyes passing over him, head to toe. He wore conservative clothing; blue pants, white shirt layered over blue beneath his flak jacket. His forehead protector was a bandanna. "You're one of Naruto's old students, aren't you?"

"That's right. I'm surprised you remember," Masao said.

"Tch. How could I forget?" Sasuke looked out the window, severely. "That teammate of yours, Murasaki, has given me more than her fair share of trouble through the years, I'll have you know. I caught her trespassing on my property again just a few nights ago, actually."

"Oh, Murasaki…" Masao sighed and his eyes rolled toward the ceiling, miserably. The way he said her name made it sound like he was physically in pain. "She doesn't mean you or anyone in your family any harm, Uchiha-san, you have to understand. She's just… not well."

(_"He doesn't act much like an Uchiha, that's what someone is saying…"_)

"I've been putting up with this for too long to be _understanding_, thank you," Sasuke said, glaring at Masao, Sharingan spinning.

"Apologies, apologies," Masao said, sighing again. He dropped his head, avoiding eye contact. "If I could make her leave you alone, I could."

"Hm. Either way," Sasuke said. Moving on. "So you're Karai's sensei, then?" Masao nodded. "I hope she hasn't been giving you too much trouble."

"Oh, not at all. She's really incredibly bright, an absolute pleasure to teach," Masao said. He smiled slightly. "It's hard to get her to really let loose, though."

"Let loose? Ah. Well, that's not surprising. Karai's not terribly motivated," Sasuke said. He looked out the window again.

"Not terribly…? Surely, you're kidding," said Masao, managing a laugh, though it died when he saw that Sasuke's expression hadn't changed. "No, no, she's a _very_ hard worker, I think. What makes you say that she isn't _motivated_?"

"If she had any sort of motivation then she'd have become a genin much earlier, I think," said Sasuke. "Eleven isn't so bad an age, however. And she must be doing well enough, if you thought to nominate her for the chuunin exams so early, as well."

Masao was silent for a moment, pursing his lips as he thought. "Well, um. From what I've encountered, Uchiha-san, your daughter is _very_ talented. She's just very reluctant to… show off? I guess that's how you could put it."

"Hm."

(Girls weren't meant to be show-offs at any rate, Sasuke felt. It wasn't much of a positive trait, besides.)

"Either way. She's very eager to please, very smart," Masao continued. "I think she'll go very far, if I can get her to open up a bit more. The chuunin exams will be a good experience for her, I think."

"Indeed, indeed," Sasuke said. "Becoming a chuunin might force her to show some initiative for once, I think."

"_Becoming_ a chuunin? You mean you _expect_ her to pass_?_" Masao said.

Sasuke looked at him. "And you don't?"

"Well, _eventually._ Maybe in another year or two, but certainly not _this_ year."

Sasuke glared at him. "She _will_ be a chuunin this year."

Masao did nothing but blink, slowly, for a few seconds. "Look, Uchiha-san… There's wishful thinking, and then there's being realistic," he said. He looked like he was halfway between a smile and a scowl, his face drawn into a tense line. "She's only eleven. I personally didn't become a chuunin until I was-"

"My son Takeru became a chuunin when _he _was eleven, Akirame. Don't tell me that I'm being unrealistic."

Sasuke's eyes were very, very cold.

(Nadeshiko didn't count.)

Masao squirmed, but he managed to compose himself. He frowned. "Uchiha-san, I'm just saying that you shouldn't be too disappointed in Karai-chan if she fails the first time around. I certainly _hope_ for her success, but I don't think that a failure would be necessarily _bad_ for her, either. Especially not in the chuunin exams. A failure is still a very good experience!"

"Akirame, in my house, a failure is a failure," Sasuke said, with something that might have been a smirk in a past life. "The purpose of the chuunin exam is to become a _chuunin_, after all. Not to 'have a good experience.' Isn't it?"

Inou's two previous failures had certainly not been "good experiences," in Sasuke's eyes.

Everyone else had passed the first time around.

Masao didn't say anything, for a while. He eventually changed the subject. "So you have students of your own participating in the exams this year, I take it?" he asked Sasuke. "Since you're here now."

"Ah, yes. Kyou, Sunao, and Go'on. They've surprised me, this year," Sasuke said. He looked out the window again, his phantom smirk softened into a smile. "So I thought it might be good to test them in the exams this year, see how far they'd get."

Masao made a noise that might have been a laugh, but was more like a choke. "To see how _far_ they'd get?"

Sasuke looked at him, as if annoyed to be interrupted in his looking out the window. "Of course. Might as well. If they can manage this year, then I'll be _very_ pleasantly surprised. But I'm not expecting much."

"But you just said…" Masao looked lost.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "Just said _what_."

"You just said that you expected your _daughter_ to _pass _this year. Karai-chan."

"…yes, and?"

"But you're also saying you put your students through the exams to see how _far_ they'd get. Do you not expect _them_ to pass?"

"Of course not." Sasuke waved his hand, as if batting the ridiculous notion away. "They're only twelve. They're quite exceptional, but I'm not sure if they're quite chuunin material _yet_. Go'on, especially, he's far too _timid_."

Masao's mouth hung slightly open. Then, he said, "So you expect your daughter to become a chuunin this year, but not your own students?"

"You have quite a way with words, Akirame," Sasuke said, "though it's not just my daughter. My son Inou has failed _twice_ already. I don't see why he can't pass this year, either."

Masao's eyes almost trembled as he searched for a response. "How can you _think _that way?"

Sasuke's eyes were hard and certain. "Think _what_ way."

"Well, Karai-chan is an excellent kunoichi, and I really think she's something special, compared to my other two students. But I highly doubt she's any more or less skilled than anyone on your team. So shouldn't you feel the same way for her as you feel for them?" Masao said. He sounded almost ill, almost angry. "Shouldn't it be okay to not expect her to pass?"

Sasuke's eyes filled with fire. "I expect my children to live up to their name as Uchihas, and that does not allow for _failure_, Akirame. Please _understand_," he added, in a poisonous echo.

(_"They know how disappointing he is to you, sometimes.")_

Masao's gold-coin eyes dulled, and his eyebrows lowered. "I see," he said.

(And in that moment, he wondered how in the world his sensei could ever speak so highly of a man like Sasuke.)

(And in the moment afterward, he wondered why in the world Karai would want to hold her obvious talents back, with such a man as her own father.)

And in the moment after that that a door opened and a grey-uniformed proctor burst into the room, completely out of breath. "U-Uchiha Sasuke!"

Sasuke and Masao both turned to look at him, along with practically everyone else in the room. "Yes?" Sasuke said. "What is it?"

"It's your students! They've…!"

Sasuke stood away from the wall and approached the proctor, who was gulping down air with enormous gasps. He had light brown hair and he wore glasses attached to a chain, and they dangled from his neck, having fallen off his face as he held his knees. "What happened, did one of them get injured?"

"No! Quite the… opposite!" He swallowed, and looked up at Sasuke with an incredulous grin. "You're not going to believe this, but they're already at the tower!"

The room fell completely silent.

"…what," Sasuke said.

"It's incredible! They've completely shattered all of the previous speed records. And with both scrolls in hand, too!" the proctor continued. He finally stood up straight, and put his glasses back on. "Almost thirty-seven minutes flat. And barely a scratch on any of them!"

"…you're kidding," Sasuke said.

"Absolutely not, Uchiha-san. It's a new record. And nobody's been able to _touch_ the previous record of ninety-seven minutes, and _that_ was set almost thirty years ago!" Glancing at the handful of Sand jounin nearby, he added, "And _that_ record was set by the current _Kazekage_, if you can believe it."

The room began to buzz.

"…so what do you want me to do?" Sasuke said.

"Well, you can come with me to the tower, if you want," the proctor said. "It's up to you. You technically aren't required to come to the tower for another four days, but your students will be staying there until the testing period is up."

Sasuke thought about it, for a moment.

Almost thirty-seven minutes flat. Better than even Gaara.

"I'll go with you," Sasuke said. "Thank you for coming and getting me."

"It's no problem!" the proctor replied, and turned to exit, Sasuke following, in return.

The young Leaf-nin that had offered to buy snacks for everyone was very perplexed when she returned a few minutes later to find everyone loudly speculating and gossiping and did-you-hear-that and I-can't-believe-it and on and on and on.

Everyone, that is, except for Shitsume Ishi, who was only there on obligation. Who only waited, patiently, and worried.

And, now, Masao. Who had just gotten his first glimpse into a world usually reserved for a family of seven.

And for good reason.

* * *

"That was _amazing, _Go'on-kun, absolutely _amazing!"_

Kyou's compliments, so much like a waterfall, were torrential and evidently never-ceasing.

Go'on's face was flushed an even deeper reddish-brown. "Kyou-kun, _stop_ it, I didn't do anything special…"

"Are you _kidding? _You took down a freakin' _bear!"_

"I did _not. _She… it didn't even wanna hurt us in the first place, okay?" He glanced at the floor, fingers folded into each other. "Stop making such a big deal about it…"

"It was a _freakin' huge_ _bear,_ Go'on-kun! _ SERIOUSLY!_"

"Kyou-kun, stop it, you're embarrassing him," Sunao said, unable to really stifle her giggles.

It really _had_ been a freakin' huge bear. But from the way Go'on had approached it she'd have thought that it was just an unusually hairy large-ish person having a bad-ish day. Or an old, big, familiar dog, that just had a tendency to bite people when provoked.

How in the heck did _that_ even?

(And that didn't even cover the way in which Go'on guided them through the forest, past the nests of giant leeches, past the giant centipede dens, past everything that plagued nearly every other genin that had entered since the forest's creation. But Sunao was very much unaware of this.)

Really, was that part of the test supposed to be _that_ easy? It was almost _pleasant. _ The sky was still overcast but there was a strange sort of peace in the forest, in the distant rustle of leaves and the cry of poor unfortunates discovering that yes, there were _indeed_ giant tigers within this woods.

And bears, too. Oh my.

That was how they'd gotten their second scroll, really. They had come across a trio of Sand-nin cornered by said freakin' huge bear, scared out of their wits, as they had never seen a bear before in their lives, and had no idea what to do about it.

That was where Go'on came in. He told Kyou and Sunao to stand back, to stay in the tall branches of a tree, and provide backup if called-for.

Sunao told him he that was crazy, that they should just keep moving. They had only been in the forest for… ten, twenty minutes at least. She wasn't keeping count, but it hadn't been very long at all.

Go'on told her to trust him. He was the leader… wasn't he?

And he was. So they did.

Go'on didn't even try to fight the thing. He just… went up to it and climbed onto its back, his thin body stretching like a spider's, as he grabbed a hold of its fur and climbed upward. The bear swiped at the burden until Go'on reached its head and flung his arms around the back of it, as if he were hugging it.

That was where the bear began to completely ignore the Sand-nin and started to… roar? Growl? Whatever it was doing, it sounded _happy, _even trotting (trotting?) around the clearing a few times, Go'on hanging on for… no, that wasn't for dear life. He was just hanging on.

Even from high up in the trees, Kyou and Sunao could clearly see that Go'on was enjoying himself, too. Incredible as it seemed.

He dropped off of the bear's back and said something to the Sand-nin, who stammered something in reply. There was a terrified exchange, though most of the fear was on the Sand-nin's part, and eventually they held out something for Go'on to take. Go'on took it. And then the Sand-nin got out of there.

After the bear wandered off (it almost looked like Go'on was saying _goodbye_ to it, from up there), Go'on called them down, waving his arms, grinning.

"She was just angry 'cos her den's nearby and she didn't want 'em near her babies," he explained, very matter-of-factly. "Though… well, they're almost grown, now, haha, so I think maybe she's overreacting…"

Kyou's eyes were practically popping out of his skull. "You can talk to _bears?_" he said.

Go'on's mouth snapped shut, his big eyes growing even wider. "No! I can't talk to _bears! _People can't talk to _animals_…." He chewed on his bottom lip. "I saw her den nearby, from the trees. And bear cubs are usually almost adolescents by this time of year, so… that's what just I guessed was going on…" He rubbed the back of his head. "S'what I… told those Sand ninja, anyways…"

"What was that they gave you, after you talked to them?" Sunao asked.

Go'on smiled a little, and held it out. "Well, they had a Heaven scroll. Said we could have it, if we wanted it. Said they'd get their own pair of scrolls later. …I mean, there's still five days left, but, well…"

(And, really, what _else_ can you do when a kid's standing across from you with a HUGE FREAKIN' BEAR standing beside him like some sorta bodyguard? What the _hell_ was up with Leaf-nin?)

"Oh my _goodness!_ Go'on-kun, you know what that _means? _We _did_ it!" Kyou said. He hugged Go'on, there, squeezing him tightly and twirling him around. "We gotta get to the tower!"

"Ow, hey! Let go!" And Kyou let go, still grinning with a smile that looked like it was going to stretch his face in two. "Well… I _guess_ that's what we have to do now, huh…?" Go'on said, looking at the Heaven scroll with a sort of gleeful, unexpectedly happy look on his face. "Well… we should get a move on, then!"

He tucked the Heaven scroll into the pouch on his belt, and leaped into the trees again. Sunao and Kyou followed.

They were at the tower within ten minutes. And they opened the sealed door at the base, and opened both scrolls, and were greeted by an absolutely astonished proctor.

Which was what brought them here.

Kyou still wouldn't stop talking about all of it.

Really, was that it? Was it supposed to be _that_ easy? Go'on had taken down a freakin' huge _bear_ for goodness' sakes!

"Kyou-kun, it was more of a _hug_ than a takedown," Sunao said, nudging him on the shoulder. "C'mon, stop talking about it, already."

When they were told about the previous speed record, they looked amongst each other and giggled and smiled and Kyou started going on and on about the Kazekage, oh man _really_, the Kazekage, they had done better than the _Kazekage?_

Boy, Sasuke-sensei wasn't ever going to _believe _this.

They were escorted to the upper levels by the proctor, and intercepted by Benio along the way. She was out of breath from sprinting the entire way to the tower, once the news had gotten out. "So you guys are the ones!" she said. "Wow, congratulations, all of you!"

"Thanks, ma'am!" Kyou said.

"Thank you," Sunao said.

"Thanks…" Go'on said.

"If you don't mind my asking, um, what do we do now?" Sunao continued, when Benio didn't add anything further. "Since, well, we finished kinda early."

"Thirty-seven minutes! A full hour before the Kazekage!" Kyou chirped in.

"Well, we're gonna keep you here until time runs out," Benio said. She started walking down the hall, so the proctor and genin followed. "Don't _worry,_ we got places for you guys to sleep and shower and everything. So really, the main thing is keepin' you guys busy! We can have things brought from home for you, if you want, but we can't let you guys leave just yet. That okay?"

"That's fine! I'll just need some clothes to sleep in, maybe a book, I've been in the middle of this _wonderful_ book-"

"I'll probably just need some pajamas and things," Sunao said.

"I don't need anything, thanks…" Go'on said.

Benio smiled. "Well just let me or any of the other proctors know what you guys need, we'll be glad to get it for you. Oh, and, by the way," she added, stopping and turning to face them full-on, "we've contacted your sensei. I hear he's on his way to meet with you. I'm sure he's _very_ proud of you."

None of them said anything to this, but they all smiled.

Sasuke was at the tower within about 15 minutes, and the three of them collected themselves to go meet with him.

"So you've beaten Gaara's record, huh?" was the first thing he said to them, facing them with his arms crossed.

They didn't respond, faces full of mixed but uneasy excitement, unsure of what he wanted to hear.

And then Sasuke smiled. His smile was even rarer than Go'on's, like a sighting of some maybe-fictional construct, or a ghost.

"Good work, all of you. I am very, very proud."

It was then that they knew that it was okay to smile back.

"So, tell me," he continued. "How did you get through so fast?"

"Well there was this _bear,_" Kyou began, but Sunao cut him off.

"I think we should let Go'on-kun tell him," she said. "After all, you were our leader for this section, weren't you?" And she smiled at him, tilting her head.

"…well, there _was_ a bear…" Go'on began, and he started to tell Sasuke everything.

* * *

Inou made it to the tower in the late evening. His maximum range with the slow-mode thought-scan was nearly 500 feet, so he and Shikake and Chouko would stop occasionally to let him search for trios in the area with Earth scrolls.

Funny, how it worked out like that. The last two tests they had started out with Earth scrolls. And now, here they were, looking for them.

Shikake nudged Chouko, not terribly gently, during one of their stops. "Why do we have to let him do this? It's just stroking his ego, letting him use that stupid technique twice in a row," she said. "We'd have an easier time if I just let him possess one of my puppets so he could scout ahead. I prepared my favorite, I _know _he can use it." She opened her jacket and took out a scroll from an inner pocket.

Chouko shushed her, pushing the hand and the scroll back. "If he used one of your puppets then one of us would have to watch his body. He's got a much greater range with this technique, anyways," she said, whispering. "He knows what he's doing." Shikake just rolled her eyes.

Inou heard it all, and ignored it, and continued with his scan.

They found a qualifying team by mid-afternoon, and beat the tar out of them after tracking them for a short while. It was a cakewalk—they'd been through the forest twice already, and Chouko was _already_ a chuunin. Earth scroll in hand, they reached the tower without much more effort, avoiding scalpers and other hangers-on.

To Inou's surprise, Sasuke was already at the tower, eating dinner with his students in the canteen. Inou made no effort to sit with him, though they made eye contact once, and only once.

Sasuke gave him a nod, and nothing more.

(What it meant was, "As I expected of you.")

(What Inou wished it meant was, "I'm proud of you." But he knew better. His father wouldn't be proud of him, not yet.)

Sasuke decided to stay in the tower for the rest of the night, at least until Karai made it to the tower herself, as he knew she would.

The genin made their requests after dinner. Kyou had a massive encyclopedia-ish book brought to him, with a change of impressively-folded clothes, a note from his father attached to them with a safety pin, overflowing with love and encouragement, for him and his team both.

Sunao didn't ask for much. Just a change of clothes, her comb, her toothbrush. The chuunin who delivered them came back with stories and about a million reports of greetings from her siblings, and it made her smile.

Go'on made a very unusual request.

"What do you mean, you want to sleep outside?" Benio asked, tilting her head when he tugged on her sleeve. "You mean, like, on the roof?"

"No, in the Forest…"

She made a very strange face. "I… Well, certainly it's _allowed_, but I don't think that's necessarily the safest thing, Go'on-kun."

Why did he look so sad? Certainly a lot of genin were sleeping in the Forest tonight, but not by _choice._ Who would _want_ to sleep there?

"Well, I dunno… I just don't sleep well in places like these, is all…" Go'on explained. He stared at his feet. "I'm used to sleeping outdoors…"

"If you want to sleep outside, well, I guess you can get a sleeping bag and stay on the roof of the tower…?" Benio said. "We don't wanna lose track of you now that you've gone and made it this far. Okay?"

Go'on shrugged. "Okay."

He said that he went to go sleep on the roof that night, and that was certainly where they found him in the morning. But there was dirt under his nails, at breakfast, and moss. He went to go clean himself up, after Sasuke pointed it out to him and asked him why he had such dirty hands at breakfast.

Karai showed up early that morning with her own team, bright smile on her dirt-smudged face, both scrolls in hand.

Satisfied with this, Sasuke went home.

"I'll be back soon," he told his students. "Stay rested. There may be preliminaries. You need to be at your best."

Karai made an effort to say hello to him, at least, before he left.

"Excellent work, Karai. Just as I expected of you," he told her. He didn't need to tell Inou anything.

And then he went home.


	17. Third Times

_Chapter 17 - Third Times_

* * *

There were preliminaries, in the end. Of the twenty-three teams that had gone into the Forest, only nine made it through to the end. Four from Leaf, two from Sand, and one each from Mist, Stone, and Cloud. Nine teams, twenty-seven students.

Benio kneaded the skin between her eyes, at this. "These preliminaries are going to last _forever_," she sighed, the final count confirmed, once the 120 hours were up. "I swear, kids these days are getting _way_ too good at this."

(It was really a curious phenomenon, this. The number of ninjas applying to become chuunin was at an all-time low, most children from ninja villages choosing to be promoted to genin and not pursue any further education. It was far more attractive to live a peaceful life like a civilian than to live by the ninja code, especially in the smaller countries.)

(In a strange sort of reaction to the increasing culture of demilitarization, the genin that _did _choose to train further worked harder to improve themselves than many generations before them, on account of the passion they had to want to improve themselves In the first place.)

(Either that, or because they were forced to.)

Luckily, this surplus of students wasn't really Benio's problem; it was the Third Chief Commanding Officer's. But she still wanted to stick around and watch. She especially wanted to see how that little team of Sasuke's would do, the ones that had shattered the speed record. More or less everyone did.

All the students, their nine senseis, and the Hokage were gathered in the largest hall with the Third Chief Examining officer, a Hyuuga man named Hakkou. Naruto poised his hand for a high five when he entered, while they were waiting for the students to arrive, and asked what the brace on his right arm was for, when he was rejected.

"Just a sprained wrist, I'm fine," was his laughed reply, so Naruto laughed too. Hakkou was only thirty-two, but his hair was already prematurely white. He had a bandage on his cheek, as well.

Sasuke stood with his hands behind his back, a neutral expression on his face, Naruto noticed. They said nothing to each other.

Once everyone was in the chamber, Naruto gave a neat little speech about the nature of friendship and international alliances—how useful, that each of the teams were from one of the Five Great Nations—and, as always, encouraged them to do their best, and that it was great honor to even make it this far. That there was no shame in failure.

Reactions were mixed when Hakkou explained that the preliminaries and subsequent tournament were based on individual merit, and that a lone failure would not doom one's teammates. Sighs of relief. Increases of worry. Bursts of confidence, born from the shackles of teamwork getting cast aside.

The eliminations began immediately. Chouko dropped out, once Hakkou gave the okay. She was already a chuunin, so there was no need for her to continue.

"Good luck, you two," she said, giving a reassuring pat on the back to both of her teammates.

"Like I need _luck_," Shikake said, with her dry, usual smirk. "I've got it covered."

"Thanks, Chouko-chan," Inou told her. He couldn't bring himself to smile. His father was watching.

With Chouko out of the ranks, the total was down to twenty-six. Thirteen pairs. It was still too much. Nobody else volunteered to drop out.

Until the first match was announced. Senritsu Go'on, of Konoha, versus Yamori, of Suna.

Yamori bowed out without question. "IT'S THE FREAKING BEAR GUY," he explained to his teammates, after leaving the ring. "I don't stand a _chance!"_

The two remaining genin in his team just sighed at him. (And prayed, with varying degrees of intensity, they wouldn't have the same, terrible luck.)

As it happened, none of them had to battle Go'on. The genin he was paired against from Iwa, later on, wasn't nearly as lucky, however.

"How in the _heck_ can anyone move that _fast?"_ his defeated opponent gasped, holding his bruised sides. He received no answers.

Go'on just smiled shyly, rubbing his sore knuckles as he sat back down to watch the rest of proceedings, receiving a pat on the back from Sasuke.

Kyou got knocked out fairly early on by a Kumo ninja. Just like Sasuke had warned, he still didn't know where he was punching.

"I'm sorry, I disappointed you all…" he said to his teammates, his sensei, left eye swelling up, blood drying beneath his nose, when he finally came to.

"I'm not disappointed in you," Sasuke told him. "You did an excellent job."

"There's always next time," Sunao added, with a smile, and Kyou smiled back, feeling a lot better.

A few more matches happened, none of them terribly interesting. Mist versus Leaf, Leaf winning. Sand versus Stone, Sand winning. Kyou began to doze, face already cleaned-off, leaning against Go'on's shoulder there on the sidelines. His forehead protector felt cool against his swollen eye.

Things got interesting when it was Sunao's turn, paired against Aburame Shida, a kunoichi, eyes concealed by dark glasses, hair pulled into bushy braids. The fight ended in a tie, Shida drained of the chakra needed to feed her beetles, Sunao drained of the strength needed to attack and defend with the string of kunai on a wire that she had been favoring lately.

"No regrets," she said, managing to laugh, once it was all over. "Always wanted to fight an Aburame, anyways…" Now her only problem was coming up with another person she wanted to fight, now that she'd had this experience.

Inou and Karai both made quick work of their matches. Sasuke stopped paying attention after their successes, the rest of the genin picking each other off or otherwise dropping out.

In the end, there were eight left.

From Leaf, Nara Shikake, Senritsu Go'on, and the Uchiha siblings, Inou and Karai.

From Sand, a young man named Garyuu, who eyed his opposition with black eyes, tapping his nails against each other, running his tongue over his teeth behind his lips.

From Mist, a young woman named Natsuhaze Hari. There were beads in her hair and needles in her sleeves, and behind the high collar of her sweater there were thin scars like stitch marks over her mouth.

From Cloud, a boy named Ichii. He wore a winner's smile, his hair somehow impeccable and pale, his forehead protector a badge of honor, tied to his arm.

From Stone, a youth named Chouso with clay-caked palms, brown hair pulled into a high knot, bangs falling over the left eye.

The air in the ring was warm, still smelling of sweat and blood and metal.

The real tournament would begin in September, well over a month away. Naruto congratulated them all on their hard work, both winners and not-winners, and had the eight of them draw numbers from out of a box, to decide the upcoming matches.

Uchiha Inou versus Senritsu Go'on.

Nara Shikake versus Chouso of Stone.

Uchiha Karai versus Garyuu of Sand.

Ichii of Cloud versus Natsuhaze Hari.

The participants were encouraged to train hard and prepare as well as they could over the coming month, and when he gave the word, Hakkou declared the preliminaries over.

Everyone went home.

Karai had wanted to accompany her teammates out of the Forest, with Masao-sensei. Sanji and Usui had both been defeated quickly in the preliminaries and, more than anything, she wanted to apologize to them for making them look bad. Her match had been an absolute cinch of a thing, over and done very quickly. Compared to her, they must have looked like absolute fools. In any other circumstance, she'd have helped them, or held back, but…

"You will be going home with your brother and me," her father said, instead. "Come along."

Her father was there.

So, she had no choice but to follow. To give it her all. She'd apologize to her team later. She'd feel bad for them now. That was only fair.

Inou wasn't smiling, but Karai could see how excited he was.

_You did a really good job, brother._

He didn't respond, but she didn't plan on saying any more, anyways.

The Forest was very dark and very still as the jounin senseis and chuunin proctors cleared the path and began leading the teams out and away. Kyou and Sunao tagged along ahead of Sasuke and his family, and received smiles and words of encouragement when they finally left the Forest, before they both went home.

"You made it very far. You'll do better next time. Get your rest."

So they did.

(Sasuke almost never said these kinds of things to his children.)

(At least, not to Inou and Karai, not yet.)

(But certainly to Takeru.)

When Kyou finally returned to his house, going up a flight of stairs to the room she shared above the shop with his father, he was greeted with a warm, sleepy hug after the lights got turned on. His father did not even ask if he had made it to the finals or not. "Look at those battle scars! I bet there's a story behind this," he said, touching his forehead with his son's and smiling, arms around his shoulders. "You wanna tell me about it?"

"Dad, is that even a question?" Kyou replied, holding his book and his clothes with both arms, his grin a clownish parody from all of the swelling.

He felt happy to be home.

Sunao was tackled by, in this order exactly, her four year old little brother, her seven year old little brother, her six year old little step-sister, and her exasperated stepmother, home for the first time in weeks. They'd been utterly unable to sleep, kept awake by smuggled candies and general excitement. "Leave Sunao alone, she must be _exhausted!" _she said, prying little arms away, left and right.

"Nah, I'm all right," Sunao replied. The hugs and the chatter and the everything was a better medicine to her than any sort of bandage, right now. She went into the kitchen to find the rest of the family waiting for her, around the kitchen table, some of the kids waking up, their heads resting on their arms. The rest were all on the couch. The credits of a movie were running on the television.

She felt relieved that the house was still in one piece.

Go'on didn't go home for a while, instead choosing to stay behind and talk to the Hokage about, well, things. Really, it was more the Hokage's idea than his, mostly because Go'on opted not to follow Sasuke out of the tower and the Forest immediately after the preliminaries, like everyone else did.

"You're turning into something of a legend, y'know?" the Hokage said, cheerfully, with that grin of his that even Go'on knew well. Every child that had spent any time at the academy knew that grin. "Since I hear you were the one that led your team through the Forest."

"Yeah, I… guess I did…." Go'on replied. "Dunno if I'm much of a legend, though…"

"Well you're impressive enough to make Gaara write a letter back to me. Like, immediately. _That's _something," the Hokage said. He laughed. "Since I _had_ to write and tell him _something_ when I heard about how fast you guys were, y'know?"

Gaara?_ The _Gaara? The _Kazekage?_ "Wh-what did he say…?"

"Not much, honestly. Mostly wondering how the heck ya did it," the Hokage replied. His grin softened, and he blinked. "How _did _you do it, anyways?"

And Go'on just shrugged, not really knowing how to answer.

"I just… did, I guess…"

He went home when the Hokage did.

And his mother was very, very proud of him.

He felt safe, in his home.

It was late when the Uchihas returned to their own home, well past midnight. The lights in the house were still on.

Only Ino was still awake, it seemed, and she went to greet them in the hallway when they came in. "Well, how'd it go?" she asked. She was smiling, but it was a lesser smile, tinted with the preparation of sympathy.

"They both made it to the tournament finals," Sasuke replied. He didn't sound pleased. He began taking off his shoes.

The caution in her smile all but melted away, replaced by relief. She almost started to cry. "I _knew _you could do it," she said, stepping forward to embrace her two children, who were still standing.

"Don't coddle them," Sasuke said. He stood, and began heading down the hallway. "It's only going to get harder from here on out."

She didn't respond, but she held them more tightly, almost protectively.

"I'm going to go take a bath," Sasuke continued, and left. She heard him close the bathroom door behind him, from further down the hallway.

She let go of her children in the quiet that resulted.

"Inou, Karai, I am _very _proud of you. And I'm sure… your father is, too," she told them, holding them by their shoulders and smiling. "Even if he doesn't really show it." Her face fell slightly when she found that neither of them were looking at her, eyes to the floor in opposite directions. "…Inou, what's wrong?" she asked.

"…I'm fine, Mom. Just… tired," he replied.

"Oh, well I _bet_ you are," Ino said, smiling again. "Why don't you two go get some sleep? You must be exhausted."

No response. Ino took a breath in, and out, reforming her smile, taking out the false edge that her sense of obligation gave it.

"Tell you what. Tomorrow, I'll let you do anything you want. No matter what your father says," she said. There was a spark of rebellion in her eyes, and her voice. "Sleep in, watch TV, have candy for breakfast… whatever you want. I'll even make your favorite sushi for dinner."

"Can you make crunchy rolls, Mom?" Karai asked, finally looking up, finally smiling like usual.

"Any kind of sushi you _want_," Ino replied. Karai giggled. "I'll even get fancy tuna for you, Inou, I know how much you like that. That sound good?"

"…I'm gonna go to bed," Inou said, breaking away from his mother's grip on his shoulder and kicking his shoes off. He shuffled up the stairs.

"Mom, it sounds great," Karai said, holding her mother's arm almost reassuringly. "Thank you _so _much."

The door to Inou's bedroom slammed shut. Ino gave Karai a hug. "You're welcome, honey. You deserve it."

In his room, Inou flopped on the bed, his head hurting, feeling incredibly dirty. He wanted to wash his hair.

He wondered, miserably, why he wasn't happier. Why _he _wasn't happier.

"_It's only going to get harder from here on out."_

Oh. That was why. Of course.

He didn't even try to think about his opponent. Senritsu Go'on. In his exhaustion, he name sounded only vaguely familiar.

He fell asleep with his clothes still on.

It hurt to be home.

The next day, as promised, their mother let them sleep in. Inou still woke up habitually early, after the sunrise, but he stayed in bed, awake, waiting. He wouldn't leave unless his father made him. He ended up falling asleep again, when the house remained silent, not a person coming up the stairs for him. He changed into his pajamas, first, but he didn't take off his necklace.

He finally left his room in the afternoon to take a bath. He had his wet hair combed behind his ears, after when he entered the kitchen; the air smelled like rice and breakfast, and his mother was humming softly at the sink as she dried dishes. She turned around to look at him as he entered.

(Ino always thought he looked so handsome with his hair out of his eyes. He was the one that looked the most like his father, she always felt, with his sharp eyes and features. But she never told him this.)

(Takeru didn't look like Sasuke at all.)

"Did you sleep well?" she asked him. He didn't say anything, sitting at the table, leaning back in his chair. "What can I make you for lunch?"

"Whatever, I don't really care," he said.

"Well, luckily for you I have some rice left over from breakfast. I'll make you some onigiri," she replied. "I'll put okaka tuna in it, I have some in the fridge, I think."

"…thanks, Mom."

She opened the fridge. "You're welcome, honey."

Karai came downstairs, shortly afterward. She was dressed in a clean purple frock, but her hair was unruly as ever: straight in the front, sticking out everywhere in the back. She had bathed the night before, after her father. "Oh, Mom, you're making onigiri!" she said.

"You want some?'

"No, but thanks, though," she said. "Where's Dad?"

"He's out." Ino shut the fridge, and set the pot of leftover rice and the okaka on the counter. "He won't be joining us for dinner tonight."

"Why?"

Ino paused. "He said he had other plans."

(From an argument the night before: "What in the _hell_ is worth celebrating? They aren't chuunin _yet_, this is _not_ worth celebrating. This is _not_ worth _celebrating!_"_)_

(Sasuke had a habit of leaving whenever Ino put her foot down, _really _put her foot down. Going on walks, instead of giving her the satisfaction of a surrender.)

(The way that he yelled at her, at his children, ensured that this was a very rare occurrence, however.)

"Figures," Inou said. A strand of wet, black hair fell into his face, but he didn't bother pushing it back into place.

"So I was thinking of making sushi for dinner tonight. That's what you wanted, yes?" Ino continued. She scooped rice out of the pot and began to shape it with her hands. "I know how much you like fancy tuna, Inou, would you like me to go to the store and get some?"

"I don't care," he said.

Ino stayed silent, shaping the onigiri, putting the okaka in it. "Then I'll do that. And Karai, I know you like crunchy rolls, yes? Hm, if Hajime decides to actually be _home_ for once, I could maybe make those cream cheese rolls he likes so much…"

Nadeshiko didn't like fish, not very much. But Ino figured she'd maybe make something like a sesame or a sweet tofu roll, for her.

And Takeru, well. Chances were that he was going to be with Sasuke or a lady friend, that night, but Ino would make him something plain, in case he stayed home. His tastes were far simpler than his personality let on.

"Can I help you make any of it, Mom?" Karai asked. She had gone to the pantry, and had opened a bag of rice crackers.

"Oh, no, no, honey, let me handle it," Ino replied. She finished one onigiri, and began another. "You just relax, today. You deserve it."

"Okay, if you say so…" Karai stuck a rice cracker in her mouth; she started towards the hallway. "N'gonna go wa' tee-bee, wanna gome wif, meesan?"

Inou didn't respond. He looked out the window, nonchalantly.

"Inou, why don't you go join your sister?" Ino said.

"Hey, you said I could do whatever I want today, right?" he said, glaring at his mother for a moment, then looking back out the window. "I don't wanna watch TV."

"Inou…"

Karai bit the cracker in half, and chewed. "S'okay, I'm just gonna watch some cartoons or somethin'. You don't have to join me," she said, smiling. "I missed a lotta stuff 'cos of the exams! Gotta catch up, y'know…"

At least Karai could smile about it. She left.

Ino finished making the onigiri and put them in front of Inou at the table. "Well, eat up. "

He stopped slumping in his chair, sat up, and ate slowly, self-consciously, even though he was hungry beyond words. Ino began cleaning up.

The muffled sound of the television came drifting down the hallway, and with it came Nadeshiko. "You made onigiri?" she said, standing in the doorway.

Ino sighed. "I just put the rice away… Do you want me to make you some? I think I have enough left for one or two more."

"No, no, it's okay, you don't need to do that for me," Nadeshiko said. "I'm still full from breakfast."

Inou had stopped eating. The rice felt cold and sticky in his hands. He stared at the table.

"So I'm thinking of making sushi for dinner tonight," Ino continued. "Nadeshiko, what do you want me to make you?"

"Oh. It's been a while since I've had sweet tofu sushi, but I know how long it takes you to make…" Nadeshiko held her elbow with one hand, holding her chin with the other.

"That's no trouble at all. I'm already making crunchy rolls and fancy tuna sushi, it's not like I'm expecting this to be over and done in a moment," Ino replied, laughing. "I'll make you sweet tofu sushi."

Nadeshiko paused, for a moment. "Fancy tuna…? We have fancy tuna?"

"No, no. I was going to go to the store and pick some up after I finished here."

"Let me do it for you. I'm not doing anything today," Nadeshiko said, tilting her head, her curtain of black hair falling slightly sideways.

"Nadeshiko, you don't have to…"

"No, really. What do you need for tonight?"

The onigiri crumbled between Inou's fingers. He put it down and went to go join Karai in the living room as his mother began forming a grocery list with Nadeshiko.

His older sister was gone when he went to retrieve his lunch, ten minutes later, since he was still hungry. Thank goodness.

He was even more grateful that she hadn't brought up the chuunin exams, or even addressed him while there in the kitchen. That would have been awful.

He ate the rest of his lunch in the living room, Karai munching away at her rice crackers. She had on a movie, one he recalled liking as a kid. It wasn't so bad.

They ate sushi, that night, without their father, or Takeru. But Hajime decided to be home and eat with them, and he did enjoy the cream cheese rolls his mother had made for him. He congratulated Inou and Karai tiredly, with his sigh-like voice. "Hope that Dad isn't too hard on you, from here on out."

Normally, Ino would have told him to not say such things. But Sasuke was not there, and neither was Takeru. They weren't around to hear it, or do anything about it.

It didn't make either of them feel much better, however. Even when he was gone, when there was actually a sort of peace in the house, their father was still there, to them. Especially to Inou, who always seemed to hear his voice in his absence.

But at least their mother seemed happier.


	18. Interlude: Six Tales

**INTERLUDE**

**SIX TALES**

* * *

This is the story of Kurunari the orphan.

He was an unwanted child, to begin with. Left in the care of the most capable hands of the staff of Federal Orphanage no. 90. He was three months old, at the time.

If he had been a newborn then, perhaps, the circumstances might have been a bit more understandable. But he was already sleeping through the night, and he slept soundly, too. But he was an ugly baby, with white hair like an old man.

To abandon a child so late, surely something must have happened. But the question was never answered.

Like all baby orphans, he was raised in a cradle made of painted wire and a cheap mattress, and fed rationed formula. And he had a healthy appetite, which was bad news for the orphanage. Healthy appetites meant hungry babies later in the evening, which was only a nuisance for the other children trying to sleep.

Kurunari's looks did not help him much, nor his hefty size. He was fine baby and a plump toddler and a fat, ugly child, with peach-colored skin and paper-cut eyes that looked like they'd been gouged into his face with a pair of scissors.

Maybe that was why they chose him. Because it was clear from the start that he stood very little chance at adoption, and was hardy besides.

Hardiness was key.

He did not remember when it was, exactly, that the Mizukage's personal secretary, Mizuno, arrived at the orphanage. What he did remember was the whistle of the hall matron and her barking voice ordering them to line up at the feet of their beds. Boys (and, probably, girls—they slept in separate halls) were then picked and somewhat shoved out of the room. Kurunari recognized which ones were being chosen: the kids with the special blood. This sort of thing happened a lot, where the special kids would get singled out for things without explanation, and then very suddenly returned.

For a while, it was very quiet. There were whispers. Was this an inspection? Those happened on occasion, but they were almost always preluded by intense scrubbing of faces and adjustment of clothing.

And then Mizuno entered.

Kurunari's first impressions of her was that it almost looked like she was made of glass, but not in the way that glass is delicate, but in the way that it can cut very painfully and very deeply when broken, and has a tendency of getting into wounds. She had very closely-cut black hair and she wore frameless spectacles, behind which her very, very black eyes slid here and there.

Every now and then she would reach out and take a boy by the chin and turn his face this way and that, pressing hard into his cheeks with her fingers. Sometimes she would ask questions, about age, about health, which the matron would answer.

Kurunari made her pause. And she kept returning to him, after appraising other boys down the line, like he was something she was considering purchasing, but was still having thoughts about.

She chose him, eventually, with a point of a finger and a decisive, "This one."

"Kurunari-kun, ma'am?" the accompanying matron said.

"Yes, he will do. Does he have many belongings?"

"Just his uniform, ma'am."

Kurunari was four-almost-five years old, still too young to have the under-bed-under-floor hordes that older boys had.

"Then I'll take him as he is."

And Mizuno held out her hand. Her nails were very well-kept.

"Come with me, boy. We're going to the capital. You're going to meet the Mizukage."

Kurunari was too excited and frightened to even speak. But then again, he did not speak often.

He belonged to the government from that day forward.

* * *

This is the story of Kurunari the vessel.

He hadn't really been told in advance what they would be doing to him, nor why they were doing this to him in the first place.

He, of course, found all of this out later.

The previous vessel for the six-tailed slug was fading fast. But he had been a moody, reluctant boy to begin with; a youth named Hideaki, with hair more like moss than anything human.

The problem with him, mainly, was his attitude. Or his age. Or the amount that they'd told him in advance about the sealing. Any of those could have been a factor in his body's rejection of the slug.

Either way, he was useless now, and they needed another.

That was Kurunari.

He was not told much. He was just given a meeting with the Mizukage—and he remembered her in those days as a smiling woman with red-brilliant hair, who patted his head and told him how very adorable he was—and new clothes and a nice room in the capital city of Kirigakure, and a whole host of strange people that were always poking in and out of his room, that tucked him in at night, like the matrons had done.

Truthfully, he did not remember much of the sealing. They had him sedated for it, and he woke up in a hospital afterward.

Every sealing method came with its own set of side-effects. Many of them dependent on the nature of the beast being sealed, but also with _how_ the beast was being sealed in the first place.

The vessels of the five-tailed dolphin horse, for example, always, _always_ fell victim to horrible burns and blisters on account of the creature's inhabitation. They were painful and they were disgusting to look at, and so very, very unfortunate. The one-tailed shukaku's vessels always suffered from cruel insomnia; et cetera, et cetera.

Kurunari, for several weeks after the sealing, was prone to bouts of nausea that ended with him expelling great amounts of translucent green-blue slime from his mouth, tasteless stuff, but with an awful odor that attracted scolding, especially from Mizuno.

She was what they later called his handler, and the source of most of this harshness.

There were also times when Kurunari's body would grow very cold, and his skin would get sticky and ruin his clothes, mostly pajamas. More scolding for that, too.

And then there were also the times where he was so weak he felt like his legs had turned into cooked noodles, which, wonderfully, did not cause him to be scolded _that_ badly. And all the hours of ceaseless, belch-chattering from the six-tails itself, once it came out of the daze that accompanied the transfer into a new vessel. It was a rude creature, and its words made Kurunari feel uncomfortable.

Though they later became something of a comfort, a defense against the world, a coach in the corner.

Well, that voice, and Naruto.

* * *

This is the story of Kurunari's friend.

One of the first things that Naruto told Kurunari, after assuring him that everything would be all right, that the pain would end, was that they would be friends.

There was almost a twenty year age difference between them, but the way he said it, with the sunshine in his mouth, it was utterly undeniable. They _would_ be friends. And they were.

Naruto was one of his first visitors in the hospital, after the sealing. Actually, unless his memory was just playing tricks on him, he _was_ the first visitor he had in the hospital. He was there when he woke up after the sealing, in a chair at his bedside.

Later, Kurunari discovered that this was par the course for Naruto. Whenever there was another sealing that needed to be done—and they happened with less and less frequency as the years went on, but they still happened—Naruto was always there.

It was a bit of a sad thought when Kurunari was old enough to make the connection between this ritual and his predecessor. To meet Kurunari, a replacement, so soon after the loss of Hideaki—and surely they must have been friends, too—must have been torture for Naruto's bright heart, but Kurunari's memory of his face betrayed nothing, nor did any twitch of expression that followed Kurunari's questions on the subject.

"It's always sad to lose people you love," Naruto explained, "but I think that it's so wonderful to make new friends, too, y'know? Please don't worry your head about this, Kurunari-kun, it'll only make you feel sick."

It really was a gift, Kurunari thought, the way that Naruto so confidently said things like that, and how it always soothed his stomach and his worries.

Also a gift was the unconditional support that fell out of his smile and his words, support that infused Kurunari's limbs with an incredible, wonderful lightness, that convinced his inner voice that he really _could_ do anything.

It was Naruto that taught him not to fear the slug in his spine, but to approach it as a roommate, a possible friend, or at least a comrade.

"You're the guy running the show here, y'know?" he said, during one of his visits. It had come in the wake of several excruciatingly embarrassing episodes that left Kurunari slimy and cold and very ashamed, because the slug was scaring him too badly, demanding to be let out, calling him a miserable cuss of a kid, and many other unmentionable things. Mizuno had made an appeal to the Mizukage, and Naruto had come running.

(This was not the first time such an appeal had been made.)

"This is _your_ body, Kurunari-kun. The slug's only there cos you're _letting_ it live there. You're in charge. Don't let it boss you around."

Much as these words filled Kurunari with confidence, he still needed help. And Naruto was more than pleased to provide it. They went over exercises for when he felt like he was losing control, mantras and chants for him to use and focus on during the bad times.

"This is my body and I'm not okay with this," was the one that stuck the most, mostly because it was simple and Kurunari could manage to remember it in more flustered states, even though it sounded clumsy to the ear, in his opinion. He'd have preferred something… more sophisticated, more _powerful_, and he expressed this embarrassment to Naruto on another visit.

And Naruto just laughed. "It's not all about being fancy, y'know!" he said. "What matters is that it works for _you_, _that's_ what's most important. Okay?"

That helped a great deal.

(It hadn't helped Hideaki, who had given up well in advance, convinced that it was all useless, that maybe the slug was right.)

And when, on those dark nights alone in his chosen, patrolled residence, the slug would go on and on about how it would be better off if he just died and let his burden free, how much _easier _it would be for the both of them, cos golly, kid, it's fucken cramped in here, Kurunari would put his hands on his ears and mumble, "No, this is my body and I'm not okay with this, I'm not okay with this, just leave me alone..."

And maybe it was them merely getting more used to each other, maybe it was the slug gaining some humanity because it had been stuck in Kurunari for far longer than any of its other vessels, maybe because as Kurunari got older he was pressured to learn how to harness the slug's power for his own and his failures in doing so resulted in glass-slicing punishments from Mizuno , maybe a whole bunch of things.

But the slug began to cooperate.

Even apologize sometimes on Kurunari's behalf

"_Kid, _I_ think you tried hard enough. That was mean, what she said. That's a right bitch of a mom y'got there."_

That was the slug's first gift, and all Kurunari could manage through his held-in tears was that she wasn't really his mother.

"_Well, just sayin'," _the slug replied.

Slowly, yes, they became friends, in a stretched sense of the word. But not allies. Kurunari couldn't fight with it. He was only brave enough to reject its intrusion into his thoughts, but not to dare reach forward and ask to also be paid back in kind for sharing the space.

That was the problem. To Mizuno, and the Mizukage, it was unacceptable, and quite punishable.

Naruto tried to help with this, but some things simply couldn't be worked through, and one of them was Kurunari's cowardice.

He was an anomaly.

But at least he wasn't alone.

* * *

This is the story of Kurunari and the jinchuuriki.

There were eight others, besides him. He learned this fact through Naruto, during one of their first meetings. The fact alone that Naruto was like him, that he was grown up and living with a sickening, intruding force inside of him as well was hope to him, that he'd be able to get through this.

Learning that there were more was an even greater comfort. He met them once he was well enough to travel, well enough to go out in public and ensure that he wouldn't be an embarrassment to his country, in Mizuno's own words. It took a few years.

Morizuru was one of the first he met, and one of the first to really last. And though he was rude and crass in a sleepy, almost drunken sort of matter, they sort of grew on each other as time went on.

Morizuru truly fascinated Kurunari, from the very start. _His_ handler, a far kinder-seeming man than Mizuno named Kankuro, explained that he was a living puppet, and that the one-tailed shukaku had been sealed into him, after much trial and error.

What Kurunari discovered later, which only fascinated him more, was that Morizuru's body had been fashioned out of a human corpse, or something similar, and that all other, wooden puppets before him had failed. It made Kurunari wonder what difference the material of the body had made in getting the shukaku to "stick." The remnants of a soul, perhaps? Or some other, bloodier reason?

(Truly, the only reason that Sasori's self-made masterpiece was eventually tried as a vessel, despite Kankuro's fears that the process would destroy the priceless piece like all of the other puppets they had tried, was because Gaara did not. Ever. Want anyone to suffer as he had.)

(And as far as anyone was aware, Morizuru wasn't suffering. His greatest pain was the annoyance he had toward his handlers and the freedom he was not allowed, and the lack of trust directed toward him because of his nature. Though it was all understandable.)

(Though he got better as time went on. Kankuro was a fair, almost parental figure to him.)

Sachiko was another of the early ones, and Kakeru. And Kurunari had felt some sort of solidarity with Kakeru, as neither of them enjoyed the attention that Sachiko gave them.

Kakeru disliked the monkey jokes. He was a stoic boy from the start, and he hated any intimation that he at all resembled his beast, thank you very much. Sachiko still tried them, I what she said were attempts at making Kakeru feel more comfortable with his situation.

"I'm fine enough with my situation, _thank_ you," he would reply, his severe eyebrows lowering.

(This was perhaps one of the reasons why Kakeru had managed to gain control over his tailed beast so quickly and so easily. He was _not_ whatever was inside him, and every action, every thought made this fact very clear. The monkey stood no chance against his psyche. He was a truly rare case.)

Kurunari disliked Sachiko because she was a girl, plain and simple. It hadn't been so bad when he was younger, but time told him that one had to be very careful with women, lest they harm you, and badly. Her kindness, her perkiness, all of it was probably a carefully-produced act that hid a mind full of very sharp teeth.

As they got older and he got to know her better, Kurunari tried to move past this assumption, because Sachiko really _did_ mean well, despite her lack of respect for boundaries. To his shame, however, his fear kept his conversations with her short and full of stammers.

All of the other women in his life were kind enough in public, but vicious behind closed doors. And they had done nothing but punish him and hurt him, and most always rightly so. Who was to say that others wouldn't do the same?

Women commanded extra extra extra care, or Kurunari was just hurting himself further.

(Sachiko, as it happened, had had an extraordinarily smooth transition, partly because the nekomata had been quite well-tamed by its previous vessel, and because Sachiko had confronted it without fear and taken her place with a pink assurance that she wouldn't be the same as Nii, but she would certainly try to live up to her legacy.)

Kemuri joined them late, mostly because all previous vessels of the five-tails had expectedly short lifespans and were usually too ill to travel. And even then, Kemuri's health was always poor, their limbs wrapped in bandages, a full, blank mask over their face, the only thing left uncovered being their black hair, falling to their knees in two, thick braids.

"Only thing left of me that's beautiful," Kemuri would say, with a voice far older than their years, and from the way it was kept and carefully-combed, it was richly apparent how much Kemuri valued this fact.

Kemuri Kurunari didn't have much of an issue with, though their dour attitude was a bit of a barrier in getting to know them. He was still careful around them, even though it wasn't apparent if they were male or female on account of the bandages and mask, and Kemuri had a tendency of sulking away and remaining moody for quite a while if the subject of their gender even came up—and Kakeru and Sachiko made it clear, with varying degrees of kindness, that it wasn't really that important to know, anyways.

Sachiko was their only real friend, despite Kakeru being from the same country as them.

Bee was intimidating, even moreso than Sachiko, which was why Kurunari was even more reluctant to talk around the man than with most women.

Those were the oldest ones. Yuu and Tonbo were new additions.

Kurunari had actually known the previous vessels of those beasts, the three-tails especially. He had known many vessels, not just because of their shared nationalities and ownerships, but because there was such a high rate for rejection.

He had known only one other vessel for the seven-tailed horn-beetle. His name had been Kagero, and he had had dark skin and dark blue hair, and he had been very quiet. He resented his state, privately, and he and Kurunari had shared another sort of kinship.

His government had wanted him to learn how to fight, when he'd much rather stay indoors and read. Kurunari was rather the same, and they shared many quiet hours together over stories and commiseration.

But one year Kagero didn't turn up at their biannual meeting, and Kurunari got the news that he had passed away not terribly long before.

It hit him strangely, and bluntly. Kurunari was almost grown, at the time, a lad of eighteen. Kagero had been fifteen. There were things that Kurunari understood now that he hadn't when he was younger.

It was an echo of a situation. He found himself thinking of Naruto.

Naruto, who had met and re-met so many vessels in his time. He was one of the oldest.

But Kurunari didn't find himself wanting comfort. Truly, he felt almost happy for Kagero, finally freed of his burden. Almost excited to meet his replacement.

And his replacement was Tonbo. And she was a girl, but she did not scare Kurunari. Well, she had, initially, a kneejerk reaction. But she quickly brought those walls down with a battering ram of shared interests.

All things that crawled and creeped and flew _fascinated_ her, slime-producers and silk-makers and thousand-legged all. She'd integrated with her beast in record timing, because, to her, it was the ultimate honor, the ultimate prize.

"I ended up catchin' me the biggest bug of 'em _all_," she confided to Kurunari, with excitement, during one of their meetings. "I'm the _queen_."

Her passion for all insects was well-known before the sealing. She was chosen on Naruto's recommendation, on a theory that, maybe, vessels in the future should be willing to take on their burdens and be made fully aware of the trials ahead.

If Tonbo was any indication, this theory had quite a bit of weight. Much like many of Naruto's other theories.

The Mist gave it a try by conditioning their next vessel to look forward to their sealing with a bright mind and honorable words.

That was Yuu. The perfect result of Mist's breeding programs.

But there was still Kurunari, and he had Naruto, still, and Tonbo, and slightly Kakeru, and his slug.

He wasn't alone.

* * *

This is the story of Kurunari the useless.

Compared to Yuu, anyways. Yuu was perfect. He was small, but so perfect.

His father, they said, had a gift, that he was able to control the three-tails remotely, with his mind alone. His companion was a woman from whose hands crystals grew.

Very rare gifts. And such gifts were _very_ much appreciated in the Land of Mist. The both of them were tracked down and offered very generous sums of money to assist in a valiant effort of restoring what the previous, monstrous Mizukage had taken away from them.

Neither of them refused, because of the money, because of the mission.

There were many others like them. Kurunari saw them, often, in Mizuno's office, waiting to be seen by the Mizukage.

He also saw them in the hospitals, sometimes. For his monthly checkups.

The crystal woman was in there frequently, over the years, for the removal of children, seeming each time to be thinner and paler, her skin straining to contain the burdens forced upon her. Like so many other women in the city hospital, conscripted into the restoration effort.

He rarely saw the men, with the exception of a very finely-featured individual, with red eyes and hair the color of certain seashells. His health was evidently very delicate.

No, Kurunari rarely saw the men. But he saw what they created.

Yuu was his father's sixth child, and the fourth vessel used overall. The girls were deemed too precious by the Mizukage and raised separately.

The most tragic thing about it all was the fact that they all looked so similar, with their green hair and lavender eyes and barely-staggered ages. It was like they were interchangeable, which was definitely how it felt to Kurunari like they were being treated.

Yuu was the perfect vessel. The success of the group.

Mizuno made no effort at disguising how much more pleased she was by him.

"He's a child and he's so _eager_ to learn how to fight already. You're so much older than him. Why aren't you the same? What if something were to happen to our country, and you were called to its defense? We'd be practically doomed. Useless boy."

"_Well that was harsh and unfair. Did someone stick a hot coal up her ass?"_ the slug said.

Kurunari quietly asked for it not to say anything more.

He really was pretty useless. Yes, he was a healthy, viable vessel, but he was a coward and, even if he were able to muster the bravery, he was a clumsy, unskilled fighter. He was just dead weight overall. The only reason he was still alive was because it'd be so much trouble finding another vessel and raising it. Mizuno had all but told him this to his face, that his only worth was because he didn't make nearly as much trouble as he had used to.

Though they had other plans in mind. When he turned twenty, they asked for him to consider looking for an heir.

"In case something happened to you, goodness knows what, though," Mizuno explained. "So they can be raised near you to gain familiarity with you and be transitioned easily to receive the six-tails once it's gone from you."

It had been Bee's idea. And he had already chosen an heir, a girl after his own name. She scared Kurunari as much as her father did.

But Naruto hadn't yet chosen an heir, and neither did Kurunari. He told Mizuno to choose anyone she wanted, which was probably what _she_ wanted.

He was an awful role model, anyways. No one to raise a child around.

"_I don't think you need to worry 'bout that any time soon, kiddo,_" the slug told him, in the wake of his decision. "_I mean, if you never get into a fight, then that means you'll live longer than they'll expect. That'll be a real stick up their collective butts, I think. Besides, you're prob'ly the best vessel I ever had, so, I kinda want you to stick around. Just sayin'."_

The slug was a friend of his, if you stretched the definition enough.

* * *

This is the story of Kurunari's family, and the other things he loved.

It became apparent to Kurunari that Naruto's bond with him was a fair bit stronger than his bond with any of the other jinchuuriki. Well, not counting Gaara the honorary, and Bee. Those two were his comrades, and he greeted them with hugs full of shared experiences, and their dinner talk reflected this.

He couldn't speak for the other jinchuuriki, naturally. How Naruto treated them outside of their usual meetings was unknown to him.

But how he treated them when they were all together, well. That, he could compare.

And as far as Kurunari knew, he was the only one with whom Naruto kept up any sort of regular correspondence, everyone else talking to him only semi-regularly, by letter or by phone.

(Again, Bee and Gaara were exceptions. They were comrades, old friends.)

But there were other things, and they held more weight, as far as Kurunari was concerned.

It was Naruto that had first encouraged him to write. As a child, he hadn't been allowed many toys, neither by the folks at the orphanage, nor by Mizuno. Though pen and paper and crayons he had been allowed, and with them he gave physical form to the little stories that helped him escape, when he felt like not existing for a while. And they were strange, twisty things, full of things that lurked in the dark that sought to do harm to even darker, twistier people.

Naruto had asked to read them during one of his visits, during which Kurunari hadn't bothered to clean up his room and there were still papers full of writing about, and something in them had delighted him, apparently, because he returned the next visit with a book.

"A really good friend of mine wrote this book, and it's inspired a lot of people," Naruto said. "Maybe it'll inspire you, y'know!"

The book was called _The Tale of the Gutsy Ninja_, and Kurunari was eleven when he read it.

He liked it. The language was simple, but not in a bad way, and he often found himself so drawn into the action that he could imagine the scenes in the book quite clearly. Story-wise, it was also simple. But not in a bad way. Yes, it was… cliché, in many areas, but it was still very moving and exhilarating in many others.

But, interestingly enough, Kurunari found himself most fascinated by the author. His name was Jiraiya, and there was a photograph of him on the back page sleeve.

He could have been Kurunari's father; they had the same square jaw and big nose, and little eyes, and though he was young in the photograph, he had white hair. He seemed far handsomer than Kurunari, however, and his smile was full of confidence.

Naruto had said that _he_ had been a friend of his, too. And, Kurunari had noticed, Naruto himself shared a name with the main character, which was _very _interesting.

Kurunari asked about all of these things during their next visit, in the meantime reading the book again, and again. And he managed to get the question in, at a table in his residence, piles of paper with his own writing neatly set off to the side.

"Jiraiya-sensei was my teacher," Naruto explained, smiling. "He was also a _great_ ninja, but he told me all the time that, if he had the option, he'd just drop it all and write forever. He was still writing when he was training me, y'know. I miss him a lot." His voice slipped, with those last words.

"Miss him?" Kurunari said.

"He… passed away when I was maybe sixteen or so. Right before the war started, y'know," Naruto explained. His blue eyes darkened further, despite the silk-smile on his face.

(And Kurunari was suddenly and painfully reminded of an expression much like that one, but far darker and far more painful.)

(Naruto had worn it during their previous meet-up, in the summer. Something had happened at the chuunin exams, something very bad, and Naruto had only been able to manage one further meeting with the jinchuuriki after it happened before retreating to his offices with a written apology saying that he wasn't feeling very well.)

(He looked so broken and not-himself in that instance that Gaara asked him if he really wanted to be there, if he would rather be resting, and followed him out of the room when Naruto excused himself, with a cracked smile that was leaking tears.)

"Oh," Kurunari said. He squirmed in his seat. "I'm sorry…"

"_Hell are you apologizing for?" _the slug said.

"What are you apologizing for?" Naruto said. "There's nothing wrong with asking, y'know." His smile, now warm, was genuine reassurance, though Kurunari still felt somewhat angry at himself for asking about such things.

"_Not like you coulda known, kid, seriously, chin up,"_ the slug said.

"So… did he write the book while you were training together?" Kurunari asked, feeling like moving on would improve his mood.

"Nah, Gutsy Ninja was just his first. He wrote a bunch more after that," Naruto said. His smile suddenly widened. "Did you know, though, I was actually named _after_ that guy?"

"Goodness!" said Kurunari, with widened eyes. "I thought he named the main character after _you._"

This made Naruto laugh. "No, no, no. Him and my _dad_ were actually really tight—he was my dad's teacher, too, did you know?—and that's where my name came from—that book. Cool story, right?"

"Yeah, that's really something…" Kurunari replied. He fidgeted again. "Um…"

"What's up?" Naruto said.

"Well, it's just, I'm wondering, did this Jiraiya man ever have children of his own?" he asked.

(Because that resemblance. Kurunari was young, and even with his strange changeling-relative theory almost invalidated by now knowing the time of Jiraiya's death, it was far too insistent for him to let go of.)

(He had even sent out a letter to the orphanage about it, asking if there was any information available about his parents, or who had even just left him there. And the matron's answer—and it had come quickly, because he had used the official government stationary and bird messengers—revealed that Kurunari had been left in their care by a nervous-looking young man with white hair that had refused to answer many questions and left very quickly, promising to never return. The only thing he left behind was Kurunari's name.)

(Kurunari didn't get in trouble for this. He had learned, over the years, that there were ways to avoid Mizuno's attentions.)

(It helped the uneasiness that came with the increased belief that, yes, he really _was_ related to this Jiraiya man, somehow.)

"Eh, not that I know of," Naruto replied. "Though Jiraiya-sensei was _real_ friendly with ladies. I mean, there's a reason why I used to call him ero-sennin when he was still around."

"…ero… sennin?" Kurunari said.

"Yeah, like, pervy sage," Naruto explained. "'Cos he _was_ a sage, it was certified and everything, an' he was also kinda, well, pervy! Man, there like were a _ton_ of times where he'd go out an' come back late at night with women, but nothin' ever happened while _I_ was there. Probably 'cos I was so young, haha. So I dunno, always a possibility." Naruto rested his chin on one of his hands, eyes closing as he thought. "It'd be weird if that were true and I suddenly met one of 'em, I think. But cool, y'know?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm sure…" Kurunari said.

Naruto finally seemed to notice his discomfort. "What, something bothering you about that?" he asked.

"Oh, no, no, not at all," he replied, waving a hand in polite dismissal. "I was just wondering."

And Naruto just tilted his head, waiting for the next thing to say.

Kurunari provided it. "So what did he, um, write after Gutsy Ninja, then…? I'd love to read more of his work."

"I… think that you're best off reading that stuff when you're older, Kurunari-kun," Naruto replied, with almost nervous, but mostly amused laughter. "He went on to write some _raunchy_ stuff after that. It's _good_, y'know, he got a _lot_ of fans for it, but it's _definitely _for adults."

"_Doesn't sound so bad_," the slug said, with a gurgling chuckle.

The uncomfortable feeling in Kurunari's stomach increased. "Ah…"

"Maybe when you're older, I'll lend you some copies," Naruto said, brightly. "Though if you lose interest, that's no big deal. I kinda only sorta liked 'em, myself. Gutsy Ninja's _definitely_ my favorite."

After which, they talked some more about Kurunari's writing. He had a new story idea, about a human child kidnapped and raised by sea demons, and escaping to find that the demons had left an evil version of himself in his real family's custody. Naruto seemed to like it, but then again, Naruto seemed to like _all_ of his stories.

After he left, Kurunari went to go learn more about Jiraiya. Kirigakure had a wonderful library, after all, a very clean, square building. One of the few places Mizuno felt was a good place for Kurunari to spend his free time.

He wasn't able to find any of his books, not even The Tale of the Gutsy Ninja. Then again, he wasn't really expecting to.

(The Kirigakure library had a tendency of keeping "irrelevant" material out.)

(Kurunari did, eventually, manage to read the Icha Icha series. He didn't like them, though he supposed he understood the… appeal. Even if it wasn't for him.)

History books, however—the good ones, the ones that Kurunari knew were real—had much to say about the man.

Words like Sannin and war hero were used; a great deal of talk about his achievements in long-settled wars. More photographs, of him and two others: a man with captivatingly strange eyes and a hard smile, and a beautiful woman that seemed like she'd be more at home as a face on a propaganda poster. And in reading more about her, about how she was later a Hokage, Kurunari got the distinct impression that she'd probably have scared him witless, if he had known her.

And the other man, well. He was fascinating in the way that mad scientists were fascinating, with his seeming lack of morals and restraint. He seemed like a _terrific_ protagonist for a story, Kurunari thought, if he weren't real. Especially with that face of his.

But of all things, the man Jiraiya's accomplishments in balancing writing and war were _inspiring_. Naruto had encouraged him, but Jiraiya had really caused him to move forward.

Naturally, Mizuno disapproved. Because Kurunari had to train. Slough off his clumsiness and uselessness.

"What good are you to the country if you're just sitting about and writing ghost stories all day? Put that silly dream out of your head."

He tried not to let it bother him, and he continued to write, stories of slimy things, with tentacles and glittering pustule-eyes.

When he felt it was safe enough, he shared them with Tonbo, as well as Naruto. And she liked them more than he did.

"MAKE ONE ABOUT A BUG CREATURE HUMAN PERSON GUY," she exploded, during one discussion. "THAT WOULD BE SO AWESOME."

And after he got her to elaborate on the concept—namely, she wanted a story about a person turning _into _a giant bug, or the other way around—Kurunari _did_ write it for her, as a ninth birthday gift. And she _loved_ it.

For Kurunari's twentieth birthday, Naruto had surprised him by introducing him to a representative from the publishing house that had put out Jiraiya's stories, during some down time during the winter chuunin exams. The meeting _could_ have gone horribly, and it would have soured his mood considerably more, the morning being filled with the business of heirs and the usual passive-aggressive lectures on how much less he was worth than Yuu (though the slug's commentary had attempted to inject some relief into him).

But while Kurunari's stories were "not exactly the sort of thing we usually publish," the representative instead arranged for a meeting with a sister publishing house, that specialized in pulpier, squishier stories. And things led to other things, and Kurunari's stories were arranged into a collection and released in the Land of Fire. Sales were slow, but optimistic, but it wasn't like Kurunari cared much about that.

He'd done at least a little. That was nice.

Though the representative had left him with one thing, before leaving that initial meeting. "You're a_ dead _ringer for Jiraiya, I gotta say. You sure you're not related?"

"I'm… well, I'm too young to be his son," Kurunari admitted, quietly. His face felt a little hot. "Not sure about anything else…"

"Grandson, then?"

"…always a possibility, I guess. Um."

Even if that was what it was—and even all those years later, the possibility wouldn't leave him alone, almost haunting him with the inspiration it provided—it didn't make that much of a difference.

Except on the nights when he thought that maybe Naruto was just being so nice to him because of this. Treating him so preciously because he was the only thing left of a beloved sensei.

…but then he thought about Naruto and figured it _really_ didn't matter. Because that was Naruto. His family without blood.

It didn't matter who Kurunari was or wasn't. Naruto was still kind to him, and that was what mattered.

(He didn't even feel like he was being brash, thinking this way. It was just the truth.)


	19. Outstretched Hand

_I honestly don't know why I don't feel more satisfied. I thought, for a while, that maybe it's my new body interfering with my work. Though I'm in perfect health, honestly, and I feel better than I ever have before. Well, the dysphoria remains, yes, but I'll get over it._

_Maybe, now that I've finally achieved this—agelessness, a body I truly feel I deserve—everything pales in comparison._

_Though that's just silly talk, all of it. Why did I set out on this expedition in the first place? To learn everything._

_These are but stepping stones in my journey of knowing._

_What next, what next? _

_Curse seal experiments are going well. I haven't been able to up the 10% survival rate, I'm afraid, but progress is sometimes so very slow. I can't alter genes that extensively just yet, but I'm sure going to try, if I must._

_Besides, there are far more useful things I could alter genes for than to ensure survival for a seal and a couple of enzymes._

_Some promising stuff happening out in my Tamina labs, regarding that. They're still having miscarriage problems with the surrogates and I can't decide whether it's the fault of the fetuses or the women, so I've ordered them to split the experiments into groups to see if it's more effective to modify the genes of the fetuses more, or to do something to the surrogates to ensure a more complete gestation. _

_But I know we're getting _somewhere_. I have faith in my little darlings._

- An excerpt from the personal reports of Orochimaru, circa 4 BU

* * *

**ACT 4**

**FOUND**

* * *

_Chapter 19 - Outstretched Hand_

* * *

A package arrived for Sakura the day after the chuunin exams ended, delivered to the hospital. It was from Karin.

The cardboard box, wrapped in brown paper, held a modest stack of papers, all organized with metal clips and packed together, neatly. Sakura glanced at the cover sheets of the reports, photocopies of beautiful script, but forced her eyes to the letter before she could proceed too far.

The letter, compared to her first one, was short.

_Sakura,_

_Did a little digging. Criteria: Experiments utilizing my blood; Uzumaki clan; Taki clan, etc. _

_Found very concerning things. Unsettling. Included._

_Expanded search also to unfinished projects. Speculation and failures. Found more, included only relevant reports._

_Suspect the work of another re: Taki Kiine. Sensei had more than one disciple. Not just Kabuto._

_Interpret reports however you wish. Will continue searching archives. Analyzing current texts._

_Avoid contact with Taki until certain of anything._

_- Karin_

Sakura had to stop to take a break after only a few minutes of reading, to regain her composure, to remember just, exactly, whose personal reports and notes she was reading.

(Orochimaru had astonishingly beautiful handwriting for a man, for a scientist.)

She set the reports aside until her shift was over, letting the familiar order and chaos of medicine soothe her mind. She brought them home, where she knew she'd be calmer, where she knew she'd be able to concentrate more. Lee left her alone, only bringing her a cup of coffee when she set the papers down on the table and said it was important.

It was a wise decision. The initial shock of the authorship of the papers wore off with the time she had spent working, allowing Sakura to get to the heart of the matter, and concentrate on what was actually being presented.

There was a complete and full report on the treatment of Taki Mikan's uterine cancer, from about thirty years previous. There were drawn diagrams and black and white photographs of her abdomen split open in surgery and a day-by-day analysis of the treatment, described in almost loving detail.

Here and there Sakura saw little asides from the otherwise professional, standard report. _ "The poor dear is so very concerned about one day being able to have her own children,"_ one said, _"but it's going to be difficult to keep the uterus intact after all of this, much less her ovaries. But I can try; I know how important such a dream can be, and if it's possible, I'll keep it alive for her."_

The surprisingly caring statements left Sakura with a strange, twisted feeling in her stomach that only went away when the language returned to being cold and clinical, the things she could actually picture Orochimaru writing with that white hand of his.

Curiously, the handwriting in the report almost seemed to deteriorate, as if it were becoming harder and harder for Orochimaru to hold his pen as the treatment continued. At one point—after the completion of the treatment, mainly in the post-operative reports—it changed entirely to another hand, a blocky, vaguely familiar one, before returning to his usual loopy, girlish scrawl.

There were other reports, with far less savory contents. She read about cultures of organs, growing entire beating hearts, lungs, intestinal tracts and ovaries from next to nothing, nurtured by Karin's blood, in jars.

(The process by which Karin's blood had even become the way it was did not have any documentation. But Sakura noticed that Orochimaru always detailed drawing her blood with hypodermic needles and storing it very carefully, like it was a precious thing. He seemed to have stockpiled it, kept in cold storage. Given its many uses, Sakura was not surprised.)

(It also made her wonder just how desperate Karin had to be, just how devoted she must have been to allow Sasuke to bite her so many times, simply to heal. Sakura had seen her scars, and they had made her shudder.)

Written down, like afterthoughts, in the reports of organ cultures were little pipe dreams on maybe someday producing whole bodies from nothing more than a scrap of DNA from a sample of hair, or blood.

"_Would that not be something? One could even revive the dead, if one wished; if not in consciousness, at least in body. My research into the Impure World summoning technique takes care of both criteria, however. The technique is a difficult study, but if the Second Hokage could manage, then there is no reason I cannot, either." _ Beneath that note, in an almost sad sort of scribble: _"But neither is a true resurrection. The former sacrifices the mind, the memories, the personality; the latter, the body, foregoing true flesh and blood for immortal dust and ashes. Why can I not have both?"_

In another report, from years later, Orochimaru experimented with implanting modified fetuses into surrogate mothers, but none of the creations thrived, even with infusions and medicines made with Karin's blood. It was declared an abandoned project in an irritated-feeling scratching near the bottom of the reports. _"Far easier to work with newborns. Far easier. Fetuses are too fragile. Unfortunate, really. Such potential. But one cannot ignore what works. I'll return the girls to the normal breeding program in the meantime."_

(Surprisingly, it troubled Sakura far less to read those disturbing little details than the occasional traces of humanity that popped up, here and there. It was far easier for her mind to digest.)

It was late evening by the time she was finished with the reports, in their entirety. She hadn't touched her coffee, her stomach too unsettled for her to even consider tasting it. Lee had long since gone to bed, but he'd left the lights on in the kitchen for her.

She did not sleep well that night, her mind whirling with analysis and conflicting portraits of the old snake as a man, as a monster, which she tried to push to the back of her consciousness so she could focus on the matter at hand.

It was undeniably clear that Mikan was infertile. Done, that was it, that was the end of it. Even Sakura could concede with Orochimaru in saying that while the girl would live, the damage had been done. _"Such a pity, such a pity,"_ he had said. And she had to agree.

The mystery of Kiine, with her Uzumaki blood, persisted. Even with the possibility that she was willfully adopted, nothing yet explained the Karin-like cells, either.

For a moment, Sakura considered the possibility that she was some sort of modified child, or a clone of an Uzumaki, or something like that, but she disregarded the ideas almost as soon as she conceived them. Those were failures of projects, never more than just dreams or disappointment.

But then a phrase from Karin's letter drifted to her mind.

_Suspect the work of another re: Taki Kiine. Sensei had more than one disciple. Not just Kabuto._

She remembered the trouble that Kabuto had given them during the Fourth War. She remembered the mindless clones, the monsters of medicine and poison he had created as weapons for Tobi's army.

Maybe he wasn't the only one? Maybe there was someone, someone else, still operating out there?

Maybe Orochimaru was still alive?

…no, that was impossible. He was dead. Orochimaru was dead. Sakura had heard somewhere that he'd been sealed away, forever. For good.

It had to be someone else. If anyone else was responsible for this, anyways. If anyone had continued Orochimaru's research.

There had to be an explanation for all of this.

Somewhere between 3 and 4 AM, to the sound of her husband snoring softly, Sakura came to a conclusion.

So far, her only contact into this world of Orochimaru's research, the dark world of the Sound, was Karin. Who, as far as Sakura could tell, impersonal and clinical as her letters were, was as disturbed as she was by these recent turn of events. And she was already looking for more information, no doubt. Sakura would be doing much of the same, in her situation.

But it wasn't like Karin lived next door. She was separated from Sakura by at least a day's worth of mail, and telephone calls were next to useless with such things.

There was, however, someone who lived not terribly far from Sakura, who could offer a second opinion on all of this. Who had, surely, very interesting opinions on the matter he could share.

The next morning, she was going to go to Sasuke, and see what he made of all this. After all, hadn't he lived with Orochimaru for three years?

(Hadn't he fought against them, for a while, in that war?)

Surely he'd have picked some things up. Surely he must have learned some things. He at least had an informed opinion.

She'd have to be careful, she knew. Sasuke was sensitive about the past, though she suspected he was probably in a good mood, given his children's success in the chuunin exams thus far. So maybe it would be easier than she thought.

Yes, she would go seek out Sasuke in the morning.

Satisfied, she closed her eyes and allowed herself to sleep, until the alarm clock she shared with Lee went off. The hospital required her to wake up relatively early, but later than the sunrise at any rate, unless there was an emergency. Lee didn't wake up until she did, finding his own time to jog and exercise, adjusting his schedule with hers, so there were no conflicts. Lee was just that sort of person.

After breakfast (and after dumping the now ludicrously-cold cup of coffee she had left on the table into the sink—she'd forgotten about it entirely), Sakura called in to say she'd be a little late, and had Kenji relay the message as well, just to make sure.

She stopped by Ino's house next, the reports tucked into her satchel. She was stopped, momentarily, by Ino's expression. "Hey, are you okay?"

"What? Oh, I'm fine," Ino replied. She rubbed her eye with her fingers. She hadn't put on all of her makeup yet, and she looked pale, almost sick, without it. "What's going on, Sakura?"

"Where's Sasuke? I want to talk to him," Sakura said.

"Oh. Sasuke. He's… training with Go'on-kun today, I think." Ino folded her arms over her apron. "That's what he's been up to, lately, spending the days with him and the nights with Inou and Karai."

"How are they doing?" Sakura asked.

"They're… fine. Just fine," Ino replied. A fake little smile was stamped on her face.

Sakura knew it too well. She put her hand on Ino's arm. "Ino, is everything okay?"

"We're fine, Sakura. You don't need to worry about my family, goodness, we can handle ourselves," Ino said, a taste of sharpness in her voice, batting away Sakura's hand. "He's just upping the training for them and we're all a little exhausted, is all."

"I don't see why you should be tired too, if it's just them being trained…"

"Huh?"

"Nothing, nothing." Sakura put on a false little smile of her own, waving the hand that had been on Ino's arm dismissively. "So do you know where I can find him?"

"Probably the family training ground. You know, near the Compound. Memorial. _You_ know where," Ino said.

"Ah, yeah. I know it."

"Why do you want to talk to him?" Ino said. "You know he might not be feeling cooperative, _you _know how he is."

"Oh, I just wanted him to look at some things. If he's not up for it I was going to schedule a better time," Sakura replied. She patted her satchel. "I know how he can be, Ino, I've known him as long as you, you know."

"Mm, I suppose…" Ino said. There was a shadow of sarcasm in her voice.

(But Sakura wasn't his wife. She was.)

"Well hopefully he won't give you _too _much trouble," Ino continued, "he's kind of been on edge lately..."

"Has he been bad to you because of that?" Sakura asked, suddenly.

"What in the world is _that_ supposed to mean?" Ino said. She almost gasped. "Sakura, Sasuke is _perfectly_ good to me. He's just stressed right now. It's understandable."

Sakura fixed her mouth sideways. This happened, sometimes. When she overstepped boundaries, when Ino got so mildly outraged like this. "I just worry, sometimes. He's got a bad temper."

Ino sighed. "You think I don't know that…?" She didn't give Sakura a chance to answer. "Anyways, you should probably go and find him."

"Okay. Thanks for the tip."

"Sure, sure. Bye, now."

Sakura went down the road feeling more than a little unsettled. Ino almost never went out without all of her makeup on.

She had to deal with Sasuke first, however. This was more important. She could talk to Ino, alone, later.

Just like she had said, he was at the old training ground with the dark-haired boy on his team, the one with the big eyes. Senritsu Go'on—practically everyone knew his name, now. The name of the kid that had gotten through the Forest of Death in record timing, the one that couldn't be touched, even in battle.

He and Sasuke were sparring. At least, that's what it looked like. The boy moved at incredible speeds, dodging attacks, pulling off remarkable acrobatics in the air, leaping off rooftops and against walls—yet his breath remained even, even over the course of several minutes, when even Sakura would have felt fatigued.

She waited until they were done to clear her throat and clap slowly. "Very impressive!" she said.

"Go'on, take a five minute break," Sasuke said, and approached Sakura. "Here to watch, are you?"

"No, no, I just have something for you to look at."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Oh? What is it this time?"

"I received some things from Karin, I'd like for you to look at them. See what you can make of them," Sakura said. She kept her hand on her satchel, but didn't open it.

"Karin…?" He said her name like it was foreign to him, then shook his head. "What kinds of things?"

"Reports."

"What _kind_ of reports? You're being _incredibly_ vague." His voice became slightly rough.

"They're reports by Orochimaru," Sakura said quickly. She cleared her throat, afterward. "I wanted you to take a look at them."

"And why would you want me to do that." He glared at her.

Sakura bolstered herself. "Well for a bunch of reasons, Sasuke. You lived with him for three years. You know how he worked. Maybe you can offer a bit more detail on some of the things he wrote in here, since Karin just handed them to me as-is. I don't know. Just give them a once-over, at least, will you?" She rolled her eyes, a little. "Shouldn't take _you_ very long to do that, with those eyes of yours…"

"Don't give me that," Sasuke said. He sighed. "Okay, fine. Hand them over. I'll give them a look, even though I don't know _why _you keep coming to me with these stupid little inconsequential things…."

"It's not stupid and it's not inconsequential," Sakura said, and she took the reports out of her satchel and handed them to him. "For your information, it might help us with the situation with the Taki syndicate."

"…sure," Sasuke said, a shadow of sarcasm in his voice. He began to read. His speed was incredible, taking only seconds to thoroughly scan each page. Sakura was caught by surprise when he handed the papers back to her, little more than a minute later. "There, I read them. Now, what was I supposed to be looking for…?"

"You mean you're done?"

"You said yourself it wouldn't take very long for me to do." He shoved his hands in his pockets. His voice almost quavered. "Well, what was I supposed to look for?"

"Well…" Gosh, where to start? She tripped over her thoughts and grabbed for the first thing she could think of. "In the reports on Taki Mikan's treatment, I didn't recognize the handwriting about-"

"That's Karin's handwriting."

Sakura blinked. "Karin…? But why would-"

"His condition was declining and he dictated to her when he was ill until he recovered. An idiot could figure that out." He glanced at Go'on, who was sitting against a wall, staring at the sky, a small smile on his face. "Is that all?"

"So it was definitely his handwriting, otherwise?"

Sasuke scoffed. "All of that and you doubted who _really_ wrote it?"

"Just wanted to make _sure!"_ Sakura started putting the papers back into her satchel, knowing that Sasuke had doubtlessly memorized them already. "Goodness. I don't think there's anything wrong with that."

"Hm. So… tell me, why did she send you these reports in the first place?"

Sakura noticed that he had suddenly stiffened, though his eyes darted this way and that, but never at her. "It's mostly to do with Taki Kiine. We suspect something unusual is going on with her, and her family. And by 'we' I mean me and Karin, I mean. She's investigating this as well."

"Unusual how?"

"The fact that she's an Uzumaki but the rest of her family isn't, for one?" Sakura said. She would have said more, had Sasuke's expression not become so worrisome that she almost found herself reaching out to him, to calm him. "Hey, what's the matter?"

He pulled away from her hand as if it were made of hot metal. "Nothing. It's nothing. So she thinks Orochimaru had something to do with it, does she."

"Well… no, but… maybe someone that _served _under him. Possibly. We don't _know._" She felt the ache of frustration in her chest at being unable to really get out what she meant to say, what she meant to _truly _say. It was like this a lot, with Sasuke, no matter how mundane the subject. "Was there anyone besides Kabuto that could have carried on his work…?"

Sasuke didn't respond. Then, before Sakura could reply, he said, "Only Karin."

And Sakura knew that Karin's work had gone nowhere near the reaches of Orochimaru's cold ambitions. "So that leaves us at a dead end, then."

"Not exactly. Could be anyone, really. He had a lot of supporters. A lot of wardens, assistants," Sasuke said. His voice sounded detached, now, and flat. "But none of them were terribly bright, really. I doubt any of them could carry on his work in such a way. Especially if…"

Sakura tilted her head. Sasuke's eyes were trembling. He was pacing. "If…?"

"Nothing. Just… conjecture from what you showed me. I doubt we're seeing the whole picture."

"And what is this conjecture?"

"If it's incorrect then it's worthless," Sasuke said sharply, finally looking at her, stopping his pacing. "These are only a few reports out of… what, _thousands_, no doubt. I never read many but I _knew _where they were."

"Well… maybe a little speculation might get us on the right track," Sakura said. Her smile was thin. "I mean, Karin and I are completely without a clue…"

"At least you both are doctors. You know what you're talking about." Sasuke turned his back on her, and returned to Go'on. "Break time's over, let's continue with our training, Go'on."

"Sasuke, what did you think was…?"

"It's nothing. Thank you for showing me those," Sasuke said, quickly, not even looking over his shoulder. "Resuming where we left off. Your evasion is excellent but you need to get on the offensive, Go'on. Come at me."

After standing there for a few moments, Sakura gave a goodbye that she wasn't sure if Sasuke had heard or not, and she returned to the hospital, and her normal duties, wondering what in the world he had been thinking of.


	20. Bitten Tongue

_Chapter 20 - Bitten Tongue_

* * *

Sasuke had to send Go'on home shortly after Sakura left. He felt too distracted to even properly spar with his own student.

His mind overloaded with speculation and suspicion and stupidity and what the _hell _was he thinking?

It was just like before. Just like everything else. Just like everything. Else. He was just stringing things together in a twisted hope. Giving meaning to unrelated incidences, separated by years. He was just imagining things.

These same old damn delusions.

But he couldn't help it. The facts, in their proximity to each other, separated only by paper, were given a seeming sort of coherence, and it etched a delicious possibility in his mind.

Organ cultures—fantasies of full bodies grown from scraps of hair—no, no. None of these were related to the other.

But he remembered the horrors of Kabuto's work. Flash-grown, mindless…

It was possible. He knew it was possible.

Possible that, maybe, somehow, someone out there had continued Orochimaru's—Kabuto's research to the point where…

Sasuke had to stop himself before he could continue this… insane string of thoughts. He rounded a corner and onto a familiar path, one that wound through all his old haunts, past all the echoes of the buildings of his childhood, past the dock and the artificial lake. He favored it over all other paths, especially when he needed to work out any frustration.

Hadn't he been tortured by this enough? He almost wanted to blame Sakura for this—she'd been the one to come to him about that damn Uzumaki—no, not Uzumaki, Taki, Taki, Taki Kiine. The one that had resurrected this mess in his mind after months of peace. That damn red-headed _girl. _Sakura had been the one to bring it to his attention and do those damn _blood tests_. It proved nothing. It proved _nothing! _And it might have _stayed _that way if she hadn't gone and rubbed it into his face and then just… just…

And now Karin. Karin and these… reports, these totally unrelated reports about body doubles and cloning and now he was thinking of Yakata and his brother's face and what if someone had brought his brother back from the dead and now his name was…

No. No, no, _no._

Why. Why was he even _thinking_ this?

Who would even be responsible for such a thing in the first place? Barring Orochimaru coming back from the dead—or, heaven forbid, _Kabuto_—there was nobody capable of anything like that. You would… need labs and things, and assistants, and…

You'd need the knowledge. That was what was tripping him up. And beyond those two, the only person with that knowledge was Karin. And she kept it hidden away, under lock and key and the belligerent insistence that it never be used for anything more than good. And she had done good with it, that was undeniable.

His oldest, Hajime, was a member of that team that worked with the curse seal test subjects, the ones that used her vaccines, and Sasuke had half-heard things about her clinic and the advances in medicine that she was responsible for. Sasuke had a cursory knowledge of these things, it was true, but it had been years since he'd actually spoken to the woman.

Maybe… it would be right to talk to her about this. Maybe she could tell him something.

Maybe he'd actually be able to get some _damn _peace of mind over this. Clear up all of this nonsense. Surely she'd know if there was anybody else who could have possibly done something like this. Surely she'd know if there _wasn't_ anyone.

…and why would anyone, much less a disciple of Orochimaru, want to bring back his brother? Sasuke could think of a million reasons why _he _would, but…

…why was he even thinking about these things still?

Sasuke had reached the dock, without really noticing how long it had taken, and he sat down at its edge and stared out over the water.

Yes, this was something he needed to do. The last link in this chain of insanity and irrationality and…

…really, who was he kidding? There _was _something going on here.

…with Taki Kiine, at least. Yes. Only with her.

By talking with Karin, he'd be helping to solve another piece of the puzzle. Clear up _something_ at least.

(He'd be able to find out if Yakata was… unrelated or whatever or. Whatever he was.)

At any rate, he'd be able to help Sakura a little. The sooner they solved this the sooner she'd stop… bothering him.

(He didn't stop for a moment to consider that, maybe, Sakura should have been the one doing this.)

Peace of mind. Some damn peace of mind, for once.

The surface of the lake was very still, and familiar.

(And maybe, just maybe, just… probably not.)

Probably not.

He stood up on the dock and the water rippled from the movement, slightly. He began back down the path, to the gate of the compound.

(He missed, by mere minutes and mere feet, a wandering Murasaki, who had with her well-wishes and words of congratulation. Which was probably better for all of the parties involved.)

"I'm going on a short trip to the Land of Waves, to visit Karin," he told Naruto, entering his office, as usual, without knocking. "Just thought I'd let you know."

"Well this is sudden. Why are you doing that?" Naruto asked, halfway between a laugh and a narrow, confused glance.

(And it was in that moment that, yes, it finally occurred to Sasuke that maybe it should have been Sakura doing all of this.)

"…favor to Sakura. But don't tell her I'm doing this, I don't know if anything will come of it," he said. "Understand?"

"Haha, sure, Sasuke. But…" Naruto leaned forward at his desk, fixing his mouth into a corner of his face. "I thought you were dead-set on nothing but training these days, y'know? Since you-"

"I think that my children and Go'on can handle themselves for a few days, thank you," Sasuke interrupted, though he only half-meant it. But he could make such sacrifices for something like this.

Naruto shrugged. "Hey, your call. I won't tell you how to train them, y'know."

"You shouldn't," Sasuke said, and left.

He left a note for Go'on at the academy, on the way home, with a mild suggestion of a training regimen and a promise of a return in a few days.

He announced his trip to his family at dinner, that night. He didn't mention Karin. "I won't be more than a few days but I expect for you two to keep up with your training," he told Inou and Karai, who sat across from him at the table. "You understand?"

"Sure, Dad…" said Inou, sighing.

"'course! Masao-sensei's been giving me lots of extra work, it's gonna help a _whole_ lot," said Karai, smiling.

"What's with the attitude, little bro?" said Takeru, when Sasuke didn't.

Inou didn't respond, disappearing slightly into his meal.

Their mother just sighed, picking at the dinner she had made.

(Praying there wouldn't be another argument, not like the night before.)

Nadeshiko wasn't present, but Hajime was, reluctantly, in an uncomfortable space between missions. He stayed out of it.

Sasuke couldn't sleep that night, after his bath. He lay in his bed with his hands beneath his head and he stared at the ceiling and thought of what he would do. What he _had _to do.

The pages and pages of reports and speculation and everything flipped through his mind. He could practically feel the paper in his fingers, again.

He couldn't even stop himself from thinking about all of this any more, not with him finally deciding to do something about it.

Supposing it all _was _connected. Supposing there was someone still out there, doing these unnatural things.

Maybe Karin wouldn't know. He almost hoped she wouldn't. Or maybe she would. _Then _what?

He hoped the most, in fact, for a flat-out denial. To be told, _told_, that no, this wasn't possible. That, no, his brother hadn't been brought back from the dead. There was no reason for that even to have occurred, there was no love for Itachi in Sound.

He wanted to be woken up, really. To be shaken out of these dreams and fantasies and just all the rest.

(He wanted, the most, to forget about Yakata. But that seemed about as easy as forgetting about his brother, the man he seemed to be a shadow of.)

But he'd probably be proven wrong. Somewhere.

There was still that damn Uzu-Taki. Taki. Taki. Damn it, why could he never get it right? It was just a damn name.

Someone was behind her. Someone was responsible for her existence. Sasuke had read the reports on the cancer and her mother and he knew when something was blatantly impossible.

Kiine's existence called everything into question. It was the little stab of pain that made him question whether or not it was all a dream—because, truly, there was no pain in dreams, was there?

And besides, why would anyone, Orochimaru or otherwise, want to bring back an Uzumaki female? Itachi, at least, had the Sharingan. Just like Sasuke had. And Orochimaru had coveted those eyes more than anything.

It answered nothing, but it made even less sense than the other option.

Kiine's existence called everything into question. And Sasuke needed an answer. Any sort of answer. No matter what Karin knew or didn't know.

Whatever happened over there with her would happen.

He managed to get some sleep.

(Quietly, the day became July 24th. Sasuke had been forty-three years old for twenty-four hours.)

(He hadn't celebrated a birthday in years.)

He left in the morning from a quiet house, given the usual farewell, the obligatory kiss.

The voyage took him little more than an afternoon, and the harshness of the noonday heat was already beginning to fade away when he arrived in the town where Karin had established her clinic, Ryokyo. It was a little coastal town that he had to look up on a map and memorize the location of. Quaint.

Sasuke found himself almost feeling nostalgic as he went along down the street, savoring the lack of attention he was receiving. The Land of Waves was one rooted deeply in his past. His first real skirmish had occurred there, hadn't it? On that bridge with the obnoxious name. There had been a boy with throwing needles, in a mask. A man with a sword that had—didn't Suigetsu have that sword now? Sasuke didn't know. He hadn't even thought of Suigetsu in ages.

He supposed it was appropriate. It was a day for confronting the past, in a sense.

…nostalgic _and _poetic. Sasuke didn't know what seemed to have gotten into him.

The clinic was a modest building, interestingly enough, with little to differentiate it from the rest of the more traditionally-made buildings in the town beyond a sign advertising its services. Its size _was_ impressive, however, especially given that, apparently, Karin was running it entirely by herself, both in terms of employment and funding.

She'd certainly done well for herself, Sasuke thought, and opened the sliding door.

There was a foyer, like any other home, at the mouth of a hallway filled with closed screen doors, except for a room to the right immediately near the foyer, whose door was left slightly open. Slippers were arranged neatly on the step for guests to use. None of the pairs matched each other. On the floor there were two pairs of shoes left behind; a pair of women's flats, and a pair of rough wooden sandals.

There was a sign on the right-hand wall; written in big red letters: "The doctor is IN. Please wait in the first room on the right to be seen." The "IN" was on a separate piece of wood that could be turned over for when, obviously, Karin was not around.

Sasuke took his shoes off and did as the sign told him, choosing a pair of light blue house slippers to replace them.

He did not have to wait long. He heard a voice coming down the hallway, a familiar one.

"I'll get that prescription for you ready by tonight, Ryouzai-san. And if you don't think you can come by to pick it up then I'm sure I can have my boy drop it off at your house, okay?"

Yes, that was definitely Karin. But who was 'her boy?' An assistant, maybe?

Then there was an older voice, dry and crackling, like autumn leaves. "Oh, he doesn't need to do that. I think I can manage."

"Oh, I know, I know. Now remember, extra rest. And don't be afraid to nag that husband of yours to wait on you, okay?"

"Like you need to tell me!" There was a shuffling, and the clack of wooden sandals, and women's laughter. "Take care, dearie."

"You too, Ryouzai-san."

The door to the clinic opened, and closed.

Sasuke waited, wondering why he was feeling a hollow pang of nervousness in his stomach.

"I know you're there, Sasuke. You don't have to stay in the waiting room, okay?"

Sasuke breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth. He stood, and exited.

Karin waited for him there in the foyer, a hand on her hip. She suddenly laughed. "Oh and look at you, you even put the slippers on…"

Sasuke found himself more than a little put-upon, for a number of reasons.

The first reason was the slipper comment. "It's the polite thing to do, would you rather I go around in my shoes? Barefoot?" he asked, even though he never wore slippers elsewhere.

"Not at all. You just never struck me as the type to care too much about these things," Karin replied.

That was the second reason. Sasuke didn't respond to that.

The third reason was that, while her face had only aged minimally, mostly around the eyes; while her hair was only a little shorter, but still the same cut, the same vivid shade of red; while everything else remained much like he had last remembered, time had not been kind to her body.

Her skin was flabby, pale and unhealthy in nearly every sense of the word. Her stomach and her thighs were especially bloated; she was rather pear-shaped, now, and the zipped-up, long-sleeved tunic she wore did nothing to hide it.

Sasuke tried not to stare.

(He also, subconsciously, tried not to compare her to Ino, who despite five children had lost only her youthful curves and become a bonier sort of creature in the process.)

"Well, come in, already. I assume you're here for a reason," she said, beckoning to him with a curt wave of her hand. "People like you don't show up out of nowhere just to say hello."

"Hm," he said, and followed her. She led him through the hallway of sliding doors and into a kitchen near the back, where she pulled out a chair for him at the table and gestured toward it.

"Well, go on, I'm not going to make you stand, okay?" she said, pursing her lips slightly. "Are you thirsty?"

"Not terribly."

"Fine, then, I'll just get you a glass of water or something. Don't have time for tea," she said, and walked into the kitchen proper. Sasuke sat, putting down his bag and ignoring the growing, foreign pangs of awkwardness. Karin reached into a cupboard with a small "Oof!" and retrieved two glasses, and she filled them with water from a pitcher on the counter. She set them down on the table and sat down, with a small amount of difficulty, in her own chair.

"So," she said. "How have you been?"

"Well enough," he replied, automatically. He didn't acknowledge his glass. "Busy."

"Is that so? I hear about you from your son from time to time, you know, but he never really goes into detail. What's his name… Hajime?"

"Yes, Hajime," Sasuke said. His eyes narrowed. "What has he told you about me?"

"Not much, to be honest. Whenever he and the rest of the Seal Team come by they never last more than an afternoon, to pick up fresh vaccines, on appointment, okay. I just mostly hear that you've been busy, a few things about your other kids, your wife." She paused, resting her chin on her hand. "How _is_ she, by the way? Your wife, I mean. I can't seem to remember her name."

"She's fine," Sasuke said, stiffly, and said no more.

"Mm." Another pause. "How many kids _have _you two had, anyways? I can never seem to keep track."

"Five." Much as he wanted to say he had only four, it was the truth.

"Five, wow…" Karin said, flatly. She exhaled quickly in what was almost a scoff, almost a laugh, but not quite one or the other. "Hm. Not bad. I bet they keep your hands full."

"I suppose you could say that," Sasuke said.

"Mm."

There was silence, for a while. And despite the many things Sasuke had to say, the obligation of small talk had an unusually strong hold on him, here, keeping him from bringing up the Uzumaki and Yakata, and he couldn't quite identify why. Perhaps it was the fact that they hadn't seen each other in years, a relative of the forced politeness that came from dealing with strangers. Maybe it came from their past with each other.

(He had never apologized for anything he had done to her, not once. But Sasuke did not apologize for much.)

He didn't know.

"How have _you _been?" he finally asked, after clearing his throat. He still hadn't taken a sip from his glass. "You look… well."

She looked fat, and sick.

Karin laughed at this, and Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Sasuke, of all the people I have _ever _known, you are by _far_ the worst liar."

His eyes narrowed further. "What's that supposed to mean."

She rolled her own eyes from behind her plum-colored glasses. "I look 'well?' Honestly? I look like shit, Sasuke. Don't deny it, okay?"

He didn't, but he didn't confirm it, either, saying instead, "So you _haven't_ been well?"

"Don't even get me _started_." She sighed, and continued anyways. "I don't think I've ever felt sicker in my _life. _Hopefully I'll be feeling better once the little one arrives."

He blinked a few times. "The… little one?"

"Well, yes. Goodness, has it _ever _been giving me trouble. So many close calls…"

There were many ways in which one could interpret Sasuke's resulting silence. Even Sasuke himself wasn't sure what it meant.

Karin interpreted it in her own way. "Don't tell me you didn't _notice_," she said, a sort of incredulous smile on her face. It faded, quickly, into a tired sort of admittance. "Well, I don't blame you. I'm definitely not as thin as I used to be, okay…"

Sasuke could feel his face growing slightly warmer. He avoided eye contact. "…congratulations, then," he mumbled.

"Now what is _that _supposed to mean?" she said, this time with a real laugh.

"Isn't that what you're _supposed_ to say when you learn things like this?" he replied.

"Hm! I suppose so," Karin replied. "Thank you, Sasuke."

"Mm."

"Kind of surprising, though, isn't it? I just turned forty-three and I'm only just now having a kid I can call my _own_." She sighed, leaning back in her chair and resting a hand on her stomach. "Sure started late, didn't I."

"I wouldn't know," Sasuke said.

(Hajime had been born only two months after his twenty-first birthday.)

"So is it a boy or a girl?" he found himself asking. "Do you know?"

"Oh, I was _hoping_ for a girl. But I already checked, okay. It's a boy." She sighed again, resignedly. "Can't have everything you want, I suppose."

"Yeah, I… guess you can't." He reached for his glass in a gesture of nonchalance. "So who's the father."

"Why do _you _care?" she asked. Her voice was soft, almost amused, rather than bitter, or offended.

"…just wondering." He took a sip.

(A part of him really did wonder what kind of person would have settled down with her at that age, in such a state.)

"It's nobody _you_ know, anyways," she continued. "Surprising as it may seem, I _do _have something of a social life here, okay?"

(…someone extremely desperate, no doubt.)

"I'm _not_ surprised, actually," Sasuke said. "You seem to have done well for yourself here."

"You think? I like to tell myself that, surely," Karin replied. "I've made a difference in this town and with the curse seal victims, at least. Poor things."

"Hm." He put his glass down, but he didn't take his hand off of it.

She was quiet for a moment longer, rubbing the top of her stomach slightly. It was a soft roundness, rather than the tight flesh that Sasuke remembered from when Ino had been expecting his children. Is that why he hadn't noticed, at first?

(Then again, Karin looked just plain _fat_, no matter how you sliced it. So it could have been anything.)

"So why _are_ you here, Sasuke?" she said, after a while, looking at him with a sideways glance.

He let go of his glass and laced his fingers together in front of his face. "I read the reports that you sent Sakura. Regarding Taki Kiine."

Karin sighed. "So she showed them to you, did she?" she said. He nodded. "Why'd she do that?"

"I don't know. Something about checking details," he said. "Maybe she thought I could give her some more information. Since, well." He cleared his throat, but tried not to show it. "So I thought to come and see what you thought about all of this. As a favor to her."

"Well, that's awfully nice of you," Karin said. "She didn't ask or anything?"

Sasuke didn't reply.

"Well, believe me, I'm as confused by all of this as the next person, okay?" Karin continued. "I don't even know _how _in the world Taki Kiine exists, nor do I know why she has blood cells like mine."

"Like yours…?"

Karin nodded. "Apparently. Sakura sent me samples of Taki Kiine's blood so I could see for myself, even, and there it was." She reached over to take her glass, and drank from it. Nearly half of the water was gone by the time she put it back down. "It's _bizarre_, really. And it's more or less the only thing that's got me stuck in this whole mess, okay. I could have dismissed her as maybe some Uzumaki survivor adopted by the Taki clan—they're very big on adoption, you see. But those cells? That was something."

Sasuke nodded, uneasily. "Makes sense."

"So that's why I sent her _those_ reports," she continued. "They all used my blood somewhere or another. That was the only lead I could think of, when I went to go look for reports to send her. I'm still looking for more, really, in my spare time, okay? Tell me," she said, "has Sakura come up with any theories of her own?"

So that was the _real _connection, Sasuke thought. Strange how he didn't notice before—but then again, how was he supposed to know?

"Not that she's told me," he said. He had his own theories, but his delusions didn't help in making them seem any more viable than something Karin or Sakura could come up with. "So do you think that any of these experiments have anything to do with Taki Kiine?"

"Maybe… I haven't checked everything, yet, but these seemed the most promising from my first searches," she said.

"So this is this all you found?"

"No, no, I found others, but I only sent the relevant material. I mean, really, I don't think recipes for medicines that kept Orochimaru's body alive that happened to use my blood were terribly relevant, okay? Growing an entire uterus in a jar, though? That's a bit better, I think."

"Sure…" Sasuke swallowed, gathering the nerves he knew he had. "But who do you think is _behind_ all of this?"

Karin looked at him over her glasses, her face incredibly still. "What do you mean, 'behind all of this'?" she asked.

"Well someone's got to be responsible for Taki Kiine existing. Someone… for all intents and purposes, _made_ her," Sasuke said. "So, the question is, who did?"

"I have absolutely no idea," Karin said. She crossed her arms, frowning slightly. "That's what I'm trying to _find out_ here, okay?"

"What, by just digging through reports and things? What good is that going to do?" Sasuke felt the pressure of anger growing in his chest. "It'll just get us more confused."

"Well if I have an idea about _how_ she came to be, whether it's because someone restored Taki Mikan's uterus or if she-"

"That changes nothing, don't you understand?" Sasuke's fist rattled the table, and his shoulders rose and fell with his quickened breaths. "It doesn't matter how it happened, we need to know _who's responsible!"_

Karin's face remained flat, unfazed. "You're awfully upset about all of this, Sasuke."

He didn't respond. He managed to slow his breaths, but he failed to keep Yakata out of his mind. He took what he could get.

She continued. "I'm just saying that if I figure out how this was possible then I might be able to… get a better idea of who _could_ have done it, okay? I knew the medical staff at the labs better than you, I'm sure. I knew their specialties."

"Right. Sure," Sasuke said. He drummed his fingers on the table. "Then, tell me, do you have anyone in mind, as of right now?"

Her mouth pinched in at the center. "I don't."

"Really."

"Honestly. So far, I can't come to any real conclusions, okay? I have no clues."

"_Really_."

"Would you stop _looking_ at me like that," she said, glancing sideways. Her shoulders rose, and Sasuke stared at the table. "And I'm sorry, Sasuke, but it's not like this is something I can do full-time, okay? Any other time I'd do a full search of all my archives but right now I have patients and, more importantly, _myself_ to take care of," she added.

"Mm."

"But from the way things are looking there's nobody I can suspect right now." She paused. "Well, maybe Sanshi. She had a talent with fetuses, she might have done something with this research... But I _know _she's dead." Another pause. Her voice was very, very cold when she said, "And there's… one other option, but I don't even want to consider it…"

"What, you can't mean Orochimaru?" He looked up from the table. Karin had stopped crossing her arms and had her hands on her belly again. She didn't say anything, nor give any other indication of a reply. "But he's _gone_, why would you-"

"Mom, I'm home!"

There was a voice coming from the entrance of the house and it froze Sasuke's anger and sent it shooting into the pit of his stomach.

Who was that?

"They finished rehearsal early so I got out early too! So I went to the store and—Mom, where are you?"

Who _was_ that?

"I'm in the kitchen!" Karin replied, her voice brightening suddenly, but clearly artificially. Sasuke noticed her muscles tensing, but he found that the voice preoccupied him more.

The door to the kitchen slid open and a young man walked in, no older than maybe twenty-three or twenty-four. He was wearing black pants and a white t-shirt, and he carried a plastic bag with him. His skin was the same color as the shirt; he had black hair that fell to his chin, and bangs that covered his face to the nose, concealing his eyes.

The young man leaned in and kissed Karin on the side of her forehead. "Hi, Mom. So I went to the store to pick up a few things, since I had some extra time. Got some okonomiyaki sauce, since I knew we were running low…"

"You are such a _sweetheart_, _thank_ you," Karin said. And the young man smiled back at her. His mouth looked like it had been cut into his face. "You didn't have to do that."

"Yeah, but, well, it's your favorite," he said, and laughed slightly.

Sasuke found himself almost shuddering, recognizing that laughter, that deep, guttural, joyless thing. _Kukukuku…_

The young man seemed, suddenly, to notice Sasuke. "And who is _this?_" he asked.

"Oh, well. Um. Ooda, this is Uchiha Sasuke, he's… an old acquaintance of mine," Karin said, after clearing her throat. "Sasuke, this is… Ooda. My son."

"Oh! It's very nice to meet you," Karin's son (Karin's _son?_) Ooda said, bowing awkwardly. He paused when he rose, and Sasuke could see, through bangs that would have otherwise hidden them, chemical-yellow eyes staring into his, angular and snake-like, bordered by thorns of purple.

He couldn't bring himself to say anything. He looked at Karin, whose face contained supreme discomfort, packaged in a smile.

"If… you don't mind me asking, Uchiha-san, are your eyes always like that?" he heard Ooda say, tilting his head slightly. "I've never seen such a vivid shade of red before. It's..." And his voice grew soft there, disgustingly, disturbingly, familiarly soft. "…_really_ quite incredible…"

"Ooda, please! Don't embarrass our guest…" Karin said, before Sasuke could even do a thing. She batted at Ooda's nearby arm, her smile growing more strained, and Ooda's knife-cut mouth twisted into a sheepish smile of his own.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it…"

Sasuke felt bile and anger rising in his throat.

"So will Uchiha-san be staying for dinner?" Ooda asked.

"I think I'll be _staying_ for a while," Sasuke said, just barely, "but I don't know for how long." He looked at Karin again, and there was a pained knowingness in her eyes. She nodded, slightly.

There was an explanation for this, for this "son" of hers. He knew it, he just knew it.

There _had_ to be an explanation for this.

"Why don't you make us… something to eat anyways, Ooda? Something small, okay?" Karin said. "I'm not too hungry, though I haven't had much of a lunch yet."

Ooda's mouth dropped; even with bangs concealing them, Sasuke saw something like worry enter those awful eyes. "Mom, what have I _told_ you, you have to _eat_."

In any other situation, Sasuke would have scoffed slightly—why would he worry about _her_ not eating?—but not here. All he could do was watch, paralyzed as Ooda put his ice-white hand on Karin's stomach.

"You have to take _care_ of yourself. Not just for you, but for the little one. Okay? Did you take your medicine either…?" Karin sighed in reply. "Mom…"

"I had three patients in a row come by, I had no time, okay?" she said. "But I took my medicine at least, goodness…"

"And you wonder why I never want to leave the house…" Ooda sighed, shaking his head, and he stood up. He was very tall. "Well I'll make you _something_. Is there anything you'd like to eat, Uchiha-san?"

"…no," Sasuke managed to reply.

"Then I'll see what I can do." He smiled, so naturally, but it looked like it had been carefully learned, to Sasuke. He couldn't see such a warm thing on such a face as being anything else.

"We'll be in the living room, okay?" Karin announced, and started getting out of her chair. Ooda helped her stand, and supported her as she got her balance back. "Ooda, honestly! I'm fine." He set his mouth sideways in reply and went to set his plastic bag on the counter, and began taking things out of it. "Come on, Sasuke, this way," Karin said. She sounded very, very tired.

Sasuke followed, starving for answers, his chest burning with rekindled anger.

He had no idea how any of this was possible.

But Karin had to know.


	21. Frozen Teeth

_Chapter 21 - Frozen Teeth_

* * *

Once they were alone, Karin spoke first.

"Let me explain."

Sasuke exploded.

"Explain? Explain? How the hell can you explain _that?" _He fought to keep his voice down, just in case that _thing_ in the kitchen could hear him.

"Sasuke, please calm down."

"Oh, like _hell_ I'm calming down. That was… that was…!"

He couldn't even bring himself to say the name now.

It was the nightmare all over again. But she said she had an explanation so there was, there was…

Karin just sat there, calmly, her eyes focused, intense, and pained.

"Okay. Fine. Explain," Sasuke said, after a while. His breaths were heavy and his mind was whirling with thoughts but he could concentrate, this meant she knew something and he had to _listen_.

"Okay." She took a breath in and out. "Man, and it had to be _you_ who found out about him first, okay… Funny how life works out that way, huh…"

Sasuke didn't respond.

"I guess I'll start at the beginning, then." Another breath, in, and out. "Pretty obviously, Ooda isn't my _biological_ son. He's adopted, okay?"

"So it _didn't_ come from you, then? That's a relief," Sasuke said.

(Though, truthfully, some small part of him felt slightly relieved for reasons he didn't feel like voicing to himself, out of shock and disgust and just no.)

Karin glared at him for a moment, sighing after another, shaking her head.

(She knew better than to expect an apology from Sasuke. She kept one hand pressed against the warmth of her stomach, as if to comfort herself, or what now grew within her.)

Eventually, she continued. "I took him in… well over twenty years ago. After I'd set up my clinic here. You know, after we finished clearing out most of the labs." Her eyes were downcast with recollection. "It was winter. The solstice, I remember. It was after I'd closed down for the night, and I was sleeping. But sometimes there are emergencies at night and I heard a knock on the door and it woke me up, okay. And this was _late_ at night; maybe three, four in the morning. So I went to go answer the door and I… felt a very familiar chakra right behind it, and I _ran_ because… But… he was gone by the time I got there."

"'He' being…?"

She nodded. "Exactly who you think. I'd know that chakra anywhere, okay."

Sasuke clenched his teeth, but kept his mouth closed.

"Honestly, I was scared as hell—from the way that his chakra had disappeared I figured it had to have been a bunshin or something, and I couldn't feel his chakra anywhere else in the town, or outside it or… anywhere. And then…" And there her eyes softened, and she looked up. "…there was Ooda, just sleeping, like there was nothing wrong. He'd been left behind, like…" She laughed, slightly, bitterly, and lowered her eyes. "Like some sort of foundling child from out of a story or something. In a basket, with a note."

"A _note_."

"I know it's hard to believe, but it's the truth, okay?" She closed her eyes, and recited: "'My dearest Karin, this child's name is Ooda. I trust you to take care of him until I return.' That was what it said. It was in his handwriting."

"Do you still have it?"

"What, are you kidding?" Her eyes opened. "I burned it as soon as I could. What if someone found it?"

"Hm." Sasuke shifted his weight where he sat, trying to make it look like he wasn't squirming. "And, obviously, you didn't tell anyone."

"Of course not!" she snapped. "What, do you think I could just waltz back to Konoha and say 'Oh, I think Orochimaru left this baby that looks like him on my doorstep and he told me to take care of it until he comes back from wherever he is. Here, take it!'? They'd have… killed him." Her face fell. "I couldn't allow that, not to an innocent child, okay…?"

"You don't know that they'd have killed it," Sasuke interrupted. "You still should have at least told someone that… _he_ had… contacted you. That he said he was coming back."

"Okay, first off? I doubt anyone would have believed me, at the time."

"I think that… you'd have pretty telling evidence on your hands, in all honesty," Sasuke said.

"Which brings me to my second point: telling someone would involve having to explain _how_ I knew. And that'd involve telling them about Ooda."

For a brief moment, there was anger in her eyes. Karin could be very intimidating if she wanted to be, even to Sasuke.

"I couldn't. Take. That risk, okay?"

Something like a gross parody of a laugh scratched its way across his throat, like a defense mechanism. "Even though it meant that Orochimaru was probably still alive, but nobody was doing a thing about it?"

"Well what else was I _supposed_ to do? I was… nineteen, I was _scared, _okay? I thought I'd left that life behind and… there it was, just… catching up with me."

She smiled slightly, resignedly, a familiar smile, as easily applied to her ruined life as her ruined body.

"I guess I'm still more loyal to him than I think. Then and now. Even though… even though I _told_ myself that… if Ooda turned out… strangely, or if _anything_ more happened with Orochimaru then I'd speak up _immediately_. Tell the proper authorities. But at the same time I didn't want to send anyone on any wild goose chases or anything, because that would only get _me_ in trouble, so I stayed quiet until I could be more certain."

"And I take it that nothing ended up happening."

"No, he hasn't contacted me since leaving Ooda behind. And Ooda… well, he…" Karin sighed, again. "It's been hell, honestly. I couldn't sleep easily for years, wondering if he… would really come back. Not to mention if Ooda turned out…" She didn't say anything more.

Sasuke was quiet, for a while. Then, he said, "So you just… took it in and raised it as your…"

"My son," she said, because he couldn't. "_He. _Not _it. _Is my _son_, Sasuke."

Sasuke held the words in his throat for a while. "…so what _is_ it-" Karin's glare was unfittingly punishing. "…_he_, then," he said, finally, "Orochimaru's _child? _Another vessel?"

"No, no, no. None of that. Ooda, he's…" She looked at her hands, and then back at Sasuke. "He's a perfect genetic duplicate. A clone," she replied. There was something in her voice like sad wonder. "I did tests on him, when he was little. He has the same fingerprints, the same blood type, the same DNA, even. I tested it all against the old profiles that… _he_ left behind. I don't know how he happened, but… there he is."

The same… face, the same eyes, the same mannerisms, the same…

"Does… _he_ know?" Sasuke asked, quietly.

"…heavens, no. I haven't even told him a thing about… well, _him_. I think he's better off not knowing…" She held her lips tightly together for a while, thinking. "I've wanted a normal life for him, more than anything."

"More than anything, huh."

"Absolutely." Karin looked at him with clear, hard red eyes. "I wanted to give him a life that… that Orochimaru didn't. _Couldn't _have. And it hasn't been easy, not in the least. He was teased so much for his eyes and his skin, when he was a boy, just for starters. And he's always got his hair in his face, now, no matter _what_ tell him to do with it otherwise." She looked down, again. "He's so shy, it's like pulling teeth to get him out of the house. Twenty-three years old and he's never even been on a single date with a boy _or_ a girl."

Sasuke choked, slightly. "Why do you assume… _boy_ first?"

Karin gave him a very strange look. "_You _lived with Orochimaru for three years, surely _you_ noticed _something_," she said. "I'm just trying to stay open-minded, since so much has carried over already, okay…?"

Sasuke's silence meant many things.

"Still," Karin continued, before his embarrassment could grow, "Ooda isn't… much at all like _him_. Sure, there are times when… when he looks at me and I could _swear_ I've seen that expression before. When he laughs and I know that _he _used to laugh like that, too. But he's a good boy, he has a _good _heart." She tilted her head slightly, gently. "In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he wanted to settle down someday with a _wife,_ and children. That's something I'd never expect of Orochimaru, but Ooda…"

There was a silence, for a while. Sasuke ended it. "So do you think there are… others like him, out there?"

"What do you mean by that? That there are other Oodas out there? It's… certainly possible," Karin said. She shivered, for a moment. "Again, I haven't heard a word from Orochimaru since he left Ooda with me, so he could be dead, now, for all I know, okay? Then again, I have no idea how he was even alive enough to even create Ooda to begin with…"

"No, no, I didn't mean that," Sasuke interrupted. He gathered his breath, thinking of those eyes, that boy, everything. "I meant, do you think he's made clones of… other people?"

Karin was quiet, for a while. "…what do you mean by that?"

"Well, I can imagine why he'd want to make a clone of _himself_. After all, knowing him…" He had to pause. "But… do you think he'd want to bring anyone _else_ back?"

"…Sasuke, where are you going with this?" she asked.

He breathed in.

And out.

And said, "A few months ago, on a mission in the Land of Rice, I met a boy that looked… exactly like my brother. I thought I was… imagining things, for the longest time, but now I'm starting to wonder if maybe…"

Even with all of this evidence, even with this spawn of the snake shoved in his face, even with _all of this_, he still couldn't voice the possibility to himself.

Too much had been wrong so far.

And yet, maybe, somehow, maybe…

"…that maybe…?" Karin's face was confused for a moment, and then, "Oh, you don't _mean_…" She held her hand to her mouth. "Are you sure?" she said, very, very quietly.

"I could never. Ever forget my brother's face. Not with my eyes."

"No, I suppose you couldn't," she said. Her voice was still soft. "How… how old was he?"

"Ten, maybe eleven. Young. But I could still tell it was him."

"I'm sure." Karin ran her hand over the curve of her stomach as she thought, before it came to rest on her side after a time. Her face tightened with some sort of discomfort.

"So that's what I meant. When I asked if you thought there might be others," Sasuke said, after that. "Because of what I saw."

He wondered, for a while, why his heart was beating so rapidly. He wondered why Karin had started breathing so quickly, too, all of a sudden.

"That could mean… _anything_," she said. She swallowed. "What was that boy's name, did you catch it? The one that looked like your brother."

"Yakata."

"Yakata…" She said the name slowly, as if committing it to memory. "I need to go write this down, okay?" she said, and braced herself against the table as she stood up. "I'll be right back, don't go anywhere."

"I won't."

And then she was gone.

And there Sasuke sat alone, his thoughts racing.

She hadn't said it was a coincidence. She had… accepted it, she had _believed _it. Maybe it wasn't so crazy, then?

Maybe someone. Maybe Orochimaru—he was still alive, he had somehow come back, too, he had—had brought Itachi back?

Yakata was Itachi. Revived. It was _possible_. It was… maybe, maybe even _probable._

…what was he going to _do_ about this?

"Pardon?"

And there was Ooda, Karin's son, eyes slightly wide behind his dense black bangs, as he set down a teapot on a pad in the middle of the table.

When had he come in?

"Nothing. Just talking to myself," Sasuke said.

"Ah. Do excuse me, then…" Ooda put down a pair of cups. "By the way, do you know where my mom went?"

Sasuke almost didn't shiver, that time, hearing that voice saying those words. "She said she went to go get something."

"Ah, I see, I see." Ooda picked up the teapot again, and poured tea into one of the cups. "I decided to make sandwiches, by the way. I hope you don't mind."

"That's fine."

"Do you like sugar or anything in your tea? I could bring some over," Ooda said, after pouring some into the other cup, presumably Sasuke's. "Mom doesn't like much in hers, but…"

"No, no, it's… fine," Sasuke said, staring at his knee afterwards. Ooda's movements, graceful and fluid and almost feminine, were unsettlingly familiar to him. It was better not to look.

At least, husky and rough though his voice was, Ooda didn't speak much like a woman.

"…I'm sorry, I don't mean to pry at all, but how exactly do you know my mom?" Ooda asked, after a while of silence. Sasuke looked up and saw him standing near the door with his head slightly bowed, a small tray under his arm. "You look like you're a ninja, but I hate making assumptions about people."

"…we used to work for the same person, let's just say," Sasuke said, after a while. He almost had to laugh, when he thought about it for a moment, considering who Ooda _was_. But his face remained still.

"Ah, I see… Well, then, I'll just leave it at that," he said, and smiled, so naturally, so unfittingly. "I'll be back with the sandwiches in a bit."

He left. Karin came back, afterward, with a notebook, and sat down before noticing, "Where did the tea come from?"

"Ooda."

"Oh, I see."

"We talked a little," Sasuke said. "He asked how I knew you."

Karin rolled her eyes, sighing. "Oh, Ooda… What did you tell him? And I apologize for the thing he said about your eyes, by the way, he sometimes does things like that. He's just endlessly curious about people, okay? I didn't think he'd actually _ask_ you about them, though. Or how we know each other."

"It's fine," Sasuke lied. "And I told him that we used to work for the same person. That's all I _could_ say. Since you haven't told him about Orochimaru, after all."

Karin gave him an uneasy smile. "Well, thank you, okay? I appreciate that."

"Don't mention it."

She took a pen from out of the spiral binding of the notebook, and opened it about midway, leafing past pages of her blocky handwriting. "So, can you tell me more about this boy you saw? What was his name again?"

"Yakata." A pause. "Honbo Yakata."

She wrote down something. Sasuke could have read it, if he wanted to, but he didn't, his mind staying focused on the boy's face in his mind.

"Where did you see him, exactly? You said it was in the Land of Rice, but…"

"A farming village. Tamina, it was called."

Karin's mouth tightened, and she scoffed, slightly. "Tamina… That name sounds familiar. I think… we had a lab near there. A breeding facility." A shiver in miniature ran up Sasuke's spine. "So where, exactly did you see…" She looked at the paper, and back. "Yakata?"

Ooda came in with the sandwiches, before Sasuke could answer. "Oh, I hope I'm not interrupting something," he said. He held the plate in his hands up a little. "Uh, I made sandwiches!"

"Oh, _thank _you. You can just leave them on the table; we're a little busy, Ooda," Karin told him, with a small smile. She covered the notebook, subtly, with her hand. Ooda nodded and did as she said. They were small sandwiches, cut into triangles and arranged in stacks.

"I'm gonna be up in my room if you need me," he said, as he was heading out. "And promise me you'll eat at least _one_, Mom."

"Go _on_, Ooda," Karin said, and he left, smiling. She waited a while before continuing. "He'll probably be up there for a while. You were saying?"

And Sasuke began to tell her everything.

The words came freely, finally, after the memories they were describing had been pent up and repeated and replayed and not shared for months and months and months. Karin's hand darted quickly over the paper, making quick bullet points of statements, collecting only the raw material in Sasuke's words, as she had long ago been trained to do.

(There was a lot he didn't mention. His shame, his anger, his foolishness, he all kept away from the heart of the matter.)

It was only when he started feeling relief, after she had filled three pages with bullet points, after she had asked him if he had seen any other children in the village of Tamina that he had found familiar, and he had said that he hadn't. That he knew only Yakata's face.

Only after all of that, he finally asked, "Why do you want to know all of this?"

"I have a theory," she responded, laying the pen down on her notebook. "I don't like it, and I hope, I sincerely _hope _that I'm not right, but I'm starting to think that this might be related to our problems with Taki Kiine."

A pause. "…I don't understand," Sasuke said.

"I'd have to gather more data to make any solid assumptions. But I'm thinking…" And she paused there, and lowered her head, for a moment. "Orochimaru might have _made_ them. Ooda from… himself; Yakata, from your brother; and Kiine from… some Uzumaki. I don't know how, or why, or anything else, really. But it's the only thing that makes any sense, in my mind, right now, okay? Crazy and… wrong as it all is."

It chilled Sasuke's blood, to hear those words coming from someone else. "But… that's what makes the most sense. Isn't it?" he said. "And besides, you know more about this than me."

She laughed, once, baffled. "What makes you think that?"

He pressed his lips together, thinking, his eyes drifting sideways. "You're the scientist. You actually know these things are_ possible_. You can stay… rational about these things."

"What does that even mean…?" she asked, after a while. "I mean, just because I'm a doctor-"

"Nothing. Just… forget it," he said. He squeezed the insecurity out of his voice, so it was at its usual strength when he asked, "So what are we going to do?"

"_We?_" Karin barely held in a giggle, before sealing it into her mouth with her hand a moment later. "Well, I'm certainly going to be rummaging through the archives a bit more, that's for sure. See if I can find us a lead. I wouldn't dare approach the Taki family myself for information, though. I know better than that, okay? I'm in no condition to do much traveling, anyways." She looked at Sasuke, a second later. "...what are you going to do, Sasuke?" she said.

What _was_ he going to do?

"I want to see Yakata again. And," he added quickly, "get some more answers from his family, now that I know all of this. For you, I mean."

Karin took a deep breath inward. "You'd have to be very careful, if you did that," she said. "In how you asked questions, in how you _treated_ him, even. I'd avoid even mentioning this… clone theory we have. To either him, or his parents. We're not sure of _anything_ yet, okay?"

"I know _that_," Sasuke said.

"You have to remember, Sasuke…" And she looked at him there, intensity and what was almost sadness in her eyes. "Yakata, if he is what we think he is, isn't Itachi. Just like Ooda isn't Orochimaru. Even if it he's really and truly a clone, he's bound to be a very different person."

Sasuke looked away from her. All he could think about was just the similarities. The grace, the glances, everything that made Yakata who he was.

"…you understand, Sasuke?" she asked.

"Yes, yes," he said, knowing she would stop asking if he said it.

(She knew it was a half-lie, but she knew it wouldn't make any difference, calling him out on it there.)

"So then, what?" she continued. "After you meet with him again."

"Well obviously I'll tell you what I learn from them," he said. He crossed his arms. "And then I'll have to go home. I have children to train. I can't be kept long."

"And you won't want to see him again?"

He paused, there. "I don't know," he said.

(That was the truth.)

"Well, keep me posted, regardless. Okay?" Karin said. "Since I suppose this involves the both of us."

"Yeah. I guess it does."

"And… thank you. For telling me about that boy, Yakata, okay?" she added. She smiled at him, a real smile, but a small one. "If you hadn't told me about him then I wouldn't have come up with this theory. Maybe I'll actually figure out what's going on with Taki Kiine, at this rate! I don't know."

"Mm."

"But… you do realize what this means," she said. "If all of these things really are connected. Ooda and the Taki and Yakata. There might be more. For all we know, there probably _are_. We don't know what we're getting into, okay?"

"I suppose we don't. We'll just have to find out," Sasuke said. His head felt light, detached. "I think I'll be leaving, now. I don't see what else we can talk about." He began to stand.

"Sasuke, wait," Karin said. He paused, one knee risen, one on the floor. "Please, promise me you… won't tell anyone about Ooda. I've worked so hard to give him a normal, quiet life. I don't think that anyone outside of the village knows that he even _exists._ Hell, I've been sending him to his room whenever I know the Seal Team's coming to visit since…" She swallowed. "I don't want it to be ruined; for me, but _especially_ for him, okay?" There was genuine distress in her voice. Her throat sounded closed-up. "Please, you have to understand. Don't tell anyone, okay?"

Sasuke thought for a moment, and then stood. It was the least he could do for her. "I won't."

Karin breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, _thank_ you. Really, you have no idea how much this means to us."

He grabbed his bag. "I can imagine." He headed for the door.

"Oh, and Sasuke?" He turned around to look at her, kneeling at the table, one hand on her belly, the other on her notebook. "Take some sandwiches with you, otherwise Ooda will think I haven't eaten any." She was smirking, though the joke was on her, and not him.

Sasuke waited for a moment, then approached the low table again and took two halves. "I don't like sandwiches much, but I could use something to eat," he said. "Take care."

She stayed sitting as he left the clinic, tracking his dark chakra as he paused in the foyer, left the entrance, and walked out of the village and out of her range.

She was eating a sandwich half of her own when Ooda finally came back downstairs. "So I finally got you to eat," he said, smiling. "How is it? I kinda threw it together."

It was some sort of vegetable butter with cucumbers, and it tasted very fresh. "It's not bad. But maybe add a bit more to them, next time. Okay?"

"Sure, sure. Did Sasuke enjoy them? I wasn't sure what he'd like so I went with something safe, you know?"

"I'm sure he liked them too. He took some with him when he left, in fact."

"Really! I'm glad." Ooda smiled. "When did he leave?"

"A while back. By the way," Karin added, idly, peeling off a loose bit of crust from the sandwich, "I need to go make a prescription for Ryouzai-san soon, you think you can deliver that to her house when I'm done making it?"

"Sure, if you want me to," he said. "How's she doing?"

"Ryouzai-san? She's doing better."

"That's good to hear."

"Mhmm."

Ooda settled himself across the table from her. Karin had long since closed the notebook, put the pen back in the spirals.

Then, "By the way?"

"Yeah?"

"Whatever _were_ you and Sasuke talking about?" He added, when Karin didn't reply immediately, "I just heard him shouting from down the hallway and it got me _ever_ so worried. Are things all right between you two?"

Karin took a very, very long time to say anything.

There were times when that voice was _ever_ so much like _his._

But, eventually, she did, suppressing the fear in her throat.

She couldn't tell him everything.

Not him.


	22. White Wing

_Chapter 22 - White Wing_

* * *

Sasuke was already calculating distances in his mind when he left the clinic. If he departed immediately from Karin's village he'd reach Tamina by the evening. That wasn't so much time.

His heart was beating so quickly, quickly, quickly.

How long had it been since he'd last seen Yakata? The mission had been in April. It was July now. April-May-June-July. That was three, almost four months. That hadn't been so long, had it? And yet, it seemed like it had been forever.

Did Yakata even remember him?

Oh, why did he even _care? _ He basically had been told, to his face, that it was possible. That Yakata was, Yakata was…

No. Calm down. He had things to ask, he had things he needed to know.

He made a list of things to ask in his head as he went along.

He realized, when he settled down to rest somewhere on the border of the Lands of Silk and Rice, that he had far too many questions.

No, he didn't need to know what Yakata's favorite food was. No, he didn't need to know how many friends he had. He didn't need to know any of those million other things.

That was all secondary. He had to be rational about this.

(Besides, Yakata's favorite food was probably rice balls, or cabbage. He probably hated steak. He probably had a few friends. Hadn't that been what those boys had been, when he had last been in the village? He had friends, there was nothing to worry about there.)

By the time he saw the hills in which Tamina was nestled, he had narrowed his queries down to two or three opening questions, and he figured, if the conversation continued, that he would just go on from there.

How had Yakata come to be their son? Was he adopted, or did his mother give birth to him?

Did he have the Sharingan?

That would be good enough to start.

Tamina was cleaner than he had remembered. Then again, he supposed that three months of being lived-in all anew would do that to a place. One would never have guessed that there had been a landslide there, that everything there was freshly-built.

It wasn't quite dark, but the sun was starting to set—just like how it had been when he had first arrived. But there were no lanterns, no dirty faces to greet him here. He wasn't paid much mind as he went through the streets, familiar in a faint, residual way, memorized unconsciously.

He knew where the Honbo house was.

He walked past the elder's house, where he and his students had once stayed. A pair of passing women nudged each other and whispered something he couldn't hear, though he could guess what it was they were discussing. Their tone was suspicious, after all.

His heartbeat was thick in his ears as he saw the house. He approached it.

He repeated his questions in his mind. To remind himself what was important here, what he needed to ask.

How had Yakata become their son?

Did he have the Sharingan?

He held his breath.

And knocked.

There was a rustling sort of clatter within. "Who could that be?" There was Yakata's mother's voice. Sasuke could remember her name—Satoko, he knew that.

"I'll go get it."

Yakata's voice.

Sasuke kept his face as still as he could. He held his mouth in a hard line that was neither a smile, nor a scowl.

When Yakata opened the door, and saw who was standing there, he gasped.

"…Sa-Sa-Sasuke-san?" he said, softly. His eyes were wide, and full of fear.

He had remembered Sasuke's name. And Sasuke remembered his.

"Yakata, are your parents at home?" Sasuke said.

Yakata didn't answer. His hair was longer, Sasuke noticed.

"Please, I just want to talk," Sasuke continued, when he received no answer.

"You, you, you, you shouldn't have come back," Yakata said, a sudden anger in his voice. "If, if, if you were just… if you were just going to leave anyways then… then you shouldn't have come back!"

"Yakata, who's there?" That was his father's voice.

Yakata didn't answer. His head whipped over his shoulder, and then back at Sasuke. "Wha-wha-what do you… what do you _want_?"

"Yakata, who's _there?"_ his father said again.

"I just… want to talk. To your parents," Sasuke said. He could feel his mouth stretching at the corners, drawing itself into a thinner line.

"Yakata!" There were footsteps. And there was Yakata's father, Gishi, standing behind him, all brown skin and brown eyes and astonishment on his face. "What are _you_ doing here?" he asked. He spoke like his son did.

"I wanted to talk to you," Sasuke said. "About Yakata."

"Talk to… me? After just leaving like that? Well. This is unexpected." Gishi did not sound pleased.

"I know that this is unexpected and I'm sure that I'm… unwelcome," Sasuke said. "But please, just allow me… ten minutes with you."

There was such a fear in Yakata's eyes.

Gishi took a very long time to answer.

"…fine. Ten minutes. Come in," he finally said.

Yakata disappeared.

They had, apparently, been in the middle of a meal. Yakata's mother, still wearing that rough, rope-like braid, had a bowl of rice in her hand. She gasped when Sasuke entered. "What is _he _doing here…?" she said.

"He wants to talk to us. About Yakata," Gishi said. "Go on, shinobi. Sit." He'd left off the honorifics this time, Sasuke noticed.

"About Yakata? What about Yakata…?"

"I just have a few questions," Sasuke said.

How had he come to be their son?

Did he have the Sharingan?

"You seemed to have a few questions when you came to visit last time, but you just ran out all of a sudden," Satoko said. She put down her bowl of rice and glared at him. "Why?"

"I… have my reasons. It's complicated. But things have changed," Sasuke said. "Please, just allow me this time, I can explain myself later. Trust me."

"Ask your questions," Gishi said. He sat, cross-legged, across from Sasuke, ignoring his food.

Yakata was nowhere to be found.

Sasuke almost didn't want him there. Maybe it was for the better.

"I need to ask you… Is… Yakata your son? Biologically, I mean."

Already, he was deviating from his plan. He clenched his fists, trying not to show his frustration.

But Satoko and Gishi glanced at each other, something Sasuke found curious. Satoko's chest rose and fell. "Can I ask you a question in return, then…?" she said.

Sasuke tilted his head, slightly. "I… suppose?"

"Are… _you_ Yakata's father, then?"

The words hit him harder than he had ever thought words were capable of. His own words slipped and stuttered as they shot out of his mouth. "E-excuse me?"

"Satoko!" Gishi said.

"Well I had to ask! Especially because Yakata was just so convinced…" She bowed her head, staring at her lap. "I'm sorry," she said, her voice hard. "I shouldn't have said anything."

"Why did you think I was…?" Sasuke said. He paused, and thought. "…so this means he _isn't_ your child?"

"No," Gishi said. The anger in his voice had softened, but his expression had not changed. "He isn't."

"I had a feeling," Sasuke said. "He… doesn't resemble either of you much at all."

"But you two, he was convinced you were…" Satoko said, but couldn't finish. Sasuke found that her eyes were suddenly brimming with tears. "Do you have any _idea _how much _pain_ you've caused him?"

"Satoko, calm down," Gishi said.

"Pain? How did I…?"

"When you first showed up, Yakata was convinced, _convinced_, that his _real_ father had come back!" She sniffed, but tried to quiet herself with her sleeve. "And the way that you just followed him _around_ like that… You're a sick, _sick_ man!"

"Satoko, don't _say_ things like that."

It took a while for Sasuke to process. Yakata thought that he…?

"So just tell me now! Are you his father or aren't you?" Satoko said. She was yelling. Wherever he was, Yakata could probably hear her. Sasuke didn't doubt that she knew this.

"…I'm… I'm not his father," he said. "But…"

"But _what?" _Satoko said. "Why have you come back? Why would you _do _something like this to him?"

Gishi took his place her side. He had his arms around his wife, who covered her face in her hands and began to openly sob. "Satoko, it's okay…" He looked up at Sasuke, eyes burning. "Why did you come back?" he asked.

"…I needed to ask _how_ Yakata came to be your son. Did… someone leave him with you, or did you-?"

"Yes!" Satoko cried out. She sniffed, wiping her tears away with her sleeve. The fabric was turning dark. "We… I can't have any _children,_ and we _prayed_ and then one day _he _came and gave us…" There was another sob. "He thought it was _you_."

A cold weight fell into Sasuke's stomach. "He? Who's…?"

"We never got a good look at his face," Gishi said. His voice was level and even with recollection. "He was wearing a black cloak, had everything covered up. Just came to our house in the dead of night and he had Yakata with him."

"He told us he, he came from where _we _came from, and he told us to take care of him until he c-came back," Satoko sniffed. "Said he'd… he'd do something to us if we didn't… Just told his name was… name was _Yakata_ and he gave him to us and then he just _left_. Oh, Yakata…"

"Yakata always knew he was adopted. It's… not an uncommon thing in these parts. And… because you two looked so similar, when you showed up and started following him around, he thought, well…" A shade of anger entered Gishi's face again. "Why did you have to come _back? _Why are you even _here?"_

"…listen, I'll leave if this is a bad time. I'm making you upset," Sasuke said. He already began shifting his position, to move.

He'd had a plan, he was there to ask two questions.

One of the questions had been answered. It was so easy to ask the second, and yet…

And yet he had a hysterical woman on his hands and an angry husband and Yakata was nowhere and they all hated him, they absolutely did.

Everything was going _wrong_. It wasn't the right time, none of it was right.

But then Gishi, said, demanded, "No, just… answer my question." The farmer's stare was intense and full of months, maybe years of frustration. "You came back for a reason. Tell me that reason."

He couldn't say it.

Why would he say such a thing?

Their son was his brother.

They didn't know anything, they didn't… He couldn't say that!

Gishi's stare was increasing in intensity. "Well, come on, shinobi! Answer me!"

He knew that Yakata was watching, from somewhere. Listening, like Sasuke had done from the trees.

And not quite knowing where it had come from, Sasuke said it.

"I'm… not Yakata's father. I'm his…" He swallowed. "I'm his uncle," he said. "My… late brother, that's who his father is. I never thought he'd left behind any children, but when I first saw Yakata the resemblance was so strong, I just couldn't…"

"Your brother…?" Gishi's voice was suddenly rather hollow. "That's what you think…?"

Sasuke swallowed, again. They couldn't have known Itachi. Itachi was dead. He could say this.

And, after all, couldn't Yakata be considered something like a son? That had been what he had first thought, hadn't it?

"They look exactly the same. Trust me, I never forget a face," Sasuke said. "I thought I was… deluding myself, for the longest time. Hah, I even… I even I thought that maybe my brother was still _alive_. That _you_ were my brother." He nodded his head toward Gishi. "That's why I ran, the first time, because you weren't and I didn't want to make a _fool _of myself." Even though he clearly, clearly, _clearly_ had. "But after I left, something happened that changed my mind, and now I'm… convinced. He _is_ my brother's son."

"Your nephew…?" Satoko said. She was starting to calm down, just a little. Her sobs were devolving into gentle weeps. "Oh, heavens…"

"It wasn't my intention to cause any pain," Sasuke continued. His voice had gotten soft, unexpectedly. Comfort was a foreign thing to him and it felt strange, coming out of his mouth. "In all honesty this… probably could have been cleared up if I had just bothered to stay and explain myself."

Hindsight was twenty-twenty, after all. Wasn't it?

"That's my fault. And this revelation was very recent, I should perhaps have sent a letter or something… But I got…" He looked at his lap. "...a little excited."

Well if that wasn't the understatement of the century. Sasuke's heart was beating at speeds he rarely felt outside of battle.

"Just how recent?" Gishi said.

And Sasuke thought. Quickly.

"My wife… found some letters of his, when she was cleaning the house. About a week ago. There were mentions of… a lover. A child. It all added up. I was confused and scared and… excited. And when I saw Yakata's name, near the later entries, I just… I had to come back. I left the house so quickly that I forgot to bring them with me…"

It amazed himself, how easy it was to construct the lie. How easy it was to cover his tracks, to piece together the holes.

"It's just… for three months, I just thought it was a coincidence," Sasuke continued. "Now I don't know _what_ to think. I hardly know what to _do_. I'm only here on a… whim. I'm acting irrationally, I'm…" And he shut himself up there because he felt his throat tightening and he clenched his fists together ever-tighter to keep his emotions in.

Somehow, it seemed to help. "I am so, so sorry for being so hostile," Gishi said. Satoko seemed to have burst into a fresh batch of tears. "You have to understand, Yakata was just so _upset_ over this. We didn't know what to do."

"And my actions didn't help," Sasuke said. But really, who was to blame? "Whatever he had to go through, I'm certain that some part of it is my fault."

"He thought his real father had come back. But when you left, when you _left_…" Satoko's voice was muffled by her sleeves. "So he's dead, he's dead, isn't he…"

"He passed on quite a few years ago. It was… it was very sudden. So to find out he'd left behind a child…" Sasuke actually started to believe his words. "Yakata's… all I have left of him, I suppose."

That, yes, was the truth.

Yakata was the only thing left of Itachi. He _was _Itachi.

"This must be hard for you," Gishi said.

"I imagine it's not terribly easy for you, either," Sasuke replied, dryly.

"Oh, heavens…" Satoko said again.

"I'm still… not entirely sure about all of this," Sasuke said. "Though… though there's one thing that would… prove it. That he's my brother's son, more than anything else."

He had come to ask two questions.

The first had been answered already.

Satoko sniffed. Her eyes were dark brown and rimmed with red. "What is it?"

"Have his eyes ever turned red, like mine? Under stress, or fear?" Sasuke asked. He pointed to his left eye, for emphasis.

"No, I can't say I've ever seen that happen to him," Gishi said. "Why, is that something…?"

"It's a trait within my family's clan," Sasuke said, "called the Sharingan. It's a very, very unique talent, and an enormous gift to have. If Yakata were truly from my and my brother's clan, then surely it would have manifested by now."

"No, his eyes have never looked like yours," Satoko said. "Not ever… Would they always be red, if that were the case?"

"No, no, it's only temporary with most people. Something you can turn on and off," Sasuke said. "Mine are… different." He tried, so painfully, to ignore the reason why this was.

"Oh, I… I see…" Satoko said. She sniffed.

"So what does this Sharingan… do?" Gishi asked. He'd moved slightly away from his wife, his face filling with a sort of empty curiosity.

"It… lets you see things that others can't… normally see," Sasuke said, picking his words carefully, remembering who he was talking to. These were civilians, not ninja. "You can memorize things in an instant. Notice things that other people don't notice."

"That's just like him…" Satoko said, softly.

Sasuke's eyes widened slightly. "Just like who…?"

"And he's so smart, he learns things just right away…"

"Who…?" Sasuke said, though he had a feeling she was talking about…

"Yakata, he says he can tell what the weather's going to be like, just by watching the clouds," she continued. She held her fingers in themselves with a weak grip. "And he was the one who… he knew when the landslide was going to happen." A tear rolled down her cheek again and she wiped it away with her already soaked sleeve. "From the way the mountain looked. He said it looked different and we had to leave and…"

"People around here call him a… witch-boy," Gishi continued, as Satoko began to weep again. He put a hand on her back, resignedly, and his face tightened, as if the words physically pained him to say. "And the… kids in the village tease him so much. It's been hard for all of us. He's just _smart_, he can't explain how he knows these things."

He sounded, to Sasuke, like a genius. Like the genius he knew he was.

(Though to hear that he'd predicted the landslide sent a chill through his bones.)

"It's not… unusual for Uchiha clan members to have exceptional observation, even before their Sharingan manifests. Keen observation, intelligence, all run in the family. And my brother, well…" Sasuke almost had to smile, there. "People have said he was the greatest genius my clan's ever produced. So I'm… I'm not surprised that Yakata's the same."

"A genius…" Satoko said.

"So he _should_ have these eyes by now?" Gishi said.

"My brother had his Sharingan activated by the age of eight. How old is Yakata now…?"

"Ten. He was… given to us in January but he was already a few months old by then…" Satoko said. "So we celebrate his birthday in November…"

(None of Sasuke's children had developed the Sharingan yet. Even Hajime, twenty-one years old, almost twenty-two, an ANBU and everything, had eyes that remained as black as anything. But Sasuke was patient, even with his fears that their Yamanaka blood would… delay their development, somehow.)

(But his children would develop the Sharingan.)

"Well, I'm sure it should be soon," Sasuke said. "The Sharingan's, uh, not the only way to tell if he's part of the family, of course."

"What, what is it?" Gishi said. He leaned forward.

"…a blood test, naturally," Sasuke said. His voice was forced-flat.

He had suddenly gotten an idea.

"Oh, one of those…" Gishi said, in a way that suggested that he didn't know a blood test from a math test. "Yes, that would definitely prove it."

"And… just, pardon me for asking, but I want to make sure," Sasuke said. His heart began beating even faster. "I'm wondering if… maybe I could take Yakata back home with me, not only to have the tests done, but to have him trained a little in the ninja arts, as well."

"What?" Satoko said. Her hands clasped themselves over her chest. "A ninja? Oh, heavens, why would you… But for how long, how long would you keep him?"

She hadn't even said no. Sasuke tried not to smile, and he tried even harder not to panic. "Yakata… no doubt has enormous amounts of untapped potential."

"We need him for the harvest," Gishi said, in a tone that allowed no dissent against it.

"Then I'd… return him by then. And I promise, I'd care for him as if he were my own. He's my brother's... only son, Gishi-san." The desperation in his voice was… strange to hear, from his perspective. Stranger still, he found himself adding, "I haven't told you this, but… Apart from him, and my children, he's the only living member my clan has left. I have to take care of whatever we have."

"Oh, that's _awful_," Satoko said, after a while. "Gishi, should we…?"

Gishi's expression was hard, and skeptical. "I'm wary of this, Uchiha-san," he said. So he'd finally decided to stop calling him "shinobi;" that was a good sign. "Taking him to have blood tests done I can understand, but training him to be a ninja…?"

"I'm just thinking of the potential he has," Sasuke said. "My brother was a genius, and from what I've heard, much of that had to have been passed on to him. Not just anyone could predict a landslide from the shape of the land alone."

Gishi thought on this for a very long time, not saying anything. Sasuke squirmed.

"…besides, I'll only train Yakata if he wants it," he added, softly. "But please understand, this is probably best for him."

The house was quiet, in the wake of the offer, save for the crackle of the fire and Satoko's muffled sniffles.

The strain of being so polite almost hurt. He could easily have demanded to take Yakata by force. Why was he being so careful?

And then he remembered what Karin had said and became even more self-conscious. _"You'll have to be careful, in how you talk to him, how you treat him."_

Sasuke was being careful. And he wasn't mentioning her theory, not in the slightest.

"…if you need to think about it then I'll leave and come back in the morning. I need to be home soon, but I'll give you as much time as I can afford," he said, as he began to stand. "I understand that this is a lot to process. Really, I'm… trying to figure out what's going on, myself."

"Thank you, we'll… we'll talk to Yakata about it," Gishi said. He didn't stop Sasuke as he began to move away.

"Thank you, _thank _you," said Satoko. "For telling us about this."

"It's… what I needed to do," Sasuke said, over his shoulder. "I'll be back in the morning."

He left. Yakata remained in the shadows the entire time, not even emerging to watch him go.

Sasuke made camp at the forest's edge that night and barely managed to sleep, marveling at what he had just done.

He had deceived those people, basically. But what harm was done? It was as close to the truth as he could afford, and even _he _could believe in it, to some extent.

Yakata was… more like Itachi's son, than Itachi. But he was still Itachi, wasn't he?

He was still Itachi.

But why had he come up with that plan, to take him to Konoha? Why did he even want to do that in the first place?

Obviously, he could have blood drawn and tested and everything. Probably have some of it sent to Karin—he'd promised her that he'd keep her posted, after all, and this was all very, very valuable information to her too, no doubt. To prove, without a doubt, that Yakata was who he was.

But then, what? To offer to train him as a ninja? Where had _that_ come from?

In the back of his mind, he heard Karin's voice, again.

"_I wanted to give him a life that Orochimaru didn't. Couldn't have."_

He could do the same for Yakata. Honing those innate talents of his in a world where he wasn't the puppet of twisted, broken, militant elders. A world where one's superiors didn't order you to kill your own family. A world of peace, an environment that fostered supreme growth.

(And weakness and uselessness and sloth and Sasuke didn't want to mar his thoughts with all his current frustrations with the present educational system. They were far too soft on children in that day and age, and it disgusted him. Children—especially _his _children—had so much more potential than that.)

He could give Yakata a life as a ninja that Itachi could never have dreamed of having.

That's where that had come from, hadn't it?

He felt a warmth in his chest, at this realization.

If Yakata wanted it.

And the warmth was gone.

But… who didn't want to be a ninja? To a child it would be an adventure, yes?

Karai was eleven years old, almost the same age as Yakata. Her head always in the clouds, making every mundane little thing a quest, a journey. Surely Yakata had some of that same sense of excitement?

It was only until their harvest, at least. Two, three months at most. It wouldn't be permanent.

Yakata would say yes. And everything would go right.

Sasuke slept soundly, after that realization, holding fast to his beautiful delusions and his dreams and waking with the sunrise and the crow of roosters.

He ate breakfast slowly, taking his time. And, when he thought he was ready, he began on his way back to the house.


	23. Pupil Reflection

_Chapter 23 - Pupil Reflection_

* * *

Yakata stayed in his room and thought for a very, very long time, after talking everything over with his parents.

Well, technically, it wasn't _his_ room. He shared it with his parents, who were sleeping, now, a few feet away from him. His mama had gone to bed early, his papa joining her after cleaning up, when she could not.

There was a lot for him to process.

He'd listened to the entire conversation they'd had with Sasuke through the crack where the door slid open, on his knees. He had tried not to be heard. He doubted he was.

He had watched his mama cry and his papa yell.

Yakata had expected Sasuke to say that he wasn't his father. He just knew, after he had left, after Yakata had beaten himself up for days after Sasuke's departure for his silly dreams, that it wasn't the truth.

If Sasuke had really been his father, then he'd have stayed.

Yakata didn't expect to learn about Sasuke's brother. And the fact that he was dead. And the man who was _really_ his father.

Yakata held onto his knees and listened intently from that moment onward, grabbing any information about the man that he could.

It wouldn't be lying to say that Yakata had always been curious about where he had come from. His parents were very frank with him about his origins, but the fact that he was adopted didn't matter so much to him. He _loved_ his parents, more than anything else. And a lot of the other kids in the village and nearby lived with parents who weren't their own, that wasn't unusual or anything at all.

But some small part of him had always wondered what kind of a person his mother, his father had been. Why they'd left him with his real parents, even, and with such a warning, and that promise to come back.

A lot of the time those things occurred when a family was unable to provide for another child in the house. And sometimes a kid just got orphaned, that couldn't be helped. There were always childless couples with open arms, or those who were unable to have their own children with many already taken in.

(And even with Yakata's warnings, there had been some victims in the landslide. Mostly the skeptics. The Takeda family, a few houses away, had taken in the Sato family's child, now that his parents were gone. It was tragic, but these things happened, and children needed to be cared for.)

It was the fact that his father and not his mother had left him with his parents that interested him quite a bit. Maybe his mother had died in childbirth, or run off somewhere, and his father couldn't provide for Yakata by himself? Or… something like that. Yakata wasn't very good at speculating about it.

(Though he'd certainly dreamed and fantasized—well, not _fantasized_, but.)

(After all, hadn't he promised to come back...?)

Besides, he _loved_ his parents. He didn't want for anything else. It wasn't like there was a better life out there for him—he had a hard life, but it was a _good_ life, and he was happy. Even when people whispered about him for the things he said about the weather and the crops.

(And when they didn't whisper.)

Yakata… didn't have special powers, he just… saw things, and he knew they were going to happen based on what he saw. He could tell by the color of a rice shoot if it was going to thrive or not, long before many others would. He knew that there was a thunderstorm coming if the clouds swelled big and enormous, like soap suds or tufts of wool, he knew when it would produce hail, or just rain.

But he was still curious.

He pulled the facts about his father out of the air as Sasuke spoke them and hoarded them away in his mind.

His father had been… a ninja, probably, like Sasuke. A genius—a genius? Wow… And he had to have been somewhat secretive, if Sasuke himself hadn't even found out about Yakata until just now, through letters.

He wondered, slightly, about what type of woman his mother had been. Probably a subtle, sophisticated lady, to communicate by letters. Or maybe someone cold and elegant…

When Sasuke mentioned the Sharingan, Yakata paused, and thought for a moment. He'd never been told he had red eyes, and his parents certainly didn't say anything about it… Did his father have red eyes like Sasuke's, then?

Sasuke didn't say anything more on the matter, however.

(A long time after the conversation, when there was still oil left in the lamp on the floor, Yakata got out his mama's round makeup mirror and looked very, very carefully at his own, black eyes. He couldn't imagine how they could possibly be considered red in any sense of the word. He added the mystery to the enormous list of things he wanted to ask, eventually.)

He wondered what Sasuke meant, when he said he was the last of his clan.

But most of all, he wondered if it would be the right thing to follow him and go be trained as a ninja.

Yakata had only a slight idea about what ninjas did. He knew that they were hired for manual labor and hard tasks and fetching items and things like that—that was how he had met Sasuke anyways, right? And he'd met others before—there was that man named Hozuki and his little boy, a child a bit younger than Yakata; they were drifters who came by about once a month to see if there were any jobs they could do around town, and there usually were. They were strange people, Yakata thought; the elder of the two had sharp teeth that looked more like fangs than anything else, and his purple eyes were restless and mistrusting, despite the honest work that he did.

Most of the other ninja who came into the town were hired to help with the harvest if the crop was particularly large, or if hands were particularly scarce. Or, in a particularly magnificent instance: when Aoshi, the miller in the next village over, needed help finding the perfect gift to impress the woman he wanted to marry, he hired a ninja to help. That was… interesting.

(They never did see that woman again. Apparently, the ninja was an acceptable enough gift to her.)

But regardless. Ninja, overall, seemed to be helpful people. And, when Yakata sat down with his parents to talk about it (after his mama stopped crying, after his papa coaxed him out of the bedroom), he stated, fairly early on, that he wanted to go with Sasuke.

"Yakata, we've hardly even talked about this," his mama said. "Are you sure you want to make this decision right now?"

Yakata nodded. "I, I, I think it'd be good for me to receive some of this, this training," he said. "Ninjas are… helpful people, right? Maybe I'll… I'll have learned some new skills by the time I come back! So… so I can help with the harvest. Since… well, the things I, I _can _do to help don't… don't amount to much."

"Yakata, don't _say _things like that," his mama said. She bit her lip. "You help more than you realize. You're a _good_ boy."

Yakata didn't say anything.

"Yakata, if that's what you want to do then we'll absolutely support you," his papa said. "I'm just a little worried, this is all so sudden."

"Yeah, I, I know it's… sudden." Yakata looked down, for a moment, before looking at his parents again. "But, but Sasuke-san has to go home soon, and I don't, I don't have much time to think about it. Um. I, I think… I still think it's a good idea."

"You're such a good boy," his mama said, again. She sounded like she was going to cry, again. Yakata got up and went over, and he hugged her very tightly.

"Mama, don't cry…" he said. "This… it, it, it'll be a good thing, okay?" His mama didn't reply, just holding him even tighter.

They didn't discuss his desire to learn more about his father much at all, or the blood tests that Sasuke wanted to have done. They were things that were already out on the table, in a sense. Things they already knew.

Besides, those weren't the reasons why Yakata was leaving for so long. If it was only for that, he'd be there and back in an instant.

But he was leaving to be trained, until the harvest.

They all agreed to sleep on it, but Yakata's mind was more than set.

This would be a _good_ thing, in every sense of the word. Ninjas were helpful people, weren't they?

He'd learn to do something actually useful, something nobody else could do. Something that would help everyone, for certain.

(And… maybe people would actually appreciate him for it.)

(He'd fit in, here. In this new role.)

(With this new, temporary family.)

(Maybe.)

He couldn't start packing just yet. His parents were still sleeping; he didn't want to wake them up by taking his clothes out of the bureau and packing them away for the journey ahead. He would be gone until the harvest—how many clothes would he need? He couldn't take up much space.

He thought.

Doubtless he'd be able to wash his clothes while he was away at Sasuke's house. And his mother washed clothes every week or so, to save soap. They didn't have many clothes. One week's worth of clothes was at least seven shirts, plus maybe one or two more, just in case. And only a few pairs of pants, his shoes…

He thought about how much it would weigh.

He thought about what else he wanted to bring, from home.

He knew exactly what he needed by the time he finally nestled under his futon, blowing out the lamp, and it gave him a sort of peace of mind.

He didn't dream.

It took him a while to wake up, in the morning, long after the roosters began to crow, on account of his staying up so late. His parents' futons were already empty and folded in the corner, and he could smell breakfast cooking. He rubbed his eyes and left the bedroom, yawning.

He and his parents talked, a little, after saying good morning. "Sa-Sasuke-san isn't, isn't here yet?" Yakata said.

"No, not yet," said his papa. He paused, and added, "Are you still going to go through with this?"

"Mm. I, I think… I think it's the right thing to do," Yakata replied.

His mama was quiet as she stirred the rice porridge, dumping a spoonful of spices into it. "Would you have believed this was even possible, yesterday?" she said, after a while. "That he'd come back with all of this… news and ninja business."

Yakata and his papa had to admit that they wouldn't have. But fate was a strange thing, and a wonderful thing, as well.

Yakata still had his family, but he'd be learning about another, now, and gaining skills that he was sure would be more of a help than his witch-predictions, his weather and mountains and shoot-colors.

Sasuke came back when Yakata was helping his mama clean the dishes. His papa had declared that he would stay home until all of this was negotiated properly.

(And besides, he wanted to be there to bid his son farewell. But he didn't dare voice this. He was a hard man and he'd gone through too much in his life to show or admit any sort of weakness.)

Yakata found himself smiling when he saw that shape in the doorway, of that man with the red eyes and the perpetually cross expression.

His uncle?

The words didn't seem to fit, not yet.

(But Yakata was already trying to force them into his world, in a way.)

"I take it you all have had time to talk this over," Sasuke said, after he had been invited in, and his shoes had been taken off.

"We did," Yakata's papa said. They were all sitting down, him and Sasuke and Yakata and his mama. The air was very still.

"And?" Sasuke said.

Yakata's papa glanced at him.

"I've, I've, I've decided to, um. To come with you. To be trained," Yakata said. He looked right into Sasuke's red eyes, unaware of how scared or happy he really appeared. He tried, badly, not to stutter. "Un-until the harvest, anyways..."

That was the first time Yakata could ever remember seeing Sasuke smile so warmly. It lasted for only a second, but it was still there.

(It was even warmer than that thin, long-lasting smile that he had been wearing three months before, on that night of illusions and miscommunication.)

"You're making a good decision," Sasuke said, nodding, his face shifting back into its usual grimness. "Are you ready to leave, then?"

"No, no, we were waiting for you to get back first!" Yakata's mama said, waving her hand. "We'll get Yakata packed right away."

"Hm." Sasuke crossed his arms. "I had expected you to be ready."

"Sasuke-san, um. I won't, I won't take very long, I already know what I need," Yakata said.

Sasuke's expression softened. "…fine, then. I'll just wait here for you."

"Come on, Yakata, let's get your things…" his mama said, and the two of them retreated to the bedroom. Yakata had already laid out the ten shirts, the five pairs of shorts and pants, the underwear, by the time she had found his papa's traveling bag.

"Yakata, is that really enough?" she said, putting her fingers on her lips as she looked it all over. "You're going to be gone for…"

"It's enough if I, if I wash my clothes at least… at least once a week," Yakata replied, brightly. He ran the numbers, the weights, over in his head again in an instant. "And, and, and I'm sure I'll be able to do that."

"And the book, Yakata?"

He felt his face grow slightly warm. "Well, it's my favorite… I, I want something to read while I'm… while I'm there."

It was one of the few books he actually owned, a gift from his ninth birthday. All the other books he had ever read came from the school, a building of many rooms and sliding doors that was a half hour's walk out from the village. Yakata had read them all a million times over, even the boring farmer's almanacs, even the picture books.

Yakata had gone to school, once, years ago, but he left once he had learned to read and do math, and that was that. That's how it was with most kids, that was just all you needed to know.

(Though most kids weren't finished by the age of six. Yakata was a fast learner, and it wouldn't be a stretch to say that he could read and write better than his parents.)

Besides, the most practical skills were learned in the field. Every kid knew how to help tend the fields, to pull up the young rice shoots at just the right time, to cull the ones that weren't thriving. Every kid knew how to feed chickens, and to pluck chickens.

A few kids that were Yakata's age were also being taken on as apprentices to tradesmen and artisans in the village, in neighboring villages.

This was something of an apprenticeship, this ninja training, now that Yakata thought about it. He didn't know if he was much-suited for any other trades, really.

If he liked it, maybe he'd stay a little longer…?

"Yakata, are you listening to me?" his mama said.

He was. She'd already started putting his clothes into the bag. Despite her protests he managed to convince her that, yes, he had enough clothes. (She still snuck another pair of underwear in, which he noticed but said nothing about.) They put the book on top, and after she told him to wait, she added a small silk pouch with frayed gold tassels to the package.

"For protection," she said. She sniffed. "Oh, Yakata, be _careful_ out there…"

Yakata held his mama, again, until she let go. It took a while.

Once she was certain that she was presentable, they left the bedroom. Sasuke and his papa were talking about something, but Sasuke stopped mid-sentence when he saw Yakata.

"Are we ready?" he said.

Yakata nodded, but his mama said, "Oh, just a moment!" She scurried to a corner of the room and Sasuke scowled. Yakata noticed him roll his eyes. But she was quick, and she handed Yakata a little bundle wrapped in twine and paper. "It's lunch. You'll want something to eat on the way over, I'm sure…"

"Thanks, Mama," Yakata said, and he put it into his pack.

"We'll be going on foot, you know," Sasuke said. "It's a long journey, but it'd be longer if we tried to take a transport. I'm sure you can handle it."

Yakata nodded again, this time with a smile. "Yeah, I'm sure…!"

His papa was standing, now, and so was Sasuke. He put his hand on Yakata's shoulder, as Sasuke went to go put his shoes on. "Be careful out there, Yakata. And put everything into your training."

"I will, Papa." Yakata was heading for the door as well, now. His parents followed.

"And write to me as _much_ as you can," his mama said. She was already wiping at her eyes again.

"I _will_, Mama," he said. He held her hand for a moment, before going to get his shoes on. Sasuke was waiting at the door.

She pulled him into one last hug, before he left. "I love you. My sweet, sweet boy…"

"I, I love you too, Mama," he said. He felt tears stinging the edges of his eyes. He wiped them on her shoulder as she pulled him in closer, and wiped his arm against his face for good measure when it was all over.

Sasuke waited at the door, arms folded.

And Yakata stepped over the foyer and out near the door.

"Take care of our son for us," Yakata heard his papa say, from behind them.

"I promise that I will," Sasuke said.

And they left.


	24. Ankle Memory

_Chapter 24 - Ankle Memory_

* * *

Sasuke and Yakata walked in silence for the longest time, passing out of the village, over the hills and into the forest beyond the village's borders.

It was strange, then, that the first thing Yakata found himself asking was, "The Woman of the Woods… She, she, she doesn't… _really_ exist, does she?"

Sasuke looked over his shoulder at him, eyebrows tangled in confusion. "Excuse me?"

"Well it's just… some, some stories got around after y-you and your, um. Students stayed here," Yakata continued. He looked sideways, at the passing trunks, as he talked. "'course, I don't, I don't think she lives _here_, like, like some of the other guys were saying, but, um… Does she… does she really live in Konoha?"

Sasuke's chuckle was a strange thing to hear. "No, it's just an urban legend," he said. "You shouldn't believe in things like that, much less be afraid of them."

"Ah…" Yakata said. He didn't look at Sasuke after that, not for a fair amount of time.

(Why did he have to bring _that_ up? He resolved to be more careful in conversation from there on out. Stupid, stupid…)

Nothing more was said for a good long while. The land soon started looking unfamiliar, they began passing villages, in the distance and up close, that Yakata did not know. Sasuke's pace was steady, and quick, for a walk. But Yakata was able to keep up.

Eventually, they decided to stop for something to eat. Yakata suggested that he maybe eat the package from his mother, but Sasuke stopped him. "There's a restaurant not five minutes away from here. You can eat that later, when we have to stop for dinner. We _are_ going to have to camp out tonight, you know. Won't reach Konoha until tomorrow evening, at this pace."

"Oh, I… I didn't bring anything to, to sleep out in, I'm, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry," Yakata said. "I should have thought of that…"

Sasuke sighed, loudly. He closed his eyes, then opened them again. "That's… okay. You can use my kit."

"Oh, no, I, I couldn't-"

"I'm used to it. You can use my kit," Sasuke said, again. It was an order, not a suggestion.

Yakata took a breath in and held it there for a moment, before exhaling. "Okay, if you… if you say so."

The restaurant was a little isolated sort of thing on the outskirts of a town, by the side of the road. The old woman who ran the place seated them and gave them menus, and told them she could take their orders any time.

"Order anything you want," Sasuke said, once again, like a command.

Yakata didn't know what to get. "There's, um. Wow, lots of choices…"

"Well, just pick one, okay? Don't worry about cost," Sasuke said.

"I wasn't… well, okay," Yakata said. So many of the dishes had strange, exotic names. Empress Chicken? What in the world was that? He wondered why they couldn't all have simple names, like Beef and Broccoli. Only, Yakata didn't really like beef, so… "I'll get the cabbage with… ginger? That, that comes with rice, right?"

Sasuke's eyebrow rose. "Just that?"

"Well, I do like cabbage, so… Wh-why are you smiling, Sasuke-san?"

Sasuke shook his head, almost laughing. "Nothing, nothing… it's just, that was his favorite food, cabbage."

Yakata blinked. Sasuke waved the old woman over, from where she was shuffling near another set of tables. "Who?"

"Your… father, of course," Sasuke said, and addressed the woman, handing the menus over. "A cabbage with ginger, and a vegetable stir fry."

"Right away," she said, in a voice like a creaking door, and shuffled off with the menus in hand.

"That… that really was his… favorite food?" Yakata said. He found himself sitting up a little more.

"As far as I can remember," Sasuke said. "Well, that and rice balls. He kind of had simple tastes, my brother."

A pinched little smile began to grow on Yakata's face, and his shoulders rose with it. "Gosh!" The smile faded slightly as a thought occurred to him. "…what… what was his, his name, anyways? My father. I, I don't think you, um. Ever told me…"

"His name?" Sasuke looked at his hands for a surprisingly long while. "Itachi. His name was Itachi."

"Itachi." That was his father's name. Itachi. "…c-can I, um. Can I ask you about him at all?"

Sasuke made a noise that wasn't really a laugh, but wasn't much of anything else, either. "Of course you can ask about him." There was a thoughtful expression on his face, suddenly. "No… reason why you can't." And it was gone. "What do you want to know?"

Yakata had come up with so many questions, sitting alone the night before, and yet he found himself struggling for them, now that he had the opportunity.

He decided on, "Well… what… what kind of a person was he?"

"What kind of a person?" Sasuke's eyes were surprisingly narrow.

"Yeah, like… um." How could he clarify…? "What, what was he… like? His, his personality?" Yakata said.

"Oh. That's what you meant," Sasuke said. He nodded, and looked at his hands again, fingers laced together. "Your father was… a very quiet person. He liked to keep to himself, most of the time. But he was very kind, at the same time, even if it didn't always seem that way."

Quiet, liked to keep to himself, and kind. Yakata sealed the facts away into his mind, adding them to the faceless portrait he was creating. "Did he… did he have any hobbies or anything? What did he, um. Like to do?"

Sasuke was quiet for a while. His head shifted with subtle movements as he thought, and his eyebrows knit together and slightly upward. "…I'm not terribly sure," he finally said. "I can only remember him just training, all the time, when he wasn't with me or at work. He didn't have much time for hobbies."

"Oh, I see…" Yakata said. He dug around for another question. "So did… did you two get along well, then, or, or were you sorta… sorta distant?"

Sasuke was still looking at his hands. His red eyes grew even softer. "I suppose… you could say that we got along. Though I was always the annoying one, always trying to get his attention. He was my older brother, you see. Five years older. I really looked up to him."

"S-sounds like it," Yakata said, when Sasuke didn't say anything for a while.

"He was so patient with me; I almost can't believe it, in hindsight." Sasuke continued. The corners of his mouth twitched upward. "His… work just had him busy, a lot of the time."

"Wha-what did he do? For, for work, I mean." Yakata sat up, very straight, in his chair. He had one hand folded on top of the other, on the table.

"He was a ninja. Naturally. Just like the rest of my family," Sasuke said. "He was…" A dry, laugh-like thing escaped from his lips, like the noise he'd made when Yakata had first asked a question of him. "He was a very high-ranking ninja in the village. One of the greatest they'd ever had."

"Wow, really?"

"Yeah, really."

"What… what sorta stuff did he do?"

Sasuke paused for a long while, his eyebrows low. Yakata opened his mouth to apologize, before Sasuke said, "He did… the things that other people didn't want to do. The most difficult missions. That was just the kind of person he was, Itachi." Another twinge-smile. "He always put others before himself."

Patient, skilled, selfless. The portrait increased in detail, but it still didn't have a face.

"I guess that makes sense, then," Sasuke continued. "No matter how busy he was, he always made at least a little time for me. Even if it meant, hah." The smile grew.

"What? What's so… so funny?" Yakata asked.

Sasuke had his hand at his mouth now, covering his smile. "I was just reminded, whenever I was bothering him to play with me or something, and he didn't have the time, he'd call me over. Like this, you see." He took the hand and waved it, palm-inward, towards himself. "And when I was right in front of him, he'd…"

But Sasuke pulled his hand back from where it had been drawing nearer and nearer to Yakata's face. He stared at it with an expression that Yakata couldn't quite read.

(Could grief be that shameful-looking?)

"What? Wha-what would he do…?" Yakata said softly. He leaned forward.

"…sorry. Maybe next time." Sasuke's voice was incredibly quiet, and coated with a strange bitterness.

"Huh? Oh, uh, okay," Yakata said, blinking. "If, if, if you… if you don't wanna… talk about it now then, um…"

And then Sasuke was laughing, just as quietly as he had been speaking. "No, no, that's just what he used to tell me," he said. "When he poked me on the forehead. See, like this." And with two fingers he reached out and gently pressed the middle of Yakata's brow. His hand crumpled into a fist of loose fingers as it fell away. "That was how he told me he was… sorry, I suppose. For being too busy."

Yakata rubbed the space where his fingers had been, closing one eye. "F-funny way of… saying you're sorry…"

Sasuke's laughter was even louder, this time. And because it was louder, Yakata finally noticed how it almost sounded like he was crying, at the same time.

"Sounds like he… like he really cared about you," Yakata said, smiling as he put his hands back down on the table. "I mean, I'm, I'm… I'm sure he _cared_ about you, since you two were, um. Brothers, I guess…"

"He did," Sasuke said, simply, softly. "I don't think I ever realized how _much_ he cared, though, until… after he was gone." He narrowed his eyes, and his mouth twitched, again, but this time into a frown. "I wish I could have thanked him, just once, before it was all over. For everything he did for me."

"I'm… I'm sure he _knows_ that, that you're thankful, though," Yakata said. Sasuke looked up suddenly, his expression tilting into mild confusion. "You know, wherever he is… If… if he was as good a person as you say he was, then he's… he's bound to be somewhere nice."

Yakata believed in mountain gods and rice gods and a Riverman and a world where, if you did well in life, you'd be rewarded in death. Though he wasn't sure, yet, what sort of reward that really was.

The priest in the temple where they prayed on New Year's Day said that a rebirth into a better life was one's reward. The monk with the shaved head that had passed through the village a few months before said that there was a divine world where good souls came to rest at the end of their lives, where they could watch over their loved ones in comfort and bliss until they were reunited. Yakata wasn't sure which one was right, but they both sounded rather pleasant to him.

(Sasuke couldn't remember ever being more grateful for tea being brought to a table, with apologies from the old woman for it being so late. He didn't know how much more he could bear.)

The conversation turned to Sasuke's own family, after their meals were delivered, a while later. Yakata handled his chopsticks with a rough precision, bundling the leaves of cabbage, the rice together. He never spoke with food in his mouth.

"So, um, what about the, the rest of your family, Sasuke-san?" he asked, after chewing, swallowing. "Do you have any, um. Children?"

"Ah. Yes, I do."

"How many?"

"Five."

Yakata took another bundle of cabbage leaves, eyes widening. "Wow, you, you have a lot of children, Sasuke-san."

"Is that really so much?" Sasuke said. He took another bite of his stir-fry instead of smiling.

"Well, I, I know people with, um. Large families," Yakata said. "I can just imagine, they're… they're probably a real handful. Well, if, if, if they're young, anyways…"

"Oh, most of them are nearly grown. But, they've always been very well-behaved." A stiff sort of pride entered Sasuke's voice. "They _are _Uchihas, after all."

"Oh, well…" Yakata said, not exactly sure what that meant. Uchiha, that was the name of Sasuke's clan, wasn't it? Itachi, his father's clan, too.

Yakata's clan, too?

…he decided to think about it later. "So you said they're… they're mostly grown? Is there anyone that, that, that's around my age?"

Sasuke finished chewing. "Yes, my youngest daughter, Karai. She's eleven."

"Oh, I… I see. I hope we'll get along, then," Yakata said. Then again, Yakata knew that most people would at least tolerate him, if he stayed quiet enough. "Wha-wha-what's she like?"

"She's very…" Sasuke frowned as he sifted around for words. "…_cheerful_," he decided. "She gets along with just about anyone, so you don't have to worry about _her_ not liking _you_."

"Oh, well, that's… that's good," Yakata said, remembering, Karai, cheerful, friendly, eleven. Another portrait. "You said she's the, the youngest." He got another bunch of cabbage leaves with his chopsticks. "Who are the, the other four?"

"Well Inou is the next-youngest. He's fourteen. Nadeshiko is… eighteen. Takeru, my second son, is nineteen, almost twenty. And Hajime is twenty-one." He gathered a bunch of noodles and carrot together. "Don't know how much you'll be seeing of them, but I'll have them come home to meet you when we arrive tomorrow night."

Yakata swallowed. "Wow, that's… that's really nice of you. Thanks, Sasuke-san, I, I, I can't wait to meet all of them," he said, and smiled. "And your wife, too. I bet she's… I bet she's really nice."

"She's a good woman," Sasuke replied, emptily, and went back to his food.

There wasn't much more conversation in the restaurant, and they were back on the road after Sasuke paid for their meals.

Yakata asked, when they stopped to rest their feet in a small village just beyond the border of the Land of Fire, the sun beginning to set, how he would get letters to his parents, if he wanted to write. Sasuke said there were methods, and that was that.

He opened his package of rice balls and ate them. Sasuke got his own dinner from a street vendor, not terribly far away.

"You'd think for something this expensive it'd have been a little bit better," he said, but bit into his stick of grilled chicken anyways. He offered some to Yakata, later, but Yakata refused, saying he was full enough. He licked the rice off of his fingers when he was done, like always.

(There were other vendors, further up the road, but Sasuke didn't even think about visiting them. He didn't want to let Yakata out of his sight.)

They traveled on long after it had gotten dark, and Yakata found it hard to see more than a few feet in front of him. Sasuke, however, moved forward confidently, without hesitation. "How, how, how can you see without a torch?" Yakata asked him, eventually.

"Sharingan," Sasuke replied, and that was that. There was almost disappointment in his voice.

Yakata tried to keep up, but he was starting to get tired. Sasuke was going too fast, and there were times when he was almost out of sight, fading into the darkness.

It was when Yakata reached forward and grabbed onto the hem of Sasuke's shirt that Sasuke finally stopped. He turned around. "You're tired, aren't you."

Yakata rubbed his eyes. "A little… I, I, I mean, if… if we have to go further…"

"We'll camp out here," Sasuke said. "Follow me, and don't get lost."

"Mm." Yakata's face was uneasy, his eyes heavy. He tripped over his feet a little as he walked.

Sasuke's hand held his wrist very tightly. "Come on, it won't be very far." He pulled insistently. Yakata rubbed his eyes again as he went, still only half-seeing things in the darkness.

Eventually, they stopped. Sasuke led Yakata to a tree, and Yakata slumped against it, yawning widely. He saw, faintly, Sasuke pulling branches down from trees and picking them up off the ground, piling them up over stones.

And then Sasuke was breathing fire and Yakata's eyes snapped open. Sasuke's face was illuminated a strange and intense yellow, which diminished when the fire was lit and crackling on the ground. He had taken off his pack, and was now bent over it, fiddling with something attached it.

"How did… how did you _do_ that?" Yakata said, eventually.

"Hm?" He was undoing the buckles on the top.

"That… how, how, how can you breathe… _fire?_" Yakata said. "Is that a ninja thing?"

"Oh, it's an Uchiha family technique," Sasuke said. "The fireball jutsu."

"Wow…" Yakata curled into himself where he sat, holding his knees. "Are you… are you going to teach _me_ how to do that?"

"If you can handle it, eventually. Though… if you _are_ your… father's son, it shouldn't be too difficult for _you._" Sasuke had taken his bedroll off the top of his pack, and tossed it Yakata's way. "Here, for you."

The bedroll hit Yakata in the stomach, and he wrapped his arms around it. "Oh, are, are, are you sure…? I mean, it's, it's yours, and…"

"It's late, you should get some rest," Sasuke interrupted. "And why are you stuttering like that, there's nothing to be afraid of."

Yakata took a very long time to answer, trying to sharpen his words. "I, I… I'm not afraid… I'm… I'm just…" He yawned, closing his eyes tightly, trying to concentrate. It didn't help. "But wh-what about you…?"

"I'll be fine. It's not like I'm not used to this," he said. He sat down beside his pack and rubbed his palm against one of his eyes.

Yakata held the bedroll for a moment, his feet scratching against the dirt of the ground as they extended. "I'm just not… I'm not sure about this, okay?"

"Not sure? I thought you said that you _wanted_ to come to Konoha with me." The fire cast frightening, flickering shadows across Sasuke's face. There were dark shadows under his eyes, though the eyes themselves were… strangely saddened, from what Yakata could see.

"Oh, no, no, no, I, I mean, um… I _do_ want that." And he really did. "I'm just… I, I, I'm just not sure if I should, should, should be using, um. This. I mean, it's, it's yours and…"

Sasuke sighed, loudly. He closed his eyes and began to stand. "Look, if it's that big a deal then I'll just find an inn for us to stay at. I don't… want for you to be uncomfortable."

"No, no, please, please, don't… don't do that," Yakata said. "You, you, you don't need to do that. It, it's fine, I just… don't want to be an inconvenience, is all…"

Sasuke was quiet for a moment. He sat back down. "You aren't an inconvenience to me. If you were, I wouldn't be doing this," he said. "I want you to sleep comfortably, okay? _I'll_ be _fine._"

Yakata held the bedroll for a while longer, looking into the fire, thinking. He took off his own pack and set it aside, before untying the rope that held the bedroll together and rolling it out at the base of the tree. He took off his shoes and placed them neatly next to the pack, and wiggled under the blanket, using his arm as a pillow.

He could see Sasuke smiling, slightly, from where he was sitting. His hair was in his eyes, and Yakata could not read them.

"…Sasuke-san?" he said, softly.

"Mm."

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it." A pause. "Goodnight, Yakata."

"Goodnight."

Yakata fell into a warm, dark, dreamless sleep.

He woke up feeling very stiff, and he tilted his head this way and that, trying to work out the kinks. Sasuke had built another fire from the ashes of the first, he noticed, once he had all of the sleep out of his eyes, and he was boiling water in an aluminum kettle.

"All I have is instant noodles on me. We'll stop somewhere nicer for lunch," he said, and tossed Yakata one of the containers. "Hope you don't mind."

"Oh, not… not at all," Yakata said. He set the noodles on top of his pack and began putting the bedroll back together, and was finished before Sasuke could say he didn't have to do that. "I need to pull my weight. It's… it's the least I can do…"

Sasuke smiled, slightly, his mouth pulling up towards one side of his face. "You are too good."

They ate their breakfast in silence, for the most part, and continued on their way.

"We're making good time," Sasuke said, when they were eating lunch together at a dango stand, since there wasn't "anything nicer" in the area, according to him, and Yakata was hungry (though he hadn't said a thing about it). "We're farther than I expected. At this rate, we'll be in Konoha in time for dinner. I'll have my wife make you something good to eat."

"Oh, that'll… that'll be nice," Yakata replied. "I'd like that!"

"Then we'll make that a priority," Sasuke said. "Come on, eat up. I don't want for us to lose our pace."

"Oh, uh, okay!" Yakata said, and tried, as politely as possible, to finish his current stick of dango without making it look like he was stuffing his face. Sasuke noticed.

"I didn't mean for you to cram everything," Sasuke said, with a disapproving half-laugh. "Take your time eating. We'll be fine."

Yakata swallowed the half-chewed dango, coughing afterwards, and reaching for his tea, looking very sheepish indeed. "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry…"

Curiously, they found things to talk about after lunch, though it was mostly Sasuke doing the talking, which was the strangest thing. "We'll focus on getting you settled in tonight. I'll take you around the city tomorrow, to get you acquainted with the place. There's a few people that I want you to meet, too," he said.

"Oh, like who?"

"Mostly friends of mine. One of them is a doctor, she'll be doing your blood tests," he said. Sasuke's face suddenly darkened. "Yakata, if… anyone looks at you strangely while we're in Konoha, just… remember to disregard it."

"Wh-why do you say that?" Yakata said. He felt a strange weight in his stomach, suddenly. Why was that…?

(Would people still be staring at him there, in that new city?)

"…never mind. Don't worry about it," Sasuke said, and didn't mention it again.

Yakata worried about it all afternoon. He could think of a million reasons why people would look at him strangely. He was an outsider and, admittedly, a strange choice in traveling companion for someone like Sasuke.

Maybe it was because of his father? He didn't know what Itachi had looked like, but if there was a strong enough resemblance then that would certainly get people to stare…

(Certainly not the reasons why he was stared at, back home.)

He tried to focus on that being the possibility, and not any of the other ones, the ones that made him feel even more awkward and insecure than he was feeling already. Even though Sasuke was nice enough to him, already, and trying to make him feel welcome. At least, that was what it felt like…

Yakata hummed to keep his mind distracted, instead.

"What _is_ that?" Sasuke asked him, after a while. "That you're humming."

Yakata stopped mid-melody. "Oh, um. It's… it's a folk song. My, my mama likes to sing it."

"Does it have words?"

"No, I don't… I don't think so…" Yakata said.

(Partially lying. It was a love song.)

"Well, either way. Keep going." Sasuke looked over his shoulder, ghost-smile on his face. "We could use a little cheer."

So Yakata continued to hum, quietly.

"It's very nice," Sasuke said when he finished. "Do you know any others?"

"Oh, um. I, I, I know a few others, but, um…" Yakata held his arms with his hands, glancing sideways.

Sasuke looked over his shoulder again, and then back. "It's okay, you don't have to sing any more. I enjoyed it, anyways."

Yakata didn't say anything. He didn't even hum again.

Sasuke noticed. "I didn't mean to embarrass you," he said.

"No, no, you didn't… It's okay," Yakata said, his eyes still on his feet. "It, it, it was just kinda, um. I don't know..."

"Well, I enjoyed it."

"Ah…"

Yakata still didn't hum, after that.

Surprisingly, though, Sasuke did.

It was a strange, atonal sort of thing, with a melody that went in places where melodies didn't seem want to go naturally, but went anyways. Yakata couldn't tell if it was deliberate or not, the notes quavering just enough to suggest tone-deafness, but their placement seeming far too deliberate to be sheer musical inability.

"What were you humming just now?" Yakata finally asked, long after it was over.

"A song from _my_ village. My clan, actually." He didn't look at Yakata over his shoulder, this time. "I can't remember the words, but I think it's a love song."

Yakata's face burned. "Oh, I, uh… I, I, I see. It's… well I've, I've never heard anything like it, but..."

"You don't have to compliment me, I'm not that good of a singer," Sasuke said. Yakata could see, just barely, that his face was almost as red.

He felt, for a moment, rather bad, for having embarrassed Sasuke that badly, at his expense.

But when he saw the smile on Sasuke's face, creeping over the edge of his profile, he started feeling a lot better.

He began to hum a harvest song, and when he was finished, Sasuke asked him about it, but he didn't ask about the words. Sasuke attempted another song of his own, afterwards, and Yakata had to follow up with a song of his own, it was only fair.

And that was how they came back to Konoha, as the sun was setting, humming, a call-and-response, with smiles on both of their faces.

(The guard Yamada, who saw them enter through the gates, was faintly terrified. He knew Sasuke well enough through reputation and the occasional encounter, and while he couldn't say he knew the man personally, there was one thing he knew for certain: Sasuke almost _never_ smiled like that.)

(It took him minutes after the fact to realize that there had even been a boy with him.)


	25. Blurred Vision

_Chapter 25 - Blurred Vision_

* * *

Yakata had never thought of his house as small. There wasn't much to compare it to, anyways. The only person in the village with a bigger house was the elder, really, and that was because, well, he was the _elder_. Of course he got a bigger house.

Houses just generally remained the same shape and size in his village, for convenience and such, and this did not change after the landslide. Yakata's house, just like everyone else's house, had a big main room, with a hearth, and two (or three, if you had wood and skill or something to give to the carpenter) side rooms, separated by sliding wooden doors. Of course, bigger families expanded their houses with the addition of children, normally, but not by much.

And then there were buildings like the school house and the temple, which were _supposed_ to be big.

And then there was Sasuke's house.

It was _enormous_.

Yakata tried hard not to stare as Sasuke opened the front gate and led him in. Still, he couldn't help himself. "This is… this is where you _live?_"

"Well, of course," Sasuke said. "You expected something different?"

Yakata didn't reply. He was already feeling a bit overwhelmed, after having to fill out a visitor's form at some official-looking building near the center of the city. People were staring at him already.

"Don't worry, they're staring at me, not you," Sasuke had said, in a vague sort of reassurance. Yakata had no idea how Sasuke knew this, but it felt better to trust him.

Sasuke told him to take his shoes off in the foyer, and put down his pack on the floor. "Ino! I'm back!"

"I'm in the living room!" a female voice said.

"Leave your bag on the ground, we'll come back for it later," Sasuke said, so Yakata did so, placing it next to his shoes. They went down the hallway together, and Sasuke opened a sliding door to their left, where the tinny sounds of dramatic speech were seeping into the air.

A skinny, yellow-haired woman in a purple dress sat at a low table in front of a couch, watching a large television and eating from a bowl of rice crackers. Yakata had seen televisions before, but there wasn't much of a use for them out in the country, since they were so expensive, and they required so much electricity to use. Most people just had radios, if anything.

She didn't look at Sasuke as she talked. "How'd your trip go?"

"Splendidly."

"What'd you do out there?"

"What I needed to."

She sighed. "Anything more specific? You kind of ran off without much explana…" She finally turned to look at them. Her eyes were strange and beautiful, Yakata noticed, a glass-like green, without any black to them. "…Sasuke, who is that?"

"This is Yakata," Sasuke said. He put his hand behind Yakata's back. "Yakata, this is my wife, Ino."

"It's… it's nice to meet you, ma'am," Yakata said, bowing, to be polite.

Ino's mouth was shaking, slightly. "Sasuke, who _is _that?"

"He's exactly who you think he is," Sasuke said.

"Wait, what does-"

"He's going to be staying with us until the end of the summer."

Ino's mouth stretched wide. She breathed in and out through her nose, then, said, "When was this decided?" She turned the television off when it began to laugh, glaring at it, punching the button on the remote with her thumb.

"I arranged it with his parents. I'm going to be training him until the harvest."

"Training…?" Ino began to stand.

"By the way, have Inou and Karai been keeping up with their training?"

"Sasuke, answer my question, please!" Ino said.

"You answer mine, first." Sasuke's eyes narrowed.

Ino pressed her lips together again. They were painted a subtle pink-tan. "They've been training very hard, Sasuke."

"Are they out training, now?"

"Well, yes, but-"

"And Takeru and Hajime, where are they?"

"I don't… know, they both mentioned having things to do-"

"Well, call them all home. And cook something good for dinner tonight, something special."

"Sasuke, but—can you at least tell me why? And you haven't told me a thing about that boy!"

"His name is Yakata. Not 'that boy.'" Sasuke rolled his eyes. "And the dinner's for him. I want to introduce him to everyone."

Yakata's eyes kept darting between the two of them, through the entire exchange. Sasuke's hard face, then Ino's thin, baffled one, then back to Sasuke.

Then he remembered: she was the one that had discovered his father's letters, hadn't she? Was that why she looked so surprised? It seemed the most likely option.

"Just… where did you _find_ him?" she asked, after closing her eyes, taking a deep breath in, and out, and then opening them. Her body seemed suddenly smaller.

"I'll explain everything later. Now make sure the children are all home for dinner, I know you're able to do that," Sasuke said.

"Of course, Sasuke…" she said, softly, and looked at Yakata. There was understandable confusion in her eyes. "Er, Yakata, was it…?"

"Yes, ma'am," Yakata said.

He saw her stiffen. Her thin shoulders rose, slightly. "…what would you like me to make you for dinner?" She was suddenly smiling, and it almost scared Yakata, how quickly she had switched the expression on.

"Oh, I, I, I don't mind, ma'am, you can, um. You, you can make anything you want, I guess…" Yakata said. He almost couldn't look at her without cold awkwardness settling into his stomach. "I'm, I'm not picky, really…"

Ino's smile fell, very, very slightly. "Of course... I'll make… stir fry, then, that usually serves a lot of people."

"I had stir fry yesterday," Sasuke said.

"Well, Sasuke, was there any way for me to know that?" Ino said. She put one hand on her forehead, and the other one on her hip.

"Actually, if, if it's more convenient for you, that's, that, that's fine with me…" Yakata said.

There was a pause. "Fine, then, we'll have stir-fry," Sasuke said. He began to leave. "Come on, Yakata. I'll show you the old compound, since this'll take a while, and it's not too far away."

"Oh, uh, okay," Yakata said. He followed quickly behind, only getting another glance of Sasuke's wife, who held her elbows and pursed her lips, watching them leave.

The old compound, or whatever it was that Sasuke called it, was a short walk away from the house. There was a very big wall around it, and a gate, though there wasn't much behind it. Above the gate was a strange insignia in faded paint, a circle, half-red, half-white. "So, so what is this place?" Yakata said.

"It's where I grew up," Sasuke replied. He put his hands in his pockets, looking up at the gate. "Nobody lives here any more, though."

"Wh-why's that?" Yakata said.

Sasuke didn't say anything.

And then Yakata saw a sign, by the gate. "_UCHIHA MEMORIAL: These grounds, the former site of the Uchiha clan's compound, stand as a memorial to the lives lost on the night of October 23th, Akiwa 37 (8 BU). May such atrocities never occur again._"

And then Yakata remembered something that Sasuke had said, something about how he and his children and Yakata were the only things left of the Uchiha clan.

He decided not to ask about it again, feeling incredibly unsettled. "So, so, um what… what did you want to, to, show me here?" he said, instead.

"I just thought it'd be nice to show you where… your father and I grew up," Sasuke said. "There's a lot to see here."

"Oh, okay, then. L-lead the way, I guess!" Yakata said.

So Sasuke did.

As they went along he talked, about how that used to be the bakery, how that used to be his mother's cousin's house, that was his great-uncle's house, that was where he used to go and get his clothes repaired.

"There's something to be said about Uchiha handiwork," Sasuke said, proudly, wistfully. "There's something in the stitches that other tailors just can't replicate."

"I see…" Yakata said, because replies were necessary things in instances like this.

Yakata's replies became smaller and smaller, the more Sasuke showed him of the compound. The way that Sasuke talked about the places they were visiting made it seem like they were grand monuments, or the homes of wonderful people that you'd have to be crazy not to love.

But there weren't any buildings. Anywhere. Just dry earth and weeds, and rubble, here and there.

The ghosts of houses, maybe. But Yakata couldn't see them.

The people who used to live there were just as gone.

"And this was where my house was," Sasuke was suddenly saying, pointing to another empty space. It was large, and barren. Just like the rest of the compound.

But Yakata found it suddenly hard to breathe. His chest felt tight, his hair was standing on end.

He couldn't say anything. He couldn't move.

And he felt very, very cold.

"…Yakata, what's wrong," Sasuke said. He bent down, slightly. "Are you okay?"

Yakata tried to swallow. He shook his head.

Sasuke put a hand on his back. "Calm down. You're fine." It was almost a comfort, but mostly a command.

"I, I, I, I just… I, I don't feel _good_ here…" Yakata managed to choke out. His breaths were deep. His jaw rattled.

Sasuke was quiet for a while. His hand felt strange on Yakata's back. He could almost feel Sasuke's fingers trembling, too—or was that just his own trembling? "Let's go somewhere else. I'll show you my favorite place."

"O-okay," Yakata said. And he went along with Sasuke's arm on his shoulder, pushed toward their destination, as the chills slowly began to fade away.

By the time they made it to the lake, he could breathe again.

"Here," Sasuke said, walking out onto the dock ahead of him. He had finally taken his hand off of Yakata's back. "I used to come here to think when I was younger, when I needed to clear my mind. Still do, really."

"It, it's pretty…" Yakata said, and he really meant it. It was the only thing there that didn't make him feel supremely uncomfortable. The sky was just beginning to turn a yellowish-gold, and it made the surface of the water shine like polished stone, or glass.

Sasuke sat down at the edge of the dock, cross-legged, and motioned for Yakata to do the same. "I think it might be a good idea to just slow down a bit. We're both a little tired."

Yakata just nodded, and sat. His head tilted sideways, his shoulders slumping. He felt his shirt sticking to his back—had he really been sweating that much?

For a while, there was a silence, and calmness.

And then there was the woman's voice, a high-pitched, breathy yell, as if she were extraordinarily winded. "…please, please, calm down! They're gone! …is that him?"

Yakata had no idea that anyone could get to their feet and dash out of sight as fast as Sasuke did a moment later. Yakata's hair rustled in the wind he left behind.

By the time Yakata got to his feet he saw Sasuke yelling at a woman with long black hair a bit away from the dock. He couldn't quite hear what they were saying, but the words "Leave us BE!" and "ENOUGH!" were loud enough to make it Yakata's way. They were Sasuke's words.

An instant later, Sasuke was at Yakata's side, and he had his hand in a grip on Yakata's wrist. "We're leaving," he said. He walked very quickly, avoiding the black-haired woman, who just stood where she had stopped, a sleepy, befuddled look on her face.

"Wh-what happened? Who… who was that?" Yakata asked. Sasuke was pulling at him, and he pulled hard. It almost hurt.

"Her name," Sasuke said, "is Murasaki. If you ever run into her, don't listen to a word she says. She is sick in the head and she hates our clan and she speaks only lies. Stay. Away. From her."

Yakata had never heard anyone sound so angry.

He promised he would stay away.

"And another thing, Yakata."

"Yes?" Sasuke's grip was tight.

"Do not ask or even _talk_ about your father to anyone but me, do you understand?"

The cold feeling in Yakata's stomach returned. "Wh-why not?"

"…my wife and children didn't know him very well, when he was still alive. If you asked about him they'd just get confused. I want to save you the embarrassment."

Sasuke's grip was very strong, and there was absolutely no kindness in his voice. Yakata's chest felt cold, and tight.

(But what about everyone else…?)

He promised he would do that, too.

They went back to Sasuke's home. Yakata's wrist was a little sore, and he rubbed it after Sasuke let go, once they had reached the gate.

Some of his family seemed to have manifested while they were gone. As they were taking off their shoes a girl in a pale green blouse came down the stairs. Her black hair fell over her shoulders and well past her waist, to her knees. She had the most beautiful eyes Yakata had ever seen, half-closed, with heavy lashes. He couldn't tell where the black ended in them and the color began.

They were gone in an instant, however, as she turned back and started walking up the stairs again, before she could even reach the floor.

Sasuke's eyes were narrowed.

"Who, who was that?" Yakata said.

Sasuke didn't answer.

Yakata went over a handful of names again in his mind. Five children, two of them female. The one named Karai was eleven, around his age. So she must have been…

"Nadeshiko? That, that was… that was Nadeshiko, wasn't it?"

Sasuke still didn't look at him, but he stopped taking his shoes off for a moment. "Yes," he said, very quietly, as if speaking any louder would break something. "It was." He continued on with his shoes, pulling them off forcefully.

Yakata could smell cooking meat, now, faintly, and sesame oil.

"You're a mess. You should go take a bath. I'll show you where the bathroom is," Sasuke said. His voice was low and flat.

Yakata couldn't disagree. So Sasuke showed him where the bathroom was and left him to his own devices.

For reasons he could not quite process, strange tears started leaking out of Yakata's eyes about halfway through the bath, after he managed to figure out which shampoo was which and rinsing out his hair. They were thick tears, and quiet ones.

He figured he was just homesick, as he wiped them away with the back of his hand; the tears ceased as suddenly as they had come.

(Though some part of him, oh, some part of him, was wondering if he was really making the right decision.)

(Why was Sasuke in such a bad mood, he wondered? Was it because of him?)

(And even in the warmth of the bath he could still remember that chill he had felt in front of Sasuke's old home, the place where he was not meant to be, he just _knew_ it.)

When he was finished, while drying his hair with a towel, he found that fresh clothes from his pack had been left out for him; the dirty ones he'd been wearing had disappeared. Confused at first, he smiled a little and put them on, some warmth returning to his chest.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.


	26. Stretched Tendons

_Chapter 26 - Stretched Tendons_

* * *

Sasuke's wife was still cooking when Yakata left the bathroom; he cleared his throat, and she turned around to look at him. She gasped slightly. "Oh, goodness! You startled me."

"Oh, I'm, I'm sorry…" Yakata said. "I, I didn't… I didn't mean it, ma'am."

She didn't respond, at first, though she gave him a half-worried, half-kind look. "It's okay." She went back to her cooking. "I'm almost finished cooking your dinner. And… you don't have to call me 'ma'am,' you can just call me… Ino-san."

"Oh. Okay! Then, then thank you very much, Ino-san!" Yakata said. He bowed, quickly. "For, for dinner, I mean. And, um. The, the fresh clothes, I, I really appreciate it."

"Clothes? What clothes?" She looked over her shoulder again.

"Didn't… didn't you leave fresh clothes out for me, after my bath?" Yakata said.

Ino shook her head. "No, I've been here in the kitchen the entire time."

Yakata blinked. "Oh, then… then who did?"

"Who knows," Ino said, and went back to cooking.

Yakata, not quite sure what else to do, hung awkwardly about in the doorway, watching her cook, smelling the wonderful smells. It was a rice-and-vegetable smell, and the sizzle of the pan and the oil was almost a comfort for him to hear.

Every now and then Ino would look back over her shoulder at Yakata and a strange squirmy smile would wiggle on her face, but always ever after an odd look that wasn't quite disgust, wasn't quite fear, but was decidedly uncomfortable. She always returned to her cooking quicker and quicker each time.

The entrance of a young girl took him completely by surprise, then, since he was so focused on wondering about her discomfort. There was dirt all over her face and her violet dress, and her hair was sticking out in every direction—like Sasuke's, but more wild. Process of elimination told Yakata that it was Karai. "You called, Mom?" she said.

"Set the table for me, dear—but wash your hands first, for heaven's sake!" Ino said, as Yakata tilted his head—he couldn't remember Ino calling for _anyone_. "And have an extra place set. For, um, Yakata-kun."

"Yakata? Who's—oh! Are _you_ Yakata?" Karai said. She brushed the dirt off her dress and smiled widely. Her eyes were big and very, very black. "I'm Karai!"

"Oh! N-nice to meet you!" Yakata said, smiling crookedly as she held out her hand. He shook it. Her skin felt dusty.

"You're a friend of Dad's, right?" Karai continued. "Mom told me. I thought you'd be _older_."

"Oh, oh, well, I, I, um…"

"Karai, the table, please," Ino said.

"Okay, okay!" Karai said, and she quickly washed her hands in the kitchen sink. She then pulled some plates out of a cupboard. The stack looked heavy, especially considering how short she was, but she handled them like they were almost nothing.

She had set down three of them when Yakata asked, "When, when did your mom call down for you? I, I didn't… I didn't _hear_ anything."

"Didn't hear anyth—oh! Oh, well, it's a clan thing," Karai said, cheerfully, setting down another plate.

"A, a clan thing? Like, like how you can breathe fire?" Yakata said. He had his mental notebook out again.

"Huh, what?" Karai looked at him, cradling the remaining four plates in her arms. "Breathing fire?"

"Your, your father showed me, when we made a fire on the way over…"

"Ohh! That's, uh, an Uchiha clan art. Telepathy is a Yamanaka art."

"…wha-what's tele-pathy?" Yakata asked. "Is it, is it like… finding a… path with a television?"

Karai had an infectious giggle that squeaked and sparkled. "No, no! It's… kinda like talking, only you don't use your mouth. You use your mind instead!" she said.

"How, how in the world do you do _that?_"

Karai shrugged. The plates rattled. "I 'unno! I just can. It's a Yamanaka thing."

"Karai, the dishes," Ino said.

"Sorry, _sorry_."

"Yamanaka?" Yakata said.

She put down another plate. "Mom's clan. It specializes in mind jutsu."

"Oh," Yakata said. "So… so could you, uh… talk to… talk to _me_ using this tele-pathy thing?"

"Well _yeah_, but that's _super_ advanced stuff," she replied. "_Way_ beyond what I'm capable of. Sorry."

"No, no, it, it, it's okay," Yakata said. "It just, it sounds awfully neat."

"Yeah, y'think so? There's a whole lot else you can do with it," Karai said. She put down the final plate.

"Oh?"

"Five minutes to dinner, Karai, you should at least wash your face before we eat," Ino said, looking over her shoulder. She turned the stove off.

"I know, I know," Karai said. Even her dismissals were strangely melodic. "I'll tell you more about it later, 'kay, Yakata-kun?"

"Sure! Thank you," Yakata said.

"You're-wel-come!" Karai bounced out of the room. Yakata could hear her run up the stairs and slam a door behind her. And he smiled, half from Sasuke being right—she _was_ cheerful!—and half from his sheepish admiration of the mind-talking thing. He had a feeling he'd like her.

"Ow! Damn it, where did I put my oven mitt…?" Ino sucked on her thumb as she set the pan back down on the stove.

"Um, Ino-san. Can, can, can I help with anything?" Yakata asked.

She stared at him, for a moment, before sliding another awkward smile on her face, taking her thumb out of her mouth. "No, no, you don't need to worry about anything," she said. "I'm fine."

"Oh, okay… Well… well, if you, if you _do _need me…" Yakata said. "I, I mean, just… just because I'm a guest doesn't mean I don't, don't want to help…"

Ino laughed, quickly, and opened a drawer, taking out an oven mitt. "If you… _do _want to help, can you reach down into that drawer, over there? There's a dish I need."

"Oh, uh. This one?" Yakata opened the cupboard, pointing to a large, white dish inside.

"Yes, just put it on the counter for me."

"Okay." The dish made a hard thump on the counter as Yakata set it down. With a careful turn of the hand Ino poured the stir-fry into it; it sent up large clouds of sesame and vegetable steam, and Yakata almost had to close his eyes, it smelled so good.

"Stir fry? Honestly? I expected something a bit more impressive for a guest of Father's."

A young man entered the kitchen; he was dressed in a black, high-collared shirt, just like Sasuke's. He had narrow, lazy-looking eyes, and a hard smirk on his face.

"He asked for it specifically, Takeru," Ino said. She didn't look at him, putting the dish on the table.

"Father, or the guest?" Takeru said. He crossed his arms, leaning against the doorframe. "Ah, never mind. So where is he, then, this Yakata?"

"That, that's, um. That's me, actually…" Yakata said. He waved his hand and bowed, slightly. "You… you must be, um. Takeru-san, right…?"

Takeru blinked once, twice. His smile didn't leave. "_You're _Yakata?"

"Yes…"

"Takeru, don't be rude."

"I'm not being rude, Mother, I just expected someone a little…" He glanced at Yakata, toe to head, his smile dropping for only a moment. "…different."

"_Takeru._"

Yakata felt his face growing hot. He looked at his feet, shifting his weight from one to the next.

"I didn't mean anything negative by it."

Yakata saw Ino rolling her eyes when he finally looked up.

"S'dinner ready yet?" A taller man entered, behind Takeru. He had shadows around his very dark eyes, and his clothes were well-made, and simple.

"I just put it out, Hajime, we're just about ready," Ino said.

"Ah, good. I'm a little hungry." He passed Takeru and went to sit at the table, lacing his fingers together and resting his nose on the surface they made. He didn't acknowledge Yakata.

"Well at least it'll _taste_ good," Takeru said. He sat on the other side of the table, leaning back in his chair like it was a throne. He glanced at Yakata again, smirked, and then looked away.

"You can sit down if you want, Yakata-kun," Ino told him. She was scooping lumps of rice from a rice cooker into glass bowls, now.

"Um, where… where should I sit…?"

"Anywhere you want, though Sasuke always sits at the head of the table," Ino said, filling a third bowl. "I usually take the other end…"

"You can sit next to me if you want, actually," Takeru said. His voice sounded strangely amicable. "I wouldn't mind getting to know you a little better."

Since he had received no other offers, Yakata shrugged and said "Oh, o-okay, then…" He took the seat directly beside Takeru and sat with his hands in his lap, stiffly.

There was quiet, for a while. Takeru didn't say a thing, just looking over Yakata out of the corner of his eye. Yakata was too nervous, too embarrassed to ask any questions of his own.

Then Sasuke came back into the kitchen. He seemed satisfied, a slight smile on his face. "Ah, so you two are home already? Where's everyone else?"

"Karai's washing her face," Ino said.

"And Inou?"

Ino paused, tilting her head upward with her eyes closed, her serving paddle poised on top of the bowl of rice. "…I don't know, he's not responding."

Sasuke sighed. "That boy. Well if he's late for dinner it's his own damn fault. Ah, Yakata!" He smiled wider—why was he suddenly so happy again? "Getting to know everyone already, I see?"

"Well, I, I guess…"

"Hopefully we'll get to know _you_ as well, yes?" Takeru said, tilting his head. "I really _am _curious about you. Wher_ever _did you meet Father?"

"We'll talk about that in time," Sasuke said. He pulled out his chair at the head of the table, to Takeru's left. "How was your day, son?"

"_Boring_. Did you know? I got asked out by that Ayako girl again. You know, that vice-captain from ANBU?" Takeru had his arms crossed, hands up near his shoulders. "Hajime, don't you know her?"

Hajime just shrugged, his eyes betraying nothing.

"Remind me again, who is she?" said Sasuke.

"That ninny with the green hair. She's always _drawing_, it's a small wonder she made it into ANBU." Takeru shook his head. "She sent me a _portrait_, this time, can you believe it?"

"What did she send you last time?"

"Nothing. She just asked me out." Takeru sighed. "I did share a coffee with her this afternoon, for her time, since she went and asked _twice_. But there's _nothing_ in that head of hers. I was disappointed, but at least _she_ enjoyed herself, it seemed."

"That's a shame," Sasuke said.

"I suppose it is, but _honestly_, though, I have no time for girls like _her." _Takeru leaned back in his chair again, waving his hands for emphasis. "With their heads in the clouds. No grasp on reality whatsoever. I was almost glad when Mother called me home for dinner."

"Well that's good, Takeru. You should be careful about who you spend your time with," Sasuke said.

Hajime unlaced his hands and reached for a pair of chopsticks from the container in the center of the table. From the stairs down the hallway there came a series of rapid thumps.

"We started dinner yet?" Karai came into the kitchen. Her face and her arms were clean, and she was wearing a different dress, Yakata noticed. "Oh, hi, Father!"

"Karai," said Sasuke, nodding.

"I'm just putting the rice out," Ino said. She put the lid on the rice cooker.

"Oh, I'll help!"

"No, you sit _down_," Ino said, pointedly. "I can handle it."

So Karai did, shrugging with a smile, pulling out the chair beside Yakata's. "You don't mind if I sit here?" she said.

"Oh, no, not… not at all!" Yakata said. He found himself smiling back.

Ino started putting out the bowls of rice at each place at the table. Karai fidgeted in her seat, her hands in her lap, like Yakata, though her posture wasn't nearly as stiff. Takeru got his own chopsticks, Yakata following afterward, seeing that it was the thing to do. Karai refrained.

Nadeshiko entered, silently, her only acknowledgement of the rest of the table a simple nod as she took a seat beside Hajime, directly across from Yakata. She took her chopsticks and set them, neatly, above her plate. She didn't look at Yakata, even though he gave her a shy glance.

Ino put out the final bowl of rice, and finished setting the table by putting out a teapot, then taking her place at the other end of the table.

Sasuke cleared his throat, after a while. "Well, thanks for the food," he said, clapping his hands together.

"Sasuke, Inou isn't home yet," Ino whispered.

"And whose fault is that?" Sasuke replied. He reached into the dish of stir-fry and began choosing vegetables and meat with his chopsticks to put on his plate.

"…thanks for the food," Ino said reluctantly, and the rest of the family echoed her, beginning to eat.

Karai, Yakata noticed, refused to even touch her rice. "Are, are you not hungry…?" he asked her.

"Oh, no, I figured I'd let everyone else get their portions first," she replied, almost in a whisper, with a sunny smile. "Wanna make sure there's enough left over for-"

Sasuke cleared his throat, and she quieted herself, taking a sip from her water glass instead. Yakata went back to eating.

Inou arrived a few minutes later, a bit out of breath. He had a hunk of tissue stuffed into his nose, and there was blood on it. His clothes were very dirty. "Sorry I'm late…" he said.

"About time," Takeru said quietly, helping himself to another portion of food.

"Where were you, Inou?" Sasuke said. "You're filthy."

"I was training. Sorry, I didn't have time to clean up on the way over."

"Oh, I see." Sasuke nodded a few times, slightly, as he considered this. "Well, then, I suppose that's an acceptable excuse. Sit down, the food's still hot."

"Mm." Inou took the final seat at the table after washing his hands, next to his mother and Nadeshiko. He began serving himself.

"My! It's been a while since we've had such a full table," Ino said, holding up her chopsticks and smiling optimistically. "And when was the last time we had guests over for a nice casual dinner like this? Not counting all those times _Naruto's _come over… Oh, either way. Tea, anyone?" There were a few takers, and Ino got up and poured it for the ones who had asked.

Sasuke cleared his throat again, a short while later. "So I'm sure you all have noticed that we have a guest."

"It's rather obvious, Father," Takeru said, with a slight chuckle. "So are you finally going to introduce us?"

Yakata looked at Sasuke, awkwardly, as if waiting for a prompt. Sasuke put down his chopsticks and wiped the sides of his mouth, needlessly. "Everyone, this is Honbo Yakata. He's going to be staying with us for the summer while I train him."

"For the summer, huh? That's exciting!" Karai said. She'd finally started serving herself, now that Inou had some food on his plate.

"Training? Don't you _already_ have three students?" Takeru said.

"I'm just focusing on training Go'on right now, Takeru. And Yakata's an exception," said Sasuke. "I'll have enough time for Go'on on the side. Besides," he added, "I get the feeling that Yakata's going to be something of a fast learner." He sent a smile in Yakata's direction, and Yakata vaguely smiled back, then into his rice.

"So, Yakata-kun, how did you come to meet my husband?" Ino asked, all smiles, except in her voice, which sounded ever-so-slightly strained.

"Well, um, it, it was…"

"I first met him on-mission with my genin team, a few months ago," Sasuke interrupted. "I went out to get him after thinking over what I saw while I was there. I thought he had the potential to be a great ninja, so I talked to his parents, and we're doing a trial run here."

Yakata felt words gathering in his throat as Takeru and Sasuke talked on about potential and such, and what exactly it was he'd seen. They weren't even mentioning his father. But then again, what was it Sasuke had said? "_They didn't know him well, they'd only get confused," _he had said.

But surely he'd have said something by now? Surely that'd have been the _first _thing he'd mention?

But Yakata trusted Sasuke. Maybe he was just waiting.

So Yakata didn't mention his father, and he sat there and ate as they talked about him, but not to him.

And then Nadeshiko spoke. "Where is Yakata-kun going to stay in the house?" she asked. Her voice was very soft, but at the same time very flat.

It seemed to knock the conversation that her father and brother were having violently off-course, as both of them turned to look at her with narrowed eyes. Sasuke's glare intensified for a moment, afterward, though she hadn't even been looking at him when she spoke.

"I was thinking of having Yakata share a room with Inou," he said, after clearing his throat again. His harsh expression remained.

Inou, who, like Hajime, had been focusing more on eating than participating in the conversation, whipped his head up and at his father. "Wait, why _my _room?"

"You and Yakata are similar in age, I thought it fitting," Sasuke replied.

"But…"

"But _what_."

"But it's my _room_," Inou said. Yakata could only see one of his eyes, from the way his hair fell into his face, but the look he shot at Yakata was, for a moment, surprisingly like one Sasuke's own angry expressions. It was unnerving.

"Um, I, I don't, I don't want to be a bother…" Yakata said, his voice squeaking slightly. "I mean, if… if you don't want me, um. In your room, I'm, I'm, I'm sure I can find somewhere else to-"

"And Yakata is our _guest_. The guest's needs come before your own, Inou," Sasuke said, sharply. "Wouldn't you want to be treated the same if you were a guest in someone else's house?"

"Re-re-re-really, I, I don't need to-"

"He doesn't even _want_ to stay in my room!" Inou said, looking at his father again—so at least _he _had been listening to Yakata.

"I don't want to make Yakata uncomfortable," Sasuke said, stiffly.

"I can… I can sleep just about anywhere, it's, it, it's, um. Fuh-fuh-fuh-fine, really…" Yakata replied.

"He can use my room," Hajime said. His voice, Yakata thought, through his growing anxiousness, was remarkably like Sasuke's. "I'm out of town half the time because of work, anyways. I don't care if he uses it."

"And where will you sleep when you _are_ in town?" Sasuke said. His eyebrows had lowered, and his mouth had fixed itself into a stern line.

Hajime smiled very, very slightly. "I'll just stay at someone else's house," he said. "I have friends."

"That sounds like a _lovely_ idea! Thank you, Hajime," Ino said. She sounded like she meant it, for once. "Sasuke, what do you say?"

"He should be with his _family_ when he's at home," Sasuke grumbled.

"Oh, _nonsense_," Ino said. She waved her hand dismissively. "Hajime, you can take care of yourself, can't you? You're an adult, for heaven's sake…"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Hajime said.

"If, if, if that's okay with, with everyone else then I'm, I'm, I'm, uh, okay with it too, I guess…" Yakata said.

"Then it's settled. Yakata-kun can stay in Hajime's room," Ino said, brightly, clapping her hands together. "Wonderful! Glad we got that settled."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and, strangely, went back to eating.

"So, Yakata-kun, what sorta stuff you like to do?" Karai asked, nudging him on the shoulder.

"Huh? Stuff?"

"Yeah, like, you got any hobbies?"

"Oh, well, um… I, I, I like reading, I, I guess?" Yakata said.

Across the table, Nadeshiko smiled ever so, ever so slightly. Inou rolled his eyes.

"Really? What's your favorite book?" Karai said.

"Duh-dunno if… if I have a _favorite_, I mean, I, I like a lot of books," Yakata said. "Though… though I, I did bring one home with me, I got it, um, for, for my birthday and I've read it over'n over again I, I dunno how many times."

"So I guess _that_ one's your favorite!" said Karai, with a bubble-laugh. "What's it called?"

"Well, it's, it's a book of, um. Folk tales 'n stuff," Yakata said. "Like, a whole… a whole bunch of them. So there's not really a title, just… just 'Folktales of the World.'"

"Sounds really cool! Can I read it sometime?"

Yakata shrugged. "Sure, I, I guess so."

"Karai, let Yakata eat," Sasuke said, out of nowhere.

"'kay," Karai replied, slightly deflated. She went back to her rice.

Yakata couldn't help but frown slightly. He'd been enjoying the conversation, really, it wasn't distracting him from his meal at all or anything…

"Uh, if… if I let you borrow my book, you, you gotta tell me more about those Yamanaka things," Yakata whispered, with a slight smile. "Y'know, the um. The tele-pathy."

"That won't be necessary," Sasuke said, before Karai could speak. "You won't need to learn any of those."

"Oh, I'm, I'm sorry, I was just… I was just curious, is all. Karai-chan was just, um. Just telling me about them earlier today and-"

"Very thoughtful of you, Karai. Thank you," Sasuke said. "Why don't you and Yakata talk about _Uchiha _techniques next time?"

"Sure, I can do that," said Karai. She thoughtfully dangled a bell pepper slice from her chopsticks for a moment before eating it.

Yakata almost asked why Sasuke was so angry at Karai—what else could he be, with an expression like that?

Almost. But something told him that it wouldn't be right to pry, so he stayed quiet.

Hajime left the table first. "I'll go pack my things," he said, taking his plate with him and putting it in the sink.

"And I expect you'll be leaving, right afterward?" Sasuke said. His voice was spiteful, as were his eyes.

"Probably."

"Hm." Sasuke sipped his tea.

Hajime wasn't gone long before Nadeshiko left, herself, without a single word. Hajime left the house shortly afterward, with an uncharacteristically energetic wave—even Yakata, who had known him for all of an evening, found his speech and expressions otherwise perpetually sluggish, almost disconnected, like his soul was hovering somewhere just outside of his body.

Inou left after him. "I need to take a bath," he said.

"You should," Sasuke replied. "After all that training, you should get cleaned off. Price you have to pay for actually putting in effort, hm?" He glanced at Karai afterwards, with her clean face and her clean dress. She smiled back in mock-embarrassment.

Inou didn't say anything, though he nodded, and disappeared into the bathroom.

"Yakata-kun, do you need any help getting moved into Hajime's room?" Karai asked him, afterward. "'Cos I'm all done, so if you are too…"

"That's very nice of you, Karai, volunteering to help," Ino said. Karai just smiled.

"I'd… I'd like that a lot, thank you," Yakata said. "I'm… I'm done eating too, so, do, do I just put my dish in the sink…?"

"Yes, I'll take care of all the washing," Ino said.

"Okay," Yakata said. Following Karai, he put his dishes in the sink, and went to get his bag in the foyer.

"Don't waste his time, Karai," Sasuke said after them. Karai didn't answer, just smiling.

Hajime's room was at the very end of the second-floor hallway, Karai told him. "That's Inou's room, the first one on the left. Nadeshiko's is next door. _Mine's_ that one, across from Inou's; Takeru's is next to mine, and _that's _the second bathroom. Mom 'n Dad sleep downstairs," she explained further.

"Oh, I see…" Yakata said.

She giggled. "C'mon, let's get you set up." She walked with Yakata to Hajime's room, and opened the door.

It was a plain room, sparse, with nothing but a few ink paintings on the walls to suggest that it belonged to anyone. The bed, one of the biggest that Yakata had ever seen, was neatly-made, with grey and black sheets.

"Gosh, this is… this is _really_ nice, thank you…" he said.

"Why are you thanking _me?_" Karai said. "You should be thanking Hajime, this is _his_ room. Remember? Mine's down-"

"It's the room across from Inou-san's, I remember. Next to… next to Takeru-san's."

She blinked a few times, with her huge, black eyes. She grinned. "You learn quick!"

"I, I guess…" he replied. His face felt hot.

(Generally, people didn't respond as well to him answering questions so quickly.)

"So where you wanna put your stuff?" she asked, shortly afterward.

Yakata put his pack on the wooden floor and squatted beside it. It made a soft thump. "Um, well, I, I don't… I don't wanna use his drawers, that'd be rude. I guess I can, um. Just keep everything in my pack for now."

"Oh, I'm sure my brother won't mind, but okay!" Karai said. She sat down on the bed, kicking her legs against the mattress. "Whatever works for you. I mean, sometimes it's easier to keep everything in one place, right?"

"I suppose…"

"Do you need any help, Karai?"

Nadeshiko had suddenly appeared in the doorway.

"Nah, I think we're good here!" Karai said, and laughed. "Unless _you_ think we need help, Yakata-kun."

Yakata shook his head. "I'm… I'm fine, thank you."

Yakata had never seen such sad eyes. "Let me know if you need me, then," Nadeshiko said. "You know where I am."

"Thanks, sis!" Karai said, as she left.

There was quiet, for a while. Yakata stood. "Hey, Karai-chan?"

"Yeah?"

"That… that was your, your sister, um. Nadeshiko, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, that was her," Karai said. Her voice, naturally cheery as it was, sounded oddly detached. "Why d'you ask, were you guys not introduced?"

"Well, not… not _really_, but that's, that's not why I'm, um. Asking."

"Not surprised…" She leaned back on the bed, propping herself up with her arms. "Why _were _you asking?"

Yakata shrugged. "I, I was just wondering if… if she was okay, she looked kinda sad… Did something happen? I, I, I don't mean to _pry_, I'm just… just a little concerned…"

"Oh. Well. She's always like that," Karai said. Her ever-present smile faded, slightly. "She's okay, though, you don't need to worry about her."

"But why's she so sad, then…?" Yakata said. He added, in a whisper, as if afraid that someone was listening in, "Is it… is it because of Sasuke-san? He… he seemed kinda mad at her. I mean, that's, that's just what it looked like, I, I, I don't mean to make assumptions…"

Yakata remembered the way his voice had hardened when talking about her, to her. He remembered how quickly she had left his sight when he had first arrived at the Uchiha house.

Karai didn't answer, for a while. "She an' Dad have never really gotten along. It's always been like that," she finally said. "You don't have to worry about it. It's normal."

(It hadn't always been like that, but Karai was too young to remember otherwise.)

Yakata didn't say anything.

Her smile snapped back on her face in an instant. "Hey, but she's really nice, though! I'm sure she's gonna like you a lot," she said, leaning over and propping herself up with her elbows on her knees, her hands under her chin. "Don't worry if it doesn't look like it. She's just kinda quiet. She likes to keep to herself, mostly."

Yakata found himself unexpectedly smiling, though his stomach twisted and jumped at the same time.

(Why did he get the feeling he had heard those words before?)

"B'sides, I like you a bunch already, Yakata-kun. An' I'm sure everyone else will too. I mean," she said, "if Dad thinks you got promise an' stuff then you can't be all bad!"

"Oh! Well, I, um. I like you too!" Yakata said, and laughed. His laugh was not nearly as infectious or as bright as Karai's, but it still made her smile even more widely.

"Well! Lemme know if you need me or anything. I'm gonna be downstairs," Karai said. She got off the bed.

"Okay, thank you," Yakata said.

And then he was alone. Sasuke came in to check on him later, when he didn't leave the room. "Feeling all right?" he asked, from the door.

Yakata had been lying on Hajime's bed, staring at the ceiling, thinking with his hands behind his head. Karai had turned the lights on when they had entered together, and he hadn't bothered to turn them off. He sat up suddenly when he heard Sasuke's voice. "Oh! Yeah, I'm, I'm fine…"

"You seemed tense at dinner," Sasuke said

"Tense? Well, I, I, I guess I was, um. Feeling a little awkward…"

Sasuke smiled slightly. "I suppose that's to be expected. You'll get to know everyone soon. Takeru seemed to like you," he added, his smile growing wider.

"Ah, and Karai-chan and I were, um. Talking earlier, too," Yakata replied. "I like her a lot."

"Hm, well. You two _are _close in age," Sasuke said, sliding into his usual, neutrally-disapproving face again. "Anyways, you'd best get some sleep. It's an early morning for us tomorrow."

"Oh?" Yakata thought, for a moment. "Oh! Because… because you, you said you were going to, um. Take me around the, the city, get those blood tests done..."

"Exactly," Sasuke said. "You need your rest, don't want to have to cut it off early. Lots of people to meet."

"Yeah…"

"So, good night."

"Oh, um. Goodnight, Sasuke-san."

Sasuke left, turning off the light as he went, closing the door behind him.

Yakata lay back down on top of the covers, after a while. Thinking, processing everything.

There was so much he'd learned that day, so many people he'd met already.

Ino, Sasuke's wife, with the strange looks and the sudden smiles.

Murasaki, dark-haired and sleepy-eyed and sick in the head. The woman who only spoke lies.

Karai, the youngest, energetic and helpful and almost his age.

Takeru, who didn't look like Sasuke but acted like him, with the sarcastic voice.

Hajime, who was the oldest, and very tired, and absent.

Inou, the dirty one, fourteen years old, who glared like his father did.

Nadeshiko, who kept to herself, who didn't get along with Sasuke, who was supposed to be nice and very quiet.

And then Sasuke. Whose moods seemed to shift with the blowing of the wind. He'd been kind to Yakata, but distant, detached, awkward. Annoyed sometimes, before coming home—never angry.

His anger scared Yakata. But he'd never gotten angry _at _Yakata. Just at Murasaki. At Nadeshiko. He already was beginning to think that he'd be okay—his moods on the road had all had meanings, so surely his anger had similar justifications.

But if Nadeshiko was as nice as Karai had said, and from what Yakata himself had seen, then why did Sasuke hate her so much?

He figured he'd find out, soon enough. But it wasn't really his place to ask.

He then thought of writing a letter to his mother, at the nearly-barren desk on the other side of the room. But it was only the first day, he reasoned. There wouldn't be much to write about. And he was tired, besides. He'd wait a few more days, at least, and then write her. To let her know he was okay.

He'd been missing her a lot, since the land began growing unfamiliar. And he was sure she missed him too. She'd be glad to hear from him.

Still in his clean clothes, Yakata grabbed the covers and bundled himself under them, and went to bed.

He was fast asleep by the time the shouting began, downstairs.


	27. Severed Nerve

**Author's Notes:**

To answer a comment posted in a review left by nanaha: Yakata is somewhat shy, but his stutter isn't linked with it. He just has a great amount of difficulty with speaking in general. Even when he's relaxed and with people he's comfortable with, he'll still stutter. It's mostly psychological and not really linked with introvertedness.

**There are depictions of emotional abuse and some domestic violence in this chapter.**

Thank you,

- Rii

* * *

_Chapter 27 - Severed Nerve_

* * *

Ino and Sasuke were having a discussion. Yes, that was what they always called them. Discussions were neat little things where two adults could stand across from each other and tear each other to pieces with words, usually one-sidedly. Sasuke always on the attack, Ino always on the defense. Their discussions usually had to do with their children, but tonight, it was different.

Tonight, they were discussing Yakata. And it was Ino who was on the offensive, not Sasuke.

She was finishing up with the dishes, the rest of the children all in their rooms, when Sasuke came downstairs. "Yakata's gone to sleep," he said.

"Oh. Really," she replied. She scrubbed at the pan with her sponge with a rough intensity.

"Yes. I'm taking him around the city tomorrow."

"Oh. That's nice," Ino said.

Sasuke frowned, lowering his eyebrows. "You seem oddly fine with this," he said. "I expected more hysterics out of you."

She dropped the sponge. "Hysterics?" she said. "Out of _me?_"

"You looked like you were going to scream when I came home with him." Sasuke said, flatly, just stating the facts. He sat down at the table.

"Well that's because I _was_, Sasuke. But I held myself in because I didn't want to embarrass you."

"Awfully kind of you."

"Oh don't give me _that_." She turned around to face him, and she folded her skinny arms. Her hands were still wet and they left spots on her apron. "You _told _me you'd explain everything. So I calmed down. And now I want an explanation."

"I gave one at dinner."

"Oh come _on_. I don't believe that 'potential' story for a moment, Sasuke," Ino said. She started gathering her anger, to reinforce her voice. "Who is that boy? Really?"

"His name is not 'that boy;' it's Yakata," Sasuke said. "Do I have to keep remin-"

"No! No, you do not have to keep _reminding_ me, I know his _name,_" Ino snapped. She sighed, rolling her eyes. "Who _is _he? I'm suspicious, Sasuke."

Sasuke laughed, once, humorlessly. "Suspicious. You're _suspicious?"_

"Well, why _wouldn't_ I be, Sasuke?" Ino said. "You go off on some trip without any warning and then you come back with some strange _kid_. I _want_ an explanation, Sasuke! Why is he here?"

"He's here because I'm training him."

"Answer my damn _question, _Sasuke!" She pulled her arms violently away from each other. Drops of water fell to the floor.

"I did."

"You did _not!_ Why is he here?" she said again.

Sasuke sighed. He shook his head. As _usual_. He always treated her like she was a child, unable to come to any conclusions on her own, but she had long since gotten used to it.

"Fine, I'll tell you," he said.

He didn't say anything, for a while. Ino folded her arms. "Sasuke, I'm waiting."

Sasuke glared at her, and then closed his eyes, taking a breath in, and out. "Yakata is my brother."

"…the hell does that mean?" Ino said, after a few moments of facial contortion. "Wait, you mean your parents had—but I thought they-"

"No, no, it's not like that," Sasuke said, almost annoyed, his face wrinkling. "He's… Itachi."

"Itachi…? But he's… he's _dead_, Sasuke. Even _I_ know that," she added, sourly, in her hushed disbelief. Because, clearly, she knew nothing.

"You think I _don't_ know that? For heaven's _sake_, woman," Sasuke said, sneering. Poison was gathering in his voice. "He… he's like… a reincarnation. A clone."

"You're not making any sense." Ino's voice was soft. She was shaking her head, slowly, from side to side.

"Well excuse me for failing to explain the situation properly, Ino!" One of Sasuke's eyes twitched. "It's not exactly a simple thing!"

"Well, I should say! What do you mean, he's a reincarnation or whatever?" Ino said.

Sasuke waved his hand around near his head as he struggled for words. "It's… someone, somewhere, some_how_ brought Itachi back. They grew him and gave him to a family and that's… Yakata."

Ino gave something like a nervous laugh. "You're not making any sense."

"You _said_ that already," Sasuke said. "It's not easy to explain. What are you not _understanding, _anyways?"

"What am I not _understanding?" _Ino said. She gestured inarticulately. "I just don't see how someone like _you_ could believe something as… as _crazy _as that!"

"Don't tell _me_ that it's crazy," Sasuke said. It was a command, not even remotely rhetorical. "I've been suffering over this for _months_."

Ino's voice fell into her throat, and was very quiet when she managed to speak again. "Months? What in the world are you talking about?"

"I met Yakata on that first mission, with the genin. _That _was the truth." He leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms, his voice smoothing slightly, as he returned to the facts. "You know how he looks just like Itachi? I had no idea what the hell that meant. I thought I was…" He swallowed, grimacing, as if the words tasted bitter to him. "I thought it was just a coincidence until I went to talk to Karin."

"Wait, wait, _Karin? _When did you go talk to _Karin?_" Ino said. There was less rage in her voice and more curiosity. She began approaching him, moving away from the sink and closer to the table. "Sasuke…"

Sasuke sighed, shaking his head, again. He got up and out of his chair, and he began to pace around the kitchen. "See, this is why I didn't say anything," he said. "I knew you were just going to lose your temper and make _assumptions_, like you _always_ do."

"Like I always…?" Ino scoffed. "Give me a little damn _credit_, Sasuke!"

"Credit given."

"Oh shut _up_. When did you see Karin?"

"Just a few days ago. It's what I left so suddenly for."

Once again, Ino struggled for words. She raised her hands and dropped them against her lap. "Why the hell didn't you tell me…?" she finally said, softly, sincerely, desperately.

"I know how you are," Sasuke grumbled. He almost looked like he was pouting. "You'd probably think I was sneaking off and having an… affair with her or something."

Ino actually laughed at this. "You're joking. You're joking, right?"

"No, I'm not. What's so _funny_," he said. His eyes hardened.

She managed to control herself, for a moment. "Why would I think that… _you, _of all people, were having an _affair_, just because you were going off to see another woman for something?" she said. She laughed again. "Wow. I am… honestly amazed, Sasuke."

Sasuke shoved his hands into his pockets and didn't look at her. "I thought you'd make a fuss. It was better not to say anything."

"No, you _should_ have told me."

"WELL I CAN'T RIGHTLY CHANGE THAT RIGHT NOW, CAN I," he said, shouting suddenly, as he locked eyes with her. "The fact remains that I went, and I talked to Karin and she convinced me about Yakata! Okay?"

"Quiet down, do you _want_ people to hear?" Ino hissed, much quieter, as she glanced sideways, at the window, at the hallway, but not at him, not at him. "Okay, so you went to see Karin! Big deal! Why did you go to her in the first place?"

"Favor to Sakura." His voice was clipped, reluctant.

She scoffed again. "Oh, really."

"I'm not going to be lying about everything, Ino!" he snapped. His voice rose again.

"Okay, okay, fine! So you did it for Sakura!" said Ino. "Shh, come on, be quiet! So what does Yakata have to do with this?"

"I told her about him and she said that…" He swallowed, and said, very quickly, "that Orochimaru might have brought Itachi back, and that Yakata was the result."

"_What?_"

"Keep it _down!" _Sasuke hissed. "For heaven's sake, _you_ were the one concerned about making noise! Do you _want_ people to hear?" he added, in a high-pitched whine of an imitation.

Ino seethed. She crossed her arms again, pursing her lips, tightly. "What did she mean by that?" she said, lowly. "Orochimaru? How did… how did she even come to that conclusion?"

Sasuke paused. "She found reports," he said, after a while.

"Reports." Ino didn't trust his tone for a moment.

"Yes. Reports," he replied, insistently. "You know, this _isn't_ just about Yakata. That Taki Kiine girl, she's involved in this too."

Her mind reached for facts and grabbed rumors. She spoke before she could fully process the information, because otherwise… "Taki… what?"

"I told you, it's not easy to explain! Go ask Sakura about it sometime, I don't know!" he said. "I'm going to talk to her tomorrow too, you know, since that's why I left in the _first_ place. And we're going to have some blood tests done on Yakata. To prove it. That he's really Itachi."

"What the hell are you even talking about, anymore?" Ino said, her voice faint, her head reeling.

"Maybe you'd know if you actually paid _attention_, you empty-headed little _shit_," Sasuke said. His voice was curt and cruel.

"Don't _insult_ me! You're darting around the subject, I can barely understand a thing!" Ino said. "And stand _still_, for _fuck's_ sake!"

Sasuke stood still. He glared at her, Sharingan spinning. "What's so hard to understand, Ino," he said.

She had to look away. She had to. "I just can't understand how that bo-" She stopped herself. Paused. Catching herself, before he could. "_Yakata_ can be your _brother_. In _any_ sense of the word."

Sasuke sighed. "Honestly, if you took one moment to just step outside of yourself and _think_ for once then I think you'd understand."

Her voice rose, but she couldn't help herself. "I'd _understand_ better if you actually slowed down and told me what was going on!"

"I. ALREADY. HAVE." His voice sounded louder than it really was. She flinched with every word. "Yakata's my _brother_! He is _Itachi! _He was brought back from the dead, and now he's here!"

"But…" Ino stammered. "But, how… how is that even _possible!"_

Sasuke sputtered with rage for a moment. "I don't… _know!" _he shouted. Ino's shoulders rose; she held herself as if she were cold. "Damn it, I don't _know_, okay? It just… happened!" His voice quieted. "It… it just happened. I don't know how, but it did, and he's here."

She still couldn't look at him. "You don't need to shout. I'm sorry. I'm just… confused." She paused, thinking, collecting memories. "So is it… really him, in there? Your brother, I mean."

Sasuke paused at this, for a while. She risked looking up at him, and found that his eyes had quieted, as had his expression.

"Sasuke, answer my question. I'm just trying to understa-"

"He was reborn. Raised by different people, has different memories. But he's still Itachi," Sasuke said. He had started pacing again. "I _know_ it. And once we have the blood tests done I'll have proof."

Ino just nodded. "…okay. If that's what it is, then that's… what it is."

He stood still, glared at her. "You don't believe me. You think it's all bullshit, don't you?"

"Well, it… _is_ a little hard to believe, Sasuke." She attempted to smile. Anything to keep his voice down. "I mean, it sounds like something… out of a fairy tale, or-"

"Well just _believe_ it then, all right? It's the truth!" Sasuke was shouting again. "Whether it's… believable or not! Strange things happen and-"

"Shh, Sasuke, please, please, calm down," Ino said. She had raised her hands, now, defensively, waving them in slight, downward movements, as if she could coax his rising temper down with her palms alone. "I guess I'll have to accept that these things happen. Okay. Calm down, you don't have to get so angry…"

"I wouldn't be so angry if you weren't so thick about all of this," Sasuke said. He didn't look at her as he spoke.

"Sasuke, I'm not…!" And she plucked the anger out of her voice before it could grow any further. "Okay, you know what? Fine. I'm being thick about this. I'm sorry," she said. She sighed, she breathed in and out, she counted to ten. "So does… Yakata know? About this whole him-being-your-brother thing, I mean I'm supposing he does, if he's here…"

Sasuke didn't answer.

"…Sasuke, he _does_ know, doesn't he?"

"Well, that's…" He looked at the floor. "I had to tell his parents something to get him to come with me, so…"

Ino's face began to crease again, from comfort into frustration. "What did you _tell_ them, Sasuke?"

Sasuke didn't answer.

"Sasuke, you have to tell me, you know!"

He hunched his shoulders, looking out the window, now. He folded his arms. "They… think that Itachi is his… father."

Ino didn't even have to do the math. "You _lied_ to them!"

"It was the only thing I could say!"

"You _lied_ to them, Sasuke!"

"Well what else could I have told them? Given how well _you're_ taking this I _highly_ _fucking doubt _that they'd react just as well! And you're a damn jounin, Ino, these are country…" His hands grabbed for the words in the air. "…bumpkins! If _you're_ having trouble understanding the concept then how the hell do you expect me to have explained it to _them?"_

Ino breathed in, sharply, through her nose. "Be that as it may," she said, "you still lied to them. Is this what you told Yakata, then? That your _dead_ brother was his _father?_" Sasuke nodded, once, still looking out the window. "Oh, I ought to _hit_ you. That was… that was _incredibly_ stupid!"

Sasuke looked up. The air suddenly felt very, very hot.

"Don't you _dare_ threaten me. I am your _husband_. You do _not_ speak to me this way."

Ino had to turn her back on him, that time. She bit the nail on her pinky finger, for lack of a better comfort, praying he that he wouldn't command her to look at him.

He didn't.

It took her a while to work up the courage to even speak, gathering it, breath by deep breath. "It's unfair to Yakata, Sasuke. It's a lie, and if he ever found out-"

"He won't find out."

"How can you be so sure?" Her voice wavered.

"He won't. Find out."

She laughed. Nervously. "So that's how it's going to be, then. You're going to just keep lying to him, for as long as he's here?"

"It might as _well_ be the truth," Sasuke said. "He might as _well_ be Itachi's son. It makes no difference."

"You still-"

"Not another word about what I told him."

Her mouth remained open, dead words still on her tongue.

"You understand that this means you cannot speak a _word_ about when Itachi died, don't you?" he said.

She didn't answer.

"_Ino_. Look at me."

She had to obey. She kept her head down, only barely looking back at him, from the top of her eyes. "And what _am_ I supposed to tell him if he asks?"

"Lie, then. And tell me what you said afterward." She didn't respond. "What, you're not above _that_, are you?" He tilted his head backwards and slightly to the side, his red eyes full of contempt. It was an expression she knew far too well.

(It was a face that Takeru seemed to wear nearly constantly, but it had long since stopped scaring her. She learned to live with it.)

(Just like everything else.)

Her fear transformed instantly into fury. "I can't rightly lie to a _child_ about something like that!" she said.

"Then pray he doesn't bring it up," Sasuke said. "I already told him not to bring his father up around others."

A laugh escaped from Ino's mouth. "And you don't expect he'll get _suspicious_ at all?"

"He's an obedient boy."

She lowered her head, shaking it. "I can't believe I'm hearing this…"

"If you have a problem with it then take comfort in the fact that he's only here until the end of the summer," Sasuke said, without any sort of comfort. "He'll get over his curiosity about Itachi soon enough, anyways. He knows when to stop asking questions."

Ino just shook her head again. "Why is he even here, Sasuke?" she said, when she finally managed to look up at him again.

He looked at her as if she'd asked him why the sky was blue. "He's _Itachi_. I couldn't just… leave him out in the middle of nowhere, not with those skills he has," Sasuke said. He walked toward the sink. "Imagine, if I had just let all that potential go to waste…!"

"So you're basically training him because you think he'll be as good as your brother."

"He _will_ be as good as my brother. He _is_ my brother, Ino, how many times do I have to _say_ it?" He turned around, glaring, once again.

Ino held her hands together in front of her. They were dry, now. "But is this what _he _wants?"

There was a pause, and it was very small, but Ino noticed.

"…why the hell are you even asking? Of course he does." He faced the sink, again. "I wouldn't have done this if he didn't want to go in the first place. I offered, and he accepted. That's why he's here."

Somehow, Ino didn't believe this. But it was late and she had dishes to finish washing, and she was too tired to make more of an effort. "Okay. I still think it's unfair, how you lied to him."

"I didn't lie to him."

She shrugged. It had been a pitiful attempt at getting the last word in, anyways. "…whatever you say, Sasuke."

Sasuke was quiet, for a while, not even acknowledging that the argument was over. He always did this, lingering about with his hands in his pockets, just pacing, almost drinking in the meaningless victory, seasoning it, on occasion, with more words.

"So just remember," he finally said. Ino had been waiting for it. "Don't bring up Itachi. Only let me talk about him."

"Of course, Sasuke." He wasn't even looking at her. She was trying not to, but failing.

"And if Yakata asks?"

"Just make something up, I _know_. Can I get back to the dishes now?"

He gave her a very severe glance. "I'm not done talking."

"Oh, really? Because I thought that we were," she replied, sharply. She tried to move forward, but he stepped in the way.

"No, we are not done until I _say_ so."

She rolled her eyes. "Cut it out. Why are you being such a child about this?"

"You're calling _me_ a child? Me? Ha. Haha."

Ino didn't say anything, quietly breathing, her eyebrows low.

"You're the one who overreacted, I'm being a perfectly calm and rational human being about this," he continued.

Oh, that was _it._

"Then why were _you _the one that was shouting so fucking much?" she hissed. Her face was inches from his. His expression did not waver. "People can _hear!" _

She looked away, feeling bitter, bitter words building in her mouth.

She could either spit and be attacked, or swallow and feel sick for the rest of the night.

She felt sick enough as it was. She didn't know how much more she could take.

She chose to spit.

"For someone so obsessed about _family_ you sure don't care much about public appearances..."

And then his hand was on her arm and it was twisting very hard. She closed her eyes, feeling the pain.

"Not. Another. Word," he said. "How _dare _you speak about my clan this way. I am _insulted._"

His clan.

_His_ clan.

(That was how he had proposed to her, twenty-two years before. Would she help rebuild his clan, he had asked.)

(Sometimes, when it got really bad between them, she found herself lying awake at night, wondering why in the world she had accepted.)

And then there were footsteps coming down the stairs and he let go and sat down at the table and she went to the sink and everything was.

Normal.

It was Takeru. He blinked, sleepily. "What's going on?" he said. "I heard people talking."

"Nothing. Your mother and I were just having a discussion," Sasuke said.

"Oh? What about?"

Ino knew better than to speak.

(Her arm hurt her arm hurt her arm _hurt_.)

"Yakata. His long-term situation. Nothing that concerns you, son," Sasuke replied. He couldn't manage a smile.

"Oh. I see," Takeru said. "I just heard a bit of a commotion. Wondering if everything was all right."

"Everything's fine, dear," Ino said. "What are you doing up, anyways?"

"Just couldn't sleep, I guess," Takeru replied, casually. He yawned. "I came down for a glass of water."

"Couldn't you have gotten one from upstairs…?" Ino said.

"Oh, the water up there is _disgusting. _I don't want to have to drink out of the cup that everyone else _gargles_ with, are you crazy, Mother?" Takeru looked at her as if she had asked why the grass was green, his expression laced with a smirk.

"Well get your glass of water and head back upstairs," Sasuke said. "Don't stay up too late."

"Oh, I'll be sure to get my eight hours in, Father. Don't worry about _me_."

Ino didn't move as Takeru got a glass from an upper cupboard and filled it with water from a pitcher in the fridge. He drank from it, slowly. Sasuke didn't say anything. He put the glass in the sink, when he was finished, by his mother's motionless hands.

"Well, then. Goodnight," Takeru said.

"Goodnight, son," Sasuke said.

"Goodnight," said Ino.

And then Takeru was back up the stairs. They heard him close the door to his bedroom.

They were quiet for a good long while, afterwards.

Of course, Sasuke was the first to speak. "So remember what I said."

"Yes, Sasuke."

"Don't mention Itachi."

"Mhm."

"And if he asks?"

"Make something up and tell you afterward."

"He's only here until the end of the summer."

"Yes, Sasuke, I know."

"Good. I'm going to bed. Early morning tomorrow. Taking Yakata around the city, he's very excited. Having those blood tests done, too."

She couldn't help herself. "So you're going to tell other people about him."

"Of course. I have to. You didn't think I would?"

She didn't say anything.

"This is more than just me and him. There's other things to consider and-"

"Fine. I understand." She reached for her sponge, suddenly. "I'm going to finish the dishes."

"Mm."

He stood.

"Hopefully they'll understand the situation better than you," he said.

She had her back turned, so she couldn't see if he was looking at her or not. She doubted he was.

And he left.

Her arm still hurt. She managed to ease the pain a little with the application of chakra.

She did not start crying because of her arm, oh, no. That was nothing—and, besides, it wasn't like Sasuke had hit her, or even raised his hand against her. He was a good man, he'd never _really_ hurt any of them.

(Hadn't she been the one to threaten him, anyways? That's what had caused this.)

No, she cried because she was terrified, more than anything else, that someone had heard. Anyone.

The children were sleeping just one floor above. Even with all of their doors closed—and she always told them to close their doors at night, "To keep things looking neat," she had told them—their voices muffled, certain tones, certain volumes still managed to make it through. She was certain. She knew how acoustics in a house worked.

And her children were ninjas, like her. Light sleepers. They heard things.

(She could never forget the look that Inou had given her when he was four years old, rubbing his eyes, clutching a blanket, on the night that everything ended for Nadeshiko. The look of scared confusion, when he asked why Daddy had been yelling so loudly. Had something happened?)

And when other people heard things, rumors got around. People _talked._

And Ino did not want to be That Woman.

(She did not want to be her mother.)

And oh, if Yakata had heard a thing that either of them had said. She didn't know what she could say to him.

She didn't know what _Sasuke_ would say to him, more importantly. And that scared her the most.

None of this was like him. He wasn't prone to irrationality. He was—hadn't he said this?—a perfectly calm and rational human being.

She just didn't understand. She just… didn't understand. No matter how hard she tried to wrap her mind around the facts there were just gaps in the logic that eluded her, endlessly. There were unanswered questions and theories about Orochimaru, and the whole idea that Sasuke seemed to have in his mind, that this b—Yakata, that Yakata was _Itachi_, that she couldn't understand. She tried to. Oh, she tried to. But it just didn't make sense.

None of it made sense.

But, as she had learned, from many, many years of practice, that it was far better to just keep her head down and pretend that she knew what was happening.

It made sense to Sasuke, so it made sense to her. This—Yakata was Itachi, but he thought he was Itachi's son. So long as she was careful, that wouldn't cause any problems. Fine, she would be fine with this.

All the rest she would leave for Sasuke to figure out. And if she figured it out as well, then, well.

Besides, Sasuke was being responsible. He was going to tell other people about this, wasn't he? He didn't tell her who, but she had an idea—Sakura, and because of Orochimaru, would he maybe tell Naruto? And Karin, she didn't know how much they'd talked about, or what they had…

(She had never, not for a moment, suspected Sasuke of an affair. Never, in twenty-two, almost twenty-three years of marriage, did she even think him _capable_ of such a thing. She knew him too well to think otherwise.)

She hoped that he knew what he was—no, she didn't hope. She knew.

She sniffed, wiping away her tears with the back of her hand, trying to force herself into composure.

No, she hoped. She hoped he knew what he was doing.

She couldn't be certain. Not here, not now.

Her eyes were dry by the time she had finished the dishes, scrubbing them, drying them, putting them away in the cupboards. She went down the hallway to their bedroom and got undressed and dressed, very quietly, in the darkness. Sasuke was already asleep.

She couldn't even bring herself to close her eyes for more than a few seconds, so she just stared at the ceiling and thought.

And prayed that nobody had heard them.


	28. Familiar Blood

**Author's Note:**

To those wondering about Ino's well-being and general state: she'll be fine. But things, in all likelihood, will just get worse before they have any chance to get better. Unfortunately and unfairly, there's nothing that can be done about Sasuke. Yet.

Hang in there, readers. It'll all work out.

Thank you, and take care of yourselves.  
- Rii

* * *

C_hapter 28 - Familiar Blood_

* * *

Sasuke asked Yakata to wait outside while he went to talk with Sakura in her office, after briefly, _briefly_ introducing them.

Sakura's eyes were still wide when he came back inside. He waited for her to say something. She didn't. "Well?"

"Well… well _what?" _she stammered, leaning against the back of her desk, barely standing.

"Surely you've got _something _to say about all of this."

"Well of course I do, but…"

"But _what?"_

"I'm still kind of trying to process this, Sasuke! Give me a moment, won't you?"

"Hm."

Sakura rubbed her hand over the top of her forehead, pushing back her bangs. They fell back into place. "That… That's Itachi? That's _Itachi!"_

"More or less," Sasuke replied.

"How in the… Where did you _find_ him?"

"Land of Rice. But I didn't think to bring him here until after I talked to Karin, she changed my mind."

"You went to _Karin? _When?"

Sasuke sighed. And he had expected her to at least ask different questions than Ino had.

Well, he had to get it out of the way. "A few days ago. After you showed me those reports I… thought to check on some facts with her."

"_Really!"_

"Don't sound so surprised," he said. "I'd known about Yakata for a few months, but the reports you showed me convinced me that maybe my theories weren't so… unrealistic."

"Known about him?"

"I ran into him but I dismissed his appearance as nothing more than a coincidence, may we move _on_, now?" he said. He had his arms folded, his foot tapping.

"You seem oddly impatient," Sakura said, an awkward laugh slipping into her voice. "What were your theories, anyways?"

"I don't see how that's important, now that we know what's going on."

"Know what's—but what _is_ going on?" Sakura asked. "You just told me that he's your _brother_, how is that even _possible?_"

"Karin suspects that Orochimaru has something to do with it," Sasuke said, detaching his voice as he looked at the ceiling. "Reviving him, I mean."

"Wait, _what?_"

"That's just her _theory_," Sasuke said, still keeping his tone detached. "But it's the only lead we have. Since, well. Kabuto's been taken care of. But the last we heard about what became of, well, Orochimaru _himself_ has been…"

Sealed into a spirit sword. Even in his mind, even though he had seen it happen with his own eyes, it still sounded stupid to Sasuke.

"…inconclusive."

"Well it's… a theory," Sakura said. She shivered, slightly, he noticed. "But why would she think that?"

He had promised not to tell anyone about Ooda.

"She found some diary entries that suggested… things. Reports and things. She said she'd be sending you more information as she found it," he said.

"I… see," Sakura said. "Well… Regardless of whether… Orochimaru is involved or not—completely disregarding how in the world he's even involved in the _first_ place-"

"That's not the important thing, here," Sasuke said.

Sakura tightened her expression. "Yes, I _know._ The _important_ thing is… how in the world did… _Yakata_ get here?"

"I brought him with me to Konoha, naturally, what sort of a question is that."

Sakura sighed. "No, I didn't mean _that_. I mean… how was he brought back? I mean, wow, he…"

"Some sort of… regeneration. Technique. I don't know, I'm not a scientist," Sasuke said. "Grown in a tube or something. Why are you even asking me, anyways?" he continued, finally looking at her with a sour expression. "It's not like _I_ know."

Sakura shrugged. "No, I guess you don't…" She took a heavy breath. "So you just _found_ him?"

"Yes. Strange twist of fate, isn't it? Marvelous _coincidence_, yes?"

She sighed a little. "I suppose so."

"So I want you to do some blood tests," Sasuke said, without any change in tone.

"Huh? Why…?"

Sasuke sighed. "Isn't it _obvious_? I want to make sure."

"Make sure of _what_?" Sakura said.

"Must I explain _everything_," Sasuke said. He shook his head, slowly. "I want to make sure that he's truly Itachi. Just one final test. And… well, Karin had another theory, that maybe he might be connected with Taki Kiine. So maybe there's a way you could test that too, see if that's viable either."

The shock finally seemed to wear off. "Oh, that's—you're _right!_" Sakura said. She clasped her hands together. "I don't know _what_ could test for—well I _do_ have an _idea_ but… oh, I should really do that."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I thought that'd be the _first_ thing you'd think to do."

"Well it's not every day that things like this happen, you know," Sakura said, putting one hand on her hip, the other on her chin, as she thought. "Goodness, Sasuke, if this isn't an enormous stroke of luck."

"Stroke of luck, is it?"

"Dunno what else to call it. You finding… Yakata, and all that. Say." She looked at him, there, head tilted slightly. "Why do you call him that?"

"Call him what."

"Yakata. If he's really Itachi, as you said."

"…well that's his _name_, isn't it?" Sasuke said. "He was raised by another couple. They never knew Itachi."

"Hm, well. By the way," Sakura continued, finally stepping away from her desk, "does _he_ know?"

"Know what." He paused. "Oh. No, he doesn't."

She thought for a moment. "…how in the _world_ did you get him here, anyways? You had to have told his parents something."

Did all women have to ask the same questions? Sasuke sighed again. "He's adopted. So I told his parents that I believed him to be…" A pause. "…a member of the clan. And that I wanted to have tests done to make sure."

Because Ino had reacted _so_ well to the truth, and given Sakura's reactions thus far…

"Hm. I suppose that works," Sakura said. "Well, we should probably have that blood drawn. I'm already short on time as it is. Did you want me to test it against Itachi's DNA profile or…?"

"Yes, whatever you need to do."

"Right, right."

(Truthfully, she was probably keeping some poor soul in the waiting room for far too long, but Yakata's appearance had startled her far too much to presently care. She'd apologize later.)

"You know," she said, right before leaving, "I really was wondering about what Ino was talking about."

Sasuke's vaguely good mood lessened. "When did you talk to Ino? What did she say?"

"…why so defensive, Sasuke?" Sakura said, darkly. She looked at him with narrowed eyes. "She just called me in a panic, yesterday. Something about you coming home with some strange child and you wouldn't tell her why. I'm guessing she was talking about Yakata-kun?"

He should have guessed. "Yes. What else did she say?"

"Not much else. She just mostly had to vent her frustration, but I couldn't stay long," Sakura said.

(She made a mental note to give Ino another call, soon. At least. She had to.)

(She couldn't even begin to imagine how Ino was handling all this. Inou and Karai in the chuunin exams, and now this?)

"Hm."

She opened the door. Yakata was still there, standing thoughtfully against the wall with his hands behind his back. Sakura almost instinctively avoided looking at his eyes, as he turned to face them, when the door opened.

"We're going to go have some blood drawn, Yakata," Sasuke said.

"Oh, okay."

"I hope we didn't keep you waiting long."

"No, I, I, I didn't… I didn't really notice."

"Okay." Sasuke cleared his throat. "Well, Sakura?"

_(Goodness,_ did Yakata ever look like Itachi.)

"Right this way, come on," she said, nodding, leading them to the labs. She walked ahead of them, resisting the urges to look back at Yakata.

She drew his blood quickly, after getting the supplies from the lab and filling out the necessary paperwork, to Sasuke's annoyance.

"Do we really," he said.

"Yes, we really," she replied. "This is my hospital, and I refuse to see it out of order. Now how tall are you, Yakata-kun?"

"Hmph," Sasuke said, and Yakata answered.

He hardly flinched when she drew his blood. "Keep that on for at least ten minutes, now," she told Yakata, wrapping his arm in gauze; a moment later, she pulled Sasuke aside, a good few paces away. "Sasuke, I'll get back to you later today on the initial results," she whispered, "though we won't be able to get the full DNA analysis done for a couple of days. But we have your brother's…" Her eyes drifted to Yakata's face; he was looking at her with dark—jarringly, not red—expectant eyes. She looked away. "…records on hand, so we'll be able to do the comparison pretty quickly."

"That's fine," Sasuke replied.

"And, um, Sasuke."

"What."

"Are you going to tell Naruto about this?"

"About what, Yakata?"

"Well and the whole…" Sakura looked over her shoulder, to see if Yakata was listening—why was she even checking?—and saw the boy just standing there, looking off at something, but not them. "…theory Karin has about Orochimaru being behind this."

"…it's just a theory. Rather baseless, really, but we don't have anything else. I don't think it's worth saying anything about," Sasuke said. "I don't think unnecessary panic will do anyone any good. Even in Naruto's hands."

"Right, right… Though, Sasuke?"

"_What_." His voice was a quiet growl.

"If… that hypothesis is proven correct, about Yakata-kun and Taki Kiine being connected, should I tell Naruto? Just on that alone."

"…whatever you want to do. Just try not to stir up trouble," Sasuke said. There was an edge of impatience to his voice.

"…I'll write to Karin about it, at any rate," Sakura said. Yakata was now looking at them, curiously, blinking with heavily-lashed eyes. Sakura couldn't stare at them for more than a moment at a time without feeling intensely uncomfortable.

"Anyways." Sasuke cleared his throat, his voice returning to its normal volume. "We have a lot to do. If you can't contact me in the evening just send me a note or something."

"Sure," said Sakura. She watched as he returned to Yakata's side, saying something about a tour and training. Yakata looked over his shoulder at her as they left, before Sasuke got his attention again, pulling his eyes away from Sakura. And she noticed, for the briefest of moments, the unusual amount of birthmarks he seemed to have on the back of his neck.

She forced herself to keep her concentration, to keep the shock from coming back.

Well, it _was_ a little hard to believe.

But she had a job to do. She swallowed and went back to the little vials of Yakata's blood that she'd left on one of the counters in the lab, and had two of them put into storage, along with his records. The third she took to a microscope.

Standard procedure: Droplet of blood, dyed, sandwiched between two slides.

She saw Uchiha cells.

Her breath caught in her throat.

And Karin's.

* * *

Sakura had figured out her angle on how to present this information to Naruto by the end of the day, only after separating her brain into seemingly two different layers of thought. She _did_ have a surgery to do that day—two, in fact, though one was just a glorified bone-setting, nothing she couldn't handle. She had to be able to concentrate, so she did. It came easily to her, for some reason. But she supposed it came with the territory.

(Because, seriously, she was just that awesome.)

The first idea that she threw out was using this information as blackmail against the Taki syndicate. First off, why the _heck _would she even do that? Second off, how could any of it be used as blackmail in the first place? That was why she threw the idea out first. Got the ball rolling.

The ideas that followed weren't much better. Threaten to expose their connection to Orochimaru? No, that was still blackmail, and it'd just get them mad. Bring up the fact that their daughter was more than likely not theirs, biologically? Eh. And the Uzumaki connection? A start, but not terribly helpful.

Besides, she remembered Karin's warning. Keep that fact away from the Taki family. They wouldn't take kindly to it, most likely. Neither she nor Sakura understood the connection much, anyways.

Sakura found herself growing frustrated, the more she thought. Why the hell was everything some sort of variation on blackmail? She didn't understand her own brain sometimes.

But the fact remained, it had been at least two weeks since the incident with Taki Kiine, and with the first round of the chuunin exams over and the majority of the foreign guests gone for their month of training, people were starting to buzz and fuss again, Sakura was sure. She didn't hang about the Hokage Manor very much but she had a good ear for gossip and a good feel for what sorts of things were going on in Konoha.

Something had to be done; doubtless Naruto was already thinking about it, himself.

(And she could imagine, very, very well how much he probably missed Kiine.)

And she really wanted to help, besides.

So she thought harder.

The best solution, she found, didn't even involve this new knowledge at all. Which was absolute _bullshit_, but there you go.

She went to the Hokage Manor, after clocking out and making sure that the folks who worked the night shift were all set up, ready to go, shuffling about and doing their rounds as needed. Andou said hello to her and said that Naruto was alone in his office, so she could just go right up and see him.

The door was halfway open already, so she pushed it open completely, gently, upon entering. "Knock-knock," she said.

Naruto was at his desk, an open binder full of papers in front of him, his forehead in his hand. He'd been obviously concentrating, and he looked tired. "Oh, hey there," he said, looking up.

"You doing all right? You look a little ragged," Sakura said.

"Nah, I'm fine. What's up?" He put down his reading and smiled at her, slightly.

"Not much. I was just thinking, Naruto."

"Uh-huh?" he said. "What about?"

"Well." She exhaled. "I know I'm not an advisor of yours, so if this is unwarranted, then…"

"Oh come on, Sakura, you are _totally_ one of my advisors, y'know," Naruto replied, grinning. "What do you wanna advise me on?"

She inhaled. "Well, now that the first part of the chuunin exams are over, I'm thinking that maybe it's about time you got back to the, er, Taki syndicate about settling all of those debts they owe us. I mean," she added, quickly, "people are starting to talk again."

"Oh yeah! I've been thinkin' about that, actually," Naruto said.

Her eyes widened, slightly. "Have you?"

"Yeah! Though all this thinking is _kinda_ making my head hurt, y'know, haha," he said. He closed the binder and held it up. "Andou-kun put this together for me, it's all the reports to do with the Taki guys. Debts and complaints and stuff, y'know."

"Wow, you two are really on the ball, then," Sakura said. She was quiet, for a moment. "So… what's _your _plan?"

Naruto blinked. "My plan?"

"Yeah, I mean, if you started thinking about this already on your own."

"Well…" Naruto's smile lessened, and he laughed, once, awkwardly. "I only started on this this afternoon, and that's only 'cos Andou-kun left this on my desk for me after we finished filing all the missions for the day."

"Oh. Well." Ah, she should have known.

"What did _you_ wanna do?" Naruto said, suddenly. His eyes brightened, and he straightened his back. "I wanna hear your idea!"

"Oh, um. My idea?"

"Yeah, you had one, didn't you?"

"Well yeah, I did."

"So what was it?"

The best idea didn't even have to do with what they'd just learned about Yakata. It wasn't even a _new_ idea, it was just a reminder, more than anything. _Total_ bullshit, the little voice in her head said, but. "Well, it's the same as what I suggested a few weeks ago," she said. "Writing a letter, planning a meeting. Negotiations. You know, now that you have the time."

"Oh yeah! You said that after, um." He thought.

"After I came to you about Kiine," she said, almost reluctantly, after a while.

His expression softened. "Oh yea-ah… I remember now. You told me to hold on 'cos of the chuunin exams. That was a good idea, y'know."

"Yep, I guess it was," she said.

"Okay, so, cool! Negotiations. I could come up with something for that." Naruto tapped his chin, looking up. "Maybe I should invite 'em back over…?"

"What, why would you do that?"

"Well… hm. Buncha reasons, I guess," he replied. "I mean, it'd be convenient, y'know?"

"For you, maybe, but for them…?"

"You never know! Maybe they'd like being invited over for somethin'." His grin was wide and very bright.

Sakura sighed, finding herself laughing, for some reason. "Well whatever you want to do. Though maybe it might be better to suggest a middle ground?"

"Like… meeting in one place?"

"Yeah."

"Huh. Maybe…" He had his eyes closed, thinking intently already.

Well, at least he was going to get a start on things. "Well, I'll be heading out, then," Sakura said. "Just… one thing, before I go?"

He opened his eyes, then blinked. "Yeah, what is it?"

"I'd leave out… the Uzumaki blood thing, for now, in whatever you decide to say to them." Her smile shriveled into a corner of her mouth. "I mean, we don't know the full story yet. We don't want to step on any toes. Misunderstandings or… whatever."

"Oh." And his eyes dulled. His face suddenly wrinkled. "Wait… _what_ Uzumaki thing?"

Sakura blinked. "…the things I found out about Kiine?" she hazarded. "Her being an Uzumaki, I mean?"

The change in his eyes, from dull to glazed-over, was astonishingly noticeable. The sudden smile that accompanied the change was similarly shiny, in a sense. "Ohh, _that_. Hadn't even thought of that, haha! Yeah, I think I'll be able to… not mention it, I mean, if I forgot already…" He laughed, quickly, and for a much longer time than Sakura had been expecting.

She could have sworn that a fact like that would be remembered, even by _him_. "Yeah, uh, sure…?" she said. "Naruto, are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," he replied. He smiled with his mouth closed. "Just fine."

"…no, seriously, are you okay?"

He shrugged, still smiling. "Yup. Well! I ought to get to work on this, hm? You said you were going somewhere, y'know? Right?"

And Sakura just stood there, knowing, in some small, familiar part of her mind, that that was the most she was going to get out of him. His smile was a seal, one that she wasn't going to crack any time soon. "…well just take care of yourself, okay?"

"'course I will, y'know," he said. He waved at her. "Seeya."

She waved back, loosely. "Bye."

"Wait, hey, Sakura!"

She turned around, halfway out the door. "What is it?"

"Has Sasuke talked to you today about anything?" There was a bit more energy in his eyes, for some reason. It felt forced.

Sakura didn't notice terribly much, however, because she felt like a stone had suddenly fallen into her stomach. "…yes, he did. Why do you ask?" she said.

"Well, 'cos he just showed up in my office earlier today and he had this weird _kid_ with him," Naruto continued. His face creased, eyes narrowing. "What was his name… Yaka-taka?"

"Yakata, I think…"

"Oh. Oh! So he introduced you, too?"

All Sakura could do was shrug. "Yeah, _sorta_…"

"So what'd he tell _you_?" He went on before Sakura could really reply. "Cos he was just like, 'Oh Naruto I want you to meet this kid!' and I was all 'Oh, okay, cool, hi!' And then he _left_ and now I'm just confused." His face narrowed, almost into a pout.

"Well… he didn't tell _me_ much of anything..." Sakura said.

(Knowing Sasuke, and knowing Naruto, Sasuke probably didn't say a thing about the Itachi-link to Naruto—and she didn't want to risk Sasuke's wrath by saying something now.)

"Weird," Naruto said. He shrugged. "Ah well. Just wanted to see if he'd told _you _anything."

"What would he tell _me_ and not _you_?" Sakura asked. A necessary smile inched its way, uncomfortably, onto her face.

Naruto shrugged again. "Hey, also? Is it just me? Or… did that kid _really_ look a lot like..." And he looked up and he looked down, and he shook his head. "Nah, never mind. Man." He sighed. "Sasuke's been acting _weird_ lately. I wonder what's wrong?"

"I have no idea," Sakura said, shaking her head slightly. She turned around. "I'm heading out."

"Okay. Bye," Naruto replied.

And once she was gone, she went home and she tried not to worry, like she always did. Even though there was just so much to worry about.

But Naruto was the Hokage, and he knew what he was doing; and Ino was a stronger woman than her.

Oh, Ino.

Sakura had a phone call to make.

(And once she was gone, Naruto's face fell again, and he ran his fingers through his bangs and grimaced. He flipped through the binder that Andou had given him. He knew what he had to do. It wouldn't be difficult. He was the Hokage, after all.)

(But he wasn't sure if it was right for him to see Kiine again.)


	29. Paper Cut

_Chapter 29 - Paper Cut_

* * *

It took three days for Yakata's blood test results to come back.

Sakura waited until the results came in before writing a word to Karin. They were three days of awful anxiety and sleepless nights.

She did not see Sasuke out with Yakata much at all after that first day, interestingly enough. Rather, Sasuke spent most of the days with his student, Go'on, the boy with the big eyes, the one who had caused such an upset in the preliminaries. They were training for the chuunin exams, naturally. His other students, the girl and Kyou, she saw here and there, doing small chores about the city. Somehow, she was not surprised.

She didn't know where the Itachi-boy—Yakata—was, nor where he was being kept during the day, if Sasuke was out at the time. His and Ino's house, she assumed. Was that where they were doing their training, at night?

She tried to stay optimistic, despite the stories she had heard, despite the things that sometimes squirmed out of conversations with Ino that she desperately, understandably tried to keep under wraps, and denied to Sakura not seconds after speaking them.

Sakura's phone call on that first evening didn't go much of anywhere. Ino had told her, annoyedly, that she was fine ("Why do you keep asking that? You're so nosy sometimes, Sakura, honestly…") and that the family was still getting used to Yakata. But they were all adapting well.

"He already knows where everything's kept in the kitchen. Always wanting to help…" And Ino's voice had trailed off there, in a tone that suggested distaste. Sakura could practically hear her lip curling. "Training with Sasuke's going… well for him, too."

(What Ino didn't tell Sakura was that Yakata had bruises on his knuckles already.)

And Sakura said that okay, well, as long as things were going all right and that was more or less where the conversation ended, Ino hanging up after a brief, catty, critical farewell.

It was true, however, that Yakata was adjusting well. Sasuke had gone back to training Go'on the day after his arrival in their home, yes, but he devoted the evenings to the boy, taking him to the family training ground and teaching him the basics.

(This afforded Inou and Karai a shockingly large amount of freedom. He was no longer drilling them on their training techniques in the evening, no longer even interrogating them at mealtimes about it. Ino wished she could be happier.)

(But Takeru was finding himself ignored at breakfasts and dinners, the only times he tended to see his father those days. And it did not please him in the least.)

(Ino noticed. Sasuke didn't.)

It was not only an education in the ninja arts that Yakata was receiving; he was learning about his family, as well. His real family.

"That's your father," Sasuke had said, pointing to Itachi. They were sitting together with a framed photograph on the floor in his and Ino's bedroom, having finished their training for the day, and eaten their dinner. The dishes were done. Ino was in the living room, watching television, the children all elsewhere.

(Ino had many pictures of her children in scrapbooks and frames, but there was otherwise very little photographic documentation of the clan, especially prior to the massacre. Uchihas found little use for cameras. Understandably.)

Yakata had tilted his head slightly, looking at the picture. Two young boys were in it, with a man, and a woman. They were all dressed in black; painted on the wall behind him was that same red-and-white emblem, the one he had seen over the gate. "That's… that's him?" he said.

"Yes, that's him. And that's me, right beside him." Itachi was ten, in the photograph, Yakata's age; Sasuke was five.

"Wow. He… he looks just… like me," Yakata said. His voice was hushed, and the features on his face seemed to slow down as he took in every detail.

"Yeah, he really does," Sasuke replied. "You can imagine why I was so surprised when I first saw you." He closed his mouth, laughing slightly through his nose.

"Yeah, I bet…" Yakata began turning his head the other way. A strange, small smile began to grow on his face. "And, and that little kid next to him, that's… that's really _you?"_

"Sure is."

"You… you look a _lot_ different now," Yakata said. He began to giggle.

"Well of course I look _different_, I'm not a kid any _more_," Sasuke said, with a half-felt roll of the eyes. He was smiling a little, now.

"Right, o-of course…" said Yakata.

(He wanted to say that he thought Sasuke looked a lot happier as a kid, but he felt that it wouldn't be the right thing to do.)

"And, and… and those people are your… parents?" he asked, pointing to them, the man, the woman.

"Yes, your… grandparents." Sasuke sounded like he was about to cough, but he didn't.

"Wha-what were their… names?"

"My mother was named Mikoto. And… Fugaku, that's my father." Sasuke didn't point at them as he said their names, haltingly.

"Mikoto and Fugaku… Um, what were… what were _they_ like?" Yakata asked.

Sasuke thought on it for a while. "My father, Fugaku… was head of the clan," he said. "He was… strict. But he had… a lot of responsibilities, so of course he'd be a little…"

"…a little what?" Yakata said, quietly.

"…tense," Sasuke decided on. He cleared his throat a little. "And my mother was a very good woman. She would have liked you, I think."

The strange little smile returned to Yakata's face. "You… you really think so?"

(Even though his mother had told Sasuke that whenever she and his father were alone together, all they talked about was him. And, even all those years later, Sasuke still remembered that she had told him this, that she had told him that they talked about Sasuke, not Itachi, their…)

"Yes," Sasuke replied, "I think she would have liked you very much."

(Yakata was an innocent, after all.)

"Gosh…" said Yakata. He fidgeted a little where he sat. "Say, um. Sasuke-san?"

"Mm?"

"Did, did, did you, um. Did you know _my_ mother at all…?"

Sasuke's face grew stony. "I'm afraid I didn't know her. I didn't recognize her name in... any of my brother's letters."

"Oh…" Yakata looked downward, back at the photo.

(Sasuke hadn't let him see the letters. _"There were things in them not fit for children's eyes." _Yakata supposed that was fair.)

He suddenly snapped to Sasuke. "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to, um. Put you on the spot or anything…"

"No, no, don't apologize," Sasuke said. There was an artificial, attempted sort of comfort in his voice. "You didn't know that I didn't know."

"Sure…" Yakata looked at the photograph again, his mouth pressed tightly, sheepishly.

The expression made Sasuke surprisingly uncomfortable. He pushed the photograph towards Yakata, and began to get up off the floor. "Here, you can keep this if you want to," he said. "Put it in Hajime's room or something."

"Gosh, you, you mean it…?" Yakata said.

"I have no real use for it, so why not?" Sasuke said. "I'm also going to bed now, you should think about it, yourself." He was completely standing by then.

"Oh, sure…"

"So, goodnight?"

"Yeah. Goodnight, Sasuke-san."

Yakata ended up putting the photograph on the desk, next to the flower arrangement that had mysteriously appeared there the evening after his arrival into the Uchiha house, accompanied by a book: "Ghost Stories from the Land of Water." He had no idea where either of them had come from, so he asked Karai about it when she came home later that evening, when they were setting the table together.

"Oh, those must be from Nadeshiko…" she had replied. "She likes doing things like that, making flower arrangements."

And Yakata smiled at that and said, quietly, during dinner: "Thank you for the flowers, Nadeshiko-san, and the book."

"What flowers," Sasuke replied, glaring.

Takeru smirked.

Nadeshiko kept her eyes on her food.

Yakata stammered something that sounded like nothing.

But after dinner, when Yakata was helping Ino clean the dishes, she brushed past him and he heard a bare whisper of a voice.

"You're welcome."

It made him smile, and he turned around to look at her but she was already gone by the time he did.

Nadeshiko was like a ghost in the house to him, always flitting out of sight, remaining silent and composed at dinner, the only time he ever saw her clearly. She was, Yakata figured, like a spider, or a wild animal. A phrase that his mama had told him came to mind: "They're more scared of you than you are of them."

Though Yakata had no idea why Nadeshiko would be afraid of him—especially with the gifts she had given him.

(Though the book of ghost stories she had given him had been truly something frightening—but he doubted she had intended to actually scare him.)

Then again, he had no idea why Sasuke didn't like her, either. The Uchiha house was just full of mysteries.

He did plan on writing to his mama, eventually. But by the third night his hands were too weak from his training with Sasuke to even hold a pen with enough strength to keep the hiragana readable. Sasuke had him punching things, and throwing things, and he was _understanding_ how to do it, and Sasuke was telling him what a good job he was doing, but it was still tough for him to learn. His legs ached from learning how to jump high.

But there was more kindness about. Ino had gotten him a fork and a spoon after he found he was having a difficult time with the chopsticks, which proved to be a bit of an improvement, especially given how embarrassing it had been to have them clattering to the table surface all the time.

Takeru had scoffed, once, but only once; Sasuke had scolded him about it, slightly.

Well, it wasn't much of a scold. It was just one word: "Takeru."

But the tone said everything. It left Yakata rather speechless.

(And, in all honesty, it surprised everyone else, but for vastly different reasons.)

(Especially Takeru.)

It was on that fourth afternoon that the test results came in, and because Sakura was far too busy to see him herself, she had an intern seek Sasuke out to give him a note.

It said: "100% match."

Sasuke took the note and crumpled it in his fist. "Tell her I said thanks," he told the intern, who nodded, gasping for breath, before dashing back to the hospital.

In the evening, privately, Sasuke told Yakata that it had been confirmed. "Itachi was really your father," he said.

Yakata was rather without words, but he nodded and smiled. His hands still shook too badly when he held a pen to be of any use, so he promised himself to write to his mother as soon as they had healed, to tell her the news.

(Sasuke didn't bother telling Ino. Her hysterics from a few nights previous were still fresh in his mind, enough to make him scowl when he thought about it.)

Sakura, meanwhile, was compiling another package for Karin, with new samples and the results and a very befuddled letter. _What do you think this means about Taki Kiine, then?_ she had written, near the bottom.

Karin, as it happened, wrote two replies.

One was sent to Sakura, admitting that she was as perplexed as Sakura was, and was worried besides. There was another promise of further archive-searching, this time for anything to do with Itachi, and a request for any information about Taki Kiine's and Yakata's physical conditions.

The other was sent to Sasuke. It was much shorter.

_You brought him to Konoha? What were you __thinking__?_

_Sakura sent blood samples, blood test results. Mentioned Itachi. What did you tell her?_

_What did you tell __Yakata__?_

_Found my cells in Yakata's too. Clear link. Worrisome._

_Reply quickly by hawk._

_- Karin_

Sasuke stashed the letter away, told Ino it was none of her business what the letter was about, and replied to it once he was alone.

He wrote his reply on the back of Karin's letter.

_Yakata wanted to come to Konoha with me. I'm training him as a ninja. His request. He's very talented._

Technically, none of it was a lie.

_He doesn't know he's Itachi. I told Sakura, however. I figured you'd both benefit from further research. We're in this together, aren't we?_

Well, they were, weren't they?

_You should be grateful to me, you know._

He left it unsigned, and sent it back to her in the morning with a messenger hawk, as per her request.

Her reply came the next evening.

_Yakata is not Itachi._

_What else did you tell Sakura? Did you tell her about Ooda?_

_Don't tell me to be grateful._

Sasuke's reply was only three sentences long.

_I haven't told anyone about Ooda. Don't worry._

_PS: Are your cells in Ooda's blood too?_

Her reply, written in shaky lettering a few days later:

_They are._

Sasuke did not tell Sakura any of this.

* * *

Naruto, as it happened, was writing a message of his own.

It was for the Taki clan, and Kiine, and he had it sent out after reading it over once, twice, three times; giving it to Andou to read and edit; rewriting it, reading it again; giving it to Andou again, and then finally feeling pleased enough, convinced enough that it was all a good idea.

He sent it away with the fastest hawk he could hire, and received two replies a few days later.

Kiine had had a very, very busy week.


	30. Same Cloth

_Dear Boss Tensho,_

_I'm Uzumaki Naruto, seventh Hokage of Konoha._

_A representative from your clan and a few of your other men visited my village about a month ago about your daughter Kiine, as I'm sure you know._

_Things didn't really end off on the right foot, I'm afraid. At least, from my perspective. There was a lot of miscommunication and misunderstanding and a whole lot of other bad things and I really do want to apologize if any of it's my fault._

_I do want to make clear, though, that my time with your daughter was nothing but a good memory, that she was a model guest, and an excellent sort-of ninja besides, since she was able to convince me she was someone else entirely for almost a full month. That's pretty impressive no matter how you slice it, I think._

_And I do want to assure you that I took only the best care of her while she was here, like any other citizen. I'm sure she'd tell you the same but you don't have to ask if you don't want to. Though if she disagrees I guess that's my fault for being a bad host._

_I do want to try and make it up to you for all of this trouble, though. I can't imagine how much of an inconvenience this whole deal must have been for you, and how worried it must have made you._

_Starting in early September my village is hosting the international chuunin exam finals. It's a tournament for young ninjas to prove themselves and a lot of people from all over the world come to watch. And not just ninjas, we get a lot of daimyo visitors and celebrities and such, too._

_I would like to invite you and your family to come and see! Of course I'll have lodging and good seats and food provided for you all, I would really just like for you to have a good time. I would also like to see Kiine again and personally apologize to you and her both, and anyone else with grievances, but hospitality first. I'd love to meet the rest of your family, regardless, I'm sure they're all super charming. _

_If at all possible, too, I'd like to discuss the issue of the debts your men have left with us, at least in hiring many of our staff to search for Kiine._

_Get back to me however you can. I really would like making amends in this way, since it's probably a lot more fun than just plain meeting somewhere and negotiating things, but I understand if you don't want to talk to me right away. I can wait, but I think we have to meet eventually._

_Yours most respectfully,_

_Uzumaki Naruto  
Seventh Hokage of Konoha_

- Dated August 3rd, 27 AU

* * *

**ACT 5**

**UNINVITED**

* * *

_Chapter 30 - Same Cloth_

* * *

On the day that the Hakaza clan was to visit the Taki compound, a Saturday, Yuki didn't show up for breakfast. This was rather unlike him; even though he, understandably, wanted to distance himself from Kiine, he still sat behind her at all meals, with his knife in his sleeve, and ate quietly on his own, ready to protect her at any instance.

(She hadn't spoken a word to him since coming home. She hadn't said much to anyone, really, except her father and her mother. Understandably.)

Nobuhiro had to wait until after Tensho had finished his own breakfast and left the dining room; he had expected to wait longer had Tensho not said to him, in the hallway, "I noticed that Yuki-kun wasn't in his usual place. Where is he?"

"I dunno," Nobuhiro said. But he had an idea.

Tensho stopped, and Nobuhiro had to stop with him. He looked up at Nobuhiro. Tensho was not a short man; rather, Nobuhiro was just very tall. "You should go look for him."

Nobuhiro tried to conceal a grimace. "Boss, it's fine-"

Tensho smiled at him. "Don't worry about it. He's your little brother. Go find him, I can handle myself for a while." He pushed Nobuhiro forward. "Go _on!_"

Nobuhiro bowed, after a moment, smiling very slightly. "Thanks, Boss!"

And Tensho laughed, there, at the formality. But it was a requirement. Even though they were best friends, he was still the Boss.

(But the fact that Nobuhiro could hardly do a thing without Tensho's say-so had always been the case, ever since they were kids.)

It was a few maids, who were rushing about earnestly and cleaning everything, who told Nobuhiro that Yuki hadn't left his room since the night before, now excuse them, pardon them, coming through. That was as good a lead as Nobuhiro needed, so he went on to his brother's room, his head swirling with worry.

But when Nobuhiro noticed that the air in the hallway was beginning to feel cold, his worry increased, dropping into his stomach. Oh, no. He moved quicker.

He was shivering by the time he was in front of Yuki's door. His teeth rattled in his jaw. "Yuki!"

There was no response.

He said it, louder, "Yuki! Are you in there?"

"Go away."

He touched the door, and even the wood felt cold. "Yuki, what are you doing in there?"

"Go _away_, brother."

"Why weren't you at breakfast?"

"I wasn't hungry."

It was a lie and Nobuhiro knew it. He took his hand off the door to rub his arms with both hands again, trying to put some more warmth into them. "Yuki, I know that you're upset, but you need to come out of there."

"I'm not upset." The air got colder. Nobuhiro heard a strange crackling sound, coming from somewhere.

"The Hakaza clan is visiting today, Yuki."

"I know."

"Y'need to be there for Lady Kiine."

Yuki didn't say anything, after that. Nobuhiro put his hand on the door again. The wood was incredibly cold.

"Yuki, I'm coming in."

No response.

Nobuhiro tried to open the door, but he found resistance in sliding it sideways. Once more, his stomach dropped. Oh, this was _bad_.

But Nobuhiro was a strong man, and he wrenched the door open. There was a horrible crackling noise as it slid, and the rough crunch of wood against frost.

Yuki was sitting in the middle of his room, his knees drawn up to his chest. He was dressed, already, his hair brushed and smooth. He'd folded his futon into the corner of the room.

And almost everything around him was coated in some manner of frost, climbing up the walls in glittering spikes. Nobuhiro had never seen such an enormous display, however, especially near the door. Shattered bits of ice were all over the floor from where Nobuhiro had forced the door open, cracking the seal of ice that Yuki had made over it.

(This was not the first time that this had happened.)

"Oh, Yuki…" Nobuhiro said, and walked across the room to him. The tatami mats creaked from the uncharacteristic stiffness. "C'mon."

"I don't want to leave," Yuki said, quietly. He shifted his eyes sideways. "Just leave me alone."

Nobuhiro drew his mouth tightly across his face. He could feel the cold on his exposed teeth. He crouched down, to his knees, and kept his limbs close to each other, trying not to shiver. "Yuki, you can't do this. Not today. The Hakaza clan's gonna be here tonight. We're gonna need you."

"I'm not needed. Just find someone else."

"Yes, you are." Nobuhiro tried to smile, but couldn't, not entirely. Yuki wasn't even looking at him. "Lady Kiine needs her bodyguard."

"She doesn't need _me_." And Yuki closed his eyes, there, his voice very, very soft. "Not after what I did…"

Nobuhiro put his hand on his little brother's back, and even his clothes felt cold to the touch. "What you did was the right thing to do, little bro," he said. "We'd pro'bly still be looking for Lady Kiine if it hadn't been for you."

Yuki just tried to curl up further into himself, closing his eyes tightly. "Leave me alone," he said again. His voice squeaked with incoming tears.

"No."

Yuki's hands on his knees tightened. Nobuhiro could see every tendon tense up under his pale, pale skin. "Leave me _alone_," he said again.

"I'm not gonna leave you alone, Yuki. C'mon, we only have a few hours. We can't have you doing this."

"Doing _what_." Yuki's voice was muffled. He was speaking to his legs, his eyes pressed on his knees.

"Y'know what I'm talking about."

"No."

Nobuhiro sighed. He noticed, suddenly, that he could see his breath; the air, however, didn't feel as cold, probably from the anger and impatience he could feel growing in his stomach. "Look, Yuki, I know you're upset, but y'can't let that get in the way of your duties."

"I'm _not_. My duty is to protect Master Kiine," Yuki replied, to his legs.

Nobuhiro could feel his worry shifting, moving upward and into his chest. "Y'can't go protecting Lady Kiine from here, little bro."

"She won't need my protection if she doesn't go," Yuki mumbled. "So why am I needed? She doesn't wanna go. I know she doesn't."

"Yuki, what are you-" But then it hit him, and Nobuhiro grimaced from the realization. "Oh, so _that's_ what this is about…" Nobuhiro shifted his position, and put his big hand on Yuki's chin, turning his brother's face toward his.

Yuki didn't say anything. His eyes slipped downwards. There were tears on his cheeks, and they were frozen.

"I know you're worried about Lady Kiine's happiness, Yuki. But… this is what's gotta happen," Nobuhiro said. His hot annoyance softened into a warm sympathy. "You can't do nothin' but protect her."

"She doesn't even _want_ to do it…" Yuki sniffled.

Yuki was a very small creature, and he almost disappeared into Nobuhiro's arms when his brother pulled him into an awkward, necessary hug. "Yuki, it's gonna be okay. Okay? Lady Kiine's gonna be just fine. She's a tough kid, an' so are you."

Yuki said something that sounded like a disagreement, but it was too covered up in tears and Nobuhiro's sleeves to be words.

They had to take care of the ice, afterwards, when Yuki stopped crying and pulled out of Nobuhiro's embrace.

(This was not the first time that this had happened.)

These things just happened, from time to time. Ever since Yuki was very small, strange things occurred around him. Whenever he got excited or especially upset, the air would get cold; frost would start to gather on the windows. Drinks would freeze in their cups. And one day, during a family trip to the beaches of the eastern coast, he was found entertaining Kiine in the privacy of a small cave by hovering globes of water around in the air. Nobuhiro remembered how beautiful it had looked, like spheres of blown glass floating about, before they fell apart in the shock of Yuki being discovered.

(He also remembered how bright Yuki's eyes had been, on that day, bright with pride and an enormous happiness.)

Yuki was not keen on letting others know about those strange abilities of his. And, really, only a handful of people knew about them; Nobuhiro knew, of course, as did Kiine and, naturally, Tensho. But the extent of Kiine's knowledge was probably limited to the things that Yuki did to amuse her, and Tensho likewise—though Tensho had shown an interest in seeing how Yuki could possibly twist the talent into a use for the clan. Yuki was reluctant to actively train the gift, however, preferring to tend to his blade. And Tensho didn't push the matter, which suited everyone involved.

Nobuhiro, as it happened, did not have anything within him resembling Yuki's gift. He could manipulate men and women alike, and he could twist many situations into his favor when things got sticky, but he could not use water and ice the way that Yuki did.

There _were_ others in the clan that had similar gifts; one of the chief accountants, for instance, a fellow with hair the color of an apple peel from the Land of Water named Ringo. Ringo could spit acid that burned through walls and floors, if he wanted, and he was pretty well-known for it.

"Why the heck d'you wanna be in _accounting_, with a thing like that?" Nobuhiro had once asked him, years before, during a shared meal. "I mean, think about how much damage you could do with that!"

"Hey, s'not like I _wanna_ use it," Ringo had replied. He had very, very small eyes, and they shifted this way and that when he talked, as if he were looking for eavesdroppers. "Where I came from, you could get _killed_ for sommin like that. S'why I left."

And Nobuhiro had just nodded, half-understanding, half-confused.

"Besides," Ringo had added, "ya gotta play your cards right. I'm small potatoes compared t'guys like you an' Boss Tensho. But accountants?" He gave a very dry hack of a laugh. "_They're_ small potatoes compared to _me_. An' I'm smart enough to make it in with them, so."

Nobuhiro supposed that Ringo had a point there. And nobody got books written and turned in to Tensho faster than Ringo's boys. And that was why Tensho liked him.

There were others like Ringo, in the clan, although Ringo was the only acid-spitter. There had also been a man, come all the way from the Land of Earth, who had taken up employment as the head guard of the Taki compound when Nobuhiro was still a boy, running with Tensho and the child-gangs. His name was Benkei, and he had growths all over his face that looked like scales, or barnacles, and hands that looked like they had been made of glue and boulders. And those hands hit hard. Nobuhiro knew from personal experience, as did Tensho—but Tensho's bruises were far fewer, because he was faster and he had Nobuhiro to cover for him.

Tensho had decided to keep the man in his employment when he became Boss, but Benkei had since grown old, and now his son was the head guard, mothered by the maid that had brought Benkei his meals, eventually staying in the guard house with him for longer and longer periods of time. He had his father's hands and his mother's eyes, but none of their private gentleness.

And then there had been the woman who could bend her limbs like rubber in almost any direction, a gift from the Hanamachi clan after the resolution of a particularly nasty dispute. Tensho refused to use her as a concubine (though he didn't tell the Hanamachi clan head, a proud and smoky-eyed madam, this—that was _why_ she had been given to him, after all, and he didn't want to stir up another row for no reason by outright rejecting a _gift_), but he kept her around because of how good a masseuse she was, and because Mikan was not a jealous woman. Nobuhiro didn't see her much, though the way that she looked at him when they were in the same room together rather gave him the creeps. He didn't think eyes could ever look that empty.

It was individuals like that that gave the clan power, and the origins of their talents were never questioned. Even Ringo, who had an uncanny way of advising the traffickers in the Land of Water on how to avoid the ninja there, when making their shipments.

But sometimes, Nobuhiro couldn't help but think about where Yuki's gifts had come from. Certainly not from his clan, the Inaba clan—Nobuhiro didn't even _have_ a last name, before coming into the service of the Boss Kuni.

But more importantly, it was because Yuki had been given to him.

He would never forget the day. December; the morning had been crisp, the snow piled around the Taki complex a glassy white, the sky an eviscerating blue. The world looked like a painting.

Children were, on occasion, left at the Taki compound's gates, though it wasn't exactly common. Anonymous things, left for a variety of reasons. And they were usually taken care of in one way or another.

Yuki, however, had come with a note, and a name. And it had mentioned Nobuhiro specifically.

Even now, years and years after the fact, Nobuhiro could remember the words and the delicate, feminine handwriting on that piece of paper, without even having to dig it out and read it himself.

_Nobuhiro-san,_

_This child's name is Yuki. He needs a home, and I know that you can give him a good one._

_I doubt he'll ever be able to replace your sister, and I apologize for that. But, please, care for him with as much love as you had for her. _

_I will be watching._

It was left unsigned, but Nobuhiro had no doubts as to whom the author was.

Tensho had to listen to his worries and his nervous rants for the longest time, after that morning.

(Ever since they were very small, Nobuhiro could hardly do anything without Tensho's say-so, and both of them knew it.)

Nobuhiro refused to turn the child away, but the baby's origins had him worried. Worried and scared and everything that a proper Inaba bodyguard couldn't be.

(But he was only twenty, for fuck's sake, but he had gone through a lot, but he was tough, but he didn't know if he could _handle_ this.)

"Just calm down, Nobu," Tensho had said. They were alone, and Mikan was minding the child for them, because she thought he was adorable and she wasn't going to allow such a precious thing to go unloved, no sir.

(And, of all the people Tensho could never say "No" to, his wife was the most persuasive.)

"_He_ sent this!" said Nobuhiro.

"Nobu you can't…" And Tensho's face puckered, there, his lips tightening. "Y'can't be _sure_ of that."

"Who _else_ knew about what happened to Yukiko, Tensho?" Nobuhiro replied, in an explosion of a phrase. "Who else would _apologize?_ It's _him, _it's that _fuckin' snake_, he's behind this!"

"Calm _down_, Nobu!" Tensho had a tone of voice that could not be denied.

And Nobuhiro calmed down. A little.

"I just don't know if I can… _do_ this, in good conscience," he continued, his voice softer. He started to look for his knife. "I mean, c'mon, who else would…"

Tensho breathed, deeply, and there were painful memories in his breath, and his ambitions and the origins of his drive. "Nobu, I know how much he hurt you. He hurt _me_, too." He added, lowly, "You can… never trust a ninja."

"No, no, never." Nobuhiro had found his knife. Slide, click. "Never."

"But he was left for _you_, Nobu," Tensho said. He watched Nobuhiro pace with a vaguely angry expression. "Fuckin'… twisted 'apology' though it may be, it's still an apology."

Click. "An _apology?_"

Tensho shrugged grumpily. "Maybe that's what it is. I mean, he said it himself in that letter…"

And Nobuhiro had to think on this for a while, his mind shaking with memories. He held the lacquer case of his knife very, very tightly. "Why would he… but you _know_ what he did…"

"Look, Nobu." And suddenly Tensho was using his Business Voice, and Nobuhiro could do nothing but listen. "What happened to you an' to Yukiko was wrong. But you can't look a gift horse in the mouth. Besides…" And his voice got very thoughtful, losing its edge. He lowered his eyes. "If it were possible I'd have 'em find the guy that left the kid here, but the guard guys're tellin' me that he just disappeared after setting the baby there. Fucker just melted into the ground or something. Couldn't track him even if we wanted…"

"…s'not like I wanna… chase after the guy," Nobuhiro said, haltingly, after a while. "But seriously! Why would he give me a baby…"

"Why are you askin' me?" Tensho said. Strangely, he laughed, but it was a hard and a humorless laugh. "I don't know how the fuck ninja operate. Maybe they use babies as collateral all the time. Y'know, like how it is in the folk tales? 'I'll take your firstborn son...'"

Nobuhiro had to smile a little there, though bitterly, his scar stretching with his mouth. He'd had it for several years, then, but it was always something of an uncomfortable sensation. He took comfort in the intimidation it lent to his face, however.

"All I'm sayin', Nobu, is that, yeah, it's fucked-up. But maybe this kid isn't a bad thing for you. I'd take care of it. B'sides," he added, "didn't he say that he'd be watching?"

"You sayin' we should let some ninja asshole boss us around?" Nobuhiro said. He had his knife unsheathed, and his smile was real, but dangerous.

"He-ell no, Nobu." Tensho laughed, again, and he put on a dangerous smile of his own. "We're gonna fuck up his expectations an' raise a hell of a kid is what we're gonna do."

Nobuhiro laughed. A little.

"C'mon, Nobu. You gotta be the bigger guy in this situation. Be tough. Fuck the past," Tensho was saying. And he started to say other things and Nobuhiro was hearing them but not really processing them at all. An overwhelming sense of helplessness and weakness and sadness began to fall over him like a blanket.

He started thinking of Yukiko, the beautiful and the dark-haired and the kind, who had once been his world, who had once been the reason for every stupid risk, for every broken nose, for the scar on his lip. It had all been for her.

Was the baby, this "Yuki," really to apologize for what had happened to her?

He couldn't imagine that the snake-faced ninja bastard had an ounce of remorse in his body.

But there was that baby, and Tensho telling him to take care of it.

And there were Nobuhiro's unspoken thoughts, his suspicions that Tensho's unusually soft stance on the matter had to do with Mikan. She wouldn't even be alive if it hadn't been for…

But there were some boundaries that even Nobuhiro wouldn't cross, and that would be one of them.

(But those thoughts would stay with Nobuhiro for years and years.)

And so it was with a well-concealed reluctance that Nobuhiro came to be Yuki's older brother. "What, you're not gonna say he's your kid?" Tensho had said. "I mean, hell, you're almost as old as I was when Mikan brought Kiine home."

(Mikan was almost six years older than Tensho. But that wasn't much of an issue to either of them.)

"Nope. He's my brother," Nobuhiro had said, defiantly, holding the child with big, protective arms.

"Whatever you wanna say, man," Tensho had replied, laughing. "You're old enough to be his dad, though."

"Am _not_."

And he really wasn't. Nobuhiro had been terrified, since he was very small, of becoming a father at a young age, always intending to wait until he was living in comfort and had everything else provided for before having kids, so he took great care with the sorts of women he associated himself with, and always took the proper precautions when things got, ahem, serious.

Calling Yuki his brother softened the blow, in a way.

(Yuki also put something of a damper on his nights off, when he was younger, but Nobuhiro found himself not minding this, terribly. Even all those years later.)

(Even though Nobuhiro hadn't kept a girlfriend, much less been with a woman in any… meaningful way in years. He minded this, but he didn't show it.)

(He wasn't alone. That was what mattered most.)

But it was also because, while Yuki could never replace Yukiko, his sister, his lost one, he still took her place, in a way.

Though now it was Nobuhiro who was the elder, and not the other way around.

And he took care of that boy as well as he could.

Though, in the early days, Mikan was almost as much a part of Yuki's life as Nobuhiro was. She was a soft woman, even back then, cooing over him and overseeing his care whenever Nobuhiro was off taking care of business with her husband. Feeding him, changing his diapers, letting Kiine hold him. But he always slept in Nobuhiro's room at night, and once he was old enough to walk and talk and not require constant attention, he would never be too far from Nobuhiro's sight, following him around like a duckling or a kitten. He was Nobuhiro's brother, not her son, and she knew that.

(And Yuki, truthfully, had no memories of these early years with Mikan, with Kiine. But the familiarity with them, especially with Kiine, certainly helped with matters when he got older, when Kiine claimed him as her best friend. They held an innate sort of comfort for him that he could never really put into words.)

Nobuhiro thought it only a little strange—after all, didn't she have a daughter of her own to cuddle and love? But Mikan just loved children, it seemed, so he just accepted it, never really needing to have to draw the line anywhere.

He appreciated her help, anyways; Nobuhiro was hopelessly awkward when it came to the business of baby care. That was Yukiko's job, that was Mikan's job. He learned out of necessity, but he always did his duties clumsily, unlike them.

And then Yuki got older and Nobuhiro found strange and worrying thoughts arising.

Nobuhiro didn't know that a child—a boy, no less!—could ever possess such delicate features. Careful, beautiful hands; a mouth like a doll's; gentle eyes. They were features better suited on a toy, or a _girl_, at least.

But Yuki had them.

And as much as Nobuhiro tried to keep such thoughts away from his mind, he couldn't help but think that the boy looked like Yukiko.

The letter had told him that Yuki couldn't replace his sister—_ I doubt he'll ever be able to replace your sister_, the exact words—and Nobuhiro found himself wondering why in the world it had been phrased _that_ way.

_I doubt he'll ever be able to replace your sister._

If he was Yukiko's…

But when his gift began to manifest, those thoughts began to disappear. A little. Nobuhiro could not do the things that Yuki did, and even with the snow in her name, Yukiko couldn't, either.

But then Nobuhiro began to imagine that perhaps there had been a man with ice in his blood and cold hands like Yuki's and that he and his sister had…

And he'd have to stop thinking because he'd find himself growing far too angry to think straight, and Nobuhiro had other things to do.

Even now, watching Yuki reluctantly stand and brush the frost off of his pants, Nobuhiro found himself seeing her in him—and he'd have to remind himself that he was just projecting, just seeing things.

(The thoughts were going away, but they weren't completely gone. Not yet.)

"C'mon, Yuki. Make this all go away, we can't have anyone see," he reminded the boy, his only brother (his maybe-nephew). It wouldn't take long, Yuki could just make all the ice disappear, like he always did.

He had a gift, but few people knew of it. Yuki did not like to use it, often. Nobuhiro didn't discourage it, but he didn't encourage it, either.

Because people still talked. And Nobuhiro still had fears about where Yuki had come from.

(Because something that was known but never spoken was that these blood-gifts, Ringo's acid and Benkei's body and the rubber-woman, always came from ninja-lands.)

(And you could never trust ninja. Never, ever.)

(But if you left that world for the Taki family, then you were welcomed with open arms. As Tensho had told Nobuhiro, once before, many times before, "Fuck the past." If they hated the ninja world enough to leave it, then they were fine allies as far as Tensho was concerned.)

(Nobuhiro doubted that he'd ever be able to consider Yuki's father an ally, if his theories were correct.)

There was a defeated expression on Yuki's face as he held out his hands and, slowly, removed the ice from everything with a wave of his wrists, leaving nothing behind to indicate that it had even existed. All of the moisture was pulled out of the tatami, the paper walls, leaving them as dry as they had been before his depression had set in.

"…I'm sorry," he said, quietly, after it was all over. He lowered his head, his hair falling over his shoulders.

"Don't apologize, little bro. It's nothing," Nobuhiro assured him. The air was finally warm, again, and he wasn't shivering any more. He put an arm around his brother. "C'mon, we feeling better?"

Yuki took a long while to answer, but Nobuhiro gave him the time. He couldn't really blame the poor kid, and he could only imagine how bad it had been for a while.

He was a snitch, after all. An accidental one, but a snitch nonetheless.

(A maid found a lock of Kiine's hair in his room while cleaning it, and he had to explain himself. He hadn't gotten rid of it all.)

(He could have honestly come up with a better story, but everything ended up coming out, and he was on his way to Konoha with Nobuhiro by that afternoon.)

And those types weren't exactly looked kindly-upon by folks like Nobuhiro, like Tensho. And even with all of their comforts, their words of thanks, he still was what he was.

"…I'm feeling fine," Yuki finally said.

Nobuhiro knew he wasn't. But life was tough, and the day was too important to be soft.

"Good, good. Now c'mon with me, we got a lot of preparin' to do." He began heading out of Yuki's room, his hand around his brother's back. "I'll… keep you away from Lady Kiine until you really gotta be there, okay?" he added, awkwardly, once the door was closed behind them.

"…thanks, brother," Yuki replied.

"…hey, don't mention it," Nobuhiro said, tossing a casual air in his voice to disguise his other feelings.

He also meant it literally.


	31. Forced Zipper

_Chapter 31 - Forced Zipper_

* * *

Yuki had read, once or twice, about a thing called love at first sight. Some literary thing where, supposedly, the world stopped—or began spinning, it varied from book to book, story to story—when you first laid eyes on the person you were going to spend the rest of your life with.

When he first laid eyes on Hakaza Kou, Yuki began to wonder if such a thing as hate at first sight existed. Because the world sure felt like it was spinning, but his head was throbbing with anger as soon as the boy made himself known.

The Hakaza clan had arrived in the evening, and Yuki had gone with Nobuhiro and Boss Tensho to greet them. Kiine and Lady Mikan were there, as well, standing opposite of all the men in the hall, dressed in their best kimonos.

Kiine had not asked for Yuki's help in getting her prepared, and he had not volunteered his services. She hated him. He didn't want to make her suffer any more. Though some part of him wanted her to call him to her, so she could yell at him, hurt him, make him pay for all the pain he had caused her. He certainly deserved to suffer. She didn't.

(He thought she looked absolutely lovely, though. Even with her beloved hair cut short, they still managed to shape it and comb it into a beautiful style that suited her.)

Hakaza Shin was a very pale man made of sharp angles, cheekbones like Nobuhiro's and sharp yellow eyes and slicked-back black hair. He was dressed in blacks and whites, and his shoulders were very broad.

"Boss Tensho! _Thank_ you for receiving us on such short notice!" He bowed, first, and then shook Boss Tensho's hand. His nails were well cared-for. "Really, I can't thank you _enough._"

"Well, _you_ were the one that came up with the idea," Boss Tensho said, and both of them laughed. "I just agreed with you, that this meeting should occur sooner, instead've later."

"Oh, _yes_," Boss Shin said. "Much better, sooner."

There was a moment of silence, sacrificed so that neither of them would say anything about Kiine's disappearance, which was what the meeting had been about in the first place. Hurry up the engagement, before something _else_ could happen.

"Now where is that _fantastic_ girl of yours?" Boss Shin finally said, clapping his thin hands together. "It's been _forever_ since I've seen her."

"Kiine," Boss Tensho said. Mikan had been holding Kiine's hand, but Kiine pulled away from it to bow to both of the men.

"Boss Shin," she said. Her voice was clipped and falsely perky. Yuki could feel her annoyance, and it stabbed him in the gut. He tried to keep his eyes off of her, keeping his hands on his sword.

"Ah! As pretty as your mother," Boss Shin said.

"Oh, come _on_," Mikan said. Her impeccably-painted lips, a shiny red, curled into a smile, her round cheeks blushing just the right amount.

(Mostly because there was absolutely no reason for anyone to believe that Kiine resembled either her, or Tensho.)

(Then again, people always made assumptions.)

Boss Shin then gestured behind him, and a very young boy was pushed forward. He had blue hair that curled inward and toward his potato-shaped nose, and he wore a sheepish expression and well-made clothes of grey and blue.

"My son, Kou," Boss Shin said, almost clearing his throat in the middle of his words.

"A pleasure to meet you all…" Kou said. His voice was very quiet, lessening in volume with every word.

Kou had a round face, and if Yuki had not been told otherwise, he would have mistaken the boy for maybe only eleven or twelve, even though he was almost Kiine's age. His eyes were a clear, glassy yellow, like his father's, but they were round instead of sharp, and they _still_ didn't suit his face; they looked like marbles shoved into a wad of clay, or dough.

Hate at first sight. Yuki glanced sideways and he could see Kiine breathing through her nose as she tried not to look at him.

(What he didn't notice was that Kou was trying just as hard not to look at _her_, either.)

Boss Tensho then invited them in, father and son and associates, for dinner. "Excellent timing, we just finished getting the dining room ready."

"I can't wait," Boss Shin replied. They walked, side-by-side, together, flanked by their bodyguards. Mikan followed—Shin had no wife, Yuki didn't know why. And Kiine and Kou came behind them, and then Yuki, and Kou's bodyguard, a much larger man with an eye-patch that sneered at Yuki, once, as if to say "Are you kidding me?" and paid him no other mind.

Yuki sat behind Kiine in the dining room, as usual. And Kou sat beside her. Not as usual.

He began thinking of something she'd told him, on that night when she had poured out everything to him, all of her hatred and fear about the situation. "_I'm sure he's a totally nice guy,_" she had said. "_As nice as guys can be with dads like his and _mine,_ anyway._"

(Strange, how Yuki had once been willing to give Kou the benefit of the doubt and assume that he was at least a _decent_ person. For some reason, it seemed so much more difficult to feel that way, now. Not after what had happened.)

The kitchen had gone above and beyond in creating an excellent feast for the first night of the Hakaza clan's stay. Meat dishes, vegetables, soups, served in beautifully-crafted courses. The Taki clan had an excellent kitchen, after all. They could afford the best.

A toast was raised during the second course, by Boss Tensho. He sat beside Boss Shin, like an equal, at the head of the vast dining room, Taki clansmen and Hakaza clansmen lined up, sitting on the floor, backs to the wall. "To the union of our two families!" he said.

"Here _here!_" Boss Shin replied, and the two of them clinked their sake cups, and drank to their families' good fortune, and so did everyone else.

Yuki just thought of Kiine as he sipped gingerly at his small cup of sake. "_I can't help but feel like I'm nothing but a bargaining chip to them," _she had said.

He didn't have much of an appetite, that evening, so Yuki concentrated mostly on watching Kiine, and worrying, and feeling awful while the Bosses and the bodyguards and everyone else began to talk.

And he hated Kou for existing. If only he hadn't said anything. Yuki couldn't apologize enough. He'd ruined her life. And now this jerk was going to make it worse.

"I'm really sorry about all of this…"

Kou was speaking. Yuki looked at him for the first time in a while, his mouth slightly open. Why was _he_ apologizing?

"…what are you apologizing for?" Kiine, herself, said, primly. She didn't look at him.

"You probably don't really want to be here. I can tell. You hate me already. Frankly," Kou added, "I don't blame you…" He was looking at his lap, so Yuki couldn't see much more of his face. "I'm just really sorry you have to go through with this."

Those weren't the words of a bad person. Not even remotely. Yuki's mind floundered.

He listened, leaning forward slightly. His heart began to beat faster.

"…I don't… _hate_ you," Kiine replied, grumbling as much as the situation could allow. She turned her head, slightly, toward him. "It's my papa that's at fault, not you."

"Well, I suppose that's true… It's my father's fault too…" Kou replied. "I didn't exactly ask for this, you know..."

"Yeah? Well, me neither." Kiine raised her chin, sighing. Her voice lost a little bit of the artificial softness she put on for guests. "I just got told that we were going to get married and that was that."

"Makes you feel kinda helpless, huh…"

She looked at him fully, there, and Yuki did as well.

"I mean, they're not even giving us a choice. _I _didn't even get a choice. I feel like… I don't know, like I'm not even a _person_ in this whole matter. Don't know if you feel the same way, but…" And Kou's voice trailed off again, and he poked at the blob of wasabi on the side of his plate. "I just can't imagine how awful _you_ must feel. I'm really, very sorry…"

Yuki didn't understand.

And then Kiine said, sharply, "Listen, stop apologizing. It's not your fault, yeah?"

She was speaking like how she normally spoke, and it astonished Yuki. She never lost her composure like that around guests. Not even when she had gotten caught, back in Konoha. She had stayed in her role the entire time.

Kou turned to face her, fully, for the first time. His glass-marble eyes were wide with shock.

Yuki saw Kiine's expression soften, slightly. "So you feel bad about this, too, huh?"

Kou nodded, with a strange reluctance. "I don't know who to feel worse for, you or Dad or me."

"Why the heck would you feel bad for your _dad, _yeah?" Kiine asked, narrowing her eyes, her mouth tilting sideways in an expression of confusion that Yuki knew all too well. "I mean, come on. Neither of us would be here if it weren't for him."

Kou blushed. He looked at his lap, again. "He had to get me into an arranged marriage to get me a _girlfriend_, how pathetic is that…"

And Kiine laughed. But it wasn't a cruel laugh—and Yuki knew when she was being cruel. She was honestly amused—sympathetic, of all things. "Aww, man, you can't be serious, yeah…?"

Kou still didn't look at her. "I'm not exactly boyfriend material," he said, with a slight veneer of bitterness on his words. "Much less _husband_ material… I'm sorry."

Behind him, the bodyguard with the eye-patch scoffed slightly, but he was smiling. Yuki looked at him only for a moment, before diverting his attention back to Kou and Kiine

"Bull. I don't believe you. Not for a moment."

Why was Kiine smiling?

"And stop apologizing!" she added, when he finally looked at her. "None of this is your fault, how many times do I have to tell you? I know that none of this is your fault, yeah?"

"Sorry for apologizing…" Kou said, quietly.

She laughed, harder than she had before. Yuki's head felt almost hollow.

"So what, exactly, makes you 'not-boyfriend material'?" she asked. There was a subtle playfulness in her voice, almost mocking, but not quite. "If it's because you don't like girls or anything then I don't care about that. I mean, that'd definitely be a reason to not wanna get married, yeah?"

Kou made a sound that was something like a sneeze or a cough, and he gave Kiine a strange, surprised look. The eye-patch guard was chuckling, now, quietly.

(Contrary to his appearance and Kiine's occasional teasing, Yuki very much liked girls.)

"No! No, no, I'm not like…!" And Kou was looking at his lap again. "I like girls a _lot! _I mean, um… Oh, jeez…"

"Hey, hey, no need to get so flustered, I didn't really mean it," Kiine said.

Kou shook his head. "No, no, it's… Well, I _am _kind of a wuss, so... Dad tells me all the time."

He had to have been lying. Nobody would lay themselves that bare so early on. Yuki knew people, and he knew how they worked. He'd been taught very, very well. His suspicions grew, and the hatred in his stomach stewed and fermented even further.

"Oh, come on. Really?" Kiine said. She leaned forward, tilting her head at him.

Yuki felt a vague comfort in her words. She didn't believe him, either.

"Yeah, I mean… I can't use a sword." A pause. "No, strike that. I can't _fight_, _period_," Kou said, his voice rising slightly in volume, gaining strength with his sarcasm. "I'm a coward, I give up way too easily on stuff… I can't even _disagree_ with _anyone_. 'No better than a yes-man,' Dad always says." He exhaled, loudly. "I'm sorry, this is really awkward, me going on like this, I should probably shut up…"

It was awkward for Yuki, for sure. He wished that Kou would just be quiet and _eat_, and leave Kiine alone. He was causing her enough pain as it was.

But Kiine tilted her head the other way, and she said, "No, no, it's okay. It's just… you can't be serious, you can't even _fight?_"

"Yeah, some heir to the clan _I _am," Kou replied, with a bitter exhale of a laugh. "I feel bad killing _spiders_, can you believe that?"

And suddenly Kiine was smiling even wider. "Spiders are _cool_. But it's still kinda wimpy that you don't wanna kill even a bug, yeah."

"Yeah…" Kou began poking at his food again. He was quiet, for a while.

Kiine went back to eating, to Yuki's relief.

And then Kou was talking again. "Y'know, you think I could've done something about this, given my status. But I can't even abuse _that_," he said.

Yuki gripped his chopsticks even tighter. Why was he still _going?_

"Okay, now why are you saying _this?_" Kiine said. She held her bowl of rice delicately, like she was supposed to.

"Well, I'm the only son my dad's got. He's banking everything on me—no other guys in mind to take over, see. I got a lot of power. I could've asked for another bride but I couldn't even do that." He stopped himself suddenly and looked at Kiine with a very distressed face. "That's not to say that I don't think you're perfectly lovely, Kiine-san! I just think it'd be a little fairer to you is all…!"

She started laughing again, and put down her rice bowl. "Why are you trying so hard to be so nice to me, yeah?" she said.

Yuki's thoughts exactly. He narrowed his eyes.

"Because I could have _done_ something about this…" Kou said, quietly. He didn't lower his eyes, this time. "It's unfair to you, and it's my fault. I'm sorry."

"Why do you keep _saying_ that? I told you to _stop,_" Kiine said. She frowned, a little. "We both know that neither of us are at fault, here, okay? It's our stupid dads."

"I still could have done something about it," said Kou. He looked at his food.

"Y'know, even if you _had_ done something, I doubt it would've made much of a difference, yeah," Kiine said, flatly. She reached for her tea. "So stop beating yourself up for it."

Yuki's heart ached at how disappointed she sounded, and how much _he_ knew he was at fault here.

"What do you mean by that…?" said Kou.

"Look, you know what kind of people our parents are, I'm sure," Kiine said. She put down her teacup, almost slamming it. A hard edge entered her voice. "Do you _really _think they're the type of people to give up once they get an idea in their heads?"

Yuki already knew the answer. He watched Kou think, waiting for his response.

"…I suppose you have a point," Kou said. His marble eyes glossed over with something that Yuki couldn't quite identify, but it looked like disappointment too.

"…besides, I already tried to _do_ something, and that worked out freakin' _beautifully_," Kiine said, very quietly.

For the first time in days, she looked at Yuki.

Yuki had to close his eyes and bow his head, slightly, apologizing, apologizing.

"…what did you try to do?" Kou said. His voice was hushed.

Yuki still had his eyes closed.

"I… dressed up like a guy and ran away to a ninja village," Kiine replied. Her voice was mixed with an unsavory blend of pride and embarrassment. Yuki could tell. "I had to cut my hair to do it. Hard to believe _now, _but it used to be down to my waist, yeah."

"No _way_."

Why was there such _reverence_ in his voice? What was this, more sucking up?

"Yeah, way," Kiine replied, with vague sarcasm. "But they caught me after a few weeks and dragged me home."

"That… man. I wish I had the balls to do that."

Yuki had to open his eyes for that, because Kiine had started to laugh again, in a sort of disbelief. "Balls? To do _what_, yeah?" she managed to say, between her giggles.

"Well, to do _anything_, but mainly to do something as… as _extreme_ as running away!" Kou said. He had an enormous smile on his face. His voice quieted again. "You _really_ dressed up as a _guy?_"

"Eh, it wasn't that big a deal…" Kiine shrugged, looking away from him. "I mean, I'm used to passing for a guy, it helps in sneaking out of the house."

"You sneak out of the _house?_"

Kiine blinked. She looked at him, blue eyes wide. "Well yeah, don't _you _ever?"

"Oh no, never," Kou said. He shook his head. "I kinda… like staying inside."

"Wow, you really _are_ sheltered," Kiine said. Kou's face turned slightly red. "Hey, maybe while you're here, I should sneak you out. Though…"

"Oh, you don't have to—though what?" Kou caught himself mid-sentence, blinking.

Kiine smirked at him, giggling through her teeth. "You'd stand out an _awful_ lot, with those clothes of yours. I mean, Yuki attracts enough attention, with that face of his."

"Oh! Um, I, well, I…" Yuki's face felt uncharacteristically hot. He tried not to look at Kou, who continued to be flustered as he asked, "Um, who's Yuki?"

"Oh, Yuki's my bodyguard. And he's pretty much my partner in crime, yeah," Kiine said. She jerked her thumb backwards at Yuki, her smile lessened, but still present. "That guy back there. Say hi, Yuki."

"Huh…? Ah! Hello there," Kou said. He bowed, quickly, awkwardly, from where he sat. "It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Yuki said. It was all he could manage, keeping his chin low, his expression as blank as possible. Kiine still wasn't smiling, but at least she didn't look angry at him.

"I'm… really sorry, Yuki-san, but I honestly thought you were a girl, at first," Kou continued, with an uncomfortable smile.

"Yeah, he gets that a lot," Kiine said, laughing. Yuki said nothing.

(At least Kou didn't say anything about it right away, like most people did.)

"Um, well, this is Shankusu, he's _my_ bodyguard," Kou added, gesturing towards the eye-patch man. "We've never sneaked out or anything, but…"

"A pleasure to meet you, Lady Kiine," Shankusu said, chuckling, bowing a little, himself. His voice and his laugh were low and growly, the obvious product of years of some sort of smoking, Yuki could tell.

"Strange name you got there," Kiine replied, with a charming smirk.

"It's pretty fancy, I'll admit," Shankusu replied.

"Shankusu speaks Amerikan! Um." Kou ran his hand through his bangs, self-consciously. "Dunno why I said that, but..."

"Haha, well, that's cool, I guess," Kiine replied. "Hey, Shankusu-san, can you say something for me?"

"In Amerikan?" Shankusu said.

"Yeah, go for it," Kiine said.

Shankusu cleared his throat, and said, "サンキュウベリイマチイ。"

Kiine clapped her hands a few times, nodding, smiling. "Very impressive, yeah. Where'd you learn that?"

"I spent a few years on a few ships in the Northern waters," Shankusu replied, casually. "How I lost my eye."

"Oh yeah? Wow, that's cool," Kiine said. She suddenly put on a strange, posh air, in reaching for her tea. "You know, _Yuki's_ got a few tricks of his own. Don't you, Yuki?"

Yuki nodded, slightly. He did.

"Really? Like what?" Kou asked. He leaned forward, eagerly, round little lips open slightly. Shankusu had a similarly interested look on his face, though it was tainted with skepticism, his eyebrows and his smile uneven.

"Why dontcha show him something, Yuki?" Kiine said. She looked over her shoulder at him. Her face was neutral, now, but there was expectation in her eyes.

Anything for her. Even if it was for him.

Yuki made himself feel better by telling himself that doing something would be showing up this invader and his companion, with the tumbling words.

"What would you like me to do, Master Kiine?" he said, voice perfectly measured, a solemn smile on his face.

"Go ahead and freeze something," Kiine said. Ah, yes, there was a tiny smile, in the corners of her mouth.

"Freeze…?" Kou said.

Yuki was not fond of showing off. But this would be a treat. "Hand me your soup, Kou-san, if there's any left," Yuki said. Kou did. It was still slightly warm.

Yuki made sure that it wouldn't be the case for very long. He concentrated, imagining his hands growing colder, imagining that coldness extending past his hands and into the bowl, into the liquid.

He handed the soup back to Kou, still wearing that smile. Kou nearly dropped it from how cold the glass was, fumbling it with his fingers. "It's _cold!" _he said. He managed to get a grip on the bowl and began tilting it sideways. "No, it's… _frozen!"_ His eyes blinked in amazement. "How did you_ do_ that?"

"Yuki can just do things like that," Kiine said, almost proudly. She gave him another glance before attending to Kou again, who was holding the bowl nearly entirely upside-down, examining the contents.

"Wow, and the tofu's been frozen too…! That's really remarkable," he said. There was true appreciation in his voice, to Yuki's surprise. "Really, how did you do it?"

"He just _does_, yeah?" Kiine replied. "I dunno how it works."

Yuki didn't mind too terribly when she spoke for him.

"That's really something…" said Kou.

"So what else can you do with that little trick of yours, child?" Shankusu said. His soup was still warm, and he sipped it with thick lips that looked like they had been carved out of flesh. "Make it snow indoors? Give someone frostbite?"

Yuki glanced at him, sharply, sideways. "There are many things I can do, but I prefer to only do them when I _need_ to, Shankusu-san," he said.

"Barring parlor tricks for your young mistress?" Shankusu said.

"Shankusu, please, be poli—AAH!"

It was such a shame that Kou's bowl had been upside down when its contents suddenly unfroze. But the liquid within it was still very cold.

In an instant a multitude of eyes were upon their little side of the dining room. Shankusu's eye wide, lunging for Kou; Kiine's halfway closed between a laugh and a gasp; Kou sputtering, soup getting into his eyes and all over his fine clothing; Yuki, closing his eyes, lessening his smile into an enigma. For Kiine's sake.

"What's going on over there?" Boss Tensho said. Shankusu was already at work wiping off Kou's face with his napkin.

"Kou? Son?" said Boss Shin. His bodyguard, Hikawa, was likewise leaning sideways, worry on his leather-like face.

"Hey, are you okay?" Kiine was off of her seat, leaning over with a smile on her face that was in a losing battle with a worried expression. "What happened?"

Yuki's smile shrank. Why wasn't she laughing? Even thought it was an accident—it really _was_ an accident—he'd have thought that she'd surely…

"Pfuh! I'm fine, I'm fine!" Kou said, waving across the dining room to his father; Shin was already half risen, though Boss Tensho wasn't. "I guess I was a little careless with the soup! Don't know _what_ was doing…"

Boss Shin shook his head disapprovingly, but he was smiling, and he sat back down. He went back to conversing with his bodyguard, whose eyes wrinkled with a returning smile of his own.

"Careless with the soup? The hell does that even _mean_, yeah?" Kiine said. She was inches away from him, now. She was laughing, now.

"Well, I suppose that even if something's frozen, then I shouldn't go tilting it upside down. I don't think it was quite frozen solid!" Kou kept one eye closed as Shankusu continued his rub-down with the napkin. "Ow, Shankusu, I think I'm fine…"

(But it _had _been frozen solid, only moments before.)

"We'll have to get you into new clothes," Shankusu replied, gruffly. "Your father will _insist_ on it."

"Oh, it's not so bad…" Kou sighed. "But yeah, you're right…"

"Your dad's pretty big on appearances, huh?" Kiine said, glancing at Boss Shin, gesturing at him with her hand. If Kou's clothing was well-made, Shin's was absolutely spectacular. The fabric almost shimmered when the light hit it at the right angle, from the silver thread embroidered into the pattern of snakes on the sleeves and shoulders.

(She was still sitting so _close_ to him, why was she so _close_ to him?)

"You should see the wardrobe they packed…" Kou replied, softly.

"Oh come on, it can't be _that_ bad, yeah," Kiine said.

"Oh, trust me. It's bad."

"Prove it."

Kou inhaled, exhaled, his cheeks turning pinks. Shankusu returned to his post, folding the soiled napkin and putting it to the side of his food tray. He glared at Yuki, very choice words in his eye, but he didn't say them.

Yuki kept his head down.

"Well, for starters," Kou said, "I have three different robes for each day of the week, and then all the extras, just in case…"

Kiine had to stifle a laugh. "How many _is_ that, yeah?"

"I didn't count…"

"I have to see this," Kiine said.

Yuki didn't eat as they continued their conversation, completely ignoring him. He didn't really hear what they were saying, anyways, too well-folded into his own thoughts to notice much of anything else.

Kou hadn't even thought to blame Yuki for a thing. He hadn't even _mentioned_ him, blaming_ himself_, even.

…it was all an act. Clearly, all an act, to get on Kiine's good side. What else could it be? The sons of people like Boss Shin were not nice people.

(Kiine was the exception to the rule.)

How could any person be so cruel? Yuki thought. And more importantly, what was he _really_ like…?

This Hakaza Kou was smarter than he thought.

And Yuki hated him.

And as the evening wore on Yuki tried to think of ways to make his heart hurt less, even with the fact that Kiine was now sitting so close to Kou, that she had shifted her food tray to be nearer to him, so that they could talk more.

(And at the end of the dining hall, Tensho leaned over to Shin with a smile. "Would you look at that," he told his ally, watching his daughter laugh. "I think it's a good sign." And Shin had to agree, watching Kou smile more and more widely.)

(But Yuki's expression worried Nobuhiro. It was an expression that meant that things were about to get very cold, and very soon.)


	32. Ripped Seam

_Chapter 32 - Ripped Seam_

* * *

Kiine actually summoned for Yuki at the end of the second night, after a day filled with him seeing her only at meals, silently eating behind her. Seated next to that boy.

She'd been with Kou for almost the entire afternoon, overseen only by Shankusu, who was apparently enough of a presence to protect them both.

(In his defense, Shankusu was an enormous man made of knotted muscles and cracked knuckles. He carried a short sword with a broad, curved blade on him, the sort that bandits in the Land of Wind liked to use. Kiine marveled at it when she first saw it, and he let her hold it when she asked.)

Yuki kept himself occupied enough throughout the day, nursing his anger and transmuting it into worry, which felt so much more acceptable an emotion to have. Anger was best hoarded away and channeled into the blade, not wasted in hours of idleness.

It also felt less guilty to worry, in a sense.

Yuki entered Kiine's bedroom to find her laying on her stomach on top of her futon, her face on her forearms. She didn't turn to look at him when he entered, just kicking her legs in the air. He didn't say anything, at first, lingering in front of the door, sitting on his knees, his head slightly bowed. It was strange, then, that she almost looked surprised to see him when she finally addressed him. Her eyes widened, slightly. "Oh, Yuki. You're here!"

"You _did_ ask for me, Master Kiine…" Yuki said, quietly. "What do you need of me, sir?"

Kiine shrugged. The motion was awkward and strange, from her position on her belly. "I dunno. I guess I wanted to talk, yeah?" she said. "I've been kinda… avoiding you since I got home."

Yuki didn't say anything, not wanting to hurt her feelings.

She rolled over and sat up on the futon. She was wearing in a looser dress, now, less restrictive than a kimono, and she sat cross-legged, her hands on her ankles. She was looking at Yuki, however, and her eyes were locked with his. "…I wanted to say I'm sorry, Yuki. 'cos it's not your fault, what happened in Konoha," she said.

He felt a strange seizing-up in his stomach. "You don't need to apologize for _anything_, sir. And it _is_ my fault…" he said. "I don't deserve an apology."

"It is _not_ your fault. I know what happened, Yuki, your brother told me the whole story."

The fact that he didn't know this hit Yuki hard. "When did you…?

"A couple days ago. I wanted to find out what had _really_ happened."

"Oh…"

Why hadn't she just asked him herself…?

He answered his own question a few moments later, and it made his cheeks flush to realize that he'd probably just apologize without giving her much information—much as he wished he could remain cold and emotionless and perfect, doing everything she asked without mishap.

Then again, if he could do that, then they wouldn't be in their predicament in the first place.

(To some extent, Kiine knew this, too.)

"You don't deserve to be treated like this," she continued. "I mean, it's not like you sold me out on purpose, yeah..."

Oh, but it felt like it. It couldn't have felt like anything else, to Yuki. "I still sold you out, sir. I'm sorry…"

Kiine was quiet, for a while. She looked at her feet, her mouth twisting towards her nose. "I should at least apologize for being so mean to you lately, yeah?" she said.

"You haven't been mean to me at all, sir." It was a lack of meanness, more than anything. And Yuki had felt like he had deserved it, every bit.

(Why did he have to keep that hair? Couldn't he have hidden it better, at least?)

Kiine sighed—she was giving up. It was probably for the best, Yuki felt, because it was no use trying to apologize to him, and even he knew it.

"Never mind, then, I guess…" she said. She didn't say anything more, adjusting her position where she sat.

"Is there… anything else you wish of me, sir?" said Yuki, hoping for an affirmative.

It was a half-hearted reply. "We could just talk, yeah?" she said. "What did you do today?"

"Me? Oh, um." Yuki found himself somewhat taken aback. The question felt strange to him, mostly because he hadn't been asked it much; at least, not by Kiine. He supposed that it was because they were together so often that she had no reason to ask it in the first place, because of course she would know what he had been up to.

(A small voice in the back of his head told him that he wasn't important enough for Kiine to ask questions of, but it was a very small voice, and hard to hear.)

(He blamed the strange new distance instead.)

He blinked a few times before replying, "I practiced with my sword in the dojo, sir."

"Oh, that musta been fun," Kiine said, with the same tone of voice that someone might use to say, "I went to the dentist's today."

"It was a good use of my time, I suppose…" Yuki said. Not the most exciting way to spend an afternoon, but it was the truth. He found himself sitting in silence again and, swallowing his discomfort, he said, "I was told that you spent the afternoon with Hakaza Kou-san. I hope it was not terribly uncomfortable for you, sir."

Kiine's expression surprised him. "Uncomfortable? Why would you say that?" she said.

He tried not to think about the day before. "Well, given the circumstances, sir…" Yuki said. "I was just worried that you would not be treated well, is all, especially given that I was not there to accompany you…"

Kiine narrowed her eyes, her mouth. "They treated me just fine, Yuki, Shankusu-san and Kou-kun both. What are you talking about?"

Oh, _no_, he already had her calling him Kou-_kun_. "I just have my… worries about that Hakaza Kou-san," Yuki said, softly. He didn't want to get her angry, he didn't want to go dragging up things that she didn't want brought up.

"What sorts of worries?"

He remembered the things she had said, when she was crying to him, alone, the things she had said to his face in the mirror. "I just have my doubts about his character, Master Kiine. Given his background and everything… You said so yourself," he said. "Families like yours and his don't produce the nicest people."

Her expression was unreadable. "So you're saying that _I'm_ not nice, Yuki? Yeah?"

"No! No, Master Kiine, you're _very_ nice." Yuki's head lowered, slightly, in shame. She'd asked that question before, he knew. "It's just… others I'm not so sure of…"

She sighed, and moved towards him, and when she stopped her knees were touching his knees. Yuki could hardly breathe. "Kou-kun's actually kinda nice, Yuki. You don't have to worry about _him_, I think."

"Nice?"

"Yeah. He's nice. Kind of a wimp, yeah, but he's fun to talk to."

What in the world _had_ they talked about? Yuki wanted to know. But, instead, all he said was, "Oh, I see."

"Yeah, he's a lot different than I expected," Kiine continued. She leaned back, propping herself up with her arms, smiling slightly. "He's kinda cute, actually! The things he likes to do, I mean," she added, quickly. She cleared her throat. "Not his… Um. He likes baking."

"Baking, huh…" Yuki said, unable to muster even a slight amount of sincerity. Kiine didn't seem to notice.

"Yeah, he said he was gonna try an' make me something while he was here, and I told him that would be great, yeah?" she continued. "I wanna see if he's as good as he says he is. Though, hah, he kept saying he wasn't that good, meaning he's either absolutely _awful_, or really good. One or the other, yeah."

"I'm sure it'll be very interesting, sir," Yuki said.

"Yeah, I'm sure. And, just between you an' me?" she said, leaning forward now, glancing from side to side. Yuki could already guess what she was going to ask. "I honestly think that we gotta take this guy out somewhere. And _soon. Serious_ shut-in, yeah." A beautiful smile that suited her began to grow on her face as she leaned in closer, her nose only inches from his. Yes, she had asked what he had expected. "You think you could help sneak us out maybe later tonight or tomorrow?"

Yuki clenched his fists. His fingers felt cold. "I… don't think that would be a good idea, sir…" he said, his head lowering further and further with each word.

"Why not?" Kiine said.

Oh, there were a _million_ reasons, swimming and milling about in his mind like angry fish. He reached and managed to find an acceptable one. "You've only been home for so long, sir. If you were to sneak out again and you got _caught_, your father would be _furious_, I think…" he said.

"Oh, come on. We won't get caught, yeah," she said. There was such confidence in her voice.

Yuki didn't say anything. He pursed his lips.

"…c'mon, Yuki, honestly," she continued. "We won't get caught. _Especially_ not if you're with me. And Kou _really_ needs to get out, I mean-"

"Why do you want to bring _him?"_ The words shot out of Yuki like pressurized water, and he almost clapped his hands over his mouth, after the fact. He stared at Kiine, instead, with brown, distressed eyes. His breaths came quickly, strangely.

"…well, I dunno, I just think it'd be a nice thing to do," Kiine said. She shrugged, but only slightly.

"But… you shouldn't sneak _out_, sir…!" he said. His voice squeaked. "I don't want you to get in trouble again!"

"We're not gonna get in _trouble_, Yuki. Stop being such a worrywart, okay?" she said, laughter bubbling up in her voice. "You're coming _with_, remember? It'll be just like old times."

(But the old times had been just him and her, however reluctantly he had chosen to come along. But Kou was, Kou was…)

(…unwelcome.)

The angry fish-thoughts stirred, violently. "I just don't think it's a very good idea at _all_, sir," he said. His voice was thin as it tried to press through his throat. "There's too much risk, it's not the right time, and with _him_ there…!"

Kiine started really laughing, there. "Why are you still so worried about Kou-kun? He's absolutely harmless," she said. "Really, I think you two would get along, yeah? I'll ask Shankusu to let you replace him tomorrow afternoon. We're gonna eat lunch out in the garden, again, it was really nice when we did it today."

What was he _doing_ to her? "Somehow I doubt this, sir…" he managed.

"Oh c'mon, Yuki, you'll never know until you talk to him yourself, yeah," Kiine said. She put a hand on his shoulder. He couldn't bring himself to move away at all. "He's a pretty good guy."

Yuki didn't say anything, just feeling her warm little hand on him.

"So when we go out tonight, or whatever, I was thinking of lending Kou some of your clothes, because it'd be kinda suspicious and freakin' impractical with his current wardrobe," Kiine said, when she took her hand off of Yuki's shoulder, and leaned back on her arms again. "I have no idea if they'll fit him, though, since you're small, but he's kinda shorter and pudgier than you, I think. Man, that kid is a _sharp_ dresser, though, did you see what he was wearing at breakfast? Wow."

She didn't notice that she was talking to herself, at this point. Yuki closed his eyes.

"Either way, it'll be nice to see everyone again. And, hey, I won't have to wear a hat this time!" she continued, pleasantly. "Cos my hair's all short, now. Plus I think it'll be easier to fight with, since there's nothing to grab any more…"

"I wonder why that is, sir." The sarcasm felt strange and dry on his tongue.

Kiine finally noticed. "Yuki, what's that supposed to mean?"

"Do you not remember why you had to leave in the first place, sir? Why you had to cut off your hair and go?" He didn't want to open his eyes. They felt hot and awful. "It's because of _him_, you did all of that to get away from _him, _and now you want to _sneak out with him_? I don't _understand!"_

Kiine stammered, slightly. "That was… _before_ I knew him, Yuki, and I wasn't running away from _him_, exactly, it was…" And her voice dropped off there; he heard her go "Hm," and then "Well..." And then, she said, "I still don't wanna _get married_ to him, Yuki, and… neither does he. We're both in the same boat, you know. He got forced into it just as much as I did."

Lies, lies, they had to be lies. Yuki could feel tears leaking out from between his eyelashes. "How can you be sure, sir…?"

"How can I be—he told me _himself_, okay?" Kiine said. There was a sudden defensiveness in her voice. "We spent _hours_ last night just talking about how much our dads _suck_, Yuki. He's almost got it worse off than me! Did you know that his dad wants _him_ to be the next Boss? He doesn't even want to _be_ Boss. And you know how much I…" She paused. She inhaled, exhaled, angrily. "Man, talk about freakin' unfair, yeah!"

Oh, it was all so very unfair. And he knew, he knew so very, very well, about Kiine's dreams.

"Neither of us want this," she continued. "Maybe if we… work together, we can stop it. I mean he's a _nice guy_, Yuki. I actually kinda… like him."

The pause in her words grabbed at his throat and didn't let go.

"But not _like_ him, like him. I don't wanna marry him," she said. "I mean, hell, Yuki. I'm not gonna just give up here to become the _wife_ of a Boss. I won't accept it."

And all he could do was nod in assent. A tear began making its way down his cheek.

And she asked, "Hey, Yuki, are you okay?"

He felt her hand on his knee.

He nodded further, and wiped his eyes, his cheek, with the back of his hand. He kept them closed. He sniffed, subtly. "I'm perfectly fine, sir. Do you need me for anything else…?" His voice was high from the strain of keeping a sob from falling out of his mouth.

At once, he prayed for a command, and a dismissal.

"…naw, you can go, Yuki. I'll see you at dinner, yeah?" she said.

Yuki nodded. He rose. "O-of course, sir. Thank you…"

He opened his eyes just enough to see Kiine looking up at him with concern and worry and she couldn't see him like this. He was her best friend, but he was also her bodyguard, and he had to be strong.

(Not like the night when she had left, when she had held him and oh how he had wished, to his endless shame, for that moment never to end.)

(And even after everything he had done for her, after _everything he had done_, he had still ruined it for her.)

(He couldn't imagine that she still didn't hate him. This snap back to "normal" was too sudden, and Kou only worsened the matter for him.)

And he took his leave, waiting until he was far enough away to cover his mouth with his hand, to capture whatever tried to escape.

On one hand he was incredibly, enormously relieved that Kiine was still going to fight. That she hadn't been… completely seduced by that boy with those insincere yellow eyes. He didn't want the marriage either? Maybe… he was just saying that, to get her sympathy—but what good would that do him in the long run? If he really wanted the marriage then surely he wouldn't say anything like that.

And who wouldn't _want_ to be Boss? It baffled Yuki.

(And what did she think was so great about him, anyways? He was _nice? _He was a good baker? That was all?)

He barricaded himself in his room and held his knees as he thought.

(He didn't feel the air growing colder. Even in the dead of winter, he never really felt the cold.)

(Kiine, in the room beside him, did.)

He didn't trust Hakaza Kou. He didn't trust a thing about him.

He was left undisturbed until dinner, when he removed the traces of his worry from the walls and went to sit behind Kiine, as usual. She offered to have him join her and Kou after the meal for some conversation, and she had winked at him, too; but Yuki had to refuse. She said she understood. "Later, then. Tomorrow?"

"If you want to, sir," Yuki had replied. He glanced at Kou, once, whose face was glossed over with a vague sort of worry; but he did not give the boy another look.

Yuki was left alone that evening. He stayed in the practice hall until the late hours of the night, tying back his hair, swinging his blade, hearing the hiss of the air cut by the metal, each swing more desperate, more angry, more real than the last.

Hakaza Kou was an invader. And Yuki knew he that could adapt to his presence, eventually—he was already relieved by what seemed like Kou's good intentions.

But because Yuki could not deny his gut feeling, he kept one possibility still alive in his mind.

Eradication.

(When they had settled down into private conversation together, later that night, Kou asked Kiine if Yuki didn't like him.)

(Kiine assured him that Yuki didn't not-like him, he was just… getting used to Kou being around.)


	33. Embroidered Words

_Chapter 33 - Embroidered Words_

* * *

Kou felt like he was intruding on something when he requested a private audience with Boss Tensho—then again, he was inclined to feel like he was intruding on _everything_, given the world he lived in. Even when his father invited him to join in.

Kou didn't exactly… fit in with that sort of thing. And he knew it. And he wished his father knew but, well. He didn't really seem to.

But he had to because, well, he had to.

It had been a casual sort of request. He had to ask Shankusu to go and ask in his place, because he felt too nervous to ask himself. Just a "Would it be all right if you and I spoke in private later?" sort of thing. Not terribly important or anything, at least, Kou didn't think so. And the reply had come back in the positive, to Kou's relief, Boss Tensho saying that he'd be happy to meet with Kou after dinner.

"You seem pleased, Young Master," Shankusu had said, seeing Kou's smile upon his affirmation. "What do you want to talk to Boss Tensho about, anyways?"

"Just… things," Kou had replied, already looking forward to telling Kiine the news.

Kiine, naturally, just straight-up asked his father to speak with her, and, naturally, he had agreed as well. Kou's stomach did a little somersault when she told him about it.

(Her confidence secretly amazed him and made him feel that much worse about his own lack of it. Though he wasn't very good at all at concealing this amazement, or his lack of confidence.)

They had already planned out what they were going to say to their fathers; truthfully, they'd arranged the plan just the afternoon before, sitting in the garden and talking over lunch. Yuki was there; Kiine, Kou noticed, seemed to be so much more at ease when he was around, rather than when Shankusu was acting as their guardian. She tended to be quieter in Shankusu's presence, letting Kou talk more. But with Yuki she talked with astonishing speed, letting her full, warm radiance out.

It suited Kou. He felt comfortable around Shankusu, whom he had known since he was maybe five or six, after his previous bodyguard left the service of his family for reasons he could either not remember or understand due to being so young at the time. Shankusu understood him and listened to him when he had problems with a tired, familiar sort of look on his face, because it always seemed like Kou was having the same problems, and Kou knew it and would apologize and Shankusu would just laugh because they were always the same old apologies, as well.

Plus, while Shankusu gently pushed Kou to at least try to practice in the dojo or do something manlier than read about how to make macaroons in a recipe book, he didn't disagree when Kou asked if he could have access to the kitchens to do some experimentation, or when he said he wanted to learn how to knit. And Kou appreciated that, more than anything.

He supposed Kiine must have had the same sort of relationship with Yuki—certainly, he didn't know how long they had known each other, but it was that same ease that fell about her when she was just with him and Kou that he found familiar. And he really thought that she was at her best when she was so enthusiastic and energetic and _cheerful_.

…mind, while Kou found her amazing and admirable and he couldn't deny that he _liked_ her as a _person_, he didn't _like_ her, like her. And they were both opposed to the marriage.

…even if he did eventually develop feelings for her, it would probably not go anywhere, he'd think to himself. He didn't want to be unfair to her.

(He didn't tell this to Shankusu.)

And, besides, Kou was just the sort of person that was always a friend, never anything more. He just _knew_ that was the case. His dad had tried introducing him to too many girls for it _not_ to be true.

(This, he told Shankusu.)

But it was because they were opposed to the marriage that they'd come up with this plan. And Kiine had done most of the planning and most of the talking, Kou only occasionally piping in with feedback. She was clever, Kiine, and shrewd, and she gave orders naturally. Kou, strangely enough, felt happy to follow them, for the most part. When she said that maybe they'd have success by speaking to each other's fathers, rather than their own.

"It's whining when we go to our own old men, and they'll just keep on treating us like babies if we do that. But if we talk to 'em like adults and handle this on our own, then maybe they'll take us seriously, yeah?" she had said, on one of those conversations where it was only him and her and Yuki—they never discussed business in front of Shankusu. And all Kou could do was nod and agree with her, and smile.

Yuki did not smile nor say much of anything throughout the entire conversation, only replying to agree with Kiine when she asked questions of him. He had a high voice, like a girl's, but there was none of a girl's playfulness or gentleness in it, whenever Kou heard him speak.

He generally avoided looking at Kou. And Kou, once he figured it out, tried to avoid looking at him, so he wouldn't make Yuki uncomfortable in return.

Even though Kiine said otherwise, he got the definite feeling that her bodyguard didn't like him at all. And while he didn't quite understand why (he certainly had a few, insubstantial theories), Kou just accepted it and did what he could to avoid conflict. Some people just didn't like you, and there was nothing you could do about it, really.

…it was a trait that his father did not look kindly upon. "Kou, son, you can't back down from anything; you _know_ that, right?" he would say. "There's nothing to gain in just letting people walk all over you in the name of not wanting to cause trouble. You can't go without causing at least a little trouble in your life."

And because he didn't want to cause trouble, Kou just nodded and told his father that he'd try to avoid such behavior in the future.

It was strange, in a way, how Kiine inspired—no, _commanded_ him to step forward and take this risk by talking to her father. "It'll be _fine_, making an effort is totally fine for starters, yeah," she had assured him, when doubts began to arise on how effective his arguments would be.

He felt comfortable, following her orders. Really, Kou was most comfortable when following the commands of _anyone_, really, not just with Kiine. Other people in general had better ideas of what they were doing than he ever could. What he lacked in confidence he made up for in trust, and he had more than enough trust in Kiine, despite having known her for only a few days. She just… knew what she was doing.

And she had a true and an honest belief that she and Kou, if they worked together, would be able to get the marriage called off.

But no matter what confidence she managed to instill in him, Kou still had jitters of the worst kind when he stood with Shankusu in front of Boss Tensho's meeting room the evening after his initial request. Though he and Kiine had come up with what they wanted to say, though everything was planned, he still had the feeling that he would mess up and ruin it all for the both of them.

(Strangely, he found himself wishing for her to be there. But she wasn't—and, more importantly, she _couldn't_.)

Boss Tensho smiled at him when he came in. His bodyguard, a man with a scar on his lip—his name escaped Kou at the moment—sat behind him with a neutral expression on his face. "Kou-kun, so nice to see you. What can I do for you?"

"Um, well… First, would you mind terribly if we dismissed our bodyguards?" Kou said. Just as Kiine had told him to say.

Boss Tensho's red eyebrows rose and fell. "Why's that?"

"It's, um. A little embarrassing, and I'd prefer it if we spoke alone, thank you…" Kou replied. Just as Kiine had told him to say (though a bit more hesitantly than he would have preferred).

Boss Tensho seemed to understand, though Kou couldn't imagine how. "Nobu, wait outside, okay? I'll call if I need you."

"You too, Shankusu. I'll be fine, I promise," Kou added. Shankusu patted him on the shoulder before leaving. Boss Tensho's bodyguard closed the door behind him.

"Come a little closer, so I can hear you better," Boss Tensho said, beckoning to Kou with his hand. Kou reluctantly stepped forward. He remained standing. "So, what is it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"It's…" Kou swallowed. "It's your daughter, Boss Tensho."

"Kiine?" Boss Tensho had a strange half-smile on his face, and he laughed a strange half-laugh. "What about her?"

"Well, as you probably, uh, know, she and I have been spending a lot of time together recently…" Kou said.

"Yes, and?" Boss Tensho said, when Kou did not continue.

Kou swallowed again. He could hear Kiine's voice in his mind: _Don't worry about it, just do it, yeah! _

"This is… in no way against you or my father, sir, but… I'm sorry, I just can't marry her."

Boss Tensho's face hadn't changed its expression much. It was unreadably half-amused, half-something else. "And why is that, Kou-kun?"

She'd known he would ask. "Well I found her… charming, at first. But she's really starting to… get on my nerves." He tripped over the truths and sped past the lies. He didn't know if Boss Tensho would notice.

A scoff. "Get on your nerves, does she?"

"A bit. She just… well, she _talks_ a lot, she's crude, and crass, and so…" He searched for a word, because the list that Kiine had given him, vast as it was, hadn't exactly made a home in his mind.

(But all he could think of were nice things, when it came to her.)

(So he settled for that, and reversed it for his purposes.)

"…_inelegant._ I just don't really like her, sir," Kou said. He fidgeted with true nervousness. "I don't think we'd be a good match."

Boss Tensho just shook his head, there. Smiling. "Oh, Kou-kun. _My_ daughter? A talker though she may be, she ain't at all crude or crass."

"Well… maybe she's a different person in private…" Kou said, softly. She certainly seemed to have two sides to her, from what he'd seen so far. The quiet, cool public image, and the raging fire that was her at her truest.

Boss Tensho just kept on smiling. "What do you _really_ not like about her, Kou-kun?"

Kou had to think, hard. "…she makes fun of me," he said.

Boss Tensho's eyes were surprisingly knowing. "But she's never truly _insulted_ you, has she?"

"Well, no, but…" And Kou stopped, trying not to wince. "No, actually, yes, she _has_ insulted me. _And_ my father. She isn't nice to me at _all_, Boss Tensho."

"What's she said about your father?" Boss Tensho's eyes narrowed very, very slightly.

"That he, um…" Kou thought. "That he's a fool who doesn't know what he's doing. She says that neither he nor I should be here. She wants us to leave."

"Tell it to me like you mean it, boy," Boss Tensho said.

Kou blinked. "…excuse me?"

"I don't believe you for a moment. If you need to lie to get someone on your side then y'need to sound like you _mean_ it, you got me?" Boss Tensho continued. He sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. "Siddown, Kou-kun. Let's have a little talk, shall we?"

An awful, familiar sensation began to rise in Kou's chest, spreading to his shoulders, his arms. "Oh, no, I don't think we need to. I'm sorry, forget I said anything." He began to turn, to leave.

"Kou-kun, siddown. No need to be nervous, I'm not _mad_ at you or anything," Boss Tensho said. There was a playful sort of tease in his voice, a familiar tone, though the one that Kou knew was lighter, higher. "Come over here, we're just gonna talk. Man to man. Okay?"

Kou was always better at obeying others than following his own bad ideas. He sat down in front of Boss Tensho.

"I'm guessin' that my daughter sent you here," Boss Tensho said.

"No, she didn't-"

"Your dad's told me a lot about you, Kou-kun," Boss Tensho continued, anyways. "Says you got the brain of a Boss but the heart of a lackey. And I'm guessin' your dad knows you pretty damn well, Kou-kun."

His father had told him that more than once. "Yeah, I suppose he does…"

"And I know my daughter. She's a bossy girl. You should see how she directs Yuki-kun around." A dry little laugh came out of his mouth. "Scares me a little, sometimes, how persuasive she can be. Just like her mother…"

"Persuasive…?" Kou said.

"_Oh_ yeah. She could get that little guy to do just about _anything _for her. It's gotten him in a fair amount've trouble from time to time," Boss Tensho said. He shook his head, slightly, pulling his lips together beneath his mustache. "Point is, I wouldn't be surprised if she got to you, too. 'specially given what your dad's told me."

"That's not… true, I'm here because I _want_ to be here, not because she _told_ me to come here," Kou said. It was a half-truth, and it bolstered his voice just that much.

It was enough to make Boss Tensho tilt his head, slightly, his eyebrows lowering critically. "A little better, but you're better off just givin' it a rest, okay?" There was comfort in his voice, his eyebrows lifting as he spoke. "_She_ told you to come an' talk to me. I know. So stop tryin' to tell me otherwise."

Kou lowered his head, admitting, "It was her idea, but I'm here because I agreed with her, not because she's forcing me to…"

"Ah, finally something that I can believe," Boss Tensho said. He breathed out, through his nose. "This is really about your marriage, innit."

"Well, sort of, I mean…" Kou said, but he found himself floundering for words; Tensho had hit the nail right on the head.

"I may be old, Kou-kun, but I'm not ignorant, an' I'm not _stupid_," Boss Tensho said. "Kiine hasn't been taking this situation well an' I almost _expected_ her to turn you against me eventually, or at least try, if you two didn't hit it off."

"Oh…" There was a strange sort of squirming in Kou's gut there, and he wondered what it meant. It was out of place, whatever it was, and neither terribly uncomfortable nor terribly pleasant.

"Really, your dad an' I were really hoping you'd at least get along a _little_," Boss Tensho continued. "I mean, it seemed like you two were hittin' it off just fine, to us. Are things really that bad between you two?"

"No, not… really," Kou said. "It's just that, well…"

"Well, _what?_"

Kiine hadn't told him a thing about what to say if it came to this; in her confidence, she had assumed that if Kou bad-mouthed her enough that he'd at least piss off her dad a little, or at least convince him that he just didn't like her.

(She didn't count on Kou having such a good heart. But he couldn't have helped that)

He grabbed for words and figured that the truth would serve his purpose well enough. "I just think it's kinda unfair, sir. To her and to me."

And Boss Tensho paused for a moment. "Is that so."

Kou nodded. "I mean, it'd probably come to this for me, 'cos I'm so hopeless when it comes to girls and I'm gonna need a wife _some_day, but…" He closed his eyes, and opened them. "Kiine-chan, I think she deserves to have a choice. Because I know she can do better than me. She shouldn't have to settle so soon."

And then Boss Tensho laughed. "Kou-kun, I think that's the most honest thing you've said to me all _day_."

Kou squirmed and looked away. His stomach was doing acrobatics somewhere in his chest.

"You honestly think she can do better than you, huh?" Boss Tensho continued.

"A whole lot better," Kou replied, nodding vigorously. "Really, I'm kinda embarrassed, in all honesty… I mean, I understand why this is happening and all, but, again, I just don't think it's _fair_. For her, at least. I mean, I'm sure I'd be just fine if it were any other circumstance, but, just…" He inhaled, and lowered his eyes as the breath escaped him. "Well, I knew from the moment I saw her that she didn't want anything to do with me… Even if I had to be given a bride, I'd want one that actually wanted to get married, I think…"

Boss Tensho took a long time to reply. "…man, your dad was right, you _are_ a strange kid," he said.

Kou began to seriously regret what he had just said.

(Even though he had meant every word. Especially the bit about him being absolutely fine with the idea of an arranged marriage. Kou had long since accepted that he'd probably have to rely on one in the future, but he at least wanted one or both parties to be willing to the idea.)

(In a perfect world, Kou would have been able to ask for a bride when he felt ready and been able to pick a girl who was equally interested in marrying him, even if it was only for his money, or his power. He knew he wasn't much of a catch in the looks department, doughy as he was.)

(But he hadn't asked. And neither had Kiine.)

(Somehow, it felt more unfair to _her_, no matter how he looked at it.)

"I get that you kids are having a tough time. But your dad and I both think that it's what's best for our clans, and for the both of you," Boss Tensho said, after rubbing his thumb and forefinger around his chin, ruffling his beard for a time. "You know how much I worry about my daughter sometimes? She's got a bad habit've sneaking out at night an' doing heaven knows what. Visiting gambling dens, clubs, things like that."

The feeling in Kou's stomach intensified. He still had no idea what it meant, but he had no time to think.

"I haven't been too worried 'cos she's got Yuki-kun with her, but I can only trust that boy so much," Boss Tensho said. He sighed. "There's a lotta mean fuckers out in the world, Kou-kun. An' I thought that it was only a matter of time before she picked up one of 'em as a boyfriend. I've been lucky so far, but suppose I wasn't? Suppose he hurt her, or did somethin' to her?"

Kou saw Boss Tensho's hands tightening their grip. A layer of discomfort draped itself over his stomach, but he wasn't sure where it came from: from Tensho's strange and vulnerable honesty, or from Kou's own inability to accept the idea that Kiine would even waste two seconds on a guy that mistreated her? He couldn't even imagine it.

"There's only so much I can do, as her father. I _worry_," Boss Tensho said. "I wanna make sure she's taken care of, Kou-kun. That she's in the hands of someone I can trust. An' I trust your dad, an' I trust_ you_." And his voice got surprisingly soft. It hardly suited him. "You understand, Kou-kun? She _can't_ get much better than a guy like you. She _needs_ a guy like you. Because her other choices ain't nearly as good."

Kou couldn't help but nod, his discomfort intensifying to an almost unbearable degree. Thousands of conflicting concepts and words swam in his head, competing for space.

"So don't let her boss you around. She'll warm up to the idea, an' she'll warm up to you, if she hasn't already. You got a responsibility, y'know?" A warm smile spread across Boss Tensho's face, but Kou did not find it terribly reassuring, as he was sure it was meant to be. "Wedding won't be for a while, so you'll have plenty of time. Besides, I _like_ you, kid. Stay strong for me."

Kou swallowed again as he nodded, again. "A-absolutely, sir," he replied.

Boss Tensho didn't say anything for a while. And when he finally did, he preceded it with a clearing of his throat. "That was a pretty good talk, I think. You got anything more you wanna say to me, Kou-kun?" he said. Kou shook his head. "Well, then. I'll see you at breakfast tomorrow."

And Kou just nodded and bowed and thanked Boss Tensho for his time and got out of there as quickly as he could.

"How'd it go? Whatever you did in there," Shankusu asked, once they were far enough away.

(He had respectfully not listened in to their conversation, and neither had Nobuhiro. Both of them knew that if they were meant to hear it then they'd be told about it after the fact, after all.)

"It… went fine," Kou replied, truthfully unable to really say what had happened in there.

He found himself feeling strangely weighted down by the overwhelming feeling that he'd utterly failed at what Kiine had told him to do. But there was a new insistence, now, that he had a responsibility to keep the engagement together, that she didn't know what she was doing, because this was all for her own good.

…but it felt wrong, this weight, this new role. Because Kiine _did_ seem to know what she was doing, mostly. Her confidence, her ability was undeniable. And Kou was sure that at least _her_ meeting with his father had gone well. They had that going for them, at least. Maybe they still had a chance.

(But she _needed_ a guy like him, and nobody else, and there was a different feeling in his stomach, a squirm of discomfort rather than…)

Kou spent the night mostly awake, thinking all of it over. His dreams, when they eventually came, were pastel-colored and soft and formless.

Kiine leaned in to whisper to him at breakfast: "How'd it go?" She seemed cheerful enough, smiling, at least.

"I'll tell you after breakfast," Kou decided, and didn't say much of anything else for the meal. He tried to ignore Boss Tensho smiling at him, almost expectantly, from across the room, and his father leaning in to whisper things into his ear.

He had to ask Yuki to leave, when he and Kiine managed to find a room together in the compound that wasn't occupied. He was going to need confidence, and Yuki's icy presence (sometimes literally—Kou swore that the air was somehow colder around him, sometimes, but he had only a vague idea why) would do nothing to aid it.

(Even though Kiine had offered for them to use _her_ room, Kou stammered that he didn't want to do _that_, so they settled for one of the many rooms in the main house for displaying art. This particular room held swords in polished wood stands.)

"So how'd it go with you and my dad?" she asked again, leaning in expectantly. She had her hands on her blue silk lap, and a smile on her face.

"…tell me how it went with _my_ dad, first," Kou said. He kept his eyes on her hands.

"No, _you_ first. I've been _dying_ to know, yeah?" she said.

Kou couldn't really resist. "I don't think it went well at all…" he admitted.

"…what makes you say that?"

"He kinda didn't take me at all seriously when I said all those things about you, for starters…"

Kiine scoffed. "Yeah, I had a feeling… But, hey, at least you tried, yeah? What else?"

Somehow, Kou was not comforted. "Well then he asked me _why_ I was here and he knew you put me up to this."

Her silence lasted for an age. "What, you feel like I _am_ puttin' you up to this?" she said. There was a dangerous color of anger in her voice.

"No, no, not at all! That's just what _he_ said…" Kou replied, shaking his head. "I'm doing this because… I think that this marriage is… unfair to you, and that's what I told him, but…"

"But, _what_?" she said, like her father.

"But then he started telling me all this stuff about how I shouldn't feel bad and how he's just worried about you and that it's because he doesn't want you go get hurt." It didn't even make sense to Kou, the way he'd phrased it, so he tacked on an "I suppose" to the end.

Kiine scoffed, there, and loudly. "Oh, that is just _typical_, yeah," she said. "Let me guess, he told me that he needed you to 'take care of me,' didn't he?" Kou couldn't help but nod. "That's just… oh, that's just…" She sighed again. "Why am I even surprised…?"

"I don't… know?" Kou said, when she didn't say anything further. "I'm… guessing you've heard him say this before?"

"He probably gave you the same lecture he gave me when came back from Konoha," Kiine said, sarcastically. "About how there's bad people out there and he wants me taken care of by _good_ people." She scoffed again. "Like I need to be taken care of… And assholes are _not _my type, yeah!"

(Truthfully, Kiine vastly preferred men who were less assertive than she was. There was a reason why she and Yuki got along so well.)

(And Kou.)

Kou found himself more than a little shocked at how right she seemed to be. "It… sounds pretty similar to what he told me…" he said.

Kiine shook her head. "Well just don't listen to anything _he_ says, yeah?" she told him.

Kou twisted her words into a command, and he found himself feeling just a little bit better about his failure, for some reason. His stomach twisted this way and that.

"…so, um. How did it go with _my_ dad?" Kou asked, after suppressing his smile.

"Went pretty well, I think," Kiine said, casually. She leaned back, balancing on her hands, lolling her head about her shoulders. "Dunno if we really got much of anywhere. Your dad _really_ knows how to change a subject, yeah."

"Yeah, that sounds like him…" Kou said. His father was incredibly fond of gossip, as well, and when the two were combined, you could hardly get anything through to him.

"I think I managed to get _something_ in to him," she continued, "'bout how I wanted to _choose_ my husband and stuff, but he just laughed at me all patronizing-like and said that I could keep a concubine or somethin' if you really didn't live up to my expectations."

Kou cupped his forehead in his hand, running his fingers through his bangs. "Did he really say that…"

"More or less. I told him that he was full of crap, though, so don't worry," Kiine said, leaning forward, a surprisingly kind smile on her face. "Even if we did get married, I wouldn't do somethin' like that to you, yeah? You're too nice." She patted him on the shoulder as she said this, and Kou peeked at her from between the fingers on his face, an uncontrollable smile budding on his mouth.

"Well, thanks…" he said.

"…kinda funny, really…" she said, when she took her hand off of him, when she returned to leaning on her hands again. "The other stuff he said to me. It… kinda reminded me of my papa an' the stuff he'd say."

Kou had taken his hands off of his face, as well. "How so?" he asked.

"There was a lotta talk about 'take care of my son' an' stuff," Kiine said. Her tone was detached, airy. "Said he worries that you'll never have another chance. _I_ said that you totally had your pick of the girls," she added, with a hard sheen of sudden confidence. "I mean, with your status, you could have a girlfriend _delivered_ to your house any time you wanted, yeah?"

"Somehow I doubt this…" Kou said, his smile growing sheepish. He knew he was blushing.

(And he knew she was right, again.)

"Eh, I guess not. But really," Kiine continued. "It's just, the way he was talking about you, it made me wonder who was really the bride in this thing, yeah?"

Kou wanted to cover his face, again, but he didn't. "How so…" he asked again, but more quietly, this time.

"He talked to me like I was a groom takin' you into my family or somethin', I dunno," Kiine replied. The detached tone returned to her voice. Her eyes remained lazily fixed at some point on the ceiling. "That he wanted you to have a wife that'd take care of you or… something. I dunno." She sat up and shrugged. "That's just what it sounded like, 'specially the way he phrased it."

"Ah, I see…"

"Yeah, so that's what happened," said Kiine. She crossed her legs, there, and rested her arms on her thighs. "Dunno how much help _I _did, but… at least we made an effort, yeah?"

"Yeah, at least there's that…" Kou replied.

They were quiet together, for a while.

"…so what are we gonna do now?" Kou finally asked.

Kiine shrugged again. "Stick to our guns, I guess. We've both said what we wanted to say."

(This was, on both sides, somewhat of a lie. But she wasn't going to admit that, and neither was Kou.)

"And just sit tight, right?"

"Yeah."

Kiine suggested that maybe they go do something together, after a good minute or two went by without either of them saying anything, and Kou could do nothing but agree.

"You said you were gonna try baking something for me, yeah? So come on, are you all talk and no show, or the real deal?" she said, playfully, lifting him up off the ground by his arm.

"Well, I'm told I can bake a _mean_ cream puff," Kou replied, an uncharacteristically sharp grin on his face. It faded in an instant. "But I mean, if cream puffs aren't your thing then I can make something else. I can make... crepes, cookies, muffins…"

Kiine's laughter quieted him. "I've never had cream puffs before," she said. "Let's see how they are, yeah? Kitchen's this way. I can get you what you need."

Yuki was still waiting, obediently, outside the door, and he followed them silently as they walked together to the kitchen.

Kou hardly noticed that he'd wrapped his arm around Kiine's, nor that the strange squirming sensation in his stomach, the not-quite-uncomfortable-not-quite-pleasant one, had returned, and it had not abated since Kiine had started smiling again.

(Kiine, in all honesty, didn't notice much, herself, nor the fact that she hadn't stopped smiling since she'd asked Kou to do something with her.)

(Yuki kept his face emotionless and tried not to notice any of these facts.)

(He hadn't been nearly as tactful as his brother or Shankusu, listening to their entire exchange, and attempting to process it as he aided them in the kitchen, bringing them ingredients and putting on a vague air of enjoyment.)

The cream puffs turned out wonderfully, anyways.


	34. Dull Scissors

_Chapter 34 - Dull Scissors_

* * *

"Here he comes, th'whirlwind master, he's our answer for disaster…"

"Fuzan."

"Flash 'o orange, he outta sight, he super tight, turns day t'night…"

"_Fuzan._"

"Who else he gonna be, 'dis Uz-u-ma-ki… Na-Na-Na, somethin' somethin'…"

"_Fuzan!_ You even listening?"

The captain was saying something, Fuzan finally noticed, so he tilted his head sideways and said, "Yeah, what?"

"Again with the rhymes…? You have to pay better attention."

"I _was_ payin' attention," Fuzan said.

The captain, Omoi, wasn't terribly old, but he had deep creases beneath his eyes from his constant worrying. He gave Fuzan a tired look. "Then tell me what I was just saying."

Fuzan couldn't. "…sorry, Captain," he said, lowering his head.

Captain Omoi sighed. "It's okay now, Fuzan, but suppose I was issuing orders, and you didn't hear me, so you went in the wrong direction and got captured by an enemy? And then-"

"I know, I know, m'sorry, okay?" Fuzan said, before his captain could continue. He crossed his arms, avoiding the stares he was certainly getting. "…so what were you sayin'?"

"We were just going over our roles for this mission. You remember when it _begins_, don't you?"

"Oh-one-hundred hours, I r'member _that_," Fuzan said, nodding. "I'm on th'team that's capturing the target, right?" he added, smiling and looking up a little, recalling vague words from before they had left Kumogakure.

"…no, you're on _surveillance_, Fuzan," said Captain Omoi, "with the _rest_ of your team. Sairi and I will be doin' the actual extraction."

Fuzan stayed silent, looking down again, and decidedly away from his team. Captain Omoi took out a small layout diagram of the complex and began pointing at it as he spoke, holding a flashlight above it. The light was red, to keep from drawing attention.

"You're gonna be posted at the north wall; Akari an' Kurai from your team are gonna be at the east and west; Namakura from Sairi's team is gonna take the south entrance an' monitoring the activities of the guards. Kanji's our eye in the sky, he's gonna stay up here and keep tabs on the situation, give us a heads up if anyone unexpected turns up. An' Sairi and I are gonna be infiltrating the complex together. If you need help, that's where we'll all be."

"I won't need _help_ if m'just posted on _surveillance_…" Fuzan said, quietly.

"Well, y'never know," said Captain Omoi, folding up the diagram. "What if your radio shorts out an' you're unable to contact us and you don't know where someone is, so you go running around wildly through the complex and you get caught and-"

"Okay, okay, Captain, I get it!" said Fuzan. "I'll remember where everyone is. Not like the mission's gonna take very long, anyways…"

"Nope. Should be quick and easy," Sairi said. She had her hands on her hips and her lip-glossed smile was confident; small earrings like fish scales flashed from the sides of her face. "It's the negotiations that come afterwards that're gonna be difficult. But we'll leave that for the Captain an' Raikage."

"Sairi's right. Should be a routine extraction. So, then…"

"…extraction, reaction, transaction…" Fuzan mumbled to himself. The word had been said several times already, but there was something in the rhythm of how Omoi had said it just then that clicked in his brain and set him off, practicing rhymes. It was a technique he had learned to help with freestyling, and he did it everywhere, where most people would just daydream. "Class-action, corr-action… Pfft, _correction.._."

"…in a half-hour. Is that clear?" Captain Omoi said. He turned off his flashlight.

"Yeah," Fuzan said, with everyone else. And he huddled together with his team in the hills above the compound as the waiting began again.

It was very dark. The seven of them had been waiting for several hours already, however, since arriving in the hills above the Taki complex in the early afternoon. The Hakaza clan had left their complex quite a few days earlier, and they had been followed the entire way by Sairi's team, who sent word back via messenger hawk that they had made it. Captain Omoi and Fuzan's team came later, to execute the plan.

It had been known for a while that the Hakaza clan was planning on meeting with their brother-clan over a marriage or a union of some sort. And while plans were drafted to have an ambush occur while they were traveling, it was decided that it would be far safer to attack while in the home of the other clan. They'd have a false sense of security, there, most likely; more guards, yes, but with looser standards than those held at their main house. There would be confusion over layouts to exploit, and miscommunication as well. Lots of good things—for Cloud, not for the Hakaza clan, at least.

But the Hakaza clan had been causing a lot of grief in the Land of Lightning, lately. The Cloud nin were pissed off by them, and the daimyo was certainly irked by the amount of counterfeit and illicit goods that were passing through his land, and all of them were doing as much as they could to stop it. The post-war small-time crooks that had sprung up here and there could be dealt with easily enough, but it was the long-established clans that had managed to survive—and even grow larger, in some areas—that were proving to be the most difficult to deal with.

Particularly the Hakaza clan. Something had to be done about them.

It was a lucky thing that there had been a new Raikage for several years now; had A the One-Armed been in charge of the operation he would have likely called for a bloodbath to end Cloud's troubles.

But Rotsuki, the new Raikage, was a different man. He was laid-back, almost lazy in his speech and voice, but it hid a keen mind with a sharp intellect. He knew very well that long-standing clans like the Hakaza couldn't be fully eradicated. They had allies that would most-likely come to their aid if needed, or avenge them if they were destroyed or harmed too badly.

"So we'll negotiate," he had said, when putting the plan together. "We'll get their attention, first, and then we'll negotiate."

And that was exactly what they had come there to do. Get their attention, and clear the path for negotiations of some sort.

As for how they were going to get the Hakaza clan's attention, well.

The ninja of Kumogakure had a long and illustrious tradition of kidnapping people and holding them hostage. Particularly girls, or the children of the influential.

The Taki clan, who were hosting the Hakaza clan, _did _have a daughter. And while it would have been convenient—and people certainly had a way of panicking when girls were kidnapped, as opposed to boys, which is why they were almost always the norm—it was unlikely that her abduction would have the clout that they were looking for.

So they were going to kidnap Hakaza Shin's son, Kou.

Funnily enough, according to initial research, Kou was a quiet, effeminate, sensitive boy, and would most likely not put up much of a fight, especially if all went as planned and he was still mostly asleep upon first strike. So the small fears that the younger students, Akari and Kurai, had were quelled and lessened quite a bit.

Fuzan, of course, was not afraid so much of Kou fighting back, but of him just messing up in general. But that was nothing new. Much as he wished he wasn't, Fuzan was undeniably underwhelming and unskilled, and not much of a presence as a person. When people weren't calling him "browless wonder" and "fanboy" they were calling him Fuzai no Fuzan; "Not-There Fuzan." Because, really, the way he acted sometimes, it was like his brain really _was_ missing.

Besides, he was just a slow learner. He had to admit it. He'd started his ninja training at 13, after all. Extremely late.

It hadn't really been his fault. He was a country boy, raised miles away from Kumogakure. His early years were filled with learning how to drive cattle and plow wheat fields, not on how to throw shuriken or use chakra. And, in all honesty, he'd probably still be there.

If it hadn't been for the comic books.

Fuzan had first encountered them when he was young, after finding a mid-issue of _Choujin-man_ left behind in the classroom, without an owner. He kept it in his bag when he couldn't find the initial owner, since most of the other kids had gone home, and read it, alone, in his room. It was confusing, at first, but he found himself reading it a second, a third, a fourth time. Choujin-man, Fuzan eventually figured, was a great ninja hero, a courageous and brave warrior from the moon, unallied with any nation, as strong as ten men all put together.

Fuzan couldn't quite explain why he was so drawn to the concept of Choujin-man. Trying to put his thoughts into words always led to the distillation of his thoughts into a single exclamation: "He's just so _cool!_"

(Though it serves to be said that there was a small amount of unconscious attraction in how Fuzan saw his past lining up with the ninja hero's. Choujin-man had been found as a child by simple farming folk. The same thing had happened to Fuzan, who'd been taken in by the farmers who were now his parents when a baby had been found on the steps of the town center with a note that had his name and a plea for him to be cared for.)

(It would be foolish to assume that there wasn't even the slightest bit of a changeling fantasy at work in Fuzan's mind, some part of him wishing that he'd develop superpowers at the age of thirteen, and learn how to breathe frost and fire.)

(Unfortunately for Fuzan, that didn't happen.)

It was all he could talk about at school the next day—and it was then that he discovered the owner of the book, a kid named Ken, who had been looking for the issue and was glad that Fuzan brought it back.

"It's just so _cool_, man!" Fuzan had said, his smile wide. "You got more?"

Ken had more. And he invited Fuzan to his house, since he seemed so keen on reading them. "Choujin-man is cool, I _guess_," Ken had said, on the way there, "but Kakuidori? He's _really_ cool."

"…who's that?" Fuzan had asked.

When they got to Ken's house, he learned.

It was the start of an obsession. Ken got an allowance from his parents, like most kids, and he bought his comics from the general store that was about a half-hour's walk from his and Fuzan's houses. He'd been collecting the comics for a year or two, when Fuzan met him, and had amassed a sizeable library that he kept in boxes in his room.

"I always get Kakuidori, an' Shonen Gumo, for sure. Choujin-man if I read it an' it's good," Ken had explained, spreading them out for Fuzan to see. "The Magnificent Four is okay too, I _guess,_ but it got kinda boring after a while."

"What's that about?" Fuzan had asked.

"Stuff," Ken replied. "C'mon, lemme tell you about Kakuidori." He set down another stack of comics, grinning. "Kakuidori _never_ kills. But he always gets th'job done."

Ken was right. Kakuidori _was_ cool. But it was Choujin-man that stuck with Fuzan the most. He couldn't quite explain why, but there was just something about him that appealed to Fuzan more than the wise-cracking Shonen Gumo, the dark justice of Kakuidori.

Eventually, Ken just packed up all of his issues of Choujin-man and gave them to Fuzan. "You borrow them so much already, it's only fair," he said. "Dunno why you like him so much, but whatever."

Fuzan was incredibly grateful. And he soon began adding to his borrowed collection, making the trek down to the general store every month to pay the 10 ryou that it cost to buy his issues, and maybe a chocolate bar to go with them.

His interests began to spread out further than Ken's collection; there was more to read than the clever, witty dialogues that Ken preferred, Fuzan found.

Fuzan liked the clear-cut, the triumph of good over evil. He liked knowing that the good guy was always gonna beat the bad guy. He liked knowing that it was _possible_.

Now, Fuzan didn't have a bad life, not by any accounts. The worst that things ever got were when ruffians came through the town to stir up trouble, but they were usually chased off with pitchforks and Old Man Kamaji, who had a thing for riding bulls.

And, well, there was also that guy with the _huge_ sword strapped to his back that came into town about once a month to do nothing but drink as much water as he could, ask around for work, and leave. He didn't cause much trouble, but you couldn't really trust a guy that carried around a blade that was bigger than he was.

But Fuzan's parents had a radio and he heard about troubles in other countries, and it worried him. Not because it was happening to him in particular, but because it was happening in the first place.

It was Choujin-man that inspired Fuzan to become a ninja. Well, him, and the sister of a girl named Hinagiku, who came home from Kumogakure unexpectedly to celebrate the New Year with her family. Fuzan had never heard of her—well, he knew that Hinagiku, a classmate one year his junior, had a sister, and that she was away, but that was where the knowledge ended—but her arrival back into the main town caused an enormous stir. She wore a white sort of vest over her winter coat, and a triumphant sort of smile on her face.

"Where was your sister, anyways?" Fuzan asked Hinagiku, when he saw her in the hallway the next day—the holiday wasn't to start for a few more days, as far as the school was concerned.

"Oh, she's a chuunin in Kumogakure. She sends money home," Hinagiku replied, casually. She walked quickly, her honey-colored pigtails flapping behind her. "She left home to train when she was my age an' now she's off doing this."

Fuzan gasped. "What's a _chuunin?_" he said, his voice hushed.

Hinagiku smirked at him. "A _ninja_, you idiot."

"A ninja? Like Choujin-man?" he asked, much more loudly.

Her laugh was very dry, and she began moving away. "Whatever, nerd." And she was gone without another word, into her classroom.

Fuzan asked around, with his usual over-enthusiasm, after that. And he learned that, yes, you could become a ninja, if you went to Kumogakure.

"But not like Choujin-man, he's just a _comic_ character," Ken had told him. Ken had been leaning towards darker stories in the years that had passed, no longer impressed by the squeaky clean world presented in heroes like him. "Real ninjas can't do all the stuff _he_ can. They're not as cool."

"Yeah, so? It's still really awesome," Fuzan replied, indignantly, crossing his arms.

"What-_ever_, Fuzan," Ken had replied, rolling his eyes and returning to his notebook of scribbles.

Of course, Fuzan didn't act on these dreams immediately. He was eleven when Hinagiku's sister came home, and he was thirteen when he finally left home for Kumogakure on his own.

(Unfortunately—or, perhaps, fortunately—Fuzan did not develop any powers upon his thirteenth birthday. But he wasn't terribly disappointed at that point.)

His parents had wanted him to think on it. "Fuzan, being a ninja… is a serious job," his father had told him, when they sat down to talk about it after dinner, once. "It takes a lot of hard work."

"I can _handle_ hard work."

"You might get _hurt_, Fuzan," his mother had said.

"I can handle that too! C'mon, mom, pops, it's what I _really_ wanna do…" He pulled the skin that was his lack of eyebrows together in the most pathetic look he could muster.

His father had sighed, shaking his head. He was a lean man, and his face was dotted with freckles. "Fuzan, why do you _really_ want to do this?"

Fuzan found he couldn't really answer. "…be… cause it's… cool?" he said, quietly, trying not to look at his father.

Another sigh. "Fuzan, if you're really serious about doing something like this, y'have to have a good reason for leaving, okay?" He managed a sort of comforting smile that failed to comfort Fuzan in any way whatsoever. "Come up with that and then we'll talk."

His mother, brown hands still wrinkled from the washing, her wavy hair tied behind her, gave Fuzan a gentle pat on the back when he started sniffing in frustration. "There, there, it's nothing to get upset about. Your father has a point," she said. "We're just worried about you, baby. We don't want you going off and making decisions without thinking about them."

"S'not that," Fuzan admitted.

"Then what is it that's got you so upset?"

"S'cos I couldn't think of a good enough reason…"

"Oh, baby, it's okay…" his mother said, pulling him towards her with one arm. "If this is something you really wanna do then you'll find your reason."

Fuzan didn't find his reason immediately. It discouraged him, certainly—wasn't "it was cool" a good enough reason as any? Because Fuzan _wanted_ to be cool. He was un-cool, a nerd, and he knew it. He was scrawny and funny-looking, and that wasn't going to change any time soon.

…but that wasn't a good enough reason in his dad's eyes, he figured. And no matter how much he thought, he couldn't really think of anything beyond that wanting to be cool, that want for… not _respect_, but acknowledgement.

Months went by. Winter melted into spring, spring burned into summer. School ended, and everyone went back to working the fields—things ran differently in the country, where the school year began in September and ended in May. Fuzan still went to the general store every month, but he found himself just reading the comics instead of buying them, no longer really enjoying them. They were cool—but cool wasn't a good enough reason for liking them—wanting to be _like_ them—wasn't it?

One issue changed that. Choujin-man, issue number 184. August. Years later, and Fuzan would still remembered the specifics.

Story-wise, it was nothing too spectacular. Typical plot: Choujin-man speeding in to save the day from a villainous defective ninja that sought to do harm to the common people. It was clean-cut, over and done in twenty pages.

But one page changed everything. The villain, a hollow-cheeked greaseball with a pointed nose, had been tied up and was being carried away by Choujin-man, who was going to have him brought to the proper authorities, his fellow ninja.

"I don't get it!" he had screeched—and Fuzan could tell that he was screeching, because the speech bubbles were jagged, agitated—"Why do you persist, Choujin-man? You know that stopping me won't help anything! There will always be another out there causing trouble!"

"I know," Choujin-man had replied, his square jaw set, face unchanged.

"So why do you even _try_, when you know it's no use?"

"Because if I don't, who will? The world needs protecting, or else it will fall into chaos."

The villain had scoffed there, slung over Choujin-man's broad shoulders, still daring to show contempt while in such a humiliating state. "And what if you should fall?"

And Choujin-man had smiled over his shoulder there. "Because I know that there will always be people out there who will do what must be done. And I am one of them," he had said. "But I want to ensure that they live happily and don't have to carry my burden."

Fuzan bought the issue, and read it a dozen times over when he got home in slight awe.

Nowhere in his vast collection was there any indication of such intentions. So far as Fuzan knew, Choujin-man had to fight the bad guys because that was just what he _did_. Because he was who he was. He was _Choujin-man!_

But here he was, saying why he fought the bad guys. Because he had to, yes, but also because otherwise, other people would get hurt trying to do what he could do.

It was more than cool. It was… beautiful, awe-inspiring, _noble_ to Fuzan. Now _that_ was a reason.

…the question was, could Fuzan use it?

…he doubted it. He was a farm kid, and hardy, but stringy. He could run fast, but not far. He didn't feel that he could really protect people, much less _help_ them much. He could help his parents, but every kid helped their parents; that was nothing special.

(And underneath it all, "being cool" was still his chief motivation, above all others.)

It was depressing, in a way. Finding this reason but nowhere closer to justifying his dream.

…was that what it was? A dream? Fuzan had never really had any other ambitions—he had pretty much accepted that he'd stay, working the farm, for the rest of his life, getting married—though he had no idea to whom, but he supposed he'd _have_ to—having kids and supporting his parents when they got old. He'd never wanted to escape, he saw no need to.

So, then, what else could it be? Why was he so caught on that concept? Not because it was 'cool,' no, because it was…

…noble.

That was what he told his parents, after thinking it over for many nights, during a summer dinner. "I'm serious about this. I want to _help_ people. I can't do much now, but I think… I'll be able to," he said. He found his throat closing up a little, to his surprise—he didn't expect to be getting that _emotional_. He was twelve, for heaven's sake. He wasn't supposed to cry.

But his father was smiling, and he put a freckled arm on his son's shoulder. "If you really want to go, I'll send a letter out so we can learn more about getting you in the ninja academy in Kumo. You're paying for your trip over, so start saving up!"

Fuzan was twelve years old and he wasn't supposed to cry, but he did anyways, out of happiness and relief.


	35. Cleaving Needle

_Chapter 35 - Cleaving Needle_

* * *

It took almost a year for Fuzan to save up the money for the journey up to Kumogakure. It was money earned through his allowance, and doing odd jobs in town, and only buying the comics that _really_ impressed him. He sharpened his tastes, but he always kept his true intentions in his heart.

They managed to secure a ride on a trader's cart up to Kumo in the summer of his thirteenth year. Fuzan carried his clothes and his money and his last lunch from his mother with him, and _Choujin-man_, issue number 184. He had the page that held his justifications dog-eared, the edge of the paper slightly worn from so much use. He did not read the rest terribly much.

There had been a long correspondence between his father and the ninja academy in Kumo. There was concern over Fuzan's age—thirteen years old and lacking any ninja training would put him at a serious disadvantage with the other students his age, but his father and Fuzan both said that they didn't care.

"I'm not afraid of hard work, or humiliation," Fuzan had said, and he had not been lying.

He had a hard time sticking to his story when they placed him in a class of five-year-olds. But he learned quickly and with extreme enthusiasm—and, most importantly, he laughed at himself when the rest of the kids would giggle at his awkward, gangly body sticking out like a sore thumb in the classroom of smaller children. He knew he stood out, duh. But he was there for a reason, un-cool as the situation was, initially.

Through a complicated series of negotiations that he could never quite understand, he came to live with a distant aunt of his or… something, that was the most he could come to grasp about the situation. It wasn't terribly important; what _was_ important was that she was going to be putting up with Fuzan for as long as he stayed in the academy, and after that, he was on his own.

"You'll start earning money once you become a genin, whenever that will be," she had said. Her name was Tsukubane, and she had wavy hair and heavy eyes, so Fuzan assumed that she was related to his mother somehow. "So you'll be able to afford your own place."

This sounded perfectly reasonable to Fuzan. He was more than happy to share a room with his possible-aunt's young son, a boy of about seven or eight years named Ichii that took to calling him "big bro!" almost immediately. Her husband was absent in the way that some husbands were. Weeks would go by without Fuzan seeing his face, only knowing he was around from his cigarettes in the ashtray, his half-eaten breakfasts and folded newspaper on the table.

"Work hard at school, both of you," Tsukubane told them, during Fuzan's first meal with them. She was a ninja, a jounin, Ichii had told Fuzan, so she was out of the house a lot.

"But I know how to take care of myself," Ichii said, with a shiny-shiny smile. "I'm _responsible_."

And he certainly was, Fuzan thought. The two of them would walk to school together and part ways at the gates. Ichii was already two grades ahead of Fuzan, but Fuzan didn't mind terribly. He had a long way to go, and he knew it. But he was there for a reason, and that reason was noble.

This was difficult, obviously. But, Kumogakure was even more amazing than he could ever have imagined, and that softened the blow significantly.

Once he had gotten over his shock and amazement at the sheer _size_ of the place and the enormous buildings within it, he discovered a glorious world of rap and hip-hop, the music that seemed to make up the very heartbeat of the city. Almost anywhere he went in the city he'd be sure to find some kid with a boombox making their way down the street with a spring in their step, or a breakdancer on a street corner, spinning wildly on the surface of a broken-down cardboard box. They were strange things, _bizarre_ things that Fuzan could not even have imagined alone. And yet, there they were, and they had their pull on his heart almost immediately.

He also discovered graphic novels in Kumo, and manga. His general store back home had only ever stocked the cheapest, most popular, accessible comic titles, the ones that would get the old owner the biggest profit. Fuzan had spent an entire afternoon just staring at the wall of titles during his first visit to a bookstore on one of his days off, after asking Ichii where he could buy comics. He'd only occasionally take one down to read the summary on the back, before putting it back and reaching for another—he didn't have nearly enough time to read them all, much less in _full_.

He found himself coming back, afternoon after afternoon, to browse the comics section of the bookstore. He only stopped after the owner of the place tapped him on the shoulder to ask him if he was going to buy anything, for all of the browsing he did.

"Well, the thing is, sir… I don't have much money on me, so I wanna make sure I only buy the _good_ stuff, see," Fuzan had replied.

"Punk-ass kid, you're wastin' my time," the owner muttered, ushering him to the door. "Look, down th'street 'bout three more blocks there's a manga café, you can read all the comics you want there for like 30 ryou, a'ight? Read 'em _there_, buy 'em _here_."

"…what's a manga café?" Fuzan had asked. He didn't get an answer, so he had to find out for himself.

And that was how he found himself spending the rest of his afternoons after class, reading back issues of old comics and graphic novels with well-thumbed covers, a melon soda or two with him in his booth. Naturally he set enough time aside for studying and practice—he was in Kumogakure, in Tsukubane's home for a reason, and he wouldn't—_couldn't_—forget that. But there was always time for his other passions.

Ichii, he later learned, also had a subscription to a magazine called _Lightning Jump_—the concept of having multiple series in one publication utterly amazed Fuzan—and he was a good enough kid to lend his copies to Fuzan once he was done with them.

Another thing that Fuzan discovered in Kumogakure were the real heroes.

The Raikage was the first one he had heard of, and the jinchuuriki, Killer Bee. The very idea of a jinchuuriki, their bodies the vessels for much greater, fiercer powers, fascinated Fuzan to no end. It was like something out of a manga, but it was _real_. There was also Sachiko, Cloud's other jinchuuriki, the cat child—astonishingly, she was almost as old as Fuzan. Fuzan actually caught glimpses of her, from time to time, a swift form of blue and trailing sleeves that went screaming through the streets of Kumogakure in a joyous quickness. Bee, on the other hand, was a distant but a public figure, being the brother of the former Raikage and a celebrity of sorts besides. He was seen but not approachable, in a whole other social strata. But Fuzan was happy to merely admire from afar.

(Until he actually met the guy. Bee got him to relax a little bit, after that. Then again, Bee could get just about _anyone_ to relax.)

Fuzan thought exceedingly highly of both of them, but it was the jinchuuriki of Konoha, Uzumaki Naruto, who impressed him the most. Everything about him was _beyond_ cool, and when Fuzan caught any sight of him during visits to Konoha, he could hardly contain himself.

(Kurai and Akari had long since gotten used to Fuzan's little outbursts of hero-worship. Kurai merely tolerated it, while Akari thought it amusing how such an older boy could act like such a child over such things.)

(Though Fuzan had loved comics for far longer, he became known widely first for being a hopeless fanboy of the jinchuuriki.)

All of this—the hip-hop, the manga, the jinchuuriki—eventually came together into a cohesive whole in Fuzan's life.

Most of this had to do with BB.

But that was another story.

In another story, Fuzan was progressing well in his training; by the end of his first semester at the academy it was decided that he'd be moved up a grade and put on a more condensed curriculum, and a similar decision was made the semester after. Things after that started to get… difficult, to say the least.

Chakra and its use was Fuzan's downfall. He just didn't _get_ it—and his teachers tried to comfort him by saying that chakra-use was the most difficult thing for people to learn, especially if they were learning it late, but it still frustrated him a little. He did well with everything else, with the sparring and projectile weaponry and such. But chakra use was foreign to him. He'd spend hours trying to gather the stuff in his hands, like he had been directed to do, but he could never seem to figure it out.

And… then he met BB.

(Fuzan would smile uncontrollably just from thinking about her.)

But that was, again, another story.

He eventually progressed enough, with her help, to be promoted to genin at the age of fifteen. His teammates, the girl Akari and the boy Kurai, were nearly five years younger than he was, but he didn't mind. They got along well, for the most part.

He eventually got his own place, a crappy little one-room apartment with dirt-cheap rent, and it worked well enough for him, allowing him enough money left over for his comics and manga collection, and the money he sent home to his parents every month. He always brought a little bit more with him when he visited for New Years, as well.

(His graphic novel collection began in that year. It was a fungus of a thing, growing slowly, but steadily. Fuzan's collection, three years later, filled up almost two large cardboard boxes completely. He had no space for a bookshelf.)

When he was sixteen, he and his (twelve-year-old) teammates traveled all the way to Konoha, to participate in the chuunin exams for the first time.

The second time, they managed to get two extra Earth scrolls, after fighting tooth and nail for a Heaven; the other Earth scroll had been stolen from a girly Leaf nin that had somehow possessed Kurai's mind, and then fallen out of a tree and knocked himself out in escaping They progressed to the tournament, that year.

Fuzan didn't stand a chance, but Akari did.

The winter after that, it was Kurai's turn.

The fourth time was the charm. And when the Raikage, Rotsuki, handed that glorious white vest over to Fuzan, once they were back in Kumo, he had to hold back his tears. Nope, he wouldn't be crying. It wasn't cool to cry.

(Some things were okay to reject, because they weren't cool. It was acceptable.)

Akari and Kurai had become chuunin long before he had. He felt jealous and a little humiliated by this fact, but he didn't care too much, in the end. Because he knew he'd get there eventually. He knew.

_And_ he was helping people. To say that Fuzan loved his job would be like saying fire was hot, or rain was wet. It was what he had come all this way to do, and now he was doing it.

Of course, Fuzan wasn't nearly as noble as Choujin-man. Choujin-man was humble, and he hated drawing attention to himself.

Fuzan, on the other hand, loved attention. He volunteered for everything. He always wanted to lead his team—and why shouldn't he at least make an effort? He wanted people to know he was willing to help. He wanted people to know that he _was_ helping.

But the fact remained. Fuzan just wasn't that skilled. He was talented with sharp knives and sharp rhymes, but just average at everything else.

Which was why he was assigned to surveillance instead of going in with Captain Omoi and getting all the action done.

He told himself that it was still an important thing, this grunt work and surveillance. _Someone_ had to do it—just like someone always had to shovel pig poop back at home, just like someone always had to help scrub graffiti off the city walls. He was doing what had to be done. And wasn't that noble?

…yeah, that was… noble.

Fuzan just wished, sometimes, that he'd get the big jobs once in a while. Certainly, things got more exciting when he became a chuunin and he started doing missions with Akari and Kurai and everyone again. But it was all covert, no glory or anything.

Now, the chuunin exams, with the tournament, where Fuzan got to give his all in one-on-one combat, his favorite swords gleaming in the Konoha sun, with _everyone_ watching, with Uzumaki Naruto, with BB watching… that was glorious.

…but that was only really helping himself, wasn't it?

…yeah, that was.

But that was okay! To show off every once in a while, that wasn't so bad. Yeah, that wasn't so bad.

Nineteen years old, a chuunin for less than a year, Fuzan smiled and assured himself, again. Yeah, that wasn't so bad. He deserved to show off once in a while.

It was five minutes to 1 AM. Everyone had their watches synchronized. Everyone was ready to go.

And when the time came, the teams went down in groups of two, leaping over the wall of the compound—civilian buildings were embarrassingly easy to infiltrate, with their lack of chakra-sensing devices of any kind. Fuzan and Kurai went around one side of the main house, Akari and Namakura around the other. Once their positions were confirmed over radio, Omoi and Sairi went in, Kanji keeping his constant watch from their base in the hills.

Fuzan knew that it wouldn't take very long for the operation to begin and end. But waiting for that end seemed to last an age.

There was very little chatter on the radio—a good sign. But it made everything else awfully dull.

In the vacuum of activity, Fuzan practiced his rhymes again.

"…sharp like a blade, harsh like a… wave? Crashin', smashin' up yo' life, Na-Na-Na-Na…"

(It was a lucky thing that Fuzan had left his beloved second-hand cassette player behind, because otherwise he might not have heard the footsteps coming up beside him.)

Fuzan dodged the incoming sword blade and flipped over the edge of the outer platform that he was sitting on, crouching, reaching for one of the three short blades strapped to his back.

In any other circumstance, he'd have the intruder disabled, knocked-out for a couple of hours, and he'd have his team radioed and informed of what had happened, and nothing more would probably come of it.

But his opponent was much smaller than him. And much quicker.

Fuzan was on his stomach in about two seconds. "Explain yourself, quickly, or I'll cut you," his attacker said, quietly. A girl. Fuzan didn't answer. He felt the sharp edge of metal against his neck, and he gulped.

"N-n-nothing, I'm just…" He was pinned down too firmly to do more than squirm. He had his arms pressed together at the wrist by one knee, with a very small, very forceful little foot on the small of his back.

"Just _what_."

He gulped again, and said, to his inevitable embarrassment, "…please get off me…?"

"Not for a moment, ninja. Yes, I know what you are," she added, a moment later. "I saw that plate on your forehead. Why are you here?"

And Fuzan struggled with that question, truthfully, because whatever he said would just get him in more trouble.

…hell, he was already caught. He'd be in deep with Captain Omoi if he had to be rescued—and he could imagine how much that would mess up the _rest_ of the mission. And, shit, he didn't want to be rescued.

(Besides, he couldn't have reached the button to turn on the microphone of his radio, even if he _wanted_ to.)

The foot pressed more insistently on his back. "Speak up, ninja. Are you here to harm my master?"

So Fuzan did what he had to do. Captain Omoi and Sairi could take care of a little more trouble, if that was what resulted.

"…is your master… Hakaza Kou?" he replied.

"…no."

"Then m'not here to hurt your master, now could you… please get your foot off my back, it's… kinda hard to breathe…" Fuzan squeaked. _Man_ did he _ever_ sound stupid.

And yet, to his surprise, a second later, there was no longer a foot on his back, a knee on his wrists, a blade at his neck. He sat up, breathing deeply, rubbing his forearms.

The girl with the sword stood above him, all five or so feet of her, and she glared at him. She'd taken all three of Fuzan's blades without him noticing, and they were tucked into the belt of her robe.

"Damn, chika, you are _something_," Fuzan said, quietly, as he looked up at her.

Her face, or as much as Fuzan could see, was surprisingly delicate, framed by dark hair that fell just over her shoulders; she wrinkled her nose in what was either disgust or confusion. "What do you intend to do to Hakaza Kou, ninja?" she said, in response.

Again, Fuzan fumbled with the question.

In hindsight, he would wonder why, at that point, he didn't just run—but then he would think further, and there were several factors against him there. Mostly to do with the girl. She was quicker than him, she had more swords than him, and she had clearly demonstrated that she was more than capable of overpowering him. He doubted she would hesitate again if he tried something.

So, he said, "We're… not gonna kill him or anything…"

"You didn't answer my question." The girl handled her own sword as if it weighed nothing, and she ran her pale fingers along the flat edge of the blade with a strange delicacy. "Also, '_we'?"_

Oh _damn _it. "I meant me."

She didn't look convinced. "What do you and your comrades intend to do?" she said. "If you aren't going to kill him, that is."

Fuzan prayed that he wouldn't have to explain himself for this later, wincing severely. "Kidnapping."

The girl's expression hadn't changed much when he looked up again, the only addition the strange sort of half smile. "You're going to kidnap him?"

"Yes, only, I don't think we _will_ now, since you went and caught me," Fuzan grumbled. He marveled at his idiocy—he was a damn _chuunin_, for heaven's sake—yeah, true, he hadn't anticipated the girl's skill, but this was just damn amateurish behavior, what he was doing. He started to think of Captain Omoi, and almost as if on reflex, he started thinking_ like_ him as well, and then, "I suppose you're going to take me in and try to stop us now, aren't you? Capture me and-"

"No. Carry on, do as you wish," the girl replied. To his amazement, she sheathed her sword and pulled Fuzan's own swords out of her belt, and handed them to him, one by one, handle-first. "_I_ certainly won't do a thing to stop you. So long as you promise not to harm _my_ master."

"…no kidding?" Fuzan said. His voice seemed to have gone somewhere distant in the astonishing forever that seemed to pass in the time it took for him to put his swords back on his back.

"Well, it's not _my_ duty to protect Hakaza Kou. My duty is to protect my own master. At _any_ cost," she replied. There was a coldness, a stiffness, a cruelness in her otherwise soft sort of voice. "That _boy_ is none of my concern."

Fuzan shivered. He pulled himself off the ground, uneasily. "S-sure thing, chika."

"So, go, now. Attempt whatever you wish. I shall remain uninvolved."

Fuzan knew he was panicking, because you weren't supposed to get goose pimples in the middle of summer. He clenched his jaw, trying to keep his teeth from rattling. He began to back away. Her dark, dark eyes stayed on him the entire time. She kept a hand on the white handle of her sword.

And then Fuzan got out of there and began on his way to Kurai's post, because he sure as _hell_ wasn't staying on the northern wall. Not after that.

His heart was beating insanely fast, and his head felt light, hollow. He was almost dizzy.

He asked himself several times what the _hell_ had just happened, but he found he couldn't quite answer.

The only thing he knew for certain was that crime syndicates were damn _fierce_, if that girl was any indication. Chika was _scary_.

To his relief—and in a stroke of luck—the radio crackled with Sairi's voice that Hakaza Kou had been successfully captured, and that an immediate exit was the next course of action. Kurai would think nothing of it if Fuzan caught up with him a little more quickly than usual.

They exited in groups of two, the way they had come. Akari and Namakura first, Fuzan and Kurai second, and Omoi and Sairi and—drugged into a sleep and slung over Omoi's shoulder—the limp body of Hakaza Kou.

They kept moving, silently, after meeting up with Kanji; avoiding detection, until they came to the predetermined safe-house a few miles away, a busted-up shack of a place that Omoi had set up on the journey over. They'd be bringing Kou to the Land of Lightning in the day afterward, and sending out their ransom from there. But everyone needed rest.

Especially Fuzan. "You okay, there? Something the matter?" Sairi asked him, when they were bedding down for the morning, with the sunrise.

Fuzan, apparently, was still shivering. "Just a little, uh, jazzed up still from th'mission, yeah," he replied. He held his arms tightly with his hands, to reduce his shakes.

"Adrenaline rush, huh? Don't blame you. We had a close call," Sairi replied. She was taking off her earrings, presently, casually. "Almost got seen! These guys are _light_ sleepers."

"Yeah, I'll say…" Fuzan replied, uneasily. She didn't even look at him strangely for the comment, but he mentally punched himself in the stomach for it.

If anyone found out. He couldn't let _anyone_ find out.

_Man,_ he'd acted like such a moron! He was better than that, wasn't he?

But he couldn't help that he'd gotten caught, could he?

…yeah, he could have helped that. And that part sucked the most.

Even though that girl—that _weird_, scary girl—had come out of nowhere. He hadn't expected such skill out of someone so small—and out of a civilian, no less. Yeah, the guys from crime syndicates were tough, but they were brutish, not subtle. Not like she had been.

_Damn,_ she must have gotten him into a hold in two, three seconds flat! Fuzan couldn't help but be impressed, despite his humiliation. But it was a private humiliation, at least. That wasn't so bad.

Because nobody knew. (So far.)

Because the mission was a success. (So far.)

Because there was Hakaza Kou, lumpy-faced and still in his pajamas, tied up and drugged in the corner of the shack where they were all sleeping. Kanji, as always, remained on alert on the roof. Watching. Spotting for them all.

There were still ransoms to be sent out, of course, negotiations to be had.

Fuzan, understandably, did not rest well that night, his thoughts too frayed for him to even rhyme himself to sleep.

If anybody found out.

But nobody would find out.

Nobody.

He'd be cool.


	36. Torn Button

_Chapter 36 - Torn Button_

* * *

A letter arrived by hawk at the Taki complex a day and a half later. The bird stayed long enough to drop the canister in which its message was contained, soaring off immediately afterward.

It carried the seal of the Land of Lightning, and the Village Hidden in the Clouds.

This is what it said:

_Boss Shin of the Hakaza Clan:_

_We have your son. _

_If you wish to have him returned to you, then arrange to meet with my ambassadors in Sekiraun Valley for negotiations, in three days' time or less. They shall be the ones to receive you._

_Bring whatever assistance you need._

_If negotiations go well, we shall return him to you, unharmed._

_If negotiations do not go well, or if you fail to meet with them in three days' time, then you shall never see him again._

_I eagerly await your choice of action._

_Rotsuki_

_Fifth Raikage of Kumogakure_

Needless to say, there were many reactions to this.

Shin, of all people, wanted to go forward with the negotiations, peacefully and without much resistance.

Tensho asked him if he was fucking insane. And not nearly as politely, either.

"These are _ninja_ we are talking about! You honestly, _honestly_ fuckin' think that you can _negotiate _with them?"

Shin's face looked like it was a mask pulled too tightly over his bones. "What are my other options, Boss Tensho?" he said, again. "I think we should just see what they want to discuss in the first place."

"Oh what the hell do you think they _want_ to discuss?" Tensho said. "These are _negotiations_. You know what that means to ninjas? It means they take what's yours and leave you barely anything else. We can't _stand_ for that."

"You don't know that for _sure,_" said Shin.

"Oh bull _shit, _I know how ninja operate," Tensho replied.

"And you think that I don't?" Shin's voice became hard for just a moment, and it was enough to make Tensho pause. "Business for me in the Land of Lightning has been utterly _miserable_ because of them, don't you know." His voice reverted back to its usual state; he began chewing on his thumb, nervously. "I don't get _nearly_ as much trouble from those Stone fellows. Maybe it's because my father and that old Kage were on good terms…"

"Well _whatever_ it is," Tensho said, impatiently, "I still say we don't negotiate. We can't back down."

"Negotiating is not backing down, Boss Tensho," said Shin. "Think of it as doing business. If you want to do business with someone you don't just march in and make demands, otherwise _nothing_ will get done. The fact that these are… _ninja_ we're dealing with changes nothing."

"They fucking took your son," Tensho said, after thinking, breathing heavily.

"…that doesn't change anything, either," Shin said. "I want Kou home _safely_, and for that to happen then I have to be _careful_. Besides," he added, softly, dangerously, "this matter does not concern _you_. Kou is my son, not yours."

"And my soon to be son-in-_law_. I wanna make sure the kid's safe too," Tensho replied.

For the first time in hours, a thin, tight smile snaked its way up over Shin's face. "I appreciate the concern, Boss Tensho. I really do. But let me handle this matter on my own."

"Well you know I got your back," Tensho said, after a while. "If you need my help, my guys' help, _anything_, I'll do it."

"Oh, who said I _didn't_ want your help?" said Shin. "They said I could bring whatever assistance I wanted. And, well, our clans _are_ united, now, aren't they?"

Tensho's smile, unlike Shin's, was rough and wide, and it showed teeth. "How many guys you need?"

They made plans to leave that afternoon, Shin and Tensho both, and their bodyguards, Hikawa and Nobuhiro, and multitudes of support.

Kiine was not allowed to go with them. "But why _not_, Papa?" she said, when he finally told her their plan, after she caught him in a hallway, his footsteps heavy and deliberate.

"Kiine, my sweet one, I don't want anything to _happen_ to you," he said, stopping, turning, holding her shoulders. "You need to stay home."

"Come on!" Her expression, pouty though it was, was filled with true anger and concern. "I wanna go with! I wanna _help!"_

"Help _how_, honey?"

Kiine seethed. "How do you _think_, Papa? I can fight!"

He shook his head, managing a smile, despite his stress and nature. "Oh, Kiine. What can you do that one've my guys can't? You're too precious to me. Stay _home."_

The grip on her arms tightened. She wiggled out of it before he could pull her into a hug.

He turned around and kept walking. "Well _screw_ me being precious," Kiine continued, grumbling, following along behind him. "I'm worried about Kou, yeah? I wanna help get him back!"

(Tensho's smile was unseen by her, but she knew it was there, and she sighed at it.)

"Just let me and Boss Shin take care of it, we'll get him _home_. HONDA!" he suddenly barked, seeing the bald man rounding the corner. "You figured out if the Hozuki's in town yet? He should be."

The Hozuki was a drifter; not much older than her father, but he had silver hair like an old man, and teeth that were either filed down to points or just naturally that way, Kiine could never decide. He came by about once a month to ask for work. He was reasonable in his prices and he had an enormous sword that he wielded with considerable skill.

When Kiine was about six or seven years old, he came into the possession of a child that looked astonishingly like he did. The boy was named Shingetsu, and he had a gift for finding people and a habit of cheerfully calling Kiine "Kii-neesan!" whenever he caught sight of her.

The best part about all of that, the Hozuki and his boy both, was that they were unaffiliated with any nation, city, or clan (beyond, seemingly, their own), and would do whatever asked, if they were paid well enough. Tensho liked them.

"They're sayin' that he's been seen not fifty miles away, sir!" Honda said, running to his boss's side, his breath quickening.

"Good. I want him with us when we head to Sekiraun," Tensho said.

"Yes, Boss!" And Honda was gone.

Kiine was still there. She swallowed, her face pinching together. "Papa, _please, _listen to me. I'm right here, I'm offering to help rescue my damn _fiancé, _why the hell are you turning me down?"

She had used the F-word. Her father stopped in his tracks again, and when he turned to face her with a warm smile, Kiine had to make an effort not to groan in disappointment.

"We'll get Kou home _safely_, Kiine," he said. He pulled her into a hug, and though it was warm, it was uncomfortable. "I won't let this get between you two lovebirds. He'll be back before you know it."

Kiine did not hug him back, nor did she move, immediately, when her father took his hands off her and charged down the hallway, issuing more orders.

It was her mother who found her, later, as she stomped down the compound, muttering to herself about the unfairness of it all. Mikan was a larger woman, and she took up a fair amount of the corridor when she wanted to. "Kiine, dear, what's the matter?" She paused. "Never mind, you don't need to answer that. I know what's wrong."

"Mama, I'm fine," Kiine said.

"Sure you are, honey. Come on, let's talk about this." She put her hand on Kiine's back, but Kiine didn't budge. "Kiine."

"I'm _fine_, Mama," Kiine said, again.

"Oh, sure, dear, you're totally fine with the fact that your father isn't letting you go with him." Kiine's shoulders rose with her embarrassment. "Word gets around, darling. Come on, let's talk about it. Walk with me."

"…okay." Kiine took her mother's arm as they went down the hallway together, and away from the chaotic mess of the main hallways.

(Mikan did not have a bodyguard. She insisted upon it.)

"Now, honey," Mikan said, once things quieted enough. "I'm sure that you're worried about Kou-kun."

"Well yeah, 'course I am," Kiine replied. "He got freakin' _kidnapped_, yeah?"

"Mm. So of course it's only natural that you want to help." Mikan's face was sweetly sympathetic, her head tilted slightly.

"Well _yeah!_ Duh! Of _course_ I wanna help, it's just that Papa's so… so…!"

"Frustrating?"

"Yeah!" Kiine's hands exploded in front of her face before folding themselves in front of her waist like usual. "He won't listen to me at all! I _know_ I can help, yeah? This is just so freakin' typical…"

"There, there, honey." Mikan's hand moved from Kiine's back to her shoulder, though Kiine shrugged it off. "I understand."

"Sure you do…"

"Ohhh, believe me. I do." Mikan's face hardened into a smirk. "What, you don't think I know how stubborn your papa can be?"

Kiine tried to hide her smile. "At least he sorta listens to you…"

"Oh, not always." She sighed. "Listen, Kiine, I know your papa's being absolutely _pig -_headed right now, but he's only doing it because he's concerned about you. He doesn't want anything bad to happen to you." Her voice got suddenly very quiet. "_I _certainly don't want that…"

"…well yeah, Mama, I _get_ that," Kiine said. "I wouldn't want anything to happen to _me_ neither." Her hands clenched themselves into fists again. "But I know that I'll be fine, I can handle myself! He's treating me like a _baby_, yeah."

"Just be a little understanding, Kiine."

"_Screw_ being understanding. Papa's being stupid. He has no _idea_ how much help I could be." Kiine sighed, deeply, angrily. "Just… freakin' typical. Won't even bother to listen…"

Mikan's smile softened, and she shook her head. "That's just how he is, Kiine. Once your papa gets his mind set on something it's _very_ hard to get him out of it."

Kiine didn't say anything, frowning even more deeply.

"…and you, my dear, are the exact same way. Once you want to do something, _nothing_ can stop you from doing it. I'd think that you running _away_ like you did is some indication of that."

Kiine looked up at her mother, there, her face squirming with confusion, though she kept walking. "Mama, what's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing. Just talking to myself," Mikan said, lightly. Kiine noticed, suddenly, that they were approaching the wing of the house that held her bedroom.

(And Yuki's.)

"I'll leave you alone, Kiine. Your father's leaving after dinner, though we won't be doing anything _fancy_." She took her hand off her daughter's back and gave her a knowing smile. "He's leaving me in charge of the house in his absence. Naturally. By the way," she added, "I haven't seen Yuki since breakfast; do you suppose he went back to his room?"

All Kiine could do was shrug, a crooked smile growing on her face as she resisted the urge to give her mother a hug.

"Well, either way. Feeling better, now?"

"_Way_ better, Mama."

"Well, good. I knew that talking things out would help a bit." She tilted her head slightly as she turned to leave, the pearls in her ears shining as she did so. "Stay strong for me, honey."

A grin, a nod. "I will, Mama."

Mikan left, and Kiine went to go find Yuki. A half-formed plan began blooming in her mind. She'd get Yuki, they'd sneak out, maybe use Shingetsu to find Kou—he had a talent for finding people, after all, no doubt her father would be using him similarly—and she'd go and she'd get Kou back, yes, that was how it was going to be.

The air was incredibly cold around his room. Kiine had noticed it before, when trying to sleep the previous night—but she blamed that on stress, rather than temperature.

She knocked on the frame of the sliding door. It creaked against her knuckles. "Yuki! Hey, Yuki, you in there? I know you're there, yeah? Come on out, I gotta talk to you! I got a plan!"

There wasn't a response. Kiine could see her breath.

"Yuki! Come _on_, you're in there, aren't you? Speak to me, man!" Kiine's knuckles began to feel cold, as well as her fingers. "If you don't say anything I'm gonna come in anyways!"

Again, there was no response.

So Kiine tried to get in. It took considerable effort, the door sticking and resisting every effort she made at sliding it open.

In the end, she resorted to busting it down with her shoulder, like she had learned to do from Yuki himself—a technique that got you where you needed to go.

She was surprised by two things: by the amount of effort it took to break down the door in the first place, and the sheer amount of _ice_ that fell to the floor from the wall that she had burst through. It made sounds like glass as it tinkled and shattered on the hard floor.

Yuki, however, was far more important in her mind at that moment, and she went over to him in the corner of his room, where he was leaned up against his futon, curled into a tight ball, arms gripping his knees. "Yuki, what's going on? What's with all the ice?" she said.

He didn't reply, instead curling tighter into himself, his back convulsing once—was he… _crying_?

"Yuki, what's the matter?" Kiine said. "Are you okay?" She heard a ragged breath in, and out—a sob. Yeah, he was crying. Nope, he wasn't okay. "Dude, what's the _matter?_"

"It's all my fault…" Yuki moaned.

"All your fault…?" Kiine was kneeling down beside him, now, but she did not touch him. The floor felt cold under her knees. "What's your fault?"

Another shudder, another sob-like breath. "I'm sorry, I'm so _sorry_…"

"Yuki, c'mon, what happened? Tell me." Her command was softened by her concern.

"Please go away, I'm sorry, please…"

"Yuki, I'm not going anywhere. I _need_ you."

That got him to look up. The whites of his eyes were rosy, and Kiine could see his sleeves were darkened a deeper purple by tears. "You… what?"

"I need you to _help_ me," Kiine replied. "So tell me what's going on so I can tell _you_ what's going on, yeah?"

He looked at his knees again, his mouth twisting into the precursor of a sob. "You shouldn't ask me for help, I'll just ruin everything…"

"You will _not_, Yuki, you're my main _man_, yeah?" Kiine said. She smiled, but she could feel her lips quivering from the sheer cold of the room. "What's going on? Why are you so upset?"

"…I can't tell you."

"Oh come _on_, you tell me everything _else_, yeah?"

Yuki's face disappeared into his knees. "I can't _tell_ you, I can't, this is just all my fault…"

"_What's_ your fault, Yuki?" No answer. "Damn it, will you just _answer_ me already?" A pause. "Wait, this doesn't… have anything to do with Kou, does it?"

Kiine had never seen Yuki look more terrified, his head whipping away from his knees, his eyes locking with hers. "How did you know, oh no, did someone find _out?_ Oh, no, no, I'm dead, I'm _dead_!" His fingers clawed at his forehead and Kiine saw, to her horror, crystals of ice beginning to form around him, a barrier between him and her.

She pulled them away as fast as they were appearing. "Yuki, calm _down_! What happened with you and…" Another pulled-away piece of ice. "You and Kou?"

"This is all my fault, this is all my _fault_."

"Yuki, come on!"

"I'm so sorry, Master, I'm so _sorry_, I only did it because I wanted to help you!"

Kiine paused, her breathing heavy from the effort. "Help me? Yuki, what did you _do?_"

"When the ninja came for Kou I should have just… just tied him _up _and brought him to the guards, I didn't think he'd actually _take_ him and…"

It took a moment for Kiine to process, hurried and muffled as Yuki's voice was behind his hands, behind the ice, which had managed to creep up between them. "…you mean you saw one of the guys that _did_ this?" she said.

He nodded, frantically. "I _had_ him and I let him _go_, what was I _thinking?_" Yuki continued. "I'm so _stupid_, I'm so _stupid, _Master, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry!"

"Will you stop _apologizing?_ Just tell me, did you see the guy that took Kou?" A pause. "What did he look like?" Kiine suddenly said.

"Why does that matter, he's _gone_ now…"

"Because I'm going out to rescue Kou, Yuki, and I need your _help_," Kiine replied. "I can't do it without you. My mama's gonna cover for us; I know it, she's in charge of the house tonight and—why are you crying _now_?"

"Why do you want _my_ help? This is my fault! Don't you see?" Yuki's voice, high and hysterical, was almost incoherent through his tears. "_I let him take Kou!_ It's my _fault_!"

"Yuki, you can't _help_ that if you couldn't stop the guy," Kiine said.

"I _stopped_ him, Master, but I let him go because…" His words dissolved into tears.

"Because…?"

"Because I thought that if they took him then they'd call off the wedding or something, but I didn't think it would actually _work, _I thought he'd get caught or he wouldn't do it but he _did_ and now all _this_ happened…! I-I didn't know they'd hold him for _ransom_ or anything! I'm so _stupid_, I'm so _stupid!"_

Kiine sat there, for a while, just listening to Yuki as he cried behind the ice wall, her eyes wide. "…Yuki," she finally said, "what did you_ do?_ Why didn't you…?"

"…I don't want you to get _hurt, _sir. Not by people like… like _them._"

It took Kiine a while to reduce her anger an acceptable amount, with several deep breaths.

Well, and shattering the wall of ice between her and Yuki certainly helped, busting it open with her shoulder, just as she had done the door. Because there was somewhere she needed to go.

It hurt. "Oww, _criminy_, Yuki, that was _thick_." She sucked her breath in through her teeth, holding her sore shoulder. Yuki stared at her, his breaths coming quickly, like hiccups, almost on reflex. "Look, what you did was… incredibly stupid, and if my papa found out he'd probably _kill_ you. But I won't tell him, because honestly? _I don't care. _Because we gotta get Kou back, _that's_ what I care about._"_

"That's not…" His eyes fell.

She grabbed his chin and forced his face towards hers. "Yuki, _look_ at me! We got work to do, yeah? This is really, _really_ important! Come on, _man_ up!"

"…no, please, just… just let your dad take care of it…" Yuki was trying everything not to look at her. "We can't cause more trouble, it'll just-"

Kiine slapped him, there, taking her hand off his chin and winding up hard. "Shut up and _listen_ to me, Yuki!" she yelled. "I! Need! _You!_ You and _nobody_ else!"

Yuki was understandably speechless, holding his cheek with his hand, his mouth shaking.

"I need your support! You're my second-in-freakin'-command, yeah?" she continued, loudly, the hand that slapped him clenched into a trembling fist. "I need to _do _something and Papa is _not letting me!_ I can do it alone, but I _need_ your help to make _sure_ it'll _work!_"

That was when Yuki lost his temper, and Kiine barely had enough time to jerk her hand away as a sheet of ice materialized between her and him. It grazed her palm, and when she held her fingers, they felt sore and cold.

"Just leave me alone!" he yelled. His voice cracked. "You don't need my help! Go rescue your stupid… boyfriend by yourself, since you care about him so much!"

And Kiine just sat there, gasping, holding her hand, watching her breath in the air, her reflection in the mirror-like ice. She was not shivering.

(Hot tears welled up in the corners of her eyes.)

And then she left for her room, to prepare, without another word.

The Hozuki was found and brought to the house, later that afternoon. Kiine could tell because there was suddenly a great demand for beverages to be brought to the foyer. The negotiations with him doubtlessly began shortly afterwards.

Dinner that night was not at all extravagant, as her mother had said. In fact, her meal—fish, soup, rice—was brought to her room in the evening by an apologetic servant. "I'm sorry, milady, but this is all we can manage, with everyone leaving so suddenly."

"Don't worry about it," Kiine told her, and meant it.

(The air had grown much warmer, she had noticed, since more people began scurrying near Yuki's room. But it was still incredibly cold for the 28th of July.)

Her father and Boss Shin and Nobuhiro and everyone else left in a hurry after their meals.

And once they were out of sight, Kiine followed them. She'd gotten dressed in light clothes, suitable for movement, and tucked a knife into her belt.

(The guards did nothing to stop her.)

None of her father's men noticed her as she followed them. She made sure of that.

(She didn't make the same mistakes she had made back in Konoha.)

(And neither did Yuki.)


	37. Mended Line

_Chapter 37 - Mended Line_

* * *

The band of clansmen on the way to Sekiraun stopped to rest a while after the sun went down, making camp with tents and fires. What few Hakaza members were able to volunteer their services mingled freely with the Taki. The Hozuki and his boy slept apart from them, Kiine noticed. She wasn't surprised.

Kiine herself stayed well away from them, to get her rest. She wouldn't be able to do much of anything if she was sleep-deprived. She fell asleep turning her plan over in her mind, sitting up against a tree, her knife in her hand. She'd find a way to pull Shingetsu aside when they reached Sekiraun, use him to help get an idea of where Kou was, and just… make it up from there...

(This seemed so much easier to do with Yuki's involvement factored in. But she'd be able to do it alone, she _knew_ she'd be able to.)

It was just a matter of taking things one step at a time. Getting Shingetsu alone, she'd figure that out… when she got there… too…

What she didn't count on was Shingetsu finding her, first. "Hey, Kii-neesan, what are you doin', sleepin' all the way over here?"

It was a very lucky thing that Shingetsu could turn himself into water, because otherwise he'd have ended up with a very nasty scratch across his arms, or rather worse. "What are _you_ doing, you _scared_ me, yeah?" Kiine replied, gasping. She put her knife away into her belt.

"Well I just sensed your chakra an' I was wondering why you were sleepin' over here when it's so much warmer by the fires," he replied, with hushed sincerity. He held his hands together beneath his baggy white cloak. "It din' look too comfortable over here neither."

"I'm fine, yeah. It's okay, little guy," Kiine said. "I'm, uh." She'd make it up as she went along. "I'm here to help!"

"Then why aren't you over there with ev'ryone else?"

"…that's 'cos I'm part of a surprise attack. If someone were, uh, following us and they saw me with them then it wouldn't be much of a surprise, yeah," Kiine replied.

"Ooh." Shingetsu leaned in very close to her. His eyes, an unsettling shade of purple—kinda creepy, in Kiine's opinion, but she wasn't one to judge—were wide open. "That's _super_ secret, innit."

"You _know_ it," Kiine replied. She was smiling. "So you can't tell _anyone_ that I'm here, got it?"

Shingetsu nodded eagerly. "I promise! I won't tell anyone, not even _Daddy_."

"Awesome, kiddo." Kiine reached up and ruffled Shingetsu's pale hair, and he giggled in response.

"So, uh, Kii-neesan?"

"Yeah?"

"Is Yu-niisan a part-a the plan too?"

Kiine looked sideways, pursing her lips. Yuki… "Well, he was _supposed_ to be, but-"

"'Cos I won't tell nobody 'bout him, neither. I mean, if that's why he's hidin' all the way over there…"

"…wait, what?"

"Well, I can sense him hidin' all the way over there." Shingetsu pointed somewhere in the darkness, but with purpose. "He's part of the surprise attack, too?"

"…Shingetsu-kun, can you take me to where he is? I gotta talk to him about something," Kiine said.

"Ohh, sure, Kii-neesan! Anything for you." Even in the darkness, Shingetsu's smile was very warm. "It's kinda hard to see at night, innit."

"Yeah, it is," Kiine replied. Her eyes narrowed. The little boy held out his hand for her and she took it, and he brought her to a small clump of bushes several yards away. "Hey, Yuki. You can come out, now; we found you."

Even in the darkness, Kiine could clearly see the regret on Yuki's face. "I'm _sorry_, Master, I couldn't _help_ myself," he said. He had his sword with him, tied to his belt. The white sheath almost seemed to glow in what little moonlight was present.

"Yuki, it's _fine_," Kiine said. She almost had to shake her head—she should have seen it coming. "You don't have to apologize; and for heaven's sake, _please_ don't start crying on me again, it's _embarrassing_…"

Yuki sniffed. "Of course, Master."

"You gotta keep yourself together for me, yeah? We got business to get done." Kiine's voice was suddenly brighter; bolstered, maybe, by a strange sort of confidence. She was smiling.

Yuki rubbed his eyes and, to her relief, smiled—a little smile—back at her. "Of course, sir. So what's the plan?"

"Well, Shingetsu-kun here's a part of it, for starters," Kiine said.

Shingetsu gasped. "I'm a part of the plan? The secret plan?"

"Yeah, kiddo. We need you to help us find Kou."

"Ohhh, I knew _that_ already," Shingetsu replied. He nodded. "Tensho-san talked to me 'bout lettin' him know where Kou-san's bein' kept when we get there an' stuff. I mean, he's kinda _really_ far away right now an' I dunno where he is, but I can let _you_ guys know too once I _do _know. That's part of the plan too, right?"

Kiine was surprised that she wasn't exploding from the strength of her smile. "Shingetsu-kun, that would be _awesome_. If you can just… sneak on over to us once you get the chance tomorrow, that'd be _great_."

Shingetsu smiled in reply, though his face fell a little after a moment of thought. "Well I can _try_, but Daddy might not let me get very far from him. I mean, he's sleepin' now, but… Can't you come to _me? _That'd be a lot easier…"

"No, Shingetsu-kun. We gotta stay secret, remember?" Kiine said. "We won't be very far away, we'll just be… hidden."

"Well… okay, I'll _try_," Shingetsu said, with a nod. "I'll be able to find you guys _easy_, cos your chakra's a lot like mine!"

"Sure, whatever works!" Kiine said, nodding back at him, smiling. "I believe in you, little guy."

"Thanks, Kii-neesan!" He yawned. "I'm gonna go, now, f'that's okay, I'm kinda really sleepy…"

"Sure, just remember…"

"I won't tell _nobody_," Shingetsu replied, and he zipped his mouth shut with his fingers. "Good _luck_, Kii-neesan, Yu-niisan!" He left them alone with a cheerful wave of the hand.

"…Yuki, you're not just gonna stay quiet forever, are you?" Kiine asked, once the boy was gone.

"N-no, sir, I was just listening…" he said. He clasped his hands together a little tighter. He still wasn't looking at her.

Kiine sighed. "C'mere. I think we ought-a have a talk."

The shame and pain on Yuki's face increased. "Well, of course, you ought to let me in on the rest of the plan, I suppose..."

Kiine put her arm around his back, tightly. "Well, yeah, we'll talk about that. But… I wanna see what's up with you first, okay? C'mere, let's siddown."

Yuki didn't say anything, nor did he resist as Kiine led him to a tree near the bushes, and sat them both down.

"…so… I know we weren't… in the best of moods when we saw each other last," Kiine began, after breathing deeply. "And I'm sorry for losing my temper at you, okay? I shouldn't've been so mean. I was just kinda panicked."

Yuki began shaking his head. "No, no, no, no, I was the one that lost it, I'm sorry, sir, I'm so sorry…" His head sank nearer to his knees, but Kiine's hand on his back kept it from melting into them.

"No more apologizing, Yuki," Kiine said. "Okay? Whatever you did, I forgive you. It can't be all your fault, anyways…"

Yuki didn't respond to this. He swallowed, with difficulty, trying his hardest not to cry.

"I mean… okay, I admit, I'm still a little confused about what happened," Kiine continued, when he didn't. "I mean… what, you saw a ninja on the night Kou was kidnapped, yeah? And you let him go?" Yuki nodded, once, slightly. "Well, it was just one guy, yeah? I checked with the guards, and they said they saw a _buncha_ guys. Couldn't've been just that _one_ who did it."

"…please stop trying to make me feel better, sir… You don't need to..." Yuki said.

"Well I'm not exactly gonna let you keep blaming yourself for this forever, yeah?" Kiine said. "It's not all your fault! That's it! That's where we're gonna leave it, yeah?"

Yuki nodded, again, but he didn't say anything.

(Kiine heard a sob, and it made her stomach sink.)

(She didn't ask him if he was crying, this time.)

(And instead, breathed in, and out, and took her hand off of his back.)

"…you know, I don't blame you for letting that one guy go, though," she said, quietly.

"Why would you _not_ blame me…?" She could barely hear Yuki's voice.

"…well, it's more that… I don't blame you for being jealous, Yuki."

He actually laughed, there, a sputtering cough of a thing. "Why would I be… _jealous?_"

"Well… ever since Kou came by we've been together, like… all the time, yeah? It used to be just you an' me; plus this whole… marriage thing… They're taking away the time I used to have with you." She took another breath, a deep one. "Almost feels like Kou's replacing you, yeah?"

"I don't think that's the case, sir…" Yuki replied. Kiine saw him wipe one of his eyes with his palm.

"…even if that isn't the case, Yuki, I know you're upset. And… and it's _okay_ to be upset, yeah?" she said. "If I were in your shoes I'd be mad as _hell_ too. And… confused and just… Yuki, just don't blame yourself, okay? It's okay."

She put her hand on his back again as he sunk into his knees, again. "I was just trying to help…"

"I _know_ you were, Yuki. And it was _stupid_, what you did, but-"

"I just don't want them to take you away…"

She paused, there. "…take me away? What do you-"

"That's why I did it. If you… if you got married to Kou they'd take you to the Hakaza compound and I'd never _see _you again and…"

Kiine hugged him, there, an awkward hug that strained her back and arms. His clothes felt cold. "Yuki…"

"I couldn't _allow_ that, I didn't want to see you hurt or…" He gasped, a sob. "I'm sorry, Master, I'm really sorry…"

"It's okay. You don't… have to worry about that, okay? Yuki, you go where I go; you _know_ that, right?" Kiine said. She took the arm that wasn't around his back and reached for a nearby hand, and she held it very tightly. "You're my right hand man! And my best friend, besides, yeah? Closer than a _brother. _Even if they had to drag me, _kickin' _an _screamin'_ to the Hakaza compound, you'd sure as hell be comin' with me."

This didn't seem to comfort Yuki much. He didn't hold her hand back, his cold little fingers limp in her grasp.

"…and I just wanna let you know, Yuki. Kou's great, he's _nice_, but he is absolutely _nothing_ compared to you. You're _special_ to me, man. I mean, how long have we known each other?"

She could feel his hand tighten within hers. "I don't know, since before I can remember."

"Yeah, see? Exactly that. And how long have I known Kou? Maybe a couple-a days?"

He didn't say anything, but it was a comfortable silence. His grip tightened.

"We're _stuck_ with each other, Yuki. Whether you like it or _not_. We're part of a pair. And nobody's _ever_ gonna replace you in my eyes. No matter what Kou and his stupid dad try to do, yeah?"

It was too dark for her to see if he was smiling or not, but she had a feeling that he was.

"…so y'feelin' better?" Kiine asked. "Convinced I don't hate you?" she added, with a smirk.

"Master, don't say things like that." He rubbed his eyes. He sniffed. "I still think that you don't deserve this at all..."

"Yeah, I know, I know. None of us do," Kiine said, softly. "Neither Kou nor I deserve this… stupid marriage whatever, but he didn't deserve to be kidnapped, either. That's even worse, yeah."

"Yeah…"

"But, hey. At least the kidnapping we can do something about, yeah?" she said. She managed to brighten her tone as she took her hands off of him, smiling. "Which might help us with our other problem."

"Or it might not…"

Her minor smile fell. "Well, yeah, that's always… a possibility… But let's not think about that right now, okay?" She punched Yuki, softly, on the shoulder. "Don't be such a pessimist, it's bad for morale, yeah."

"Sorry…" He rubbed his arm and—ah! That was definitely a smile. "Though, uh… whose morale are we concerned about, sir?"

"Yours and mine. Duh. So, hey, now that we got this talk thing out of the way, didn't you say you wanted to hear about my plan?" Kiine said. She adjusted herself so that she was squatting directly in front of him, now, her hands on her knees like a monkey. "Since you're totally a part of it, again."

…ah, that was definitely a laugh. A small, small laugh, but a laugh. "Absolutely. What's your plan, sir…?"

Kiine only had a rough idea about what to do, but she told him anyways.

(Mainly, she was making it up as she went along. For his sake.)

(Yuki had a slight feeling that this was what she was doing, but it didn't bother him in the slightest.)

(He trusted her.)

"Well, I'm gonna go get some sleep," she concluded, standing up. "You stay where you are, it'll be better in case one of us gets caught. I won't rat you out if you won't."

Yuki's response was hesitant. Kiine's guts squirmed.

(And they'd almost forgotten about what had happened back in Konoha, too…)

"You have my word, sir," Yuki said, eventually, looking up at her. There was reluctance in his expression. "Though, uh…"

"'Though, uh,' what?" Kiine said.

"…I think we'd have to worry more about Shingetsu-kun giving us away than anything, sir."

(And she had almost forgotten about that little guy, too, given the emotional turmoil of the evening. Then again, that was what Yuki was for. He thought for when she forgot.)

"…well, hey. If he ruins it, we both go down together. We're a _pair_, yeah? Like I said." She gave him a wink, a smile in the darkness. "We won't get caught, anyways."

The reluctance melted into a little smile. "Of course not. Goodnight, sir."

"Goodnight, Yuki. Get some rest. We'll be feeling better in the morning."

She stepped away.

"Of course, sir."

Kiine left him, quietly, returning to her post, and sitting down to get her sleep.

She rested easily, filled with jitters, but relief, and confidence.

She had Yuki. This would make things _so _much easier.

(And Yuki had Kiine.)

Together, separately, they waited for the morning.

(And when it came, Yuki felt just that much more at ease.)


	38. Chain Link

_Chapter 38 - Chain Link_

* * *

It took Shingetsu a fair amount of time to find the pair once the negotiations had begun in Sekiraun the following afternoon. There were guards about, after all, both ninja and clansmen, keeping watch out for interference from either side as Shin and Tensho discussed with the Raikage's representatives.

The meeting was taking place in an abandoned residence; a summer home, riverside, near a waterfall. This kept sound from traveling.

Kou was not being kept there, but Shingetsu informed Shin of this well before they had even arrived. Kou was elsewhere, guarded by Cloud ninja, a fact which Shin brought up to the representatives near the start of negotiations.

"Your son will be brought to you if things go well, Boss Shin. Rest assured, he's in good condition and will be kept in good condition until his return to you," was the smooth reply from the ninja, who kept a lollipop in his mouth and moved it around with an unfitting satisfaction.

(Shin didn't like his face, and the feeling was mutual.)

But Shingetsu confirmed, with a nod of his head, that Kou was indeed well, wherever he was. His father, sitting nearby, sneered at everyone else as he sucked at his water bottle, his enormous sword in his lap, like a musical instrument.

Shingetsu excused himself once the grown-ups began talking with words he knew, vaguely, but had little interest in. "I gotta go potty," he whispered to his father.

"You went this morning, after breakfast."

"Yeah but I gotta go _again_," Shingetsu insisted. He squirmed where he sat, for emphasis.

His father squirmed, likewise, but more out of discomfort than a similar call of nature. "Can't you hold it? I don't trust you with people like this around."

"Daddy, come _on_, nobody can hurt _me_," Shingetsu whined, quietly. "I _promise_, I'll be quick."

A grumble. "Promise you'll be quick?"

Shingetsu grinned. "_Promise."_

"Fine. Don't make any noise," his father told him.

Shingetsu was already melting himself into a puddle, before his father could even finish, and he slithered out past the feet and knees of the men in the building, outside, and towards the bright and familiar chakras of Kiine and Yuki.

"I told Daddy I was usin' the potty so I gotta be _quick_," he told them, first and foremost.

"That's, uh, fine," Kiine said. "You didn't tell anyone you were meeting us, though, right?"

"Nope, I didn't tell nobody," Shingetsu said, shaking his head. "I just told Shin-san where they were keepin' Kou-san, cos he asked. Cos that's part of the plan, right?"

"Yep, yep. All part of the plan," Kiine said.

Shingetsu's smile was wide, and very pleased. "Okay, so, you gotta know where Kou-san is too, right?" he said. "For the secret mission I mean."

"Yes, exactly," Kiine said. She and Yuki had been waiting in a wooded area near the river, together, since everyone had gone inside the residence that afternoon. "Where are they keeping him? In that house?"

"No, _far_ away." Shingetsu closed his eyes, concentrating. "Maybe five, six miles away. That direction." He held out his arm, pointing to the general area past the far riverbank. "It's him an' five others I dunno, prob'ly ninja. They got lotsa chakra, so."

"Shouldn't be that big of a deal," Kiine said, glancing at Yuki, who nodded back. "Can you tell us anything more?"

"Uh…" Shingetsu opened, then closed his eyes again, thinking. "Well, I can't sense nobody else out that way, so it should be pretty easy to find 'em. Otherwise…" He closed his eyes even tighter.

"Don't strain yourself, little guy, that's enough for us," Kiine said, patting him on the shoulder. "I can't thank you _enough_."

Shingetsu, surprisingly, started pouting, when he opened his odd, wide eyes. "I just wish I could come _with_ you guys."

"We'll be fine on our own. Besides, you already did your job. And you did a good job of it, too," Kiine said. "Right, Yuki?"

"A very good job, Shingetsu-kun," Yuki added, nodding.

The little boy grinned. "Really? I'm glad!"

"Yeah, really," Kiine replied. "Now, you should prob'ly get back to your daddy, yeah? Yuki and I got a job to do."

Shingetsu nodded, once, fiercely. "Uh-HUH. Good luck getting' Kou-san back, you guys!"

"We will, little guy. Promise," Kiine said. She gave him a wink, and she received one in return. Shingetsu waved just once more before melting into a puddle and disappearing.

("That was quick," his father told him, upon his return.)

("I just had to go a _little_," Shingetsu said, giggling with private triumph at having helped, and anticipation and excitement.)

Yuki and Kiine were already on their way towards Kou, following the line of Shingetsu's arm. It was a mad dash for high ground, first, so they could scout out any possible hiding places, and plan further from there.

"Five miles… if we run, that's like a half hour!" Kiine said, almost shouting. They'd found a hill, eventually, upriver from the waterfall. The water was loud. "But we shouldn't rush ourselves much, right? We got a while."

"Of course, sir!" Yuki said, scanning the wide plain before them. "Ah, look! You see that?"

Kiine drew closer, tilting her head. "See _what, _Yuki?"

"There! On the base of that bluff, there!" He pointed, and she struggled to follow his hand with her eyes. "It looks like a house."

Kiine squinted. There was… _something. _"Looks like a _hole_," she said.

"Probably is! Cut into the cliff face, something like that. Harder to surround," Yuki said. He straightened his back. "Smart. It's worth a look."

Kiine breathed, deeply. "Ah, yeah! Worth a look. So c'mon, yeah?"

She was already running for it by the time Yuki could respond. He couldn't help but grin, just a little.

It took less than a half hour to approach.

(Kiine, he had noticed, had gotten faster.)

(He could keep up.)

There wasn't much cover on the way there, so they decided, while they still had a bit of tree cover, to take a sideways route and hug the bluff that the house was carved into. "People always look out, but _never_ sideways," Kiine shared, and Yuki had to agree.

And once they were close enough, they stopped, again, to catch their breaths, and formulate a plan.

They could see the house, now, plainly. It was little more than a glorified cave, from close-up; there were wooden supports at the entrance, and windows and things that made it clearly a manmade construct, rather than a natural thing, but little else.

"One entrance, one exit," Kiine observed. "Well. That could work out either _really_ well or _really_ badly, yeah."

"Let's just say it'll work in our favor, sir," Yuki said.

Kiine had to laugh at the strange, courageous smile on his face. "Since when were _you_ so optimistic?"

"I am taking our morale into consideration, sir."

Kiine laughed, again. "Well good job so far, Yuki." His smile in return warmed her heart. "Okay, so how can we use that to our advantage? Hm." She thought, crossing her arms, tilting her head, her eyes closing. "One way out… means that once they're out, they're _out_. How d'you think we could lure 'em out, Yuki?"

Yuki's smile widened. "I think I have an idea, sir."

It was a very good idea.

Yuki and Kiine knelt together near the entrance of the place a short while later, and Yuki was lacing the structure with ice, with coldness. Kiine held her arms and rubbed them as the air grew colder, and colder.

"I'm sorry, sir, just a little longer," Yuki whispered.

"Just keep it up," Kiine replied. "Just drive 'em out."

And Yuki kept it up.

Complaints began to arise from within, and as they grew in volume, Kiine's grin increased in intensity.

"The hell is going _on? _Why is it so _cold?_" A female voice, sweet, but hard.

"It's in the middle of damn _July_." A male voice, nasal, whineish.

"Oy, Fuzan! What's going on out there?" Another male voice, older.

No response.

"Fuzan!"

Nothing.

"Oh for the love of… Akari-chan, go see what in the _world_ he's doing, he's supposed to be on _surveillance_. I'm on _break_…"

"Fine, fine, Kanji-kun, just settle down…" The sweet voice moved closer and closer. "Brr… Fuzan-kun! Hey, Fuzan, where are you? What's going on out here?"

"Stay where you are, Yuki," Kiine said.

And she bounded forward, tackling the girl as she emerged, pinning her to the ground. She found a boulder in her hold a moment afterward, the girl gasping nearby.

"What in the world?" she said.

Kiine leaped at her again, not bothering with subtlety.

(Anything to raise attention, and get them _outside.)_

"It's an ambush!" the sweet-voiced girl said, wriggling out of Kiine's grip again, but only barely. "I need backup!"

There was another ninja coming out of the house; male, dark-haired.

"Yuki, quit it with the ice-stuff and get 'em!" Kiine yelled, wrestling with her own ninja. She was reaching for her knife, barely unsheathing it in time to counteract the sudden appearance of a kunai knife in the hand of her opponent.

"Right, sir!"

Yuki had his sword in hands and was onto the dark-haired ninja before Kiine could even blink.

"Fuzan, get _over_ here!" the girl shouted again. She darted away from Kiine, but Kiine followed, their blades making sparks as they clashed.

There was another voice. "M'sorry, m'sorry, I was busy!" Its owner was jumping down the side of the bluff, quickly approaching ground. "Akari-chan, what's going-"

"Shut up and help us take care of the—intruders!" the dark-haired ninja called out, barely dodging a slash from Yuki.

Kiine's knife flew out of her hand, grabbed at the handle and whipped away in a second.

One second later: Kiine brought the girl to one of her knees, twisting the arm that held her kunai into a painful hold. The girl groaned in pain, and shrieked, "Namakura, radio in! Contact the Captain!"

"Crap!" Kiine thought quickly; in a moment, she had the girl pulled into another hold, a sleeper. She'd be unconscious, no longer a threat, shortly. "Yuki, can you handle yourself out here? I'm heading in!"

Yuki seemed rather preoccupied.

"Yuki!"

Yuki was staring at the newcomer with angry shock. And he said only one thing before charging forward in a cold fury: "YOU!"

The target of his attack gulped.

"Oh, _crap_."

He dodged.

Yuki screamed. "You worthless sack of _excrement!_" Forward. "You ruined EVERYTHING!" Slash.

Dodge. "The hell did I _do_, chika?"

"Yuki!" Kiine yelled.

"I'll be fine!" Coldness. Pure coldness. "Go in and take care of the rest!"

The girl in Kiine's arms fell limp, and Kiine dropped her.

She found herself dealing with the other ninja, the dark-haired one. He didn't put up much of a fight—rather, he spent more time avoiding Kiine's attacks than anything.

He threw a smoke bomb, and when it dissipated, Kiine saw him fleeing, a pair of fingers at his ear—a radio!

"Oh no you _don't!" _ Kiine sucked in her breath, anger burning in her chest.

He was getting away.

She had to do something?

What could she do?

She struggled to remember.

…what was it Benio-sensei had taught her? A simple technique to use in place of a smoke bomb, for diversions. A sphere of chakra, light, that would burst and explode and blind.

(Kiine had barely ever mastered it.)

What were those hand signs?

(Kiine was desperate and reaching for skills like tools in a badly-organized toolbox.)

Kiine's fingers tangled into each other, slowly, deliberately, as chakra flooded into her hands and made them feel warm.

She was side-by-side with the ninja, almost.

Her hands felt hot.

And she thrust them out in front of her, in his direction.

What manifested was not the expected ball of chakra, but rather, two heavy-looking chains, with spikes on every link.

Kiine figured that she would take what she could get.

She closed her fingers around the chains—they felt only barely solid, and yet, just solid enough—and she whipped them forward and towards the fleeing ninja. They seemed almost to follow where her mind wanted them to go, wrapping around his arms, his legs. He tripped and tumbled, heavily, to the ground.

The chains in her hands removed themselves from her palms, wrapping around him further, remaining as solid as they needed to be.

"The _hell_ kind of ninjutsu _is_ this?" The ninja coughed from the dust and his lost breath.

Kiine just shrugged. Mistakes worked best when you just rolled with them.

"Stay where you are, and don't even _think_ of radioing your little buddies, yeah," she told him.

He didn't respond, just squirming, groaning, loathing.

She ran back to the house.

The girl, thankfully, was still unconscious.

And Yuki seemed to have made quick work of his opponent.

Presently, he was frozen to a wall, a terrified expression on his face. And Yuki was glaring at him, sword pointed at his throat.

(His expression, angry, cold, satisfied, furious, almost scared her, as she got close enough to see it.)

"Yuki, you okay over here?" she called, as she approached him.

"Perfectly fine, sir." He didn't look at her.

Kiine peered at the guy on the wall. "Jeez, Yuki, what'd you do to him?"

"Broke his arm, then ensured he wouldn't be moving further," Yuki replied. "He's all _right_, all things considered."

"Well, okay, then. I'm gonna need you to back me up, now that you're finished _here_. _Now_ I'm going in, yeah." She swallowed as she caught her breath. "Anyone come out while I was out taking care of that guy?"

"No, sir." Eyes still on the terrified, eyebrowless boy frozen to the rock wall.

"All right, then, let's make it quick." Kiine began looking for her knife, and found it on the ground near the unconscious girl.

"Wh-wh-who _are_ you people?" The boy frozen to the wall was shuddering, badly.

Yuki's expression didn't change.

Kiine wiped her knife off on her pant leg, removing the dirt, and she sheathed it, putting it back where it belonged on her person.

"Son," she said, standing close to him, looking up at him with angry, confident, defiant eyes, "I'm the future Boss of the Taki clan, Taki Kiine. That's who I am, yeah." She turned way. "C'mon, Yuki."

(She couldn't help herself.)

(Neither could Yuki, smiling slightly, following behind. That was his master.)

"How many more left to go?" Kiine whispered, on their way in.

"Shingetsu-kun said there was Kou-san and five others. That's three down."

"Two to go." Kiine readied her knife.

Kou's keepers were an over-tired surveillance ninja and a chuunin of no consequence, both of whom were more than a little nervous when they completely lost radio contact with Kurai, who was ordered by the main base to gather backup.

They didn't stand a chance.

Yuki worked at getting their radios off of their unconscious bodies as Kiine tried rousing Kou, cutting the ropes around his hands and feet with her knife. He was still dressed in his pajamas, and his hair was tangled from lack of washing.

"Kou… Kou, c'mon, man, wake up." She put her hands on his face. His eyes were half-open; he moaned slightly, but did not respond further. "I think they drugged him with something, Yuki."

"Wouldn't be surprised, sir," Yuki said. One of the radios came loose, and he tucked it into his robe. He began working on the other.

"It'll just make him harder to carry." Kiine paused. "Oh well. We should get back, before _these _guys wake up, yeah."

"Agreed, sir," Yuki said. The earpiece of the radio in his hand suddenly burst with sound. Tinny noise exploded forth, and he handled it with faint confusion. "Uh…?"

Kiine frowned, slightly, before smirking. "Hand it over," she said, and Yuki did so. She put the earpiece to her ear.

"Kurai, respond! Namakura? What's going on up there? How many confirmed hostiles?"

She pressed the button that, probably, turned on the microphone. "Who is this?" she said. "You the guys that took Kou?"

A bewildered, tiny silence. "Who is _this?"_

"The one that currently has your damn hostage is what," Kiine said. "We've taken out your pathetic excuse for a guard squad whatever and we're headin' back with Kou, yeah. So be freakin' prepared and call off whatever the hell sorta backup you were sending out. You'd just be causing more trouble."

"Taken out—who _is_ this?" The voice on the radio was quiet, a staticky hiss. "Did the Hakaza clan send you?"

"You could say that," Kiine said. "Anyways. If this means you guys gotta halt negotiations 'til we get there, go ahead. Just know we have Kou. Oh and, uh," she added, remembering what she'd left outside, "we got a guy frozen to the front of your base, just a little forewarning."

There wasn't a response that time around, so she tossed the radio to Yuki and picked Kou up into her arms. He was heavy, but nothing she couldn't handle.

"Keep an eye on that radio, take care of it if they call us back," Kiine said. Yuki nodded. "It'll take a bit longer, now that we have Kou."

"Nothing we can't handle, though, sir," Yuki replied.

Kiine grinned. "Yeah. Nothing we can't handle."

As they went on their way, Kiine noticed, to her delight, that the greasy, dark-haired ninja she had gotten with the chains was still restrained.

"Good boy," she said, and they went on their way.

(She still had no idea what the hell had happened. She figured it was just an accidental weapons summon—Benio had told her about those.)

(What Kiine was unaware of was that you had to own the weapon in the _first_ place in order to summon it.)

It was when they were making their way up the hill near the waterfall that Kou finally managed to scrape together an ounce of consciousness. Kiine noticed, from the way he was squirming in her arms, and she stopped. "Hey, you feeling okay?"

Kou looked up at her with tired, yellow eyes, his arms still floppy over his torso. "I'm not… dreaming, am I...?" he said, softly.

"Haha, nope, you sure aren't," Kiine replied. "Think you can walk?"

Kou thought. He felt sick, and weak. He shook his head.

"Then just hold tight, we're gonna be home free in just a bit," Kiine said. She adjusted him in her arms, holding him tighter, and began moving away.

"You saved me…" Kou said, softly.

Kiine didn't reply, only smiling. But it was all he needed to see.

Kou's head slumped sideways, it being an effort to keep it upright; he could see Yuki running beside her. He glanced at Kou, once, but there was no hatred in his eyes. There wasn't much of anything, really, but none of it was malevolent.

Kou's body relaxed, relieved, despite not fully understanding his situation. Something just told him that things were all right.

(And Kiine was smiling.)

The band was greeted by a small mob of clansmen and ninja both as they exited the forest at the base of the waterfall. Loudly.

Tensho and Shin were, naturally, outside in an instant, as Kiine walked toward the residence, bypassing the welcome party.

(So were Omoi and Sairi, who were incredibly perplexed about the recent series of events, not to mention incredibly worried.)

Few of them could believe their eyes. Tensho was the one that really spoke first. "Kiine?"

"'sup, Papa?" Kiine said, with a smile brighter than a bar of gold.

"What are you _doing_ here? I thought I told you-"

"Kou! Son! Oh my goodness, are you _okay?_" Shin interrupted his anger with panicked relief, running toward his son in Kiine's arms. Kiine didn't put him down, his limbs too weak to support him if he were to try and stand.

"Hi, Dad…" Kou replied. His smile was almost sleepy, mostly exhausted.

"What did they _do_ to you, oh my dear boy I'm so sorry-" He suddenly stopped his fussing, noticing, "Kiine-chan, did you…?"

"She rescued me, Dad. …her and Yuki-san," Kou said.

Shin's eyebrows rose. He gasped, he grinned. "Oh, you marvelous _girl!"_ he said, and put his arms around Kou's back, around Kiine's arms, as if he could embrace them both. "I never _knew!_"

"Boss Shin!" The captain of the ninja was speaking, the one with the lollipop. "Do you have any explanation for this?"

"Hey, hey. Talk to me, not him," Kiine said, loudly, authoritatively, before anyone else could answer. Quieter: "Boss Shin, here." She shifted Kou from her arms into his, and she approached the ninja. "I'm the one responsible."

The ninja captain tilted his head as he looked her over. His partner, the pig-tailed woman with the flashy earrings, was quick to point out, "You're Boss Tensho's daughter."

"Sure am." Kiine crossed her arms. "An' before you ask, no, I am _not_ acting on behalf of him, yeah? I'm here on my own terms."

"Your own terms, huh." The captain put his hands in his pockets, shifting his lollipop from one side of his mouth to the other.

(Tensho watched everything, silently.)

"Yeah. You guys kidnapped my fiancé and I don't really think that's cool," Kiine said. "I mean, really. Why the heck d'you need a hostage if you just wanna negotiate? Could-a just asked us to meet with you if you had beef."

The pig-tailed woman scoffed. "And how old are you, young lady?"

"Sixteen. And that's kinda away from the freakin' point, yeah?" Kiine said. She herself sighed, as the pig-tailed woman shrunk back, slightly, nipped before she could retort. "Listen, I got past your guards and I took your hostage from you. You lost your bargaining chip, but I wanna hear what the heck your negotiations were over in the first place, yeah? I wanna be caught up. Maybe we can still reach a resolution here."

"Kiine, that is not your _place-_" Tensho began, but he was stopped by a sharp glance from both his daughter—and Shin.

"No, Tensho-san. Kiine-chan's clearly shown _initiative_ here, and she's done so much already that I think it's only _fair_ if she's allowed this too," he said. He'd passed Kou off to his leather-skinned bodyguard, Hikawa, who had appeared shortly after his exit from the house. (Nobuhiro, presently, was with Yuki, whose expression had softened into an unnatural mix of pride and embarrassment.) "That is, if our most _gracious_ hosts are all right with this, as well?"

The captain and his partner looked at each other, at their backup. "Taki Kiine-san, then?" the captain said. "Come inside with us, an' we'll continue our negotiations with your involvement."

"Sounds good to me," Kiine said. She glanced back at her father with an unrestrained smile.

(All he could do was lower his head, accepting the situation as best he could, fencing in his frustration and anger.)

"Oh, by the way, you might wanna send some folks over to that base where you were keepin' Kou, yeah? Me an' Yuki kinda left your guys in a bad state," she added, as she began following them inside. "Not that we had a choice, yeah. We stole their radios, too. You want those back?"

"We'll… figure that out when we get inside," the captain said, nodding towards a small squadron nearby, who immediately got the hint and shot off to check on the guards.

(Shingetsu was more than a little excited, upon Kiine's appearance in the negotiation room. "The mission was a success, right?")

(All Kiine could do was smile and ruffle his hair as she passed.)

(Shingetsu grinned. And it was all because he had _helped_. It was clearly the best thing ever.)


	39. Drafted Pattern

**Author's Note:**

The letter referenced in this chapter can be read in the beginning of Chapter 30.

Thanks, and do remember to review!  
- Rii

* * *

_Chapter 39 - Drafted Pattern_

* * *

The end result of one further day of negotiations was a ceasefire, of sorts. A promise to not bother each other, at least, until further negotiations could be planned.

Kiine had put it casually, but eloquently. "We're stepping on each other's toes and neither of us can make much change; especially with attitudes like this, yeah? So let's just take a break from each other and come back together when we're in better moods. And no hostages this time."

Given that the negotiations prior to Kiine's involvement had been at an annoying standstill, with lots of barely-restrained shouting and plenty of passive-aggressive pot shots, this didn't seem like such a bad idea.

The Hakaza clan agreed to halt their trade routes in the Land of Lightning—temporarily, mind—but not shut down their businesses, in exchange for a pause in ninja agitation, until both sides agreed to meet again. The Taki clan made no promises, but very little of the dealings had to do with them in the first place.

Kou took a while to recover fully from the sedatives they'd been keeping him on, even though a Cloud medic nin treated him (in the full and watchful presence of both his father and his father's bodyguard and his own bodyguard) and had him on his feet again by the time the clans and the ninjas parted ways a day or two later. Tensho promised Shin further treatment from the family doctor, for when they got home.

"Can't trust ninjas, Boss Shin. Even with this stuff."

Shin only agreed for Kou's sake.

Kou, meanwhile, was hardly ever out of Kiine's sight, when she wasn't in with the ninjas and discussing things with them. "You'd better make a full as hell recovery, man, okay?" she told him.

(She was holding his hand.)

"I'll try my best…" Kou said.

(Yuki was watching, eyes downcast, reminding himself.)

"How_ever_ did you do that?" Shin asked Kiine, later, enthusiastically, happily. "Not only in bringing my boy back to me—but the way you handled those ninjas. Both in battle _and _in the negotiations, I am _impressed!_"

Kiine shrugged. "Well, the negotiations… I just tried to think from their perspective is all, yeah," she said. "B'sides, getting Kou back was the _easy_ part."

"You are _surprising _me, girl! I feel _so _excited to be your father-in-law—though, if you want to call me 'Dad' already, well, I _certainly_ wouldn't mind that."

(As far as anyone knew, the wedding was not off. Not remotely.)

(Kiine tried not to think about it.)

(Tensho tried not to think too hard about his own situation, similarly. The anger and the pride and the risk of angering Shin was far too great.)

When the time came for the groups to part ways, the Hozuki hesitated. "My son and I have already done our jobs," he said. "An' you paid in advance, so there's no reason for me to come back with you. I'll come back in a month if you need me for anything else."

From the way he was sucking at his straw, as if his water were made of contempt, and the fact that Shingetsu was already saying his goodbyes to Kiine and Yuki, he left little room for argument. Tensho let him be.

The separation and return home happened with little other incident. Mikan greeted them with relief and the suggestion of some sort of celebration.

"Your boys will like it. It'll look good," she told her husband, once the two of them got a moment alone.

"You organize it," Tensho replied. He rubbed his eyes.

He felt Mikan's soft hands on his back. "Something the matter?"

He told her about Kiine.

All she did was smile, softly, and say the things he wanted to hear. Words of, oh, how she was worried too, once she noticed that their daughter was missing, but how she knew Kiine could take care of herself. Telling him that his anger was understandable, telling him that he should be patient and see the positive in the situation.

(And, inside, feeling the strongest pride for her daughter.)

(That was her girl.)

And once she had calmed Tensho down with soft words and soft touches and soft kisses, she left him to rest in their room while she got everything ready.

Oh, was there ever a party.

And in the hungover, raucous morning, a letter arrived from Konoha.

"Are you _serious_, more _ninja_ shit…" Tensho rubbed his temples from the annoyance and his headache.

The courier-nin, standing in the dining hall, shifted his eyebrows awkwardly. "I could always deliver my message at a later time if this is not convenient. But all messages _must _be delivered, sir. It is my duty."

"Who's it from?" Mikan asked.

"The Hokage of Konoha, ma'am."

"Sounds important, Tensho. Want me to hold onto it for you?" she offered.

Tensho groaned noncommittally. Mikan took it, and sent the courier-nin on his way.

"Who the hell even let that guy in anyways," he grumbled, returning to his omelet.

(The courier let himself in, actually, after being refused at the gates, repeatedly. The mail must always be delivered.)

(Also, he was a ninja. What else was to be expected?)

Mikan brought up the letter to Tensho during lunch, when he was feeling better. She told him she hadn't read it.

(She had.)

Shin craned his neck, from beside Tensho. "What is that thing, anyways? From the _Hokage_? What_ever_ would he want with _you?"_ he asked, craning his neck, narrowing his sharp, snake-like eyes.

Tensho just groaned, again, reading over the scroll, slowly. "He wants me to attend these… exams he's hosting. Chuunin. In September."

Shin's thin, black eyebrows rose. "The _chuunin_ exams, you mean?"

"What, you know what the hell it is?"

"Oh, it's like a tournament. _Marvelous_ sport, really," Shin continued. "Great way to scout out mercenary power, too; my father used to take me, when I was small, and let me watch while he decided which country to hire from that year."

Tensho's mouth opened, slightly, in addition to his eyebrows knitting closer together. "Wait, you mean to say-"

"What, not all ninja are like those pesky Cloud fellows. I've hired from the Land of Earth _many_ times. _Delightful_ people, really; you ought to talk with them. Big on art. You ever heard of some fellow named Deibara? Daidara? Oh, whatever it was." Shin's hands fluttered as he talked. "He was big when we were _children_, years ago."

Tensho exhaled, head reeling. "Boss Shin, c'mon."

"Fine, fine," Shin said. He reached out a hand. "Here, let me have a look at that letter." He took it from Tensho before he could resist, squinting his eyes. "Hikawa, darling, my reading glasses."

(Tensho tried not to say anything whenever Shin said things like that, or whenever he noticed gazes or touches lingering too long to be accidental. What other Bosses did in their private lives was none of his business.)

(Unless they were making it his business.)

Shin's reading glasses were square and blue-framed, matching the color palette of his outfit that day. He read quickly. "What's this about debts, Boss Tensho?" he said. "Mind, it's perhaps none of my business, but."

"It _is _none of your business," Tensho said. He felt Mikan's hand on his hand and his temper cooled just that little bit.

"Hm, well." Shin adjusted his glasses, cleared his throat. "Whoever this Hokage fellow is—I haven't met him, myself—he certainly seems _amicable_. Better than that… _despicable _Raikage." He shook his head as if a shiver were going up his spine. "Goodness."

"Never met the guy neither," Tensho said. "You met him for me, didn't you, Nobu?"

From behind him: "Yeah, he seemed okay."

(The running-away was still off-limits in conversation.)

"Seems awfully fond of Kiine, this Hokage. He invited her to the exams himself there at the bottom. Did she, ah, meet him during her _time_ in Konoha?"

(Or so Tensho thought.)

"I wouldn't know," Tensho said, lowly.

"Why don't I ask her? Kiine-chan!" Shin took off his glasses and raised his hand, beckoning toward her. "Come over here, I want to ask you something."

"Boss Shin, the hell are you…!" Mikan's hand moved from his hand to his shoulder, a soft restraint.

Kiine, sitting across the room with Kou, with Yuki, looked up, stood up, and sat before Boss Shin. "What is it?" she said.

"What do you make of this, dear?" Shin handed the letter over to Kiine.

Another hand on Tensho's shoulder. His teeth ground against his teeth.

Kiine's blue, fox eyes darted over the paper, quickly. A smile began growing on her face, blossoming into a gasp as she reached the end. "Did _Naruto-san_ send this to you, Papa?" she said. She held the letter in her lap as she turned to face him.

Tensho didn't respond. Mikan's right hand moved down his back, slowly, and then back up.

A rough, sharp, small chuckle escaped from Shin's mouth. "You two are on a _first name basis_, are you?"

Kiine's eyes fell. "Well, that's what he insisted on when I met him… Didn't let me call him Uzumaki-san or anything, yeah." Her voice was small, unfittingly sheepish. She cleared her throat. "At any rate." She looked over the letter again, to avoid looking at anyone else.

Then, she paused, narrowed her eyes. She looked up at her father. "Papa, what's this line about 'debts' about?"

Tensho shifted away from Mikan's touch. "I don't know and I don't care."

"Papa… Nobu, then? What's all this about?"

From behind Tensho, Nobuhiro squirmed slightly. "We… mighta left some… outstanding debts from our time there. But I just figured we didn't… need to… pay." His chin lowered, further and further, the more he spoke.

Kiine's face folded up from frustration. "Nobu, are you serious? We should probably take care of them. It's unfair not to."

"Depends on what kinda debts they are," Tensho added, sharply, gruffly. "If it's somethin' stupid then we can handle it later."

"And if it's something not stupid?" Kiine rounded back.

Tensho's eyes, burnt brown, fixed themselves on Kiine. "Watch your tone, young lady."

"Boss Tensho, _please_, don't be unreasonable," Shin said, waving a hand, his face pinched. "It's a fine and dandy thing to be on the owed end of a debt, but if you _owe_ someone _anything _then you ought to take care of that as _soon_ as possible."

"Yeah, see?" Kiine added. "Papa, honestly…"

Mikan's hand was on Tensho's again. He exhaled, deeply. "Y'make a good point, Boss Shin," he said. "Nobu, you an' me can discuss this later an' figure out what's going on."

"You _really _should talk to Naru—I mean, Hokage-san, though, too. I mean, there might be some stuff looked over, or forgotten, yeah," Kiine said.

"I'm not gonna get swindled by some ninja, Kiine," Tensho said. "They'd probably just rack up some imaginary shit we didn't do."

"Naruto-san wouldn't do that!"

"And how do you know _that_."

"How do I… I just _do_, okay? He's a good person! He invited us to the freakin' chuunin exams, yeah? Spent only one sentence asking us about the debts, even!" She held up the letter for emphasis.

Tensho snatched it away. "That's not enough to make me trust him."

"You've never even met him!" Kiine's voice rose.

"I don't need to." Tensho's voice sharpened.

"You're not even going to _try?_"

"You have no place telling me what to do."

"Yeah? And who says _you _do, either?"

Mikan had both of her hands on Tensho's shoulders.

The servants in the small, personal dining room were starting to stare.

"Both of you, _both_ of you. _Please_ calm down," said Shin. He had both of his hands raised. "Let's not get upset over this. Kiine-chan, would you absolutely vouch for this Hokage fellow's character?"

"Absolutely." Her eyes were full of honest, earnest fire. "I'd trust that guy with my _life, _yeah."

"Well, then. From that, and the _generous_ invitation in that letter—not to mention how friendly he sounds—_I'd _be willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and meet with him about this… situation." Shin tilted his head, almost sweetly.

"…I appreciate the advice, Boss Shin, but this is _my _business," Tensho said, his head lowered, eyes burning below red eyebrows. "Not yours."

Shin paused. The sweetness in his expression hardened. "My, now if that isn't interesting, hearing that from the other side."

"Hearing _what_."

"Isn't that what I said to you, just a few days ago? When my dear Kou was… well, I needn't elaborate. The point is." He shifted his position. "Given this… union between our clans, I feel this matter involves me just as much as it involves you."

"I appreciate the help," Tensho said, slowly, deliberately, "but this don't have anything to do with you."

"…actually, um." A nervous laugh nearly entered Kiine's voice. "See, the thing is, these chuunin exams are international, yeah? Naru…to-san told me about how it works, yeah. It's an opportunity for all the Kages—y'know, the ninja leaders—to meet an' discuss stuff with people."

"…and your point is, Kiine?" Tensho said.

"Well… it'd give us an opportunity to meet with that Raikage guy in _person. _Square away stuff with him 'bout the trade routes and what happened with Kou, with no middlemen to mess things up." A pause. Kiine glanced at Shin, at her father. "_I _dunno, I just thought that might be a good thing for us."

Shin was the first to speak. "What a _novel_ idea! Two birds with one stone, isn't that what it is?"

"Yeah! I mean, if I went _along_ with you guys, I'm sure I could talk to Naruto-san an' arrange _something _for you with his help, Boss Shin." Kiine continued, quietly. "I mean, if you _let_ me come along…"

"Kiine-chan, dear, why _wouldn't_ we bring you?" said Shin. "Not after everything you've _done_ so far." His face creased with his laughter and his smile. "Besides, you were asked for by _name_. I wouldn't want to risk angering our host."

Tensho was not smiling. He stood. "Boss Shin, y'mind steppin' out with me for a moment?"

Mikan pulled on his sleeve from where she sat. "Dear, sit down, you're not finished with your lunch."

"I won't take long. C'mon." Tensho jerked his head sideways. "Nobu, stay where you are. I don't need you."

"And what about me?" Kiine stood when Shin did.

"You sit down and finish your lunch," said Tensho. "This ain't your business."

Tensho and Shin had exited by the time her mother glanced at her, almost apologetically, and gestured toward her seat.

Outside, Tensho quickly had Shin cornered, his back to a wall. "Y'know, I really don't appreciate all this meddling that you're doing."

"Meddling? Where am I _meddling?_"

"Oh don't play _dumb_. Starting all the way back from when… Kiine got involved in that Kou thing," Tensho said. "The way you backed her up. An' now you're stickin' your nose in my business an' encouraging all this stuff in her. I don't like it."

"You don't _like_ it? You can't deny she's been a _help_, Boss Tensho," Shin said. "I mean, if it weren't for her-"

"I'm not gonna deny… that she helped with the Kou thing," Tensho said. "Even though she _disobeyed_ me; an' what she did was incredibly reckless besides."

"What, you mean you told her to stay home?" Shin went on, even though Tensho didn't even nod. "Why didn't you ask her to help in the first place? She's obviously _very _competent."

"She's rebellious. I can't go indulging her, 'specially not after what happened a month ago," Tensho said. "She doesn't know enough to survive out there. I don't want her to get… tangled up in something bad."

"And how do you know that? That she won't survive?"

Tensho's muscles tensed. "Are you saying I don't know my own kid?"

"I'm saying," Shin replied carefully, "that maybe you're just not _trusting_ her enough."

"_Trusting_ her? What with her sneaking out without permission all the time? And I'm not even touching the…" Tensho grunted and thrust his hands downward. "She just _does _these things, you don't know a damn thing about 'em either. How _can_ I trust her?"

Shin breathed in, slowly, through his nose. "Let me ask you, then. Has anything truly _bad_ come out of anything she's done? Has anything bad _happened_ to her?"

"You're getting off the subject."

Shin sighed. "Maybe I am. But the fact remains. I think you should trust Kiine-chan more. I think she knows what she's doing."

_("I knew she'd be okay," _Mikan had said to him. _"I trusted she'd find her way home one way or another."_)

Tensho just shook his head. "She's just a kid. Barely sixteen. Didn't _you_ think you knew everything at that age? She's _rebellious_, on top-a that. It's not a good mix."

"And weren't _you_ rebellious at that age, too?" Shin said, with a tilt of his head. "Yes, she's at an age, but _still_."

"Y'don't understand. When I was her age, I was…"

(Tensho's mind strayed to a memory of beautiful, brown, sleepy eyes set into dark sockets, on a face that was far too gaunt to be healthy.)

(And a moment later, a blinding flash, a slap, a burn on his arm.)

"She's lived too comfortably," he said. "She may think she's tough but she has no idea how bad things can _really_ be."

(A memory of bruises covered by makeup, a rebellious smile at breakfast, a beautiful, apologetic boy with hardly a scratch on him.)

Shin was quiet, for a while; his yellow eyes slid downward, thoughtfully. "Isn't that just it, though," he finally said. "Worrying about that sort of thing. You can't help but do it. No parent can."

"Worrying about what, how dangerous the world is?" Shin nodded. Tensho scoffed. "Sure, I suppose."

"Well, don't you think your parents ever worried about _your_ well-being?"

(A memory of a dark, dirty house; the smell of beer, tobacco, and apathy.)

"My folks didn't care what happened to me none. We're getting off the subject again," Tensho said. He shook his head. "So maybe I worry about her a bit. I have reasons."

"And I'm sure they are _very_ good reasons, Boss Tensho," Shin said. "But you can't let that worry stifle Kiine-chan. Goodness knows I certainly need to work on that with my Kou."

"Stifle her, huh."

"Yes. She's going to be in my care soon, anyways, so maybe it's not even worth saying," Shin said. "But regarding this matter—_you_ know, the invitation and everything—I honestly think you should set aside things for just a little while and let her help with it."

Tensho sighed, he shook his head again, he crossed his arms. "So first it's _trust_, now it's _worry_. Tell me, what makes you such an expert on all-a this?"

"…well I'm a father too, aren't I?" Shin replied, crossing his arms in return, but like a woman would, with his hips tilted. "Maybe I'm not an _expert_, but I at least can see things from a more… objective point of view. Given, well… Kiine-chan _isn't_ my daughter."

"Nope."

"So I'm looking at her from a different perspective, yes? I see a _lot_ of potential in her! And pardon me for saying this, Boss Tensho, but I really think you're just letting it go to waste as it is."

Tensho's head lowered further. "Potential, now."

"You'd have to be _blind_ not to see it. Then again," Shin added, cautiously, quietly, seeing Tensho's expression, "that's… just my opinion."

A moment of thought.

(_"Kiine's a strong girl, Tensho. She really does take after you."_)

A sharp exhale. "You _really_ think I should do this, huh."

"Oh, trust me. If I had a son like your daughter, I wouldn't think _twice_," Shin said. His smirk was like a child's. "Maybe I'm just getting too excited about this, but it's _true."_

Tensho, finally, backed away, taking a few paces down the hall and back. "You _really_ think so."

"…let me put it one other way," Shin said. He cleared his throat. "I know, Boss Tensho, that you're not the most fond of ninja. _I'm_ normally quite all right with them; well, not those Cloud chaps, but the Leaf ones seem just fine."

Tensho glanced sideways. "And?"

"And Kiine-chan obviously has some experience in dealing with them, if not an outright alliance of sorts." Tensho's expression remained skeptical. "…well all right, so maybe I'm exaggerating a little. But from a purely practical standpoint, the experience alone that she has is _invaluable_. She _more_ than demonstrated it in her help with the negotiations alone."

(_"I trust her, Tensho. Maybe if you did too you'd worry about her a little less."_)

Tensho started to walk away.

"I was just making a suggestion, you know!" said Shin. "I didn't mean anything _against_ you by any of it!"

"An' I never said I wasn't takin' it!" Tensho yelled back, and opened the door to the dining room. "Kiine!"

From across the room, Kiine looked away from her conversation with Kou. There was the slightest pinch of worry in her expression. "Yes, Papa?"

"After lunch, help me write up a letter to this Hokage guy. We're going to the exams. And… you're comin' with."

Her smile was as quick and as dazzling as a firework. "What, you really mean it?" Tensho nodded, several, slow times. "You got it, Papa! Just lemme know when, yeah!"

Shin caught her diving into conversation with his son and that fetching little bodyguard of hers immediately after, before he took his seat beside Tensho. "Well this is unexpected," he said.

"I just… thought about it some, and I came to a conclusion," Tensho said. "I figured, she's only gonna be with me a little while longer. And she did have a point, I guess, 'bout this having to do with the both of us. So if this turns out great, hey, it turns out great. An' if it falls apart…" And he turned back to look at Shin with a playful smirk, his daughter's smile. "Then she's your problem."

Shin had to wipe his eyes, once he was finished laughing. "Yes, yes, I suppose she will be."

"You're gonna take good care of her, anyways?" Tensho said, returning to Mikan. "No matter what she does."

"I'd be a fool not to, Boss Tensho."

For many reasons.

Later in the afternoon, Kiine sat with her father in his office and helped him draft up a letter to the Hokage. Tensho was not much for writing—he was nigh-illiterate when he had come into the service of the Taki clan, a fact which hadn't been vastly improved upon in the years since.

(The good thing about being Boss was that generally you could have other people do those things for you.)

During their time, Kiine did not ask why exactly her father had had such a sudden change of heart, and Tensho didn't bother bringing it up, and that suited them both.

In the end, two letters were sent out. Tensho only knew about the first, it being his letter. Kiine did her best to edit it and make it clean and diplomatic—she was good at that sort of thing, anyways—but most importantly get the point across that, yes, they were coming, and yes, they were willing to negotiate.

The second letter was Kiine's, one she drafted in the privacy of her own room, bursting with unrestrained glee and excitement and how much she couldn't wait to see Naruto again and tell him about everything that had happened.

They were sent out at the same time, by Mikan, and were to arrive in Konoha within a few days.

Generally, the mood at the Taki complex was hopeful. Anticipatory, but hopeful.

The Cloud ninja weren't having nearly as good a time.


	40. Mirror Knife

_Chapter 40 - Mirror Knife_

* * *

The troubles for the Cloud ninja began largely when the squadron that went to go check up on their guard team found one of them frozen to a wall and three of them still unconscious, with the remaining one, Kurai, trying to release the frozen one.

So Kiine _hadn't_ been kidding. What the hell had happened?

"I don't _know_, just help me out here!" Kurai replied, irritably, chipping away at the ice with a kunai.

Fuzan couldn't stop shivering. "P-p-p-please be quick, I'm fuh-freezing…"

Kurai had been trying to radio them since a little before their arrival, finally responding to calls out toward the guard post. When asked what had taken him so long—had he been knocked out?—he replied, "No! I got restrained by some… weird weapons summon! The red-haired girl had chains, but they… I dunno, faded _away_ after a while. That's how I got freed."

Kurai had no idea how Fuzan had gotten into his situation, however. They kept him talking about it as they worked on getting him free from the ice. "I-I-I-I dunno, man, it was suh-some scary _girl_. Buh-black hair. She had a suh-sword. W-w-w-wicked good with it."

"That's not answering our question, Fuzan. How'd she _freeze_ you to the wall? A jutsu?" the head of the squadron, a man named Hokori, said.

"I don't knnnnnnow, okay? She just h-held out her hands an' then it got fuh-freezing cold, man, an' then I got f-f-f-frozen." Fuzan sneezed, and winced, the ice digging into his skin from the movement. "Can you work fuh-faster, my arm huh-hurts an' I'm freeeeezing…"

"We're working as fast as we can, Fuzan." And they honestly were, because using a fire-based jutsu held the risk of hurting Fuzan, and warming the ice with chakra would be slow-going, so chipping away was the best solution for the time being.

It took them a while. Fuzan's body was limp as it fell away from the wall, and very cold. He couldn't stand, and his right arm was bent off at an uncomfortable-looking angle, at the shoulder.

By then, the rest of the team—Namakura, Kanji, and Akari—had all come to, and were recounting their version of the events as best they could, for the initial reports. The base was just as quickly evacuated, and the team was brought to the main base, where negotiations had already gone underway. Fuzan had to be carried; he was unconscious by the time they got there, from the pain in his arm and the effect of the ice.

Captain Omoi was very keen on learning about what exactly had happened over there, and took the time to get the story as completely as possible in the break between negotiations that Kiine had called for.

"You mean to tell me that snotty little _ginger_ did all of this to you?" Sairi said. Her eyes, bottle-brown, were wide.

"Well, uh, not just her," Namakura admitted. "She had someone with her, that girl with the sword that was sitting behind her, in the purple."

Omoi bit down on his lollipop. "There were only two of them, then? Takin' out all of you? Chuunin? Man, what do you think she could do to us? I mean, strength in numbers, but they got numbers too, and she's the daughter of that Taki guy and…"

Sairi bumped him on the shoulder. "C'mon, Captain," she said. "That's weird, then. You think that girl used the ice jutsu on Fuzan, or something?"

(Fuzan still hadn't woken up, even though he'd been treated for his arm and was buried under a mountain of blankets. He was still shivering.)

"Well… Fuzan didn't say anything about hand signs," Omoi said, thoughtfully, "though you said that he was kind of in bad shape when you were talking to him, right?"

Hokori nodded. "Yeah, we kept him talking to keep him awake. We'll have to ask him further when he recovers. Though…"

Omoi's expression shifted, slightly. "Though, what?"

Hokori was a fair bit older than Omoi, though he continued his work for his country out of a mix of what was incredible nationalistic pride and sheer stubbornness. The stubble on his wooden skin was like dust. "Just, funny, did you recognize that guy they had with them? The silver-haired one, with the huge sword."

"I didn't recognize him," Sairi said.

"…barely. Who was he?" Omoi said.

"Hozuki Suigetsu. You know, the former Mist ninja?" said Hokori. "You served in the War with me, Omoi-san, surely you remember some things."

"Hey, we weren't stationed in the same squadron," Omoi replied.

"But still." Hokori wet his lips, and continued. "It's just, given that _he _was there… well, I just remembered a thing I had learned, years ago."

"Like?"

"Well, I remember hearing a thing about how Mist used to have these guys. They had this… ice-based kekkei genkai, and could perform jutsu with just one hand. The Yuki clan, that's what they were called—like snow, you know? 'course," he added, quietly, "the emphasis is on 'used to.' They mostly got killed off during the Fourth Mizukage's reign, I think. Like all the rest."

"What, you serious?" Akari said. "_All_ of them, just killed off like that? Even though they were so powerful?"

"Of course I'm serious! Didn't you ever pay attention in school? Honestly, kids these days." Hokori shook his head. Akari pinched her face into a frown—excuse her, old fart! She was only sixteen!

(But the fact remained; the Age of the Bloody Mist and the Bloodline Genocide of that time was, by then, just another piece of history, as easily forgotten as any other battle, any other bloodbath in a textbook.)

(Just another name and a date to memorize.)

(At least, outside of the Land of Water.)

"So what's your point, Hokori-san?" Omoi said.

"I'm thinking we should maybe ask further about this. Mist hasn't been the easiest country to get along with, and if they're involved with this…"

Omoi cracked through his lollipop and chewed on what was left over with a grimace. "That would be _really_ bad."

They brought it up at the negotiations the next day.

It lasted briefly.

"I'm not associated with that place any more, end of _story_," Suigetsu said. The grip on his sword tightened and his sharpened teeth gleamed dangerously from behind his lips.

(His weight shifted slightly, unconsciously back, toward the young boy sitting with him, in the cloak.)

"Then what about the girl there?" Hokori said, gesturing towards her. "Behind Kiine-san."

The girl looked up, blinked once, twice, and then turned a deep shade of red, bowing her head and hiding her face behind her hair.

"That's my _brother_, you _moron_." The speaker was the man behind Boss Tensho, with the scarred lip. His expression was angrier than Suigetsu's.

There wasn't much resemblance. "Ah, well." Hokori cleared his throat, gathering his composure. "Then are you both members of the Yuki clan?"

"Yuki clan…? His _name_ is Yuki, but we're members of the _Inaba_ clan. Always have been, always will be," his brother replied. "Why the hell you askin'?"

"Well, the Yuki clan is a ninja clan, traditionally known to have abilities related to ice and water manipulation," Hokori continued. "And, well, given what's happened to our guard squad, we only thought-"

"We _ain't _a part of this Yuki clan and we sure as _fuck_ ain't _ninjas_! So shut up an' let's get on with it, okay?" The scar-lipped bodyguard was leaning forward, now. His teeth were bared in a raw, animal way.

The boy Yuki's head lowered further.

"Omoi-san, please," Kiine said, waving her hand. Her tone in the negotiations was far politer than her initial command of attention. "I think we have other things to discuss."

(She had been asked, the day before, where she had received her combat training. Her reply: "Two or three weeks of informal ninja training and years of practice outside of that.")

(And as for her companion: "Yuki can just do these things, I don't understand how they work.")

(Which is what had gotten them in that conversation in the first place.)

They still decided to bring their findings to the Raikage, who was very interested in learning how things had turned out in the negotiations, and had been insistently telling them so via messenger hawk.

The journey back took some time. Fuzan still hadn't fully recovered, so he had to be carried. Even Akari, who was annoyed that he hadn't seen the approach of the intruders—he had probably been _freestyling _again—couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

And once the Raikage, Rotsuki, was fully debriefed, about the terms they had reached, about Suigetsu, about the Yuki boy, he excused himself to schedule a teleconference with the Mizukage.

He got her secretary, Mizuno, first. "Ah, Raikage-sama. To what do we _owe _this call?" she said from the screen. Her dull voice, as always, was full of tepid disdain.

"I'd just like to speak to your boss, thanks," Rotsuki replied. He smiled, slightly.

This didn't help. "My _boss_ is a very busy woman. Might I inquire about what you wish to speak to her _about_?"

"Some possible ex patriats of Mist collaborating with criminal organizations. How does that sound?"

Mizuno said that she would get Mei immediately.

She scoffed when Rotsuki told her about Suigetsu. "That little _bug_. I never liked him," she said. She rolled her eyes, pursed her lips. The wrinkles around her mouth increased. "What happens to him, or whatever he's doing, I couldn't care less. Do you have anything _important_ to tell me, Rotsuki-san?"

The mention of the Yuki boy seemed to capture her interest far more. She leaned forward. "Tell me about him."

Rotsuki did, mainly through telling her about what had been done to Fuzan. "Fuzan-kun didn't report the use of any hand signs, which is what got the attention of my commanding officers," he explained. "And it's what got them thinking that perhaps he belonged to the Yuki clan. Of course," he added, "when they were asked, the boy's brother said he had no idea what the Yuki clan even _was_. Claimed they were Inaba, whatever clan _that_ is."

"Was he a very _feminine_ boy, Rotsuki-san?" Mei was now resting her head on her hands.

Rotsuki rubbed his chin. "I wouldn't know, lemme check. We didn't get photographs, unfortunately." He leafed through the reports on the desk in front of him. "Well, the initial reports mention a girl, but the event summary mentions a boy, and that's what I got told after the fact, personally."

A sweet, sweet smile appeared on Mei's face. "Really, now," she said. "That's _very_ interesting. I think I'd like to send some of my agents over to meet with this boy. I'm _very _curious about him."

"Nuh-uh."

The smile fell slightly. "What do you mean, 'nuh-uh,' Rotsuki-san?"

"Some negotiations happened during all of this, Mei-san, and one of the terms was that ninjas—meaning us—can't touch the clans, at least until we meet to talk again," Rotsuki explained. He leaned back in his chair. "And considering that they promised to completely stop their trade of illicit goods until then—which is exactly what I wanted, by the way—I'm pretty inclined to hold fast to my end of the deal. Which includes keeping other guys away from them. Sorry, Mei-san. You're gonna have to wait."

A sweet, sweet frown wrinkled Mei's face further. "Then why did you even tell me?"

"Well, the terms aren't gonna go forever, 'course," Rotsuki replied. "Perhaps I should let you know when we get our further talks booked? You could do your thing then."

"I suppose. Is there anything _else_ you wanted to tell me?"

"No, not really. I just wanted to see if you were aware of what we thought was Mist involvement in some… less-than-nice activities, shall we say."

"Hozuki Suigetsu is no longer associated with our country, thank you very much." Mei sat back, lacing her fingers together in front of her.

"You said that already. And we dunno about that Yuki kid, so."

"I still want to see him."

"And you will, I'm sure, Mei-san. Patience is a virtue and all that." Mei sighed, rolling her eyes, again. "So, if you please, just stay put. I'd prefer not to cause further trouble with the Hakaza clan, that'd be not-so-fun and it'd kind of be counter-productive to the negotiations so far. I'll see you at the chuunin exams in September, if not sooner."

"Well I certainly hope so." She terminated the connection.

On Rotsuki's end, he sighed. "Ah, she never changes…"

On her end, Mei sighed, also. "Infuriating passive-aggressive little _twerp_. I almost miss the _last_ one, brute that he was."

"I'll say," Mizuno said. She'd been watching, from off-screen, the entire time. "Surprising news, though—a Yuki clan survivor? I thought that Haku was surely the last one, and well… He's been gone a _while_. So young, too…"

"I hope that's what it is, a survivor. For once," Mei said. She was holding her elbows, now, at her desk. "I've tried so _hard_, but so much potential just seems to just… slip through my fingers."

"There, there." Mizuno reached over and rested a hand on Mei's shoulder. "Much as I'm inclined to think this is fluke, we should be… optimistic. Hope for the best."

"We _should_. Though I've been so disappointed already…"

"Don't worry yourself so much, Mei. When you worry, _I_ worry, and I've got _enough_ on my plate already… if you don't mind my saying." Mizuno had closely-cut black hair, giving her a modern, professional air, especially when combined with her frameless glasses.

"Oh I know, Mizuno. It's Kurunari-kun, again, isn't it?" she sighed, again, when Mizuno nodded. "Well, at least he's not some skirt-chasing _swine_. Though I do wish he'd stop _writing_ and _train_ once in a while. What if something happened and we needed him to fight? He's unprepared."

"You don't need to tell me twice, Mei. I'm about ready to just give up on him altogether and focus on Yuu-kun."

"Wouldn't be a bad idea."

Mizuno cleared her throat. "If there's nothing else, then, I'll take over the desk."

"Thank you, Mizuno," Mei replied, and returned to her office, pushing a rust-red hair back into place.

So much potential, just slipping through her fingers.

So many clans, either lost forever or refusing to cooperate.

And Kurunari, a coward of a jinchuuriki. He hadn't turned out right.

The little one, Yuu, showed more promise. But.

Maybe this time.

This time.

* * *

A few days and a few hours previous, Shingetsu was getting a mild talking-to, away from the negotiation house.

Suigetsu was not terribly pleased, when he found out about his involvement in what was very much an unapproved mission.

"But she told me it was part of the _plan_," he tried to explain.

"_What_ plan?"

"The plan to rescue Kou-san!"

A groan of frustration. "There _wa_s no plan, Shingetsu. You got tricked, plain and simple."

The look on the boy's face was heartbreaking. "Kii-neesan… _tricked_ me?"

A sigh, sharp and almost angry. "It's not your fault… And would you stop _calling_ her that? She is not your older sister!"

Shingetsu breathed in, deeply, a hiccup of a thing. "I was just tryin' to _help_, Daddy…!" Big, child's tears began rolling down his face.

Another sigh, gentler this time, and Suigetsu kneeled down to eye level with the boy. "C'mon, quit cryin', all right? I'm not mad at _you."_

A sniffle. "But you just said…"

"I'm more mad at myself than anything." Suigetsu reached out a hand and wiped the tears off his face. They remained on his skin, shining slightly. "You know I can't let any of those three get hurt. I'm already gonna be in deep shit for what happened to Fuzan…"

Shingetsu sniffed, again, deeply. Another tear, one of the last, fell down his cheek. "De-ep shit, huh…?"

A pause. "You didn't hear that from me."

A giggle.

(A reluctant smile. That kid, every single time...)

"At any rate." A third sigh, annoyed, this time. "We're gonna have to report in about this. Damn it…"

Shingetsu giggled, again. "Da-amn i-it…!

"…you did not hear that from _me!_" Suigetsu reached over and ruffled his boy's hair, roughly, affectionately. "C'mon, let's get going."

"We goin' home?"

A pause. "Not yet. But soon."

The tears had finally disappeared, and Shingetsu's smile was as bright as the moon. "Okay. Let's go, Daddy!"

And though he didn't quite know the way at all, Shingetsu ran ahead, and Suigetsu followed, mouth spreading into a smile that he tried not to show others.

The wind across the plain blew the boy's silver hair sideways and upways and away from his neck, where a ring of redness, like a tender bite, like a hard kiss, stood out against his skin.

Suigetsu's eyes fell when he saw it, for just that brief instant. He couldn't help but notice.

(He always noticed. In watching the boy sleep, in those brief moments of motion where, even when he wasn't looking for them, they were there.)

It was a reminder.

(Of everything that held him.)


	41. Gerbera Daisy

_Dear Mama and Papa,_

_I finally found time to write to you! I've been so busy here, I just can't seem to find the time to just sit down and put words on paper. But I think I should write you at least once while I'm here. Please don't worry about me._

_I'm having a really wonderful time at Sasuke-san's house! His family is very nice to me. He has a wife named Ino and five children, three boys and two girls. I don't really know the boys that well because they're out of the house so much, so I've been spending a lot of time with his daughters. The youngest is only a year older than me and we get along very well, even though I only really see her at the end of the day. Her name is Karai, she's a ninja, just like Sasuke-san and her brothers. Ino-san is also very kind to me too, I help her cook dinner almost every night. She's very pretty._

_I got a job here too! Ino-san's father owns a flower shop and I've been going there and helping Nadeshiko-san put arrangements together and clean at the end of the day. Nadeshiko-san is Sasuke-san's older daughter, and she doesn't say much but she's very nice to me. She knows so much about flowers! It's all we talk about at work. We talk about other things too, of course, but I think that it's nice to talk about something so nice._

_Sasuke-san and I train together every night. He says I'm improving a lot. I'm really glad that I'm not letting him down._

_We went to the doctor the day after I arrived and they did some things to my blood. Sasuke-san's brother really was my father. But Sasuke-san told me that I didn't have to call him "Uncle" or anything so I'm not._

_Please don't worry about me, I'm doing fine and they're taking very good care of me here._

_I still miss you a lot and I think about you both every day. I hope everything's okay at home. Have things been okay with me gone? Have people been treating you well? I'm sorry I can't help you with the chores, Mama. I suppose I'm making up for it with Ino-san. She's always telling me that I'm __too__ helpful sometimes._

_I like it here, but I still can't wait to come home. I haven't talked to Sasuke-san much about it yet but he says it might be best to bring me home in September after some sort of tournament in the city. He says it's very exciting and I should watch it. I can't wait._

_I love you very much and I'll try to write home again soon._

_Your son,  
Yakata_

- From a letter to his parents, dated August 10th, 27 AU

* * *

**ACT 6**

**MARIGOLD**

* * *

_Chapter 41 - Gerbera Daisy_

* * *

At the kitchen table, Yakata was applying fresh bandages to his hands. He wasn't doing a very good job of it, but he needed them.

His knuckles had become a spotty patchwork of bruises and scabs in the week since he'd come to live with the Uchiha family, and they complained when he so much as brushed against them. The bandages helped dull the pain, and cushion them for when training began again, after dinner.

Sasuke had been building up his stamina and reflexes, teaching him a few drills that involved punching at a series of wooden dummies with revolving arms.

Yakata was still getting used to it. The dodging he picked up on fairly quickly, but wood was still not the softest thing to be punching.

The sore muscles from all the running, the jumping, he could get used to. A hard day in the fields was no different. He was fine with that.

(His forearms, his shins were especially sore. Blocking hurt.)

Yakata… didn't doubt that he'd be healing better if Sasuke didn't have him training for hours every evening, constantly, but it was tolerable. That was what ninja training was _supposed_ to be, wasn't it? He was training his other student—some boy, they'd never been introduced, but Sasuke talked about him some—every morning and afternoon, and his children Karai and Inou were always out of the house doing the same.

It would be ungrateful of him to complain.

Besides, he had the entirety of the day to rest up; that was when Sasuke was out of the house the most. So Yakata took the time to sleep in late, tend to his injuries, and ask Ino if there was anything he could do around the house.

None of this suited Ino much at all.

Presently, she was washing dishes while Yakata clumsily wrapped the bandages around his knuckles, failing to get them loose enough, tight enough, and trying again. Every few seconds she would look over her shoulder at him, and then return to her task, before giving in again and scrubbing half-heartedly at the rice cooker pot, from lunch.

It was on one of the innumerable glances back that she noticed something. "Yakata-kun, ah, are you trying to wrap your wrists or your hands up?"

He looked up, a wrinkled bandage halfway off his hand. "Oh, um, my... my hands, I suppose…?"

Ino had given him, when he had asked, just a roll of standard bandages, with the assumption that he was using them for training. She had told him where she kept all the medicine, as well, in case he needed them, since he seemed to have memorized where everything else was in the house. Which mildly unsettled her, but was nothing she could do anything about.

She took off her rubber gloves and joined him at the table. "Let me see your hands," she said. She sucked her breath in, seeing the blossoms of red and brown there. "Goodness, why didn't you _tell_ me you'd scraped up your knuckles like this? Hold tight, I'll be right back."

"Ah, uh, oh, okay…" Yakata covered one hand with the other, staring at the table while Ino stood up and went to get a small tube of ointment from the cupboard.

"I can do something about the scrapes but the soreness is going to remain for a little bit. Give me your hand, here." Yakata held out one of his hands, and she held it with both of hers, concentrating healing chakra in the area. "I'll put on some ointment to ease that and wrap the bandages for you properly. You know you can always ask me after you're done training with Sasuke to treat you. I don't want you to be in much pain."

(Because Inou was so reluctant to seek out help, and Karai took care of herself. She had been taught a basic amount of medical jutsu at an early age. Inou had refused to even be taught.)

"Th-thank you, Ino-san…"

Ino rubbed the ointment on his knuckles, taking great care, even though the scabs were gone. Gently, tightly, she measured a length of bandage, tore it, and began wrapping it. "You know, Yakata-kun… if you ever think you're pushing yourself too hard when you're training with my husband, you can always ask him to stop so you can rest. You have every right to."

(Because somehow Ino got the idea that Sasuke would listen to him.)

"Oh, no, it's… it's okay, I can, I can, I can handle it…" Yakata replied. "Sasuke-san's very strict but, but he's a very good teacher! Um. He, he, he says I'm improving a lot."

("You're making weeks of progress over the course of… days," Sasuke had told him, on the way home one night, when Yakata had anxiously asked him if he was doing a good job. "You're doing a _great_ job.")

"Mm..."

(She had a feeling that Yakata was too polite to speak up, though. But it had been worth a try.)

"Other hand," she said, and Yakata gave it to her. She healed it, added ointment, wrapped it.

"Thank, thank you, again, Ino-san," said Yakata. He held one hand in the other, again, and smiled slightly. "Would… would you like me to, to, to put all of this away for you?"

"No, no, please, I'll take care of it," Ino said. She picked up the bandages, the tube of ointment, and stood up.

Yakata's eyes fell, and rose after some thought. "Ah, well, uh… is, is there anything I, I, I can do for you, anyways? Help with the dishes, maybe?"

Ino opened the cupboard, looked over her shoulder. "Wash the dishes? I just put fresh bandages on your hands. I don't want to put new ones on you so soon."

"Ah…"

She put things away, closed the cupboard, tossed the soiled bandages in the garbage.

"Then, then, uh, is, is, is there anything you need cleaned…? Dusted?"

The lid of the garbage can slammed shut. "Yakata-kun, honestly, you don't need to keep offering to help like that! Goodness!"

"Ah! I'm, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to get you angry… I, I just… I just want to, h-help, if, if I can at all."

Ino looked at the boy, sitting, shoulders risen uncomfortably, in the chair. He had his hands in his lap. "You don't need to do anything for me, Yakata-kun. You should focus on getting your rest when you're not with Sasuke. Goodness knows you need it…"

(Because Ino could handle her own household, and she did not like it much at all when people interfered in what she viewed as her rightful duty. Her power.)

(And if she could at least help this one child, maybe she'd feel like she had power there, as well.)

(Even considering who Yakata was.)

"I rest up as… as much as I can, Ino-san… But, but thank you. A-again."

Ino, given nothing else to do, brushed her hands off on her apron, and cleared her throat. "Why don't you go watch some TV, Yakata-kun?" She tilted her head, putting on her most effortless smile.

"Oh, uh, thanks but, I, I don't… I don't like watching the television much." Yakata's eyes slid sideways. (She'd asked before. He'd tried.) "Sorry…"

"What, nothing to apologize for! Takeru personally hates that thing, anyways…" Her most effortless, casual tone of voice. "You should find something to keep you busy, though… I bet you're just _dying_ with boredom, what with everyone out of the house…"

He tilted his head sideways, thinking. "Well, I, I, I wouldn't mind something to, to read…"

Ino paused. "Well if you want to, you can always go up to Nadeshiko's room and find a book there, she probably won't mind much at all if you borrowed one…"

"Nadeshiko-san's room…?" Yakata looked up. "Oh, I, I'd been meaning to ask… Where, where is she, most of the day?"

Ino's smile lost just that mild shine of believability. "What, Nadeshiko?"

Yakata nodded. "Yeah, because, um, she, she doesn't seem to be out training like, like everyone else—and I, I, I already asked Sasuke-san about it, and, and, and he said Hajime-san and Takeru-san both have jobs outside, but he… he said nothing about her… Does, does she have a job too?"

And Ino took a while to answer, though the words managed to escape. "She… spends a lot of time at my family's flower shop, working there."

(Her heart almost sank when she saw how Yakata's eyes lit up.)

"A flower shop? Your, your family owns a flower shop?"

"Well… _my_ side of the family, not Sasuke's… It's been in our hands for generations," Ino replied, lightly. "_Really_, it's nothing special…"

"Oh, but that's so wonderful! I, I love flowers and plants and things," Yakata said. "I have a neighbor, back, back home—um, in Tamina, I mean. She had this really wonderful flower garden. I… I loved watching it grow in the spring and summer…"

(Of course his neighbor didn't appreciate it whenever she caught him.)

(_"What are _you _doing here?"_)

"Is that so. That's nice," Ino said.

"I, I, I wouldn't mind seeing, um, _y-your _family's flower shop, Ino-san."

(Her heart sank into her stomach.)

"Oh, really, Yakata-kun, it's nothing special…" she said, waving her hand. "Just a flower shop."

"Ah, but, but, still… I'm… I'm sure it's really nice. Can… can you at least tell me where it is? I, I mean, I'm sure you're, you're really busy, Ino-san, so you, you don't have to… take me yourself, I'm sure I could make my way over by, by myself. I sort of understand the, the layout of the city..."

Ino bit her lip.

(What would Sasuke say if he found out?)

(But the poor thing had nothing else to do.)

Ino breathed in, breathed out.

(If she could do nothing else.)

And she told him where it was. "Right past the transport station, you'll know you're in the right area once you find it. But be back well before dinner, you understand?" she added; her voice was barely sharp. "I don't want either of us getting in trouble."

"Trouble?" Yakata's expression grew apprehensive, almost scared. "Wh-wh-why would either of us be…?"

"Oh never _mind_, forget I said anything. Go out and enjoy yourself," Ino said, quickly, waving her hand, again. She went to put her gloves on, to return to the dishes.

Yakata swallowed. She'd said to forget, and though he worried, he'd try. He smiled, with his mouth closed. "Th-thank you, Ino-san."

"Mm."

She listened as he went down the hallway, to the foyer, and put on his shoes; she heard him open and close the door.

If she could do nothing else, she could at least help him there. That was within her power.

* * *

Yakata figured he had to have been in the right place. He had found the transport station—a noisy, noisy place full of people and sound that had left him timid and shaking and almost running to find where he was supposed to be—and gone on from there, and the sign outside the shop said "Yamanaka Flowers," and there didn't seem to be any other flower shops in the area, and he hadn't passed any on the way there, for that matter.

Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that he wasn't where he was supposed to be.

But… it was a flower shop. And flowers, plants, anything that grew held an almost innate comfort for him. Beyond that, hadn't Ino told him to come up with something to do?

So he went in anyways.

There was an older man minding the shop, reading a book; he wore reading glasses, and his eyes were the same color as Ino's. He looked up when Yakata entered, putting the book down. "Ah, may I help you, young man?"

Yakata fidgeted. "Ah, um, is, is, is this the, uh, the, the Yamanaka Flower Shop…?"

"If it isn't then I must be more senile than I thought, wandering into someone else's shop!" the man said.

"Oh! Oh, no, then, um…" Yakata almost started heading for the door. What, was there really some mistake…?

(_"Get out of here."_)

The old man laughed. "I'm just having a little fun with you, kid. Of course this is the Yamanaka Flower Shop. What can I do for you?"

"Just, um. Just, just, just looking for now, I guess…" Yakata replied. He took a step further inside. "Is, is that, um, is that okay…?"

"More than fine! We don't charge for smells, after all," the man replied. "Take all the time you need. I'm here if you have any questions."

The old man's smile was warm, and it managed to make Yakata smile, himself. "Thank you, I'll, I'll, I'll be sure to, um. Re-remember that."

And so, the man went back to his book, and Yakata walked, slowly, to a wall of flowers, and he lost himself in them.

He wouldn't let himself touch them, not even remotely.

(Even though, maybe, here, it would be okay.)

(_"Get your filthy hands away from them!"_)

But his eyes drank in the colors of the petals, the gentle curves and ripples.

It was familiar, and it was beautiful. Even though these were no longer growing flowers.

And then there was Nadeshiko, coming out of a back room. "Yakata-kun…? What are you doing here?"

Yakata turned, and saw her standing there; she was carrying an armful of daffodils, and her heavy eyes were widened, very, very slightly. "Oh, uh, Na-Na-Na-Nadeshiko-san! Hi there! Your, um. Your, your mother told me that, that her family owned a flower shop, and I, I, I wanted to, um. See it."

"Is that so." She walked to him, daffodils in arm, and began placing bunches away into the display.

"Nadeshiko, you know this boy?" the old man said. He was looking at her from over the top of his glasses.

"Yes. This is Honbo Yakata-kun, the child our family's keeping for the summer," she replied, putting away another bunch of daffodils. "Yakata-kun, this is my grandfather."

"Ah! Hello there! Nadeshiko's told me a fair bit about you." The old man stood up slightly. "You can call me Inoichi, if y'want."

"Inoichi-san… It, it's nice to meet you!" Yakata bowed, slightly, and received a small, amused one, in return. "Are, are you, um. Ino-san's father? I, I mean, your… your names are similar and, and you're Nadeshiko-san's grandfather…"

"You're a sharp kid! That's right," Inoichi replied.

"And what brings you to the shop today, Yakata-kun?" Nadeshiko had finished with the daffodils; she wiped her hands on her skirt, falling long, to her calves.

"Um, well, I, I, I suppose now that I'm, I'm here that I don't really… I don't really know…" Yakata shifted his weight from one foot to the next. "You, you work here, right, Nadeshiko-san?"

"I do."

"Well, um." Yakata thought; he couldn't just stand around and look at flowers for a whole afternoon. "I'm, I'm sorry if it's, um. Ou-out of place for me to offer, but, is, is, is there… is there anything I can do to, to help around the shop? I, I mean, since I'm here…"

"Well aren't you eager! We're a pretty small shop, so there's not much to do," Inoichi said.

Yakata bit his lower lip. "Ah, well, um, I'm, I'm, I'm just asking… I, I mean, I don't, I, I don't expect _pay_ or anything, I just need… something to do, I guess… I, I mean, I've got nothing else…"

Nadeshiko turned around, and left, into the back room. And Yakata found himself almost flustered, as if he had said something wrong, until she came back with a small spray bottle in her hand.

"I think I have something for you to do, Yakata-kun, if you need to keep yourself busy." She handed the spray bottle to him. "Just spritz the flowers with this, inside and outside the shop. It shouldn't be too hard on your hands."

Yakata held the bottle close to his chest. "My, my, my hands don't… don't hurt that much…"

She didn't say anything more, beyond, "Once you're done with that I'll see if there's anything else you can help with."

So Yakata did his work, and he took his time with it. There weren't many customers at all; of the few that did come in, Yakata listened to the conversations they had with Inoichi. Nadeshiko stayed largely silent, emerging every now and then from the back room with cuttings of flowers, bouquets, completed orders. The most he ever _did _hear her say was a simple, "Here you are," or a gentle, "Thank you for your patronage."

It was a nice day, a hot summer day, even in the shade of the alcove where the flowers were kept outside. The time passed slowly, quickly, Yakata couldn't tell. The sound of transports rattling out of the city on their rails was almost comforting, muffled by distance and the humid air, and removed from the hordes of strangers.

(Strangers who were probably going to stare at him.)

What he did know, however, was that Nadeshiko was there almost the moment after he was done spraying the flowers. "Beautiful job. I'm sure they enjoy it."

Yakata looked at her, there, holding the half-empty bottle. "Um, they…?"

A warm smile, though it lasted for only a moment. "The flowers. A little water keeps them fresh. I have another job for you, if you're interested."

"Oh, please!" She walked back into the shop, and he followed. "What, what would you like me to do?"

"Just follow me." She brought him to the back room. "You can put the spray bottle on that shelf. Come sit with me here."

There was a table, in the back room, pushed against a wall with a window; two stools were pushed beneath it, on one of which Nadeshiko sat down. Dried leaves and petals were weakly tossed around on the surface. Yakata put the spray bottle on the nearest shelf—covered in finished bouquets, balls of twine, clippers—before joining Nadeshiko at the table.

She handed him a pair of scissors, and pushed a spool of ribbon his way with the back of her hand. "I need to put together some arrangements. If you can, I'll need some sections of ribbon to cover the tape that I use to keep them together. You think you can do that?"

"Sounds… easy enough," Yakata said. He smiled, slightly. "I, I think I can do it."

They began their work.

It was silent work, for the longest time. And, in all honesty, there wasn't much at all for Yakata to do, beyond tying the ribbons.

He found himself not caring much, however, too taken in by Nadeshiko's hands to notice how very little he himself did. There was something incredible in the way she so effortlessly, almost instinctively put the flashier flowers near the center, the smaller ones beside it, and how she seemed to make them both even lovelier by the contrast. Nothing ever seemed to be out of place; each blossom was arranged with purpose, never haphazardly.

"Ribbon, please." And Yakata would tie it at the bottom with a length of red ribbon over the tape as best he could, and she'd set it aside and start on the next one.

Given how prone he was—well, at least he felt that way—to random, awkward conversation, Yakata found himself surprised when Nadeshiko began speaking to him, somewhere around the third or fourth arrangement. "Did you know that there's a language to flowers?"

"Oh, um, sorta?" Yakata replied. "I, I, I know that… that roses mean 'love,' and, and forget-me-nots mean, well, 'forget me not,' but that's about it…"

She reached for a white spray of blossoms. "A very good start. Did you know that different-colored roses mean different things, though? A red rose signifies a more passionate love than a pink rose, and yellow roses mean friendship."

"Huh, ne-never knew that…"

"You learn something new every day, I suppose," she replied, looking at him for a moment and returning to her work.

What little conversation they had for the rest of that day mainly had to do with the flowers. Every now and then, Nadeshiko would reach for a different flower, and suddenly be speaking about what it meant. "This is lavender. It means luck." "Orange blossoms stand for generosity, or a happy outcome."

"Wha-what's a… fern doing in there?" Yakata asked, when he saw her putting one of those leaves into place, after fetching it from the front of the store—it complimented the flowers, sure, but it seemed almost out of place.

"Fascination," she replied, with an almost-smile, an almost-laugh.

And then, suddenly: "Yakata-kun, could you put these in the refrigerator? It's behind the cash register." She was holding out a tray of all the arrangements they'd made together, and Yakata put his scissors down.

"Oh, sure, gladly," he replied, and got off his stool, taking the tray. It was light.

Inoichi was still reading when Yakata went to put the flowers away, though he did look up when he saw Yakata trying to open the sliding glass of the refrigerator with one arm, holding the tray with the other.

"Put the tray down first, boy!" he said, taking it from Yakata's arms. "You don't want the flowers to fall, now, do you?"

"Ah! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…!" Yakata said. He bowed, once, twice. "I, I, I should have thought of that…"

"It's fine, it's fine," Inoichi replied. "No need to be so apologetic, boy. Here, I'll hold this and you can put them in."

Hands almost shaking, Yakata began at his work. He'd almost messed up, ah, no, that would have been bad…

(What would Nadeshiko say? He wouldn't want to get her angry, not after she'd been so nice to him…)

"She does good work, doesn't she? My granddaughter," Inoichi was suddenly saying.

"Ah, yeah. It's… it's really nice," Yakata replied.

"And you seem to be doing a fair job yourself! Excellent ribbon-tying."

Yakata looked at the floor, putting away the last arrangement. "It, it, it's just ribbon-tying."

"Takes a good pair of hands to make nice bows like that, though."

Yakata held out his own bandaged hands, eyes still to the floor. "I'd, I'd, I'd like the tray back, please."

Inoichi just laughed and gave it back, and Yakata began on his way back toward the back room. "Y'know, kid, I can't shake the feeling that we've met before."

"…really?" Yakata looked over his shoulder.

Inoichi looked up, thought for a moment, hand on his chin, and then shook his head. "Nah, must be my imagination. Either that or I'm just gettin' used to you!"

Yakata lowered his head again, not responding, though he didn't deny the small smile that took up residence on his face.

Nadeshiko was already working on the next arrangement by the time he got back. "Just in time. Ribbon, please."

Yakata put the tray down and picked up his scissors. "Coming right up!"

The afternoon continued on, gently, with the talk of flowers, with the cutting of ribbon, with the only indication that time was even passing the occasional times where Yakata had to take the tray out of the back room and into the front, and receive a smile or a wave from Inoichi; in the yellow curtain of light across the shop's wooden floor moving, slowly, from one end to the other.

Well, that and when Nadeshiko suddenly began taking the flowers out of their vases on the table and putting them into the display up front. "Um, what are you doing…?"

"We should probably leave soon, if you want to get home before my father does," she said.

And suddenly Yakata remembered what Ino had said. "Oh, um, I…"

(But how did _she_ know?)

And then there was a hand on his back, for a brief, brief moment. "Don't worry about it. I'll bring you home."

There, and gone. "Thanks, Nadeshiko-san… Um, you, you really don't have to, though…"

"It's easier for the both of us," she replied, and took the final vase away. "Come on, now."

She said goodbye to her grandfather—Yakata giving a halting goodbye of his own afterwards—and the two of them set off down the road, together.

And it was then that, like so many other times before, Yakata's words began coming out. Maybe it was the silence, maybe it was the walking, maybe it was the approach of the station and the people and the staring eyes, but he just couldn't help himself.

"So, um, do, do you work here every day, Nadeshiko-san?"

"If I can."

"Wh-why do you say that…? Do, do you… do you do ninja stuff on the side or something?"

The barely-present smile disappeared, like it had never existed. "…no, not any longer."

In the distance, a transport-whistle.

Yakata almost felt like had committed a crime.

(This wasn't an unfamiliar feeling.)

(_"Witch-boy."_)

"Oh, um, I… I see…" He swallowed, with difficulty.

She wasn't looking at him.

"I'm sorry…!" The apology shot out of him, like his apologies always did, when they weren't oozing out of him painfully. "I'm really sorry, I, I, I didn't mean anything by that, I just…"

Her hand was on his head, briefly. "It's all right."

And when Yakata looked up and saw that smile in miniature on her face, a strange sort of suggestion came upon him, one that unsettled and yet comforted him at the same time.

Her eyes, strange and large and dark, were like his father's, in a way. They had that same shape, those same, heavy lashes.

(That same, indefinable sadness, present even as a child, in a photograph.)

And for reasons he could not quite put into words, he truly felt that it was all right, like she had said.

The station and its noises began to fade with his anxiety.

He still kept his mouth shut as they walked back home together, side by side. Nadeshiko's words had been like a salve, but he didn't want to risk another sting.

It didn't stop Nadeshiko. "You know, I really appreciated your help in the shop today, Yakata-kun."

"Ahh, um… really?" He held the thumb of one hand in the palm of the other, and looked up at her, uneasily. She was taller than Sasuke.

"Yes. And if you'd like, I wouldn't mind at all if you wanted to join me again."

His gasp filled his lungs with an air that made his heart jump. "You, you, you really mean it…?"

"I do. I really did enjoy your company today, Yakata-kun."

He had to look away, at that. His fingers laced themselves into each other, but they did not stay still. "…I'd really like that…" he finally said. "I, I, I, I mean, if, if you want me to…"

"I do want you to. We can go back tomorrow, if you want. Together."

His smile felt hot on his face.

"Though, for your sake, I would recommend not telling my father about this."

She kept her face away from his, even when he looked up, again. Anxiety tightened in his chest.

He remembered what Karai had said.

(_"Witch-boy!"_)

"I, I um. I, I understand, but, um. But, but if he wouldn't want me there then, then, then I don't…!"

Is that what that had been, that sense of wrongness, when he stood in front of that shop?

(_"Get out of here! You don't belong!"_)

Her hand was on his head again, and it stayed. "If you want to be there at the shop, I don't want him to stop you because of me. That wouldn't be fair to you."

"Be… cause of you…?"

She didn't answer his question. She took her hand off his head.

Yakata's stomach grew cold and his eyes glued themselves to the road for the rest of their walk. He couldn't even apologize.

When they got home, she took of her shoes and was heading up the stairs before he could even ask her anything.

(Even though he had no idea what he wanted to ask her in the first place. He wanted to ask why, he wanted to ask so much, but something inside him was keeping him from prying.)

Ino called out from the kitchen. "Yakata-kun? Is that you?"

"Ah! Y-yes, I'm, I'm back," he said.

She came down the hallway a moment later. Her smile—this time—seemed real, relieved. "Oh, good, you're just in time. Did you have fun over there?"

He nodded. "Yes, I, I, I did..."

"Well you were over there an _awfully_ long time. What did you do over there?"

"I, um, I, I, I helped Nadeshiko-san put flower arrangements together…"

Her smile faded, just that little bit. "Ah, is that so?"

Yakata bit his lip. "I, I only was with her for, for a little bit, though, uh, was I, was I not… supposed to…?"

He couldn't look her in the eyes.

Ino took a long time to answer, and with each second that passed, his gut twisted further. "Yakata-kun, what's the matter…?" she finally said.

As much as he wanted to say he was all right, as much as he remembered the strange looks that Ino had given him, her kindness that afternoon was too fresh in his mind to deny.

(And hadn't she been the one to send him to the shop, anyways?)

"Well, it's just… Na-Na-Na-Nadeshiko-san said… not to tell Sasuke-san I was there, or, or that…" He looked up at her, suddenly. "I, I, I'm not, I, I, I, I'm not d-doing anything wrong, am I?"

"No, no, no, of course you're not!" Ino said. She stepped forward, like she was going to hug him, but she didn't.

"Then, th-then wh-wh-why did she say that? Duh-duh-does he not want me there, at the shop?" He closed his eyes, tightly. "I'm, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I, I don't mean to cause any trouble…!"

"Yakata-kun, please, calm down, okay…?" Ino's voice was soothing in the way that a piece of candy was to a crying child. "There's nothing for you to worry about, it's more than fine for you to be at the shop! I wouldn't have sent you if you weren't allowed."

"Then, then why did she say…?"

Ino sighed. "It's… nothing to do with you, Yakata-kun. Nadeshiko is just worried about what… my husband would think about you hanging around with her."

Yakata remembered what Karai had said.

"Is, is, is it because Sasuke-san doesn't get along with her…?"

Ino's silence almost forced another apology out of him, if she hadn't said something first. "Sasuke… has never been close with Nadeshiko. And she's got a bad habit of… over-compensating with things, by the way, when it comes to other people. _I _think she thinks that he'll stop being nice to you if you're around her at all. Which _won't_ be the case, trust me. He's… too fond of you to let something like that ruin his opinion of you."

There was a smile on her face but such a pain in her eyes, when Yakata finally looked at her. "You, you, you really… you really think that's what's, what's going on…?"

(But why was Ino not denying that he hated Nadeshiko so much?)

"She's my _daughter_. I know how she thinks," Ino said. "And I _also_ know how Sasuke thinks. He might not like that you went to the flower shop, if he found out—I don't know why, but he just _hates _that place—probably my fault—but what he doesn't know won't kill him." The pause, the change in subject made his stomach drop, though the wink that followed it was a bare comfort. "It might be better if we don't talk about it in front of him just yet, though, okay?"

Twist. "So I, I, I still shouldn't tell him…?"

"I think your happiness is more important than keeping him from getting a little annoyed. How you spend your time alone is _none_ of his business, and that's what I'll tell him if he ever gets uppity about it."

"You, you're sure…?"

"Absolutely."

The sweetness of her voice carried a surprising power to it, and Yakata couldn't help but nod, and mean it.

"So! Why don't you help me with dinner, then?" she said, clapping her hands.

"Sure, I, I, I'd be glad to…" Yakata slipped off his sandals and followed her down the hallway, and into the kitchen.

Uneasily, he helped peel vegetables, set the table. And though Sasuke greeted him warmly when he came home for dinner, he could only muster a half-hearted hello.

Sasuke didn't notice. Thank goodness.

At dinner, when he asked where Yakata had been, Ino answered for him. "He went to the library. Asked me for directions."

Sasuke glanced at her, eyes narrowed. "You let him out of the house alone?"

"Well he had nothing _else_ to do. Poor dear looked bored out of his _mind, _he's had nothing to do since he's come here, anyways."

Never mind that Yakata was right there. He lowered his eyes, his head, letting them speak for him.

(Just like the first night.)

"I don't want him going out alone again, Ino."

"Fine, fine! I'll go _with _him next time, goodness!" Ino said, sharply, quietly.

Sasuke didn't reply to her, instead asking Yakata, "So, did you have a good time at the library?"

"Ah, yes, I… I had a fine time…"

"Didja check out any good books?" Karai asked.

"N-no, um, I, I didn't, actually… I, I just, um. Sat and read in there while I was… there…"

"Oh, you should get a library card, then! You think they'd let him get one, Mom?"

"Karai."

Just like she always did, Karai cut herself back at her father's tone.

"The library isn't so bad a place to be, if you need to kill some time," Sasuke continued. "I'd prefer you staying at home, but if you must, just ask to be taken there. I don't want you going out alone."

"But I…" But nothing had happened while he was out, but he was totally okay, but he knew his way around the city already. "Yes, Sasuke-san, I, I understand." Yakata picked at his food with his chopsticks and tried not to look at Nadeshiko, across from him, eating silently. She always ate quickly, and finished first.

Sasuke took him to the training grounds after they were finished eating, before Yakata could volunteer to help clean up. He noticed the bandages that night, unlike the other nights. "They look tighter today."

"Oh, um, well, I-I-Ino-san wrapped them for me."

"Did she. That was good of her." His tone held no admiration at all. "You ought to learn to do that for yourself. Ask her, if you want to."

"Oh, um. I, I will," Yakata replied.

He rubbed his wrists, preparing for the drills.

His hands didn't hurt nearly as much, this time, as he lost himself in his punches.

He took a bath, after training, like always, and exchanged his bandages for new ones. He remembered the ointment, this time, and how Ino had wrapped them. His hands weren't as shaky any more, certainly. He'd been trying to use chopsticks again, though failing to varying degrees until that night. Maybe, at the rate things were going, he'd be able to write to his mama soon? It had been well more than a week since he'd left home, so she must have been worried about him…

When he got upstairs to his—no, Hajime's room—he went through the drawers of his desk to see if he could find some paper. Maybe for the day after, or the day after that… he didn't know. But he had to write a letter soon.

And in putting the paper on the desk, he saw, again, the little gathering of flowers he'd gotten on his second day in the house. It had wilted, and started to dry; crumbled pieces of leaf littered the corner of the desk, near the copy of "Ghost Stories of the Land of Water" that he kept propped up near the lamp, near the picture of his father, of Sasuke, of the grandparents he would never meet.

(Even back home in Tamina, he didn't have grandparents. His mama, his papa, did not have pasts. He knew nothing about them, beyond when he had become their son.)

Karai had told him that Nadeshiko liked to do things "like that;" and Nadeshiko herself had told him "You're welcome," when he had thanked her.

"_Did you know that there's a language to flowers?"_ she had said.

He couldn't help but think, now, that there was a meaning to what she had given him. Though he could barely identify the flowers, now, wilted as they were…

And his stomach tensed up again, thinking about if he was going to even ask her.

"_We can go back tomorrow. Together."_

Did he even want to go back…?

Even though Ino had told him that he'd done nothing wrong, that he had every right to go to the flower shop.

(Even though she said not to tell Sasuke about it.)

"_I really enjoyed your company today, Yakata-kun."_

He couldn't forget how warm that smile had been, in the shop, even if it had only lasted for a second. He couldn't forget how at ease he had felt, even.

When Nadeshiko had told him that it was all right, he had believed her.

He turned off the lights and held his arms in each other under the sheets.

Even with Sasuke's disapproval, invisible and hypothetical; even with how he felt about Nadeshiko; _everything_ telling him that he didn't belong there.

…he felt like he actually belonged, in that flower shop. He felt like he was welcome there.

(…for once.)

He dreamed of rhododendrons, that night, like the ones in his neighbor's garden, thick and suffocating. They almost held him, restrained him, no matter how he tried to run.

And then there was an arm, reaching for him, and he was running towards it, to hold onto it and be pulled away from it all, when he suddenly woke up.

When he came down for breakfast he found that Nadeshiko was in the kitchen, reading, and she looked up when Yakata came down the hallway. "Good morning," she said.

"Ah, g-good morning…" he replied. "Wha-what are you… what are you doing here, Nadeshiko-san…?"

"I thought I'd… wait for you," she said. "Father was so adamant about you not traveling alone, so…"

Yakata's eyes slid sideways. "Ah, well, but…"

"Ahh, good morning, Yakata-kun! What would you like for breakfast?" It was Ino, and she was holding a wooden spoon, stepping away from the stove. "We have some miso soup left, and I can make you some fish if you want."

"Just… just soup is fine," Yakata replied. A half-formed smile slid on his face as he went to sit at the table with Nadeshiko. "So, uh, you, you really… y-you really do want me to come with you…?"

"I did mean it, when I said I had enjoyed your company," she replied. "You don't have to go if you don't want to, though. I understand. It's your decision."

He had dreamed of rhododendrons, suffocating and emptily beautiful. He had dreamed of a hand, and he had reached for it.

"…I'll go with you. A-after breakfast, though," he added, almost like it was a joke.

And there was that warm, rare smile again.

"Then that's what we'll do."

(From the stove, Ino filled a bowl with soup for Yakata and quietly, quietly prayed that nothing would go wrong.)

And after he ate, they went to the flower shop.

Together.


	42. Yellow Carnation

_Chapter 42 - Yellow Carnation_

* * *

"I was thinking of taking you to the library today, by the way."

Yakata paused, scissors poised. "Oh? Why's that?"

"To offset suspicion."

Nadeshiko's tone was too serious to be a joke.

She smiled before a stammer could rise in his throat. "I'm sorry, I didn't truly mean that."

And then she laughed. Yakata hadn't rightly heard her laugh before then; it was faint, almost like a breeze in how quickly it began and ended, and he found it planting a laugh of his own in his chest.

"What I meant was, my mother's been saying you've been at the library all this time. So I thought it would be fitting if we actually went today, so you could see what it's like," she said. "After all, didn't you say you liked to read?"

"Ah, yes, I, I like to read very much!" Yakata said, and she started laughing again. He hunched over a little, his face growing warm. "Um, what, what's so funny…?"

"You just sound so eager," she replied. "I've made up my mind, then. We'll stop working at lunchtime and visit the library. And maybe I'll get you something special to eat along the way."

"Oh, you, you, you don't have to do _that…_"

She put her hand on his wrist. "I insist. Come on, let's finish up these orders."

Yakata nodded. "Okay…!"

He'd been working at the shop with Nadeshiko for four days, now; it was a Friday, hot and clear-skyed. Inoichi had the radio on in the front room; enka music was playing, and he'd occasionally hum along, Yakata could hear.

Yakata's hands were still bandaged, but they weren't hurting as much, any more. It was mainly for protection, by then, more than anything.

(And from the increasing smiles on Sasuke's end; from the subtle rise in difficulty whenever they sparred, Yakata knew that he was getting better.)

This was probably the most at-ease he had been in a long while, and he told his mama so in his letter to her. He'd sent one out to her, the day before last, telling her all about Sasuke and Ino and his children and his training and the flower shop and how he was okay don't worry about him and he missed her a lot and thought of her all the time and everything, and apologizing for taking such a long time to write in the first place.

(He didn't tell her that it was because of his hands. He didn't want her to worry.)

For once, he felt like he was actually making progress in his training.

(The injuries, despite Sasuke's words, had been more discouraging than he had allowed himself to think.)

(And Sasuke always seemed to say less than what he was really feeling.)

(_"Harder, Yakata! Hit it harder!"_)

For once, he had a place where he felt truly and unconditionally welcome.

(Just like home. The only other place.)

(Because even in Sasuke's house, he was just a guest, and he felt this, he knew this, in the way that they looked at him and treated him.)

(But not Nadeshiko. Even Ino, even Karai never treated him so kindly.)

(Even though Sasuke didn't like her. Yakata still didn't get that.)

It felt sappy and embarrassing to think about it that way, and it almost made Yakata's head hurt when he sat back and thought about it, but the more he thought, the more undeniable it seemed.

(Even though it had only been four days.)

(In the flower shop, at least. Yakata had been a guest of the Uchiha house for eighteen days. He had counted.)

"Ah…! I am the woman born under Scorpio…!" Inoichi half-spoke, half-sang.

"Put the tray away, Yakata-kun, we're heading out in a moment," Nadeshiko said.

"Okay." Yakata's feet were quick, leaving the back room, putting the tray down first—he remembered that, now—and putting them in the refrigerated cabinet.

"We'll be back in a while, grandfather." Nadeshiko had slung her purse over her shoulder and in doing so tossed her hair aside; long and dark, just brushing her calves. It rippled slightly in the breeze that came in through the door.

Inoichi just hummed back, waving his hand.

They left. Together.

"So, I was thinking," Nadeshiko said, further down the road, "food first, then books? If we decide to check some out then it'll be easier if we eat first instead of trying to balance food and books."

"Oh, but I, um, I, I don't have a library card," Yakata said.

"Don't worry, you can use mine," she replied.

He lowered his head, smiled. "What did you want to get to eat?" he asked.

"Oh, I'm not picky. It's up to you."

Inoichi had been the one to bring them lunch, on previous days. Nadeshiko would mind the till—though she had taught Yakata the ins-and-outs of the shop, showed him the master notebook of orders, when he had expressed a bare shred of curiosity—until Inoichi would return with cans of juice and convenience store bento lunches, an old bachelor's meal. They'd eat them and talk together with the radio for company.

Here, walking down the street, Yakata was only a little hungry. And presented with the possibility of more than just rice and pickles, he found himself paralyzed by the freedom of choice.

"…don't worry so much about it, okay?" She was bending down a little, her fingers barely touching his back. "We'll figure something out."

And like she always seemed to do, Nadeshiko had Yakata convinced, and he nodded. "Sure, let's just… let's just walk a little more. I'll think about it."

"Take your time."

It was nice, he thought, how she always seemed to know when he felt like talking, and when he didn't.

It was in passing a handful of vendors near a park that Yakata got his idea. He tugged on Nadeshiko's sleeve. "What's that… that shaved ice stuff?" he said.

"What, you've never had it?" she said. Yakata shook his head. "Well, what do you think it is?"

He shrugged. "_I _don't know, something to do with ice? It's kind of hot out so I, I thought… I thought it might be good."

"It _is_ pretty good. Would you like to get some?"

"Yeah! I mean, if you want some too…"

Nadeshiko smiled, in that slight, insubstantial way, and stepped forward. "It's not the most filling lunch. But," she added, warmly, "I think it's just what we need." She reached into her bag, a simple affair in black, with a zipper, and took out her coin purse. "How much for two?" she asked the vendor.

He was a skinny young man, with hair like red wood shavings. "15 ryou each, miss," he replied.

She put down three coins. "Two then, please."

"What flavors would you like?" The vendor began scraping shaved ice into a paper cone.

"Yakata-kun?" She looked down at him. "You can get any flavor you want."

There was a whiteboard attached to the vendor's cart, on which available flavors were written in different colors. Cherry, lemon, lime, strawberry…

"Um, what, what flavor are you going to get, Nadeshiko-san?" he said.

"Rose-flavored, please," she said, not to him, but to the vendor.

"Ah, then, um, I'll, I'll, I'll get that too," Yakata said.

"Are you sure? It's a bit of an unusual taste," Nadeshiko said.

"I, I, I don't mind. This is all new to me, so I… I might as well go all the way, right?"

There was another smile. "Two roses, then," she told the vendor.

"Aha, coming right up." After pouring the rose syrup on top of the now-two cones full of shaved ice, he handed them to Nadeshiko. He slid the three 10-ryou coins toward himself and dropped them in a cash box. "Thank you very much."

The paper cone felt hollowly cold in Yakata's hands, after Nadeshiko handed it to him. Cautiously, he bit into the ice, and it hurt his teeth.

"What are you _doing?_" Nadeshiko was laughing, gently, at the grimace on his face. "Here, let's sit down first before we eat."

Yakata ran his tongue against his teeth in an attempt at warming them, and followed her to a park bench.

"The trick is to lick it, not bite it. It's not really like a popsicle."

"Oh, uh, I see." He held the cone for a short while longer before attempting a lick. The shaved ice was like snow, and the rose syrup ran over his tongue and up to the roof of his mouth. It was a strange flavor—more like a smell than a taste. He let it all melt before swallowing, and licking again.

"Do you like it?" Nadeshiko's lips were already stained a faint rose-pink.

"It's interesting!" Another lick, another tasted smell. He swallowed. "But I, I think I kinda like it…!"

"I'm glad."

They ate in the heat, in silence. The air sounded like summer, like yelling, running children, and running water.

And then, like a rock through glass, there was another voice. "Nadeshi-iko-chan! He-ey!"

It was as if she had turned to stone. Her eyes narrowed and her shoulders rose, and she held her shaved ice like a statue holding a bouquet.

The boy coming toward them had eyes of a bewitching angularity, and a jester's smile. "Long time no _see_!"

"Please leave me alone, Yatsu-san," she replied, quietly. Her voice had hardened into an icy monotone.

"Oh come on, why you gotta be like that? I never see you at the shop any more." He leaned over her, hand on the back of the bench.

"Please leave me alone, Yatsu-san."

"I'm not gonna leave you alone 'til you give me a proper greeting," Yatsu replied.

"Good afternoon. Now please leave."

His laugh sounded more like a hissing cat than anything human. "Y'know, that's why I like you. You play hard to get like nobody else I _know_. You're _fun_."

Nadeshiko had her eyes closed. "I'm not playing at anything. I'd like for you to leave me alone. I have the afternoon off and I'd rather spend it with Yakata-kun."

It was then that, finally, Yatsu seemed to notice Yakata sitting there beside her.

(Yakata almost wished he hadn't. People had a way of staring at him.)

"What, y'mean this shrimp? He your kid brother or something?"

"He is my friend. So if you would, please, leave us alone."

(Why did his heart almost jump when she said that, even though her tone had been so sterile?)

"All right, all right, I'll leave you alone with your little _friend_." But there, Yatsu leaned in even more, his mouth by her ear, though he was not even whispering. "Though the least you can do is promise me a little outing of our own later…"

She raised her arm and, so gracefully, so forcefully, pushed him away, while at the same time barely touching him at all. Her shaved ice fell out of her hand and to the ground as she stood, and began walking. Yakata followed, as if there were a rope connecting them and he had no choice but to trail behind.

Yatsu did as well. "The hell was that for! C'mon, I _like_ you. You're exactly my type! I don't care what everyone else says about you."

"I'm not anyone's type." Her hair was like wings, or black fire, and it made even Yatsu keep his distance.

"Don't say that, you sound so depressed." Yatsu dashed sideways, walking, almost like a crab, to keep up with her. "Seriously, girl, just _one_ date."

"I know what you're after, and you're not going to find it with me."

"Oh, and what do you think I'm _after_. I respect women, you know?"

She suddenly turned around. "I don't let people near me for a reason. And I do not like you. For your sake, give up now."

There was something in her voice that made Yakata's hands begin to shake, that made the summer air suddenly so very, very cold.

"St-stop bein' creepy like that. And you didn't answer my question, jeez." Yatsu twisted his face into a smile, held his hands out, palms upward, as if he were looking to receive something.

"You seek to attain the unattainable. You're a braggart and a thrill-seeker, with a taste for the macabre. You're not after me, you're after a trophy. Go away."

The smile broke.

(Yakata's shaved ice fell out of his hands and fell somewhere near his feet, though he didn't quite notice. He felt like he was made of glass.)

"Wh-what the hell is _wrong_ with you? I'm just trying to be nice!"

"You're not."

"I'm just trying to ask you out on a _date_, how is that not _nice?"_

She didn't respond.

"C'mon, at least give me a _try_."

"No."

And a sudden breeze, hard and hot and strong, tore through the street where they were standing, and it sent trees bending, and Nadeshiko's hair swirling around her.

Yakata could not see her eyes.

And Yatsu suddenly began making a noise in his throat, like a soft strangling, like a gentle choke, and his expression hardened and did not move.

And Yakata must have done something or said something then because she suddenly looked at him there, with her heavy eyes, and the empty pain in them was terrifying.

For a moment.

A moment later, she reached out and grabbed Yakata's hand, so, so gently, and started to walk, turning her eyes away from him.

Yatsu stayed where he was, loosely frozen. His cut-glass eyes looked glazed over, his mouth slightly open. His knees buckled and he was on the ground by the time Nadeshiko and Yakata had rounded a corner and onto another street, and people were starting to gather by the time they were out of earshot.

Yakata couldn't say anything. He wanted to apologize—but for what? This wasn't his fault, was it? No, it wasn't.

Unless it was to apologize for being so _scared_, but what was there to be scared about?

(But he had never heard a voice like that before, a voice with nothing in it but…)

(But what did she mean, when she said that she didn't let people close to her?)

(…wasn't Yakata close to her?)

"I'm sorry. You shouldn't have had to see that." Nadeshiko wasn't looking at him, her voice drifting back over her shoulder.

"No, no, no, no, it's, it's okay, it's not… it's not your fault…" Yakata held onto her hand, tightly. She was moving so fast it was almost like she'd disappear if he didn't.

There was no strength in his words, not like her words had.

"I'm going to take you home. I'm sorry. I'll talk to my mother about bringing you to the library later."

His grip tightened. "Wait, why…? We, we, we can still go now, it's okay…"

She didn't answer. Her head bowed, just that little bit lower.

"Nadeshiko-san, really, we can… we can still go to the library, it's okay…"

"I'm not feeling very well. I'm sorry."

She didn't say anything else, not even reassurance, and the silence put a stopper in his throat and it did not feel comfortable there.

Yakata's heart felt like it was going to twist right out of his chest.

Words replayed themselves in his head the entire way back.

"_I don't let people near me for a reason."_

Why? What was that reason?

"_Give up now."_

Why?

"_I'm nobody's type."_

A gentle strangling, a soft choking, Yatsu's eyes wide with something that wasn't horror, it wasn't fear, it wasn't…

And then Nadeshiko was opening the gate to her house, and she had her shoes off and was up the stairs and gone before Yakata could even notice that she was no longer holding her hand.

To his shame, to his bafflement, hot, confused tears began leaking out of the corners of his eyes, and he tried to wipe them away before anyone could see.

Why, why was this happening…?

Ino came down the hallway. "Yakata-kun…? What happened, why are you home so early?"

Yakata swallowed, the stopper on the words in his throat almost making him cough. He wiped his eyes with the outside of his hands. "I don't know, I don't know, s-something's wrong with Nadeshiko-san…"

"_What's_ wrong?"

What _was_ wrong?

Yakata just sniffed again, shrugged, and tried not to look at Ino. The tears weren't stopping.

Ino bent down to eye level with him, and put her hands on his shoulders. They were skinny and they were slightly cold. "Yakata-kun, please, what happened with Nadeshiko? She didn't do anything to you, did she?"

He shook his head, even more fiercely. No, no, she did nothing, it wasn't her fault, it was… "She got into an argument. With a, with a boy named Yatsu. And, and, and, she… she…"

Why did Ino ask him that? If Nadeshiko had done something to him?

_("I don't let people near me for a reason.")_

(That look on Yatsu's face.)

He covered his whole face with his hands.

"Oh, no…" The way that Ino held him, it was as if he were painful to touch. He only felt the bare surfaces of her hands on his arms, the cold narrowness of her fingers running up and down his skin.

(_"He is my friend.")_

He pulled away from her, locking his eyes to the base of the stairs. "I, I, I, I don't feel so good, Ino-san, I'm… I'm gonna go lay down…"

He bolted before she could say anything more, lunging, step by desperate step, to the seeming safety of Hajime's room.

(No sounds came out of Nadeshiko's room.)

Yakata didn't even know why, exactly, he was crying. But the tears just continued, hot and horrible, staining the pillow he clung to as his mind tumbled and tangled into itself, just struggling to understand.

"_I don't let people near me for a reason."_

But what was that reason? And wasn't Yakata close to her?

(Sasuke wasn't close to her, and the way that Ino, that Karai, that everyone else behaved around her…)

"_He is my friend."_

Why would she say that if he wasn't…?

His chest burned with the desire for comfort, for both himself and for Nadeshiko.

He just wanted things to make sense.

He wanted for Nadeshiko to smile again.

He heard footsteps coming up the stairs, but they did not stop at his door. They ceased midway up the hall, and then, a voice: "Nadeshiko? Honey? What happened? Let me in, I want to talk to you."

If there was a reply, it was too quiet for Yakata to hear. And whatever was said, Ino was not allowed in. The footsteps retreated back down the hallway, down the stairs, and did not come back up again.

Yakata didn't remember falling asleep, but his pillow was dry when Karai knocked on his door and asked if he wanted to help her set the table for dinner.

Nadeshiko didn't show up for the meal. Nobody said anything about it.

There was little talk at dinner, as usual. There were no questions asked of Yakata, now that he had his established schedule. Away at the library, strengthening the mind when he wasn't with Sasuke.

(Even thinking about the lie made his heart twist just that little bit more.)

It was just like Inou and Karai, always away at training, no longer questioned now that Yakata was keeping Sasuke so busy and, for once, pleased by something.

Hajime was gone on another mission. As usual.

Takeru got his words in to his father but found them dampened, extinguished before the full fire of a conversation could even begin to stir up.

Yakata felt grateful for the intensity of the training that night. When Sasuke was in a good mood it leaked into the enthusiasm in which he trained Yakata. Always pushing him harder, higher, faster.

"You're an inch away from the bulls-eye, Yakata, I _know_ you can do it."

(_"I don't let people near me for a reason."_)

"Higher! You can get up to the top of that tree, I _know_ it."

(_"I'm not anyone's type."_)

"Hit me like you mean it! I don't care! Just punch as hard as you can!"

(_"He is my friend."_)

Yakata's fist hit Sasuke in the stomach and sent him reeling, coughing, catching his breath. "Easy there…! I think that was… a little… too effective… Yakata…!"

His mind was too distracted for him to even apologize properly, mumbling out something resembling sorry, barely hearing the assurance, the praise that came in return.

"…seems off, is something bothering you?"

Yakata looked up from his hands. "Huh, what…?"

"You seem angry about something. What's going on?" Sasuke had his hands in his pockets, and Yakata didn't know if it was the half-light of the training ground's lanterns, or anything else, but he seemed very tired, standing there.

"…I'm, I'm, I'm not, um, angry about anything…"

He was just confused, he was just scared, he was just…

"Hm. Well if something's bothering you, you know you can talk to me about it."

_("I don't let people near me for a reason."_)

"Um, it's… it's fine, actually, it's just…"

"Just what?"

If he didn't mention the flower shop, the outings, then maybe, maybe…

"...Nadeshiko-san, she's… she's just got me worried, is all."

"…worried? She hasn't been _talking_ to you, has she?"

Sasuke's tone was just like hers had been, in the park, and it made Yakata feel sick. "No! No, not, not, not at all, I just, I see her, um. Around the house and. And the way she goes about things it just… Well I, I just, um, I worry sometimes…"

"Like?"

It was never her, never her doing, she was always out of the house, always in that wonderful flower shop, always away.

(_"I don't let people near me for a reason."_)

"…like, like, um, how she… avoids… people." Yakata's feet padded in the dirt, and he almost wanted to root himself there and never move again. "People don't…"

Sasuke didn't like her. But something in Yakata kept him from saying this so directly, not to his face.

"…is there something wrong with her?"

Sasuke took a very long time to answer. "…she's not someone I want you to be around."

Twist. "But, um. But, why? I mean, what's, what's, what's wrong with her…?"

"That's nothing you need to worry about. Put her out of your mind. It's affecting your training."

Like his daughter, Sasuke's words held power; but they were not a reassurances, they were undeniable commands.

And ones that Yakata couldn't follow.

The painful mystery stayed with him the entire night, after they went home, after everything else he did, and it kept him from sleeping restfully.

Nadeshiko was gone the next morning.


	43. Bell Flower

_Chapter 43 - Bell Flower_

* * *

The absence at the table was surprisingly more noticeable than Yakata could have ever thought. It wasn't that the kitchen was empty; Ino was there, as usual.

But Nadeshiko wasn't.

"Ah. Yakata-kun, good morning." Ino's voice sounded tired. "Breakfast?"

"Wh-where is Nadeshiko-san?"

The embarrassment of the fact that he'd asked about her first hit him a few seconds later, compounded by Ino's silence, and her later sigh.

"She's always gone on Saturdays. I thought she'd tell you."

"Always…? Um, why…?"

"…ask her yourself if you want when you see her next, it's not any of my business where she is. Breakfast?" She didn't even try to sound cheerful at the end.

Yakata's stomach reached up and wrapped around his heart. "But… but she _is_ coming back, right? She, she's not, um, she's not gone for good?"

When Ino turned back to look at him there was such pity on her face. "Of course she'll be back, Yakata-kun… Now tell me what you want for breakfast."

"…anything's fine."

Yakata sat down at the table, feeling Nadeshiko's missing presence, his eyes and his mouth feeling tight from worry.

He barely tasted the rice, the soup, the fish that Ino brought him.

Nothing made sense still.

He went back up to Hajime's room after he was done eating. He had nothing else to do.

Nadeshiko wasn't there to bring him to the flower shop, anyways. He had no guide, no willing hand.

(His hand had held onto hers so tightly there, but she'd still gotten away, and it hurt.)

Nothing made sense still.

There had been the park, the day before; and Sasuke, afterwards. _"She's not someone I want you to be around_," he had said.

But why would he not want Yakata to be around her? She was kind, and she bought him shaved ice, and would have taken him to the library if…

And Yakata found himself thinking about that look on her face, after she had finished dealing with Yatsu, and how awful it had looked.

(How frightened he had been.)

He rolled over on the bed, clinging to the pillow, frowning, eyes closed tight.

Why did nothing make sense?

He just wanted…

(…a friend.)

(Because he _was_ her friend, she had said so herself.)

He didn't want to think about all of the things in between, all the things that Sasuke, that Ino had said, that Yatsu, that Nadeshiko had said.

He just wanted to forget.

And when he opened his eyes, he saw the dried flowers on his desk in front of him, all red-brown and barely green.

(He saw his father's eyes, just like his, just like hers.)

When he went downstairs, he asked Ino if she could take him to the flower shop anyways, when it was convenient for her.

Her mouth turned into a smile he could not read. "What, you want to go today too?"

"I, I, I need something to do."

(Being in that place, he got the feeling that he'd be able to forget.)

Her smile lessened, softened by the reality. "Let me get my purse."

* * *

"You know, _I_ could take you to the library today if you wanted," Ino said, when they were halfway there, just past the station. "Nadeshiko told me this morning to, ah, offer, see if you were interested."

"No, thank you," Yakata replied. He kept close to Ino, almost hiding behind her, but he did not touch her.

(He always felt more comfortable taking the walk with Nadeshiko. With all those people around.)

(Even the noises seemed louder now.)

"Well, all right."

(Yakata would rather have gone with Nadeshiko, and they both knew this, to some extent.)

Inoichi had the radio on, as usual, when Ino and Yakata arrived. His face, when he looked up, was equally surprised and pleased. "Oh…? Has my beloved baby girl come to visit me today?"

"Daddy, please." Ino covered up her smile, small and embarrassed, with her hand. "I'm just dropping Yakata-kun off."

"Ah, Yakata-kun! Afternoon! Didn't expect to see you here."

"Hello, Inoichi-san," Yakata replied.

"I'll be back to pick you up before dinner, you understand?" Ino said. She shifted the purse on her shoulder.

"Aw, you're not staying?" Inoichi's face was a perfect puppy-dog pout.

"No, I am _not_. I'll be back in a few hours." She turned to leave, but paused. "…have fun, Yakata-kun."

"Thanks, Ino-san."

She left, and the man, the boy, and the radio sat in an uneasy peace for a short time, before Inoichi cleared his throat. "So, Yakata-kun, I'm afraid there's not much for you to do, though I would certainly appreciate the company."

"Ah, um, why is that…? I mean, did… did you already get the arrangements done for the day…?"

"No, no, Nadeshiko already came by and filled the orders herself." Inoichi waved his hand, almost dismissively, where he stood behind the counter.

Twist. "She did…?"

"Mhm. She always comes in early on Saturdays, gets it all done for me before the shop opens. She works so hard, that girl."

"But she's… she's not here now, is she."

"No, no, she left a while ago."

"Ah, I see…"

Inoichi looked over his glasses at the boy standing, small and unsure, in the center of his store, and he went over and put a hand on his shoulder. "It's all right, she'll be back tomorrow."

Yakata's eyes lowered.

(_"Where did she go, anyways?"_ he wanted to ask, but the words were not given form.)

"I still could have you help a little. The floor could use sweeping. That sound good?"

Yakata didn't say anything, but there was something in the tilt of his head that could have been taken for a nod. Inoichi went to get the broom.

It was quick, mindless, silent work. And when he was done, Yakata gave the broom back to Inoichi and leaned against the entrance of the back room. It was clean, and empty.

"She really will be back tomorrow, honest." Inoichi was speaking, looking over his shoulder at Yakata. "This happens every week."

Yakata found himself vaguely startled, like he'd been shaken out of a daydream. "You, um. You, you already said that."

"I know, I know. But you just look so _sad_, boy. It's going to be okay."

"B-but I'm not…"

(But he _was_ sad.)

He kept his eyes on the floor, on his elbow, on anything that wasn't Inoichi. "Wh-wh-why are you so, um, so worried about me, anyways…"

"Well, _I_ like you, if that's reason enough," Inoichi said. "Why wouldn't I worry?"

Yakata's lips stretched in what was either something that dreamed of being a smile, or something trying to hold in a cringe.

"…well, that, and the fact that Nadeshiko cares about you so much. You're really special to her, you know? She wouldn't want to see you so sad over her, either."

Yakata looked up, slowly, his heart pounding in his ears. "Special…?" His mouth felt suddenly very dry.

Inoichi nodded, and his own mouth creased into what was almost a reluctant smile. "Really special. Given the way that she treats you… well, I just get the feeling that you mean a lot to her, Yakata-kun."

Yakata opened and closed his mouth a few times, as if trying, weakly, to gather words in it. "But, but, uh… why, why, why do you… say that…?"

The reluctant smile lessened, pulling more wrinkles into it. "Yakata-kun… Nadeshiko's always had a hard time getting to… know people. Since she was very small. She prefers keeping to herself more than reaching out and talking to someone. So the fact that, well, she's out there just about every day with you… Well, to me, that's saying a lot."

(_"He is my friend."_)

His face warmed, and it became harder to suppress his smile; he looked at the wall of flowers instead of Inoichi, shuffling his feet. "Ah, you… you mean it?"

"I'm her grandfather, I know these things," Inoichi replied. His voice sounded so kind. "Besides, I have _never_ heard her laugh so much in my _life_. That is _something_. I'm glad she has you, Yakata-kun."

They were not living flowers, but they were beautiful and they were familiar.

(_"Did you know that there's a language to flowers?"_)

"Inoichi-san, um, do, do, do you mind if I a-ask you something?"

"Why sure, go right ahead."

"Na-Nadeshiko-san… did the all orders this morning. But, but are there any that still need to be filled, for tomorrow, that I could, that I could, um. Perhaps try my… hand… at?"

"I dunno, Yakata-kun. No offense to you, of course, but flower arranging isn't the easiest thing, and I'd prefer to sell her handiwork if possible."

His fingers dug into his palms. "Ah, right, of, of, of course… I'm sor-"

Inoichi's sigh broke the apology, and he walked away from the till, and past Yakata, into the back room. There was a wooden scraping, a metallic scraping, and when he came out, he was holding a folding table under his arm, and he set it up next to the cash register. "No reason why you can't practice, though." He threw a grin over his shoulder. "Go get a stool and I'll get the rest of the supplies."

And when Yakata breathed in, the smile on his face just grew and grew. "Sure…!"

Inoichi gave him a pair of clippers, binders, and little pots of "garnishes;" from the wall he took daisies, chrysanthemums. "The cheap stuff. You're just starting out, but we can move onto the fancier—well, y'know, the more expensive stuff—once you get the hang of it, okay?"

Yakata wasn't offended. He ran his hands over the petals, and he let yellow pollen dust his fingers.

He was, apparently, a very quick learner. Inoichi wasn't the first to say it; rather, it was a pair of female customers who were in to pick up a bouquet who noticed, when paying. "What a cute little assistant! What's that you're working on, there?"

Yakata looked up for a moment before averting his eyes and drawing his arms close to him, a pinch of lavender between his fingers. "Oh, uh, I'm, I'm… I'm not an assistant, I'm just practicing…" The white carnation in his left hand was almost finished.

"Awfully good for just _practice…_" The shorter of the two, a woman with blue-green hair in a smart bob, looked over the clusters of yellow and white flowers that Yakata had pushed into the corner of the table, and, of all things, reached out and picked one up. "Inoichi-san, are these for sale at all?"

Inoichi spoke before Yakata could object. "Well! I wasn't planning on selling them, but I suppose it could be yours for… 20 ryou? Does that sound good?"

"That sounds _marvelous_." The woman held the little gathering up to her face, and when she breathed in the scent, she smiled. "It'll look wonderful in my kitchen."

"Oh, if they're that cheap, then I'll get one too. Is that all right, Inoichi-san?" She still had her wallet in her hand.

"More than all right, ladies! Go right ahead."

The woman took out an extra bill and gave it to Inoichi, and afterwards went to Yakata's table and chose a gathering for herself. "These are really beautiful."

Yakata lowered his head, adding the lavender to his chrysanthemum. "Th-thank you very much…"

The two of them left with laughter and smiles; Nadeshiko's work went with them, in a box, but Yakata's stayed in their hands.

"Well if that isn't surprising," Inoichi said, once they were gone. He leaned over, narrowing his eyes, focusing on Yakata's current project. "These actually _are_ pretty good, even for just handfuls of things. You've got quite a knack for this, Yakata-kun!"

"…I'm just copying Nadeshiko-san," he replied, snipping away the bottom leaves of a daisy. "Like, how she did it."

"All things considered, Yakata-kun, she's a very good person to emulate." Inoichi reached out, over the counter, and picked one of the gatherings up. "…tell me, Yakata-kun, why did you ask to fill the orders when you came in?"

Snip. "I, I, I just wanted to… help in some way, I guess."

"Mm." It was a triplet of daisies; a yellow, flanked by two whites, and cushioned by a spray of white thyme and the daisy's leaves. Clean, simple, and eye-catching. It could have been her work. "You're really very good at this."

Snip, and a small smile. "Thanks, I guess… It's, it's nothing compared to what she… what she can do, though…"

It was partly true. Nadeshiko was capable of creating symphonies of blossom and meaning. Inoichi hadn't seen work like it since his own grandmother, a matriarch of the Yamanaka clan, had passed away, years ago.

But Yakata's work, while an imitation, had that same heart. "Mind the till for a moment," Inoichi said, "I'm going into the back room."

When he came back, he had a small plastic tray with holes punched into its surface, and he began putting Yakata's work in them. "Ah, what, what are you doing…?"

"I think we ought to try and sell these, Yakata-kun. They're very well-made."

Yakata sat, quiet, and very still, hands in the middle of his work. "I, I, I don't really think that, but…"

"'But,' nonsense. You've already sold two." Inoichi put the tray, now complete, on the other edge of the till, near where he kept his calendar. "We'll see what happens."

Yakata reached for the florist's tape. "…whatever you say, Inoichi-san…"

Inoichi brought him a handful of yellow roses after some time had passed, after five, six, seven more gatherings were sold. They were already-bloomed, already-discounted, but only as a precaution. "I think you're more than ready for the bigger stuff."

The boy's bandaged hands held them carefully, like they were made of glass. "I'll… I'll try my best," he said.

His best was beautiful. And Inoichi stayed silent, allowing the words of his customers to be his compliments as they came in, floating and random, like butterflies. His own words would just have frozen the boy and his careful hands, and he knew this.

(They would have frozen Nadeshiko's, too, once. A long time ago.)

(There was a memory he kept very well-preserved in his mind, of an eight year old girl with hands so cautious, one would think that she was afraid to even use them, and a spontaneous heaven of marigolds appearing from her fingers.)

("It's your work, and no one else's," Inoichi had told her, "and that is what makes it the most beautiful.")

("…it's nothing but an imitation, but… thank you, grandfather.")

(It was the first time he had heard her speak in months.)

But it was at the end of the day that he made a gamble. "Yakata-kun, I think you've done enough of those little ones. Why don't you make one last big one, before you go?"

The boy looked up from his work suddenly, his eyes snapping out of the sleepy, familiar peace that had come upon them once he had gotten a pace going, between customers. "Huh?"

"My daughter should be coming to pick you up in about an hour or so. I want to see you make something _really_ great. Put your whole heart into it. Okay?" The old man gave him his most confident smile. "The whole store's at your disposal. Use any flowers you want."

"Ah, no, I, I, I don't think I could…"

"Yakata-kun." He put his hand out and onto the boy's shoulder. "I know you can. Show me your best work."

Yakata swallowed, once, and then nodded. "…okay, Inoichi-san. I'll, I'll try."

Inoichi was, to his delight, neither disappointed nor terribly surprised. He could feel excitement growing in his hollow old chest when Yakata left the little table and spent a good fifteen minutes with his face in the wall of flowers, in the back room, choosing his materials carefully. Lemon balm, pink yarrow, willow leaves.

The afternoon light was yellow, and soft. And he worked with an intensity on his face that was as soft as the light, his teeth gently biting his lower lip.

"Why a yellow rose?" Inoichi asked him, after his hands had been still for some time.

"Huh?" Yakata looked up.

"I'd think that a _red_ rose would go best in this sort of arrangement," Inoichi continued, gesturing toward, but not daring to touch, Yakata's work. "Considering the color, anyways. The pink yarrow is especially striking."

(Pink yarrow, a cure for heartache.)

"Ah, well, I, um… I thought that a red rose wouldn't fit that well, actually," Yakata replied. "They mean passionate love and… and that just didn't seem, um, right. So, so, so I went with yellow instead, for, for, um… friendship." He ran his thumb over one of the lenten rose leaves he had used for an accent.

(Lenten rose, as a cure for melancholy.)

"Ah, though, I, I, I thought to balance out the color with the elderberries…" he continued, with a strange, defensive power in his voice. "So it would be an equal mix of yellow and red, see… Well, and the lavender kinda just looked… looked nice, I guess, it evens out the red in another way…"

(Elderberries, for kindness and sympathy. Lavender to soothe the heart.)

"A wise decision. It's very beautiful, Yakata-kun. I really think she's going to like it."

His face turned a very subtle shade of red. "She…?"

(There, nestled next to the yellow rose, a single, flesh-red dianthus.)

"I know who you made this for. You should give it to her." Inoichi stretched his back, standing straight up. "I'll go get a box for you."

"Oh, no, please, you, you, you don't… you don't need to… I mean, I, I, I used a lot of stuff in it, I'm sure it wasn't cheap…"

He went into the back room anyways, and came out with a white box made of cardstock. "Consider it payment for your work today. Besides," he added, putting the box in front of the boy, "it'd be unfair for such a work of art to not be seen by its intended audience."

Yakata lowered his eyes, and his face reddened further. "I don't… think it's art… but, but thank you, Inoichi-san."

The old man's smile widened with recollection and genuine happiness. "You're welcome, Yakata-kun."

With careful, little hands, Yakata put the flowers in the box.

* * *

"What's that you got there?" Ino asked Yakata, when they were walking home. "Flowers?"

"…yeah, just, just something I made…" He held the box with just the tips of his fingers, and close to his chest.

"Oh, you _made_ something? Can I see?"

Yakata just shook his head, his lips tightly closed, his eyes away from her.

"Haha, well, all right. Though I wouldn't mind seeing it, myself, sometime," Ino said.

(Though, she told herself, she'd have to be careful to keep it from Sasuke, or at least the fact that Yakata had made it, whatever it was.)

"…sure…"

A small silence.

"…um, Ino-san, a, a question?"

She looked down at him. "Ah, yes?"

"Is, is, is Nadeshiko-san home yet?"

"…no, she probably won't be for a while."

"Ah, I see." He didn't look as saddened by this as she'd thought he would. It confused her, slightly, but it did not worry her.

That was the most she got out of him, the entire way there. "I already got dinner started," she told him, when they got home and were taking off their shoes. (He'd set the box aside, gently, on the foyer step, while he took off his sandals.) "You can come down and set the table any time."

"Ah… Sure, Ino-san."

He went up the stairs with a surprising quickness, and lightness, at least to her.

Yakata, personally, felt like his heart was going to pound right out of his ears and straight onto the floor. Why was he even _nervous_? He just had to... open the door, put it down, and leave.

Nadeshiko's room was right next to Inou's. And she wasn't home yet, Ino had told him herself.

He swallowed, and tried to keep his hands from squeezing the box too hard. He couldn't damage the contents, that would be… awful.

Nadeshiko's room was right next to Hajime's, but Yakata had never been inside. Even though Ino had offered, once, twice, for him to go in and borrow a book from it, but he couldn't do even that.

(He had wanted to, once, twice, but he couldn't even allow himself to want too terribly, for so many reasons.)

He breathed in, gathering what invisible strength he could, holding the box in the fragile crook of his elbow.

He just had to open the door, leave it there, and return.

And he turned the knob.

What struck him the most about her room was how faintly wonderful it smelled; not the false sweetness of a perfume, but the growing sweetness of living flowers. Like grass, and cut stems, and water. Her window, golden with afternoon light, was slightly open; a breeze pushed at the plain curtains around it. Her small bed had sheets of a pale tea green without so much as a wrinkle on them.

He had to shake himself after he noticed he'd been standing in the doorway for a good minute, and he shut it behind him, closing his mouth tight with embarrassment. Nobody had seen him, but…

At the other end of Nadeshiko's room was a desk; three bookshelves were lined up against the wall with the door. Yakata's eyes stayed on them for a while as they passed.

Nadeshiko had _books_. All arranged alphabetically, and neatly, like how it had been at his school. Everything had a place.

And the titles, the bare pieces of art on the spines, the curious, mysterious flowers in the absent spaces held his eyes captive for far too long, he had noticed. No, no, he had a job to do.

Just in and out, and gone.

There was her desk, over there. So Yakata went to it and put the box down.

He thought, for a moment longer, on if he should leave it in the box, or out.

"_It'd be unfair for such a work of art to not be seen by its intended audience,"_ Inoichi had told him. And, barring the embarrassment that had come before it, Yakata found himself agreeing with this, more than before.

Gently, he eased his fingers around the arrangement and took it out of the box, and, gently, set it down on her desk. He stepped back with the box in his hands and looked at it, tilting his head, almost appraising it.

Did it look right?

He almost bolted when he heard a noise at the window, a rustling almost, and a voice.

But when he was at the door, reaching for the knob, he saw at the window not any human intruder but instead a cat; black, with white paws. It tilted its head at him from the window box where it was standing, paws on the sill, and meowed.

Yakata almost had to laugh at how fast he was suddenly breathing. "Wh-wh-what are _you_ doing here…?" he asked it, a little smile budding on his face. Still holding the box, he went over to the window. It stayed, almost waiting for him, and pushed up against his hand when he reached out to pet it. "You kinda… you kinda scared me, you know."

It meowed in response, its ears bending beneath his fingers. Its eyes, when they opened, were a pale, glassy green, and they looked right into his, and Yakata looked back, though his eyes followed the line of the cat's back to its tail, and into what it was standing on.

Nadeshiko kept flowers at her window. And he couldn't help but smile when he saw them: marigolds. With the afternoon light hitting them, it was like she had the sun itself growing there.

The cat meowed again, turning around, now; its back slid under his palm, his tail between his fingers. And before Yakata could do anything more, it was off, walking lazily across the roof, and out of sight.

He stayed at the window for a bit longer, before leaving. He closed the door behind him, quietly.

His heart felt calm.

Eventually, he folded up the box and threw it away, before setting the table with Karai and listening to her talk about her training. Dinner was eaten, quietly, that evening, as was the norm, and Yakata left to train with Sasuke afterwards.

Nadeshiko was still gone, and he tried not to let it worry him when he sat down and meditated, gathering what Sasuke called chakra, concentrating it in his hands, in his feet, in his chest, feeling it move around. He kept his mind in all those places, in every place except his heart.

She'd come back, anyways. That's what he'd been told and that's what he had to believe.

She'd see it.

(And maybe it'd make her feel just that little bit better. But that was an arrogant and a very small hope.)

"You seem more at ease today," Sasuke told him, when they were walking home. "What changed?"

"I, um." He combed his mind for the right words. What was it that Sasuke had said to him? "I'm, I'm not letting it bother me anymore. What, what, what, was bothering me before, I mean."

Sasuke's smile was a precious thing, and it was medicine for Yakata's heart, fluttering just that little bit more in the anticipation of wrongness. "That's good. You shouldn't waste your thoughts on _things_ like that."

(He hoped Nadeshiko would see it.)

Yakata bathed alone, after they got home, as usual. Sasuke always waited until he was done before he went in to take a bath of his own, which Yakata supposed was fair. He'd always hang around in the kitchen for a while until Yakata emerged in fresh clothes, using a towel to dry off his hair.

"You don't want to go walking around in a towel, do you?" Ino had told him, on one of his first nights back. "Always remember a fresh change of clothes when you go to the bath, and leave the dirty ones in the hamper, okay? I'll wash them for you."

Yakata had remembered, always, since that night.

(Funny, how on that very first night, the night of meetings and unfinished portraits, someone had left out clean clothes for him anyways, even though he didn't know. Catching him before he could fall.)

It was funny, but that evening, Yakata's hands didn't hurt as much. And he flexed his fingers around the towel, finding almost a pleasure in the strength and the lack of pain. He was improving.

The weak strength in his heart all but shattered as he walked up the stairs to Hajime's room, and the door to Nadeshiko's room opened as he neared it.

He paused, the towel on his head. He almost wanted to cover his eyes with it, seeing her standing there. She looked almost hollow, almost breakable. "Yakata-kun."

He covered one of his eyes with the towel; his bangs stuck to his face. "Oh, um, Na-Na-Nadeshiko-san…"

"Did you have a good day?" she asked.

The words almost made him lose his balance. "Oh, um, yeah, I… I guess I did…"

(Had she not seen…?)

"That's good to hear." She was not smiling.

Yakata did not know whether to move or stay. He took the middle road and spoke. "And you, Nadeshiko-san? Did you, um. Did, did you have a good day…?"

Wherever she was?

She closed her eyes, and they were a cold, heavy black when she opened them. "It was all right."

He hastily covered his face with the towel and made like he was drying his hair again, so he didn't have to look at them.

(He should have known better than to think that he'd make a difference.)

(It wasn't art, he was just an imitator.)

(If she'd even noticed.)

"…well I'm, um. I'm, I'm glad to hear that." His voice was very quiet, obscured by his shame, by the towel.

(The sickening feeling that he could have done more to take that pain from out of her eyes.)

"So, uh… good night! I guess…" He still had his face covered, and he kept his eyes to his bare feet as he started down the hallway again.

"Wait, Yakata-kun."

Her voice had power, and it held him. "Y-yeah…?" He almost couldn't look over his shoulder at her.

"…were you the one who left those flowers in my room?"

Why didn't it feel better, knowing that she had noticed? "Ah, um, yes. I, I did."

"Where did you buy them? Because I don't recognize that handiwork from anywhere."

He tried hard not to look at her, his chest growing tight. He pulled the towel around his shoulders and tried everything, _everything_ not to get drawn into those black hole eyes. "I, I, I, um. I didn't buy it, I… I made it."

"…you made it?"

"…yeah." _Pull_. "I, um. I uh. I just. I thought you might like something to, to, to, uh… cheer you up. Because yesterday didn't… didn't turn out so great. I mean, at least…" He blinked a few times, frustrated. His eyelids felt tight, like they didn't want to close. "I just didn't want you to… to feel so sad, Nadeshiko-san. I, I, I thought it'd… help. Like, um, at, at, at least a little…"

Oh great there it was, he was sounding like an idiot, he wasn't helping, he wasn't doing _anything_ useful, and he just knew that those eyes were as pain-filled as ever, and he sounded like such an _idiot_.

(He knew it wouldn't have made a difference.)

"…I'm sorry, just, just forget it, I'm sorry." He could barely hear his own voice, tight and high. His feet began to move, and he pulled the towel away from his shoulders. He had a feeling he'd be screaming into it once he was in Hajime's room.

But there was an arm, and it was reaching for his hand, and grabbing it.

Gently.

She turned him around and pulled him into her arms. His own arms folded up over his chest, the damp towel pressing against his skin.

He could feel her hair and her breath against his shoulder. She smelled like earth, like marigolds, and incense.

"Thank you, Yakata-kun. It's much more than I deserve."

Her arms felt warm. Her words had power.

And Yakata, his eyes wide and suddenly swarming with tears, all the breath taken out of his chest, unfolded his arms from under her and he hugged her back, and tightly. The towel fell to their feet.

He closed his eyes and put his head somewhere near her left arm; he pressed his ear against her chest, and he heard her heart beating at a pace much quicker than he'd have imagined from her, like she had just been running very far and very quickly.

(Just like his heart.)

He couldn't even say, "You're welcome."

But he didn't even have to try and not worry about it, because he wasn't. What tears were leaking out of his eyes were small, and grateful.

It felt.

All right.

She was the first to let go, and he let go almost immediately afterward.

(It was okay to let go of her here. Somehow, he knew, she wasn't going to disappear.)

"I think we both need some sleep," she said.

She was smiling, and there was warmth in both her smile and her eyes.

"Yeah. I'll, I'll see you in the morning, Nadeshiko-san."

The boldness of his words almost surprised him.

Until her smile deepened, and sweetened, and she tilted her head ever so, ever so slightly. "Yes. I'll see you in the morning."

She returned to her room and closed the door. Yakata picked his towel up from off his feet, but instead of screaming into it, he wiped his eyes and laid it over the chair at Hajime's desk and went to sleep with his hair still slightly damp.

(On the desk, the old arrangement she had given him, dried heart-red and earth-brown, sat next to the photo of his father and his family, next to the book that she had given him.)

And he saw Nadeshiko again in the morning.


	44. Pear Tree

_Chapter 44 - Pear Tree_

* * *

She had asked him, the day before, when they were walking back home from their work together, if he wouldn't mind waking up a little early in the morning the next day.

"Well, I, I probably wouldn't mind so much… Though why are you asking?"

"We'd have to get up before sunrise. But if you think you're up to it, I'd like to take you to my favorite place."

It sounded wonderful. "Where is it?"

"A bit away from here. It's where the shop gets most of its flowers. I thought you'd like to see it."

It sounded even _more_ wonderful. "I'd love to see it. We, we, we'd be, ah, leaving before sunrise, right…?"

"Yes. I'll wake you up and cook you breakfast before we leave."

Yakata could think of nothing better, and his smile showed it.

(And her smile in return was full of sweet satisfaction, and irrational relief.)

So even though, when Nadeshiko woke him up at 4:30 AM on Monday morning, his head hurting from drowsiness and his eyes dry and heavy, he couldn't be even remotely annoyed.

They were going to her favorite place, and she had asked him.

She'd already made breakfast, when she roused him gently on the shoulder. "Come down once you're dressed," she told him, with a soft voice, so he did.

The breakfast she had made was small, and it was simple, but it tasted good and had Yakata feeling much more awake after the fact.

(Then again, he couldn't tell if that was his excitement to blame, or some innate power that the food held because she'd prepared it.)

It was still dark out when they left the house. Nadeshiko closed the front door behind her, not bothering to lock it—(what fool would try to break into Uchiha Sasuke's house?)—and breathed in, deeply, as they passed the gate.

"We're going to the shop, first," she said. "Then to the garden."

"The garden." Yakata could almost smell it, in his mind, even though he'd never been. "I, I can't wait."

Quietly, the morning unfolded in its gradual loosening of stillness. Here and there were the sounds of setting up, and preparation; the sweeping of a storefront, opening windows, the metal creak and rattle of partitions being slid up. The sky covered the world and filled it with deep violets, and oranges and grapefruit-reds.

Nadeshiko took him to an alley behind the flower shop, once they arrived. She took a key out of her purse and opened the gate to a chained-off area, where vases and signs were kept, and that was where she took out the bicycle.

Yakata had seen a few bicycles, here and there, but he'd never actually ridden one. Nadeshiko's was painted a blackboard-green, and there was a cart attached to the back, with several large jars and boxes stacked up behind it. "Go ahead and sit on the back," she said, pushing it out of the alley, then locking the gate behind her. "This is how we're getting there."

"Oh, sure." Yakata pulled himself up onto the cart and sat with his hands holding the edge. His feet dangled in the air.

They began to move, slowly, and then gained speed. The gears of Nadeshiko's bike squeaked and rattled.

"So, um, what's the cart and, and everything for, Nadeshiko-san?" Yakata asked, looking over his shoulder.

The breeze and the motion blew her hair back, gently. "For keeping the flowers in. My grandfather used to do this by himself but nowadays it's my responsibility."

"Yours?" A pause, a thought. "Do, do you do this, um, every day then?"

"Most days I can manage."

Another thought. "So you'd always do this before… before picking me up?"

She just tilted her head slightly, still not looking at him. "Well, I have to. It makes things easier for everyone."

"_She works so hard, that girl,_" Inoichi had said, and Yakata, his mouth curling into a little smile, had to agree.

The sun continued to rise, the sky fading into a butter-yellow precursor of a blue. Nadeshiko continued to pedal, onward, down the near-empty streets. "We're heading toward the old Yamanaka compound," she announced, after making a turn. "It's right by the Nara forest."

"Oh, uh, okay," Yakata said, quietly wondering to himself what a Nara was.

"The Nara clan had a forest gifted to them by the First Hokage for their services, generations ago," Nadeshiko said. "They've been linked to my mother's clan and another clan, the Akimichi, for quite a long while, which is why it's so close to the garden."

"O-oh, I see." A pause. "The, ah, Hokage… that's like Naruto-san, right?" He remembered the strange laughing man, hair like a dandelion, whom Sasuke had introduced him to. Yakata still didn't know what, exactly, to think of him. "Your father's friend?"

"Ah, so were you introduced?"

"Well… _sort_ of…" It had been incredibly quick. "But he's… he's in charge of the village, right?"

"He is."

"Ah." He thought. "So… the very first one gave the forest to the Nara clan?"

"Yes. He founded the village, you know. Along with my… father's ancestors, actually."

He looked sideways, not quite over his shoulder, at that. "Really?"

"Mm. The Uchiha clan and the Senju clan both. They used to be at war until their clans formed an alliance, then they founded this village and named the Senju leader the Hokage afterwards."

It felt strange for Yakata to think of himself as a part of all that. "That's… that's really… something, I guess…"

She laughed, once, at his voice trailing off. "Sorry for the impromptu history lesson, there."

"No! No, it's fine, it's really interesting, actually." Yakata looked up, lacing his fingers together. "So… that first Hokage, the Senju leader? He gave a forest to the Nara clan? That's a bit of a… a strange gift to give a clan as thanks…"

"Strange, I suppose. The First Hokage grew it himself, along with the garden, using his Wood Release."

"Wood…?"

"He had a gift, they say. He could make plants grow just by thinking about it."

The thought took root in Yakata's mind and it ended with another smile blossoming on his face. "That, that sounds… that sounds like it'd be a wonderful thing to do."

"Wouldn't it? Apparently he loved giving people growing things as gifts instead of gold or other treasures. Of course," she added, quietly, her voice visited by a laugh, "not everyone appreciated that sort of thing, but some people did."

"Like, like your mom's family? The Yamanaka clan?"

The pause in her voice suggested a smile, and Yakata had to smile back at it. "Yes, I suppose so."

It was when they made a turn onto a dirt road, lined with trees on the left side, that Nadeshiko began talking again. "We're almost there. That's the Nara forest, on the left, there."

Of course, Yakata took a look. "That's a pretty big forest."

"I suppose. It's a hardy one, too. There's a secret to it."

Yakata's head whipped back a little further; his leg shifted so he could see Nadeshiko. "A secret?"

"Mm. Because the First Hokage made it, the trees are special. If you cut one down, it'll be grown back by the next day."

"Whoa, seriously…?"

"Mm. He put something in the soil so that the trees would always be there. He did the same thing with my family's garden."

"So that the flowers would, would always be there?"

"Something like that."

Yakata somehow got the feeling that Nadeshiko had more to say on the matter, once he actually saw the garden. A stone wall surrounded it, and set into the front was a high gate, with a lock. She parked the bicycle in front of it, and when Yakata got off the back, he saw her opening the lock with a key from her purse. The gate swung open, soundlessly.

It wasn't like he'd died and gone to some heaven, it was more like paradise had somehow been brought down to earth, and there it was before him, now.

"…it's beautiful, isn't it."

"Yeah…" He could barely hear his own voice.

He suddenly felt Nadeshiko's hand on his back, and she was smiling at him a little. "Come on, we have work to do. Go get two baskets; one for each of us, okay?"

"Oh, sure!" His face felt slightly warm as he shuffled around the boxes and got two woven baskets, with handles, from the back of the cart. He could just imagine how stupid he must have looked, standing at the gate of the garden; mouth wide open, probably…

…but he couldn't have helped it. He'd never seen a garden like it, all enormous rows of blossom, petals and leaves glossed with dew, a light mist still on the ground. His neighbor's garden paled in comparison.

Nadeshiko had produced two pairs of clippers in the meantime, and was holding them in her hands when he returned to the gate. "Thank you. We're just going to be refilling the stocks today, so nothing too special." She took a basket from him, and handed him a pair of clippers. "Follow me."

So he did, resisting every urge to trail his fingers against the leaves and the flowers. He could feel the cold dew in his mind, at any rate.

(_"Don't touch them, you dirty witch-boy!"_)

"It's just the basics today," Nadeshiko was saying. "Daisies, roses, carnations. No special orders, I'm afraid."

"Oh, uh, I see…"

"But." She stopped, and turned back to look at him. "If you want to see more, I won't mind showing you around."

"That'd be… that'd be really nice, Nadeshiko-san," he said. His shoulders felt narrow from holding his basket with both hands. He'd put his clippers in it, like Nadeshiko had.

"Well, then, come along."

Daisies, first; yellow-and-white, brown-and-yellow. Nadeshiko took out her clippers. "Get them from about a foot and a half below the shortest blossom," she said. "We can always cut them shorter, later."

Yakata was still, his own clippers in his hand.

(_"Witch-boy!"_)

Her hair was tossed over her back, and would have brushed the ground, if not for that. It fell slightly around her shoulders when she looked at him. "Yakata-kun, it's okay. Go ahead."

He reached out, felt the length of a stem. A foot and a half below the shortest blossom.

And he cut.

She smiled. "Good job. Just put that in your basket, keeping all the blossoms going one way."

So he did.

And then they were talking, again, as his hands loosened and his heart eased. "It's really quite remarkable, this garden. No matter how much we cut away there'll always be enough for the next day of business. I suppose that's why the shop's been around for so long," she was saying.

Yakata thought. "Because of, um. What, what the Hokage did?"

"Mm. It lets us have out-of-season flowers in stock too. Really, very useful, especially in the winter."

"In the winter? But, um, h-how does that work out? When it snows, I mean."

"We have a greenhouse that we set up over the garden. Grandfather has it sealed into a scroll. He takes it out in the fall. It keeps the flowers warm and safe from the snow in the winter."

"Oh, wow, I, I see." Yakata didn't bother asking how an entire house could have been sealed into a scroll, but then again, he was among ninjas. Another mystery half-solved.

At another bush, after they had loaded the daisies into boxes and gone on to another breed of flower: "We have an orchard in the far corner, you know."

"An orchard?"

"Mm. Mostly for blossoms, though you can sometimes find a fruit or two on there. They're strange trees."

Yakata cut another violet, at its base. "What, what sorts of trees?"

"Oh, the usual. Cherry, apple, plum. We have orange and lemon trees too, if you can believe it. They usually don't grow this far north, but then again…"

"Strange trees, right?" Yakata was smiling.

"Yes." A smile in return. "Exactly."

It worried him, how her hair brushed the dirt so freely when she knelt down to cut her flowers, and he commented on it.

(It was so beautiful and so long that it saddened him to see it treated so carelessly.)

"Why, why don't you, um. Just pull it back? It seems like it'd be easier."

Nadeshiko paused.

(_"Never wear your hair like that again."_)

"…it's so long that it wouldn't make that much of a difference if I pulled it back or braided it. But it's okay, nothing a good brush and a good wash can't fix."

This was enough to soothe his heart, at least for a little while.

They saved the roses for last, and Yakata marveled at just how many colors there were. "Blue's not… not a normal color, is it?"

"No, it isn't. But there it is. Do leave it, though. We only have orders for the standard colors this morning. Red, pink, white, and yellow."

"Ah, okay."

Yakata still leaned in to smell it, and he touched it with his fingers. The sun had long ago risen fully.

"That should be enough for the day," Nadeshiko said, when they were back at the cart. She'd put the clippers away into a shed near the front wall, and locked the gate behind them. "I'm sorry we didn't need to get anything special this morning."

"No, that's… that's okay! Just seeing all the flowers was… nice enough." Yakata put the last basket of roses into a box, gently. "There's just so many, I'd probably overload my… my mind or something if I saw them all."

"Really." A single laugh. "Well, we should get back to the shop, put all these away and get ready to open. Hop on."

Yakata pulled himself up. "Okay!"

It was a fine ride, surrounded by the flowers, and he closed his eyes and leaned back on the palms of his hands there, in the cart.

Until Nadeshiko stopped. "Well good morning, Shikake-chan."

He opened his eyes, and propped himself over the side of the cart when he saw who Nadeshiko was talking to. There was a girl standing on the side of the road, by the Nara forest—well, he supposed it had to have been a girl, given the suffix and the silver rings in her ears, though she dressed and looked a lot more like a boy—with dark hair pulled back at the base of her neck. She had a shovel hefted over her shoulder.

"What are you doing up this early in the morning?" Nadeshiko continued, having apparently received some sort of greeting back that Yakata hadn't heard.

"Exploring. Dad's never up this early, so I got outta the house without any trouble."

She had, Yakata noticed, another person with her, with a shovel of his own; dark-haired, with the strangest eyes he had ever seen, a pure and pearl-like white. He looked nervous.

"Is that so. Exploring the forest with a friend?"

"Yep." Shikake tilted her head. Her own eyes were small, and sleepy-looking. Almost like Takeru's, Yakata had to think. "Who's that kid with you? That Yakata guy your brother keeps telling me about?"

"Yes. Yakata, this is-"

"Nara Shikake. We probably won't be seeing each other again so it's okay if you forget it."

"Oh, uh, okay…" Yakata managed to wave back at her. "Are, are you, um. Are, are you a friend of one of Nadeshiko-san's brothers?"

"Wow, you really _do_ stutter as much as he says," Shikake replied.

"Ah, um, well, I, I, I…" Yakata pressed his nose to the wood of the cart. Nadeshiko didn't say anything.

"I'm in a team with Inou," Shikake continued. "He talks about you every now'n then. Where the heck did you come from, anyways? He sure as hell doesn't know."

"Um, Tamina…? In the, the, um. In the Land of Rice…? That's where my, my, my house is, anyways…" His voice burrowed into his chest like a mouse into a hole. It became harder and harder to look at Shikake.

"Huh." Shikake paused, scratching the back of her leg with her foot. "Weird. Oh well. I'm heading out. I'll tell Inou you said hi. If I see him."

"Have a good morning, Shikake-chan. And friend," Nadeshiko said.

"It was, um. It, it was nice meeting you," Yakata added.

Shikake just waved, grabbing her pearl-eyed friend by the wrist and dragging him into the woods with her.

Nadeshiko began pedaling on, and Yakata put his hands in his lap again, keeping his eyes on his knees.

"Interesting." Her voice was very quiet.

"What's interesting, Nadeshiko-san…?"

She began turning the bike. "Nothing, Yakata-kun."

"Oh, uh. Okay…" Yakata bit his lip, thinking. The silence here was uncomfortable, rather than peaceful. His shoulders tensed. "Um, Na-Nadeshiko-san?"

"Yes?"

"I, I, I don't, um. I, I don't… stutter _that_ badly, do I?"

"No, you just take great care in choosing your words."

It was wonderful and it was soothing, the way that Nadeshiko always seemed to be able to know what to say.

"Nadeshiko-san?"

"Yes?"

"…thanks for… for taking me with you, this morning. I, I can see why, um. Why it's your favorite place."

"I'm glad you were there with me. It's nice to not have to work alone."

He closed his eyes again, leaning back. "Yeah, it's… it really is nice."

The smell of the garden was still hanging around them as they put the bike away and started carrying the cuttings inside, and with it, its peace.

* * *

"Going out to get lunch, any requests?" Inoichi had turned the radio off.

"Just the usual, thank you." Nadeshiko didn't look up from her work.

"I'm fine too, thanks!" Nadeshiko had put Yakata in charge of handing duty, as well as ribbon duty, by then. When calling for a spray of thyme or Queen Anne's lace, he'd hand it to her and she'd put it in place.

"You have an excellent memory. It's not easy to tell them apart," she told him, when he'd asked why she'd so suddenly given him that responsibility. "It takes a good eye to be a florist."

This had left him without words when he heard it, feeling them bundled up in his throat and chest. But it didn't bother him much any more.

"Well I'll be back soon. One of you mind the till, please!" And with that, he was gone.

Yakata looked up, and around. Nadeshiko wasn't getting up. "Um, who, who's going to…?"

"After this." She reached for a pansy. "I'll take care of it."

He looked around again. A curious and uncertain nervousness began to settle over him. "Um." He put the scissors down. "Um, actually, I'll, I'll go take care of it."

She looked up at him, there. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. You're not done. I don't want you to, um, to hurry. O-otherwise it won't turn out as well." He was getting up off the stool. "Don't worry, I-I'll be fine."

She tilted her head, then nodded. She reached for the scissors. "All right, then. Call me if you need me."

Yakata left the back room, there, and rested his arms against the till. It was odd, the surface up to his chest. His arms, before long, began to feel tired.

He heard the gentle rustle of Nadeshiko reaching for another flower, and the snip of the scissors.

A transport whistle, in the distance, and a rumbling, gentle roar.

Time passed, slowly, and warmly. Yakata's eyes felt heavy, no longer preoccupied by work, finally feeling the weight of his early wakeup.

Therefore he was not terribly surprised when the baskets and bouquets of flowers in front of the store suddenly seemed to blossom over the edges of the front window. The smell was heavy, almost like rain.

Ah.

Evidently, it was not a daydream, because Nadeshiko suddenly came out of the back room, sighing.

"Oh dear…"

Yakata snapped up straight. "What's going on…?"

"It's Kotoji-kun."

"Kotoji-kun…?"

She was already out the door, and Yakata couldn't help but follow.

"Kotoji-kun, you _know_ you can't go making our flowers grow like that. I've told you before."

A very small person had his head buried in the largest display, which had since sprouted to well over twice its size. He looked up with a shy expression on his face.

"But I like the flowers," he said. He pressed his cheek against the petals of a basket of trailing pansies.

"I know you do, Kotoji-kun. But I did spend a lot of time putting this together, and you making them grow like this is not a very good thing."

The little boy, Kotoji, pressed his face further into the flowers. His skin was a sandy tan. "I'm sorry…"

Nadeshiko's face softened and she gave him one of the warmest smiles Yakata had ever seen on her. She bent down to eye level with the boy, who had since hidden his face again. Her hair brushed the ground. "There, there, Kotoji-kun. It's all right. I know you can fix it." She did not touch him.

A single black eye peeked out. "For real?"

"Just put it back the way it was, and I'll fix the rest. Go on, now. I know it's not that hard for you."

He pressed his nose into the flowers, giggling.

"Come on, Kotoji-kun. Put it all back," she said, again, after some time had passed, with no apparent results. There was a soothing air of patience to her voice.

"Oka-ay…"

And, astonishingly, the flowers began to retract themselves, as if pulled back into their baskets and bunches by unseen hands. The trailing leaves and blossoms moved like living things.

And, suddenly, messily, the front display was back to much like the way it had been before, if not a bit more disheveled. The bouquets in their paper and plastic wrappings had loosened, and the flowers within them drooped.

"There, now. That wasn't so hard, was it?"

Kotoji looked up again, and he smiled. There was a large gap between his two, little front teeth. "I did good?"

"You did _very_ good," Nadeshiko said.

The little boy giggled and hid his face in the pansies again, which hadn't reduced themselves nearly as much as the other flowers.

It was then that Yakata noticed that, embroidered on the boy's shirt (which he seemed to be practically drowning in) was a little red-and-white emblem. He had, by then, seen it many times.

(In the gate above the Uchiha memorial; in the clothes that Sasuke and his children—but not Nadeshiko, nor Ino—wore; on the wall behind his father, his uncle, his grandparents.)

(_"Apart from him, and my children, he's the only living member my clan has left,"_ Sasuke had said.)

Yakata tripped over his thoughts, already stirred by the flower-miracle. "Um, Nadeshiko-san, is this, um, is this a relative of yours…?"

"Oh, no, no. Kotoji-kun is the child of a family friend," she replied.

"Oh, um. Really." Yakata tilted his head, searching the boy's little face. "So… he's not an Uchiha."

"I'm a _Senzu!_" Kotoji declared.

"Not… quite, Kotoji-kun," Nadeshiko said. "It's… a bit complicated, Yakata-kun. But he's not an Uchiha."

"I'm a _Senzu_," Kotoji said, again. "_Daddy_ said so. I'm _three_."

"Speaking of _which_, Kotoji-kun." Nadeshiko tilted her head. "Does your daddy know you're here?"

Kotoji hesitated, and then ran forward and buried himself in her dark grey skirt, his head to her knees.

"Kotoji-kun."

He wrapped his arms, lost in dark blue sleeves, around her legs.

"Kotoji-kun, did you tell your daddy you were coming here?" She put a hand on his dark little head.

"…nuh-uh. But I told Kakashi." His voice was muffled by the fabric.

Nadeshiko sighed, and she shook her head. With both of her hands she took Kotoji's arms from her legs and took one of his hands in hers. Her fingers completely covered his fist. "Come on, Kotoji-kun, let's get inside."

"Why?"

"You can look at the flowers inside. But don't make them grow."

He stayed very close to her as they went back to the shop together, and Yakata followed. She left Kotoji by the wall of flowers, and then picked up the telephone on the wall behind the till, by the refrigerated cabinet. It was a rotary phone, the same color as her bicycle.

Yakata lingered by the front window, hands clasped at his navel. He watched Nadeshiko dialing, then Kotoji with his head in a bucket of roses. The little boy had his eyes closed in a strange ecstasy for a child so small.

"Hello, Yamato-san? … Oh, Kakashi-sama, hello. … Yes, well, Kotoji-kun's made his way to the shop again. He, ah, showed his appreciation for the front display. … No, no, I got him to fix it. … Yes, he's with me now."

Nadeshiko's hand trailed to the phone cord. Her fingers played with it with slight, coiling movements.

"No, no, you don't have to come pick him up. I'll bring him home once my grandfather comes back. … It's no trouble, honestly. We won't be long. … All right, then. Take care."

She hung up the phone. "Yakata-kun, would you mind keeping an eye on Kotoji-kun while I go fix the front?"

"Oh, uh, uh, sure."

"Thanks. I'll be right outside."

Kotoji still hadn't moved from the wall and the bucket of roses, even after she left. Yakata, as promised, kept his eyes on the boy—he couldn't even snap them to the window at Nadeshiko. It almost alarmed him, then, how very still Kotoji remained, even in observation. He was a little statue in a shirt made for a boy twice his age, and in fact the only movement he made, after what seemed like an eternity had passed, was to tilt his head upward, almost longingly, to look at a beautiful marbled rose in a bouquet above him.

When the rose began to twist itself toward him it alarmed Yakata further. His hands knit themselves together over his chest and he began approaching the child, though his fingers were frozen from the lack of a plan. He used words, instead, and even then he was riddled with uncertainty.

"Aaah, um, Kotoji… kun, um, Nadeshiko-san told you… told you not to make anything, um, grow…"

Something vague and familiar stirred at the back of his head, when it fumbled for an explanation for this, for all the other little miracles.

Plants weren't supposed to behave that way, but the morning echoed in his mind and somehow it felt acceptable.

Kotoji didn't look at him, but the rose retracted and went back to its place in the bouquet. "I didn't make nothin' grow," he said. He turned around with an indignant look on his face. "Hey, where's Nadeshiko?"

"Oh, she… she's outside," Yakata said.

"Oh, okay." Kotoji thought on this for a moment before his face folded into itself, toward his nose. "Hey, who are _you?_"

"Oh, uh, me?"

"Yeah, I dunno you. Are you Nadeshiko's friend?"

The question, coming from such a young mouth, made him far more flustered than he'd thought was appropriate. "Yeah, I… I guess…"

"Can you be my friend too?" Kotoji's smile was small and very earnest. "I wanna be your friend."

"Oh, um, o-okay…" Yakata said.

Kotoji's smile increased. "Yay! So what's _your_ name? _My_ name's Kotoji. I'm _three. _But I'm _almost_ four."

"Oh, um, my name's… Yakata. I'm… ten?" Yakata replied, smiling, almost uneasily.

"Yataka! That's a good name." Kotoji nodded, almost sternly. "Yep, a good name."

"Uh, it's Yakata, actually…" He didn't know where that unexpected laugh had come from. "I'm, uh, I'm glad you think it's, it's a good name, though!"

"I like flowers. You like flowers too?" Kotoji said.

"Yeah, I… I like flowers very much," Yakata said.

"_My_ favorite flower is the _narcissus_." There was a slight lisp to the boy's voice. "But I like roses a lot too. What's _your_ favorite flower?"

"Oh, um, I, I don't, I don't have a favorite, I don't think…" Frankly, Yakata was wondering how in the world a child so young knew what a narcissus even was.

"Come on, you _have_ to have a _favorite_," Kotoji said. There was a desperate passion in his voice, as if this were the very most important thing in the world. (Which, to him, it probably was.)

"Well… I, um."

Yakata thought.

And the first thing he thought of, and the first thing he said, was, "I… I like whatever flowers people like giving me, I… I guess."

Kotoji considered this, and then nodded. "That's pretty good." He suddenly grinned. "You want _me_ to give you a flower? That'll be your favorite."

Yakata blinked, a few times. "Uh, I suppose…? Though you probably shouldn't, um, shouldn't take one from the shop with, without paying for it, though…"

"_That's_ okay. Here, look, look!" And Kotoji began rubbing his hands together, and suddenly there was a tall-stemmed flower in his hands, with white and yellow petals, and he thrust it Yakata's way. "Now your favorite can be _my_ favorite!"

The flower wavered there in Kotoji's hand for a moment, paired with the gapped smile, the shining black eyes. And Yakata reached out and took it, and he held it close to his chest, a smile of pinched lips on his face. "Oh, well, thank you…!"

And logic once again rubbed against his mind, and not-entirely-remembered stories from the morning.

"Ah, Kotoji-kun, so… how did you do that? With the, um. With the flower."

Kotoji, who had dashed away, shyly, to the wall of flowers, looked over his shoulder. His collar hid half of his cheek. "Whatcha mean?"

"Where, where did it… come from, I mean."

"Oh. I just made it." He returned to his business, holding out his arms and running his little fingers over petals and leaves.

"You… made it?"

"Yep. Dintcha see? I gave you a flower. A narcissus. Your favorite."

Clearly fighting a losing battle, Yakata just held onto his narcissus and quietly admired its presence. "Ah, I… I see…" He figured he could just ask Nadeshiko about it later.

Inoichi came back before she could finish with the front display, plastic bags in hand. "Lunchtime! Oh, who's this?"

"Grampa!" Kotoji ran forward and at Inoichi's knees. The old man danced to avoid him, kicking his knees high.

"Whoa, hey, hey! Watch yourself, Kotoji-kun! When did you get here?"

"After you left. But I'm going to be bringing him home, now." Nadeshiko was in the shop, now, throwing her hair over her shoulder. "Come on, Kotoji-kun."

"Nadeshiko!" He ran forward and buried himself in her skirt again. "I gave Yataka a flower. It's his favorite."

"Really." Her hair fell over her shoulder again and it touched Kotoji's back. "We have to go home, now."

He looked up. "Go home?"

"Yes. I'm going to be taking you back to Kakashi-sama now."

Inoichi had set the bags down, by then, on the till. He leaned against the counter. "Ah, dear. He snuck out again, didn't he."

Nadeshiko nodded. Kotoji's face folded into the precursor of a cry. "But I don't _wanna_."

"Kotoji-kun, you can't go running off to our shop without permission."

"But I _has_ permission."

"Do you know what the word permission means, Kotoji-kun?"

He answered with silence, and flung himself at Nadeshiko's legs again. She pulled him off, gently. "But I don't _wanna_ go home!" he moaned. He flapped his arms at his sides.

"You have to, Kotoji-kun."

He scowled, deeply, and then rubbed his hands together, glaring at them. When he opened his palms, a squat little cactus rested there, with a bright pink blossom atop it. "But I made-ed you a flower. If I give you a flower will you let me stay?"

"Kotoji-kun, that's a cactus."

"It's a _flower_ cactus."

She sighed, smiled, shook her head, and bent forward, her hands on her thighs. "It's a very nice flower-cactus. But I still have to bring you home, Kotoji-kun."

His eyes had little tears in them. "But I don't _wanna_. I wanna stay _here_ with Yataka. He's my _friend._"

"You can always come back and visit later with your daddy. Yakata's going to be here with me for a while, I think," she said. She reached out her hands. "Here, I'll put the cactus in a little pot."

"One of those spineless wonders again?" Inoichi said, with a raspy chuckle.

Kotoji shoved his hands to his sides as soon as Nadeshiko had the cactus in her hands, and in the time it took for her to put it into the back room (and, presumably, into some sort of pot), he had taken refuge behind Yakata, much to Yakata's surprise.

"Kotoji-kun, come on," she said, when she returned.

"I'm not leavin' without Yataka. He's my _friend_." His hands tugged on Yakata's shirt, far harder than Yakata would have thought such little hands were capable of.

Nadeshiko had her head tilted sympathetically. "I'm sorry, Yakata-kun, I'll take care of it. He's just being stubborn."

"No!" Kotoji tugged harder.

Yakata's fingers rubbed the stem of the narcissus, gently. "Um, actually… Kotoji… kun, would, would you go home if I… if I went with you?"

Kotoji looked up at him and gave him a little frog-smile. "Yeah. I want you to go home with me."

The smile that Yakata gave Nadeshiko was almost rebelliously sharp. "Well that… solves our problem, I, I guess."

Her eyes were widened slightly, but then she smiled again, for only a second. "It does indeed. Come on, let's go. We'll eat lunch when we get back, Grandfather."

"Sounds good to me! Goodbye, Kotoji-kun. You stay out of trouble, now." He waved at the group as they left.

"Bye, Grampa!" Kotoji called. With one hand he waved back at Inoichi, and with the other he clung to Yakata, his new friend.

And Yakata, surprisingly less flustered, went with him.


	45. Rosebay Rhododendron

_Chapter 45 - Rosebay Rhododendron_

* * *

"Yamato-san's house isn't much of a walk, which is why a certain _someone_ can sneak over here so easily," Nadeshiko explained, a block or two away. Kotoji was holding tightly onto Yakata's shirt, still, but not his hand. "We should get there in just a few minutes."

Yakata was still holding the narcissus. "Oh, I… I see."

In holding the flower, logic nudged gently against his mind for the third time, and given that Nadeshiko was finally there, his questions exited through his mouth. "So, um, Nadeshiko-san?"

"Yes?"

"Kotoji-kun, you, you obviously know that he can, um. Can grow things like he can, right?"

"Ah, yes. Since I've known him."

"So… so, why is that? That he can do this, I-I mean…" Yakata thought for a second more. "He's not an Uchiha, so, so is he related to that, that Senju family? With the… what did you—ah, the, um, Wood Release?"

"I _suppose_ you could say that. His father, Yamato-san—you'll probably be introduced someday—_does _has that same gift as the First Hokage, who was a Senju. But he doesn't have a clan, and neither does Kotoji-kun."

"Senzu? Oh yeah, I'm a Senzu," Kotoji piped in, cheerfully, tugging on Yakata's shirt to get his attention. "Just like Daddy."

"Oh, um. So… it's, it's just a coincidence, then?" Yakata said, looking back at Nadeshiko.

"I don't think it's a coincidence," Nadeshiko replied. "There are many people out there without clans, but with gifts of their own that you'd only find _in_ a clan. But Yamato-san's an odd case. Even I don't know the whole story."

"Ah…"

She looked back at him, smiling. "Don't worry so much about it. Some things are just hard to understand. Family's one of them."

Yakata smiled back, slightly. "Yeah, I guess that's true…"

Yamato's house was on the second floor of an apartment complex a few blocks from the flower shop. They walked up the stairs and onto its outdoor walkway together. Kotoji didn't take his time, letting go of Yakata to climb up on his hands and feet, like an animal, and running forward until Nadeshiko caught him by the hand, which caused him to lapse into a fit of giggles.

"Come on, now, you're not escaping again," she said, though her voice was only barely playful. Kotoji wriggled out of her loose grip and went back to Yakata, hiding behind his legs and peeking out from behind him, hands clinging to Yakata's shorts.

That taken care of, Nadeshiko went forward a few doors until she came to the one marked 284, and she knocked on it.

An older man with half of his face covered by a mask answered the door. His hair was entirely white, and though he did not seem as old as Inoichi, he carried himself far more heavily. The one eye that Yakata could see (the other concealed by a bandage wrapped around his head) was small and very tired, and wrinkled.

Kotoji ran forward, immediately, and wrapped himself around the man's legs. "Kakashi!"

"There you are. I hope he didn't cause you much trouble, Nadeshiko-chan."

"Not at all. He was considerably well-behaved today… beyond running off, of course," she replied.

"Of course." Kakashi looked down at the little boy. "And did we have fun today out there, hm?"

Kotoji nodded eagerly. "I made a friend! His name's Yataka. I gave him a flower. It's his favorite."

"Oh really. And where is this 'Yataka?'" Kakashi stepped out of the apartment, looking around, eye creased with a smile, not expecting to see anything.

What he saw instead was.

Well.

"…Kotoji, go inside." He stepped in front of the boy, a hand reaching out and barring his exit from the door.

"Aw, but why?"

"Just go inside, I have to talk to Nadeshiko-chan about something." His voice was low, almost quavering. "Now."

Kotoji's eyes filled with a sudden, shiny fear, and he shrunk back into the apartment, hanging around the doorframe. Kakashi half-closed the door behind him, keeping one hand on the doorknob.

"Nadeshiko-chan," he said, "who is this _boy?"_

"This is Honbo Yakata," she replied, gesturing back toward him. "Our family's hosting him for the summer, while my father trains him. Yakata-kun, this is Hatake Kakashi-sama, my father's old sensei."

Yakata suddenly and awkwardly bowed. "Very pleased to meet you, sir…!" he said. "I, I, I recognize you from the, from the cliff side. It's an, an, an honor to meet you, Hokage-san!"

"Yakata, please, you don't need to be formal. Kakashi-sama's an old friend."

(Every shivering, hesitant action seemed to defy his form. His was a body made for birdwing movements and sharp glances and beautiful, deadly grace.)

"…your father's training him?"

"Yes. Apparently," she looked back at him, almost fondly, "he shows a great amount of potential."

"Th-that's what he says, anyways… I, I, I dunno about that, though…" Yakata added, an almost unwilling smile on his face.

(Prodigy, murderer, martyr.)

(Kakashi's hands were starting to shake.)

"…how?" Kakashi's voice was barely a whisper.

"Excuse me?" Nadeshiko's face held a rare, soft concern.

"Nothing, it's nothing."

(The emptiness where his left eye used to be almost seemed to burn. His palm left the doorknob and pressed against it, in reflex.)

"Kakashi-sama, is everything all right?" She stepped forward, Yakata hanging back.

"Just fine. Excuse me." He cleared his throat. "Thank you for bringing Kotoji-kun back. I really…"

(Those eyes again, dark and on a child's face, but, but…)

"…appreciate it."

"It was no trouble at all. Kakashi-sama, really. Is something the matter?"

(He couldn't stop staring at the boy, hands holding a narcissus flower, face holding an emotion he'd never seen before.)

(Surely Itachi, the great sacrificial man, had never felt so unsure of himself?)

"No, I was just… worried about Kotoji-kun. But I figured you'd get him home safely." He waved his hand. "Thank you, again. Goodbye."

"Oh. Goodbye then, Kakashi-sama. Say hello to Yamato-san for me, then."

Kakashi didn't reply, just bending his head.

He went back into the apartment and closed the door behind him, and locked it.

"Na-Nadeshiko-san?" Yakata finally spoke once they were well down the stairs, and back onto the road.

"Yes, what is it?"

"Kakashi-sama, he… wh-wh-why was he s-staring at me like that?" He swallowed. "Was I, was I doing something wrong?"

"…you were doing nothing wrong, Yakata-kun," she replied.

(Because she had no other answer.)

(But she'd seen that look many times before, when she was very young. She thought it was an expression reserved only for her, and this fact ached in her chest.)

(She kept it well away from Yakata. He didn't deserve to touch that pain.)

They returned to the flower shop, to lunch and a gradual resettling, a return to comforting monotony, and Inoichi's gossip.

("Kurenai-san came by right after you all left.")

("Buying flowers for Asuma-san?")

("Always. I told her you said hello.")

Kakashi returned to Kotoji, who was tugging on his pants legs again. "Kakashi, you're not mad at me, are you?"

"No, Kotoji, I'm not mad at you. But I don't want you out of my sight until your father gets home." Kakashi had to sit down. "You understand?"

"Okay. Can we play?" He looked up, his eyes bright, and hopeful.

Kakashi put a hand on the boy's head, fingers brushing against the back of his neck and its red-freckled skin, but he couldn't offer anything more.

"Yes, Kotoji, go get a book. I'll read to you."

Kakashi could read automatically and still have room to think.

"Yay! Okay, okay, okay!"

Kotoji brought him a comic book; the Hokage one, with the green cover. Nadeshiko had given it to him as a present a month or so before. Kakashi had managed to get over his embarrassment in reading it for Kotoji's sake, because Yamato seemed to have no problem with reading it, and as such, it had become a favorite. And favorites meant repeat readings.

Words came out of his mouth as he read to the boy on the couch, but he didn't really hear them. Thoughts swarmed in his mind.

Best case.

(It was all in his head, just like all the others.)

Best case.

(Just like the six-tails, like Yukio-Kiine, like the boy with the heart in his hand.)

Best case.

(Itachi was dead. Certifiably.)

Worst case.

(Kakashi would rather die than let any harm come to Kotoji.)

Yamato came home to them together on the couch, a pile of small cardstock readers on the floor, the Hokage comic long since tired of. Kotoji ran to greet him and fold himself into his father's embrace. "Da-addy!"

"Hey, buddy! I missed you." He rubbed his face against Kotoji's, closing his eyes. "Things go all right while I was gone, Kakashi-san?"

Kakashi rose and began toward the door.

"Kakashi-san?"

"He was fine. I'm sorry, I have somewhere to be."

Yamato kept him from leaving with a hand on his shoulder, the other arm holding Kotoji to his chest. "Kakashi-san, what's wrong? Did something happen?"

"Nothing happened. I just remembered something I needed to do."

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I keep you from something? I hope I don't make you late for anything."

"I'll be fine. Just…" And Kakashi looked up with a rare and frightening wariness on his face. "Don't leave the house until I call you. Keep Kotoji close to you."

Yamato's face froze. "…Kakashi-san, what's going on."

"Just do as I say. It's a… a precaution. It's probably nothing. I won't take long."

And Kakashi pushed past Yamato and was gone in a blur, leaving the man clinging to his son in a vague terror, his grip tightening just that little bit.

"Hey, Daddy, guess what? I made a friend today," Kotoji said.

Yamato closed the door and locked it behind him.

And waited for Kakashi to call him.

* * *

Kakashi found Sasuke at Training Ground no. 19. It was a nice area, slightly forested. Finding him wasn't terribly difficult, with Kakashi's only needed action being a quick stop at the academy to see who'd registered with which field that day, after a onceover of the Uchiha family's training grounds turned up no results.

He was training with his student in the chuunin exams. Senritsu. The name had made its way over to even Kakashi—naturally, through Naruto. He and Sasuke were only barely visible; they were moving so fast, on the ground, between the trees.

In an earlier time, Kakashi would have been able to follow their movements easily. But Kakashi was now old, and tired, and other thoughts preoccupied him.

"Sasuke!" he called out.

The movement stopped, and Sasuke suddenly materialized, dropping out of a tree. There was a leaf in his hair, which he removed with his fingers, and a barely annoyed look on his face. His student remained invisible.

"Kakashi-sensei," he said. "What is it?"

"I need to talk to you."

"Why, what's the matter."

"Who is that boy you're training?"

Sasuke's expression stiffened, like a cat's. "_What_ boy? My student?"

There was a rustle in the tree above them, and Kakashi saw a brown, sideways face emerged shortly thereafter. "You talking about me, Sensei…?" His large eyes blinked. "Oh, H-Hokage-sama…! Hello there…!"

Kakashi nodded, slightly (a formality) and returned to Sasuke. "Not him. I mean the boy you're keeping at your house." It was an effort to remember his name, when the face belonged to another, clearly. "Yakata."

Sasuke's expression did not change.

"…Go'on, you can go home."

"Oh, are we done training for the day…?"

"Yes. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Oh, uh, okay then. See you tomorrow, Sasuke-sensei." The boy named Go'on did not look scared, nor happy, but his eyes were very wide. He disappeared into the tree and with a rustle was gone.

Sasuke was almost chest to chest with Kakashi a moment later. "Explain this. Who told you about him?"

"I saw him this afternoon. A few hours ago."

"Where. Who was he with."

Sasuke's red eyes were spinning.

"He was with Nadeshiko-chan when she dropped Kotoji off-"

"HE WAS WITH NADESHIKO?"

Kakashi breathed, slowly, patiently.

(Perhaps that had been a mistake. But he had to say it.)

"Yes, he was."

"Oh, why am I not _surprised…!_" Sasuke's breathing was heavy, and agitated. "I knew it, I should have…!"

"_Sasuke_." Kakashi grabbed him by the arm before he could leave. "Who _is_ he?"

Sasuke paused. His shoulders rose and fell. His eyes burned in their sockets. "Why do you want to know."

"Why do you _think_, Sasuke."

Another few seconds of angered breathing.

Sasuke made another start. Kakashi pulled.

"_Sasuke_. Who is that boy, and _why_ does he look like Itachi?"

"He doesn't look like-"

"I can't forget things I've _seen_, Sasuke, and neither can you. Who_ is_ he?"

Sasuke's body loosened very, very slightly. "It's… hard to explain. But honestly, why was he out with _her…?_ I have to get home-"

Pull. "Sasuke, _wait_. What's so hard to explain?"

"…why do you even want to _know_," he said again.

"Because when I see a boy walking around that looks very _painfully_ like your _late_ brother, Sasuke," Kakashi said, meaning every word, "it's bound to raise some questions in my mind. _I_ knew him too, you know."

"…not like I did," Sasuke said, quietly. He yanked his arm out of Kakashi's grip, but he otherwise didn't move. "It's none of your business, anyways, he's just a … boy I'm caring for."

"Why?"

"Why _what?_"

"Why _are_ you caring for him? You're not the most altruistic person I know, Sasuke. You don't do things like this."

Sasuke's eyes burned holes into the ground. "Shut up. Why are you even asking me about this?"

"Sasuke, _look_ at me." Kakashi held him captive with his words. "Just tell me what's going on. I won't be able to rest easily until you do."

There was a pained, resigned knowingness in Sasuke's sigh. "Just… just ask Sakura about it. She knows what's going on. Now let me go _home_."

"Sakura?"

"I… told her everything I know. About him."

"So she'll tell me, but you won't?"

"I _can't_. Now let me go," he said, "before something _happens._"

"…only if you promise I'll get answers from her."

"…I promise, if you'll leave me alone about this after you get your precious _answers_."

Given Sasuke, Kakashi had to take what he could get.

He was gone as soon as Kakashi said that he would.

Kakashi left for the hospital.

Sakura was busy.

He said he would wait, and he did.

He held his hands in each other in the lobby and tried to keep his mind from those darker places.

Sasuke had always been… disagreeable. Since the beginning. But his avoidant attitude there…

Kakashi tried to tell himself that he was angrier about Nadeshiko than about him. He knew how much that girl bothered him.

(And it bothered Kakashi, for the longest time, how much hatred Sasuke carried within him because of that. But it wasn't his place to say anything.)

(Not any more, anyways.)

(Though he and Yamato both had assured her that they were fine with her being around Kotoji, and that, most importantly, they were fine with _her_, once it became apparent that she had become included in Kotoji's group of Most Favorite People.)

(Her fear of being so adored was, at first, confusing, and then blindingly sad, once Kakashi worked his head around it.)

The thought of Sakura having answers for him was a bare comfort.

It was an effort, staying afloat in this sea of impossibility and suspicion.

Sakura finally arrived a good 45 minutes later. She was still wearing her white coat, and she looked like she'd rushed there. "Sorry for making you wait, Kakashi-sensei. What's going on?"

He looked up, stood up. "Can we take this to your office? I don't want to attract any unnecessary attention."

(She noticed that his thin hands were tightened into trembling fists.)

"…sure, it's no trouble."

She made sure to close the door behind her once they arrived. The sky was turning a bloody orange in the windows behind her. "So what's going on, is everything okay?" she said. They both remained standing, her by her desk, Kakashi lingering by the doorway.

"Sakura, who is Honbo Yakata?"

She paused. Considering her options, most likely. "…did Sasuke tell you about him?"

"No, I ran into him on accident, and he left… a bit of an impression on me. I went to Sasuke about it later."

Sakura chewed on a corner of her lip. "Knowing you… I bet he would. So what did Sasuke tell you?"

"Nothing. I told him that I saw the boy out with Nadeshiko-chan and it upset him too much to talk, I think."

A sharp intake of breath. "Oh… yeah, he probably _really_ didn't like that…"

"He told me I could talk to you about it. And I figured he wasn't lying just to get me off his back."

Sakura looked at her desk.

"…so who is he, Sakura?"

So she told him.

The first question Kakashi asked, once she was all done, was, "How many others know about this?"

"Well, counting you… me, Sasuke—obviously—and Karin. That's four of us. And my family knows some bare details, but certainly not as much as us." A pause. "And he introduced Yakata-kun to Naruto, but Naruto doesn't know the… full story."

"And Karin?"

"Well, I already told you, I contacted her first about finding those cells in Taki Kiine's blood. Since Yakata has the same cells, we're thinking they might be linked. Karin's trying to help as best as she can in the meantime by sending me copies of reports on Itachi and anything else she can find in… Orochimaru's old files."

"And that's her hypothesis, that he's behind it?"

"It's our strongest lead so far. I mean, everyone thought he was gone, but, well…" She folded her arms and sighed. "That was what he was known for, wasn't he. _Dramatic_ comebacks."

Kakashi's fingers were tightly pressed into his palms. "Perhaps it's for the best we stay on the down-low about this."

"Ah?"

"Even I can tell that we have too little evidence to make any… official announcements. We have a ten-year-old clone of Uchiha Itachi, and a strange pattern of chakra saturation in blood cells linking him to Taki Kiine, and that's about it. If I were in charge, I'd wait."

"Seems that's what we're doing _anyways_," Sakura said, "given that Naruto's been kept out of the loop."

"Probably for the best, I think," Kakashi said. "He's got enough on his plate as it is with the chuunin exams, and given how little evidence there is, it wouldn't be wise to start an investigation _now. _You should keep me informed of further developments, though. Regardless of how little is actually going on, it's…"

"…uncomfortable, I know. It scares me how in the dark we really are, all things considered." Sakura's fingers tightened over her elbows. "To think, this might be just the tip of the iceberg…"

Kakashi put a hand on her shoulder. It was steady. "Or it might not be. Let's not panic for now. For all we know, we could just be seeing the remains of an experiment that ended _long_ ago."

She smiled, only slightly uneasy. "Yeah. Thanks for handling this so well, Kakashi-sensei."

"I just wanted to know what was going on. It's not as bad as I thought it was going to be."

"Really? What did you, ah, think was happening…?"

Kakashi didn't respond.

"…never mind." Sakura shook her head. "Well, Kakashi-sensei, I'll… keep you informed."

"Thanks, I appreciate it." A great deal of stress left his body when he exhaled.

(And yet, so much remained.)

"I'll be heading home, now. You take care."

"You too, Kakashi-sensei."

He went home with his hands in his pockets, his eye to the ground, almost shut.

He didn't even think of talking to Sasuke again. He had his precious answers, hazy and unsettling.

Instead, he had to talk to Yamato. He had made a promise, after all, hadn't he?

(He hadn't made a promise. But Yamato must have been so worried.)

His voice sounded almost calm on the other end of the line. "Hello, Yamato here."

"It's me."

"Kakashi-san? What happened? I've been holed up here with Kotoji and just scared out of my _wits _about what you said when you left. What's going on?"

"…nothing's going on. I was just… mistaken about something. There's nothing to be worried about."

"Well what _were_ you mistaken about?"

"…I thought I saw someone that could have hurt…" You. "Hurt Kotoji." Yes. "It was just a trick of my imagination."

"Someone? Who?"

The memory in negative burned in his mind. His grip on the phone tightened. "Uchiha… Itachi. I thought I saw him." It was an effort, injecting a bare layer of self-depreciating disbelief, in the hopes that it would offset… whatever Yamato would think.

It worked. "…why in the world would you think that? He-"

"I know, I know, it's impossible. That's why there's nothing to worry about. I was just… imagining it."

He couldn't have helped how he had reacted, but even then, he could have done better.

"Yamato, I… apologize for scaring you. It's my fault."

"But why did you-"

"Listen, just… forget it."

Cold, static silence. "…all right, Kakashi-san. I just hope you're all right. I mean, if you thought you saw him…"

"I'm fine, Yamato. Just… tired."

"…well, then, get your rest. Don't push yourself too hard. Take care of yourself."

"I will, Yamato. And…" Sigh. "And apologize to Kotoji-kun for me, if I ended up scaring him too."

A mild laugh. It helped. "I get the feeling he was more than fine, Kakashi-san."

"That's good, then. Well, goodnight."

"Goodnight, Kakashi-san."

Kakashi did not have a very good night.

And as it happened, neither did Sasuke.


	46. Trumpet Flower

**Author's Note:**

The following chapter contains instances of emotional, physical, and verbal abuse. I'm sorry, and thank you.  
- Rii

* * *

_Chapter 46 - Trumpet Flower_

* * *

Sasuke's flight from Kakashi's presence had been a swift and a panicked and a furious one.

If _she_ was with him.

How _dare_ she.

He flung open the door to his house and didn't bother taking off his shoes. His wife was in the kitchen.

(But she was not the only one in the house.)

"WHERE IS NADESHIKO."

He didn't even need to touch her to make her turn around and face him, immediately. "Sasuke, what's the matter-"

"Just answer my damn _question_, woman! WHERE _IS_ SHE?"

"Sasuke, calm down! She's home, she just got-"

"GET HER _DOWN_ HERE."

"I'm already here, Father."

And there she was, standing in the doorway of the kitchen. Her eyes—her awful, _awful_ eyes—were empty.

She knew what was coming.

(And she _ought_ to have.)

Sasuke locked eyes with her and he had his hand twisted into the fabric of her blouse's collar in an instant.

(He _hated_ how she was taller than him.)

"Is it true, that you've been with Yakata?" he said.

She didn't say anything.

"Sasuke, _honestly_, what's going _on?"_ Ino was quickly approaching from behind.

Sasuke's fingers tightened around the green fabric. "ANSWER ME. HAVE YOU BEEN WITH HIM OR _NOT?_"

"Sasuke!" His wife was only barely screaming.

"…I have been. He's been assisting me at the flower shop for the past few days."

She wasn't looking at him. Her voice was low, monotonous, and quiet, and it set him further on edge.

"WHO GAVE YOU _PERMISSION._"

Ino's hands were on his shoulders. "Sasuke, it's my fault, please, stop this, Yakata-kun asked about the flower shop and I've been letting him go with-"

He whipped his head back as he shook her off his shoulders, his eyes blazing. "_YOU_ STAY _OUT_ OF THIS."

Her hands snapped to her chin, fingers touching trembling fingers.

Sasuke reached for Nadeshiko's collar again, and he pulled her towards himself with both fists clenched more tightly than before.

Her face did not lose, not for a moment, its heavy calmness.

(_Just more proof,_ Sasuke thought to himself, his anger strengthening his hands and his voice, _just more proof that you didn't turn out right._)

"I _refuse_ to let you near him ever _again_." His voice was very, very quiet. "You are, from this point onward, not permitted to even _speak_ with him. Do you understand me?"

She didn't say anything, eyes focused just slightly beyond his feet.

He pulled, and grabbed, and lifted, and shoved her against the doorframe. There would probably be a bruise. Good.

"I _ASKED_ YOU, DO YOU _UNDERSTAND_ ME?"

Her head hung low, now, her hair flowing long and disgustingly over his arms. It covered her eyes.

"I WILL NOT HAVE YOU _CORRUPT_ HIM! NOT! HIM!"

Ino was somewhere in the room trying, with weak arms, to pull them apart.

Nadeshiko's arms hadn't even moved to support her weight when Sasuke had reached to shove her into the wall. Like a doll. Like a mannequin.

"Sa-Sa-Sa-Sasuke-san, wh-wh-what are you _doing?"_

And Yakata was in the hallway, having exited the bathroom. His hands were still slightly wet and his eyebrows were raised high with fear.

What a scene the boy must have witnessed.

Sasuke, his guardian, the one who should have been _protecting_ him, with his polluted hands curled into the shirt of a dark and a contaminative force, the hands of a wife resting on his. It could have been a woodcut, a painting, a cautionary tale.

But it undid itself. Sasuke let go of Nadeshiko. Ino let go of Sasuke.

But Yakata did not let go of his own hands.

"I was—issuing a warning to… Nadeshiko, Yakata. She's not to be around you any more."

His breathing was even.

Yakata's wasn't. "Wh-what? Why? Did I, did I, did I do something _wrong_? Oh I'm, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, I'm-"

"The only one at fault here, Yakata, is _her._ For allowing this to continue for so long."

Nadeshiko leaned against the wall, staring at an oblivion between her feet. Ino had hands on her, in a claiming sense, in a protective sense.

"I believe that your time in the flower shop is detrimental and distracts from your _training_, Yakata. And I don't want _her_ or ANYONE ELSE encouraging this."

His eyes were on his wife, on the girl. One and the same.

(Ino was right. It was partially her fault. How fortunate that he had a wife that owned up to her mistakes sometimes.)

"There are much better ways for you to be spending your time while you're in my home, and-"

"…b-but I, I like the flower shop."

Yakata's voice was so small, and yet it cut through everything.

"A-and, I, I, I don't think that… that Nadeshiko is… is _corrupting_ me… How would she be… how would she be… Did, did, did _she_ do something wrong…?"

His eyes were so much like.

Her eyes were.

"Did, did _I_ do something wrong? Because I, I, I didn't know that… I didn't know that I was, I was doing anything wrong, I'm so sorry…!"

"Yakata-kun, you've done _nothing_ wrong-" Ino's voice was cut apart by Sasuke's words, like knives.

"A flower shop is an _unbecoming_ place to spend your time."

"…but I, I, I, I… like flowers." There was sincerity in his voice, like poison. "I, I like helping at the shop, I, I like _helping_. It feels… it feels _good_, Sasuke-san. And, and Inoichi-san appreciates my help a lot, too, he, he told me…"

It pained Sasuke to have to wait but he couldn't dare interrupt the boy. "No excuse. There are better things for you to do."

"…no, there aren't. There's… there's n-nothing to do when we're not… training…" He had his fingers pulled into each other and they wouldn't stop moving. "P-please, Sasuke-san, I, I, I don't… I don't have anything else, I _want_ to be there…!"

Why did he have to have those _eyes?_

"…I also don't want you near Nadeshiko. I told you before, Yakata, she is _not_ someone I want you to be around."

Nadeshiko remained doll-silent, doll-still.

"But, but why? Sasuke-san, what, what did she do wrong? Why, why are you, why are you _mad_ at her? Why can't I… why can't I be around her? I mean, she's, Nadeshiko, she's been nothing but _nice_ to me! She makes me feel…" Yakata swallowed, loudly. His eyes were beginning to shine with tears. "I like her a _lot!_ Why are you so mad at her? Why are you h-hurting her? What did she do wrong?"

Yakata's voice began sounding more and more like a living memory, less and less like a broken record.

Sasuke's heart burned and tugged and clawed against the inside of his ribcage, screaming out the answer.

_Everything, everything, EVERYTHING._

But his mouth, normally so free in releasing his words, shut its gates and hoarded the flood of screaming high inside his chest.

Ino spoke, as if in surrogate. "Sasuke, honey, please, let's just… stay on the subject." She left Nadeshiko. "Yakata-kun's been _very_ happy working at the flower shop, I've _noticed_. It gives him something good to do, it gives him _purpose_." She reached for him with soiled arms. "His happiness has nothing to do with…"

Sasuke glared at her. He could still speak through his eyes.

There was anger and sadness and, most desirably, fear in her wordless reply.

And Sasuke breathed in deeply, loosening his throat. He had his eyes fiercely narrowed.

Why, why, _why._

"I, I, I just… please let me keep working at the shop with Nadeshiko-san, Sasuke-san. Please. St-stop, stop hurting her. She's, she's nice to me. Even if you're mad at her, you shouldn't hurt her…"

And suddenly he was five again, suddenly he was the one being scolded, suddenly he was clenching his fists and feeling all those old frustrations thawing and mixing with the oily, fiery anger of the present.

"You can… you can get mad at me, if you want, instead of her. It's okay, I, I won't care, it, it, it's my fault anyways... Just don't… hurt her."

(_"Hate me, little brother.")_

(Was that what desperation was supposed to look like, when not tarnished by years of corruption, years of repressed emotions?)

"Fine, just… fine. Is that how it's going to be? Fine. Go ahead. Waste your talent. See if I care. Go ahead and let it _rot_."

He had to get out of that house.

And he did.

It took Ino a very long time for her to apologize to Yakata, long after Sasuke had left some hyper-expectation of earshot. She approached the boy, cautiously, as if hot steam surrounded him. "Yakata-kun, I'm… I'm _so _sorry you had to see that, Sasuke must have been… having a bad day…"

Nadeshiko had removed herself from the wall. She moved past them without even touching them.

Yakata followed her, even though she was too fast for him.

Ino called out after him, but he only barely heard.

If he didn't run, if he didn't _run_ she'd disappear, she'd be gone forever, he just knew, he just knew.

And just before the door to her bedroom closed, he reached out and he took her hand in his. "Nadeshiko!"

She did not pull, but she kept the rest of her body far from him. Her face was turned away.

"Nadeshiko are you, are you hurt? What happened? Why was, why was Sasuke-san so angry at you? What's wrong?"

"…I'm sorry, Yakata-kun. You don't deserve this."

And then her hand slipped out of his and the door closed in his face.

Yakata tried the door handle. It was locked.

He tried again. His breathing quickened. "Nadeshiko! Nadeshiko! Please, don't…!"

He wanted to cry.

"Just tell me what happened! Is it my fault? Is it, is it my… I'm, I'm so sorry, I'm so _sorry_, just please, tell me…!"

He leaned forward and pressed his head against the wood of the door and quick, sobbing breaths filled him to the stomach.

"I didn't, I don't, I didn't mean to get you in trouble, I'm so sorry…!"

He fell to his knees. The wood against his head was neither cold nor warm.

His mind drowned in memories, in the things that Nadeshiko, that Sasuke had said.

Someone was coming up the stairs.

Yakata tried closing his mouth and swallowing. He wiped his eyes against his forearm.

"Hey, hey, don't get so upset. It's not _really_ your fault."

It wasn't Ino. It was a male voice.

He looked up, wiping his eyes again. And in removing the tears and the blur he saw that it was Takeru. There was a look of detached concern on his face. His hands were in his pockets.

"N-not my fault…?"

"No, no, of _course_ not," Takeru replied. He spoke like Ino did. "Father's not mad at _you_ at all. And it's _certainly_ not your fault for him getting so mad at Nadeshiko."

Yakata sniffed, deeply. He wiped his eyes against his forearm again.

Takeru continued. "Honestly, I'm surprised that this hasn't happened more, since you've arrived. Then again, what with everyone so busy these days…"

"Wh-what do you mean…?"

And there Takeru's face softened. He took his hands out of his pockets and knelt down to eye level with Yakata, his arms on his knees. "Father and Nadeshiko are just_ always_ at each other's throats. It's usually not so bad, when she's out of the house. She _disgusts_ him, you know."

The feeling in Yakata's gut was like a village boy's fist. "D-d-disgusts him…? Why?"

Takeru's eyes, small and black, lowered. "It's… a long story."

"But what, what, what happened? What's, why is that?"

Takeru just shifted his shoulders and looked at Nadeshiko's door. "Maybe you should talk to _her_ about it sometime. Because Father does _not_ bring it up. And, well. I don't think it's really my place to say anything, myself…"

"B-but I don't, but she's not allowed to, to talk to me any more…"

"Oh, I don't think that will stop _her_. If she wants to say something she'll _say_ it. No matter _what_ my father says."

Somehow, this wasn't a comfort to Yakata.

And somehow, Takeru seemed to notice this. He took an arm off of his knees and put his hand on Yakata's back. "I'm just going to leave you with a little warning, Yakata-kun: I'd be _careful _around her, if I were you. She could _hurt_ you, and something tells me you'd _hardly_ deserve it if she did."

"H-hurt me? But she'd, she'd never…"

Nadeshiko couldn't hurt anyone. Her hands were too gentle.

(But Yatsu in the park. But she hadn't even touched him.)

(And what Ino had said afterwards. _"She didn't do anything to you, did she?"_)

But Takeru wasn't saying anything, and his face held an expression that couldn't have been anything but pity.

(_"I'm sorry, Yakata-kun. You don't deserve this."_)

("_I WILL NOT LET YOU CORRUPT HIM!"_)

It felt like the world was crumbling around his and Takeru's feet. Yakata buried his face in his hands and curled up into himself.

He still had Takeru's hand on his back. "Hey, hey, I didn't say that she _was_ going to hurt you. I just said that she could. She can't hurt you if you aren't near her, you know."

But the morning had been one of beautiful flowers and gentle words and.

Everything had been _okay_.

But when Sasuke came home, when Sasuke came home…

(Was it really that fragile, this happiness? Like a glass dream.)

(He'd cracked it.)

(It _had_ been too good to be true.)

(Yakata ruined everything he touched.)

(_"Witch-boy."_)

Yakata began crying again, and his sobs were hard and wet and anguished.

Even with Takeru's hand on his back, he felt more alone than he had in a very, very long time.

"Go get some sleep. It'll make you feel better," Takeru said, when he finally left. "My father will be calmed down by the time you wake up, most likely."

Yakata didn't want to leave Nadeshiko's door.

(Not a single sound had come out of her room, since she had closed it.)

(_"She can't hurt you if you aren't near her, you know."_)

But she would never.

(But why would Takeru say…?)

But she was his friend.

(_"She didn't do anything to you, did she?"_)

He went back to Hajime's room and hid himself underneath the blankets as the sky grew darker and darker.

And tried not to think about it.

He was woken up by a knock on the door, and Ino's voice behind it. "Yakata-kun, I… brought you some dinner. Everyone else has eaten. Sasuke… told me to get you but I didn't want to wake you up."

He blinked, sleepily. His head hurt. He dug his head into the pillow, eyes half-closed and dry.

Ino continued. "Sasuke said… he's taking the night off from training tonight. So rest as much as you want, okay…?"

Yakata didn't say anything.

"You can leave the dishes downstairs when you're done. I'll wash them."

He listened to Ino's footsteps down the hallway, down the stairs, gone.

The blankets were still warm from body heat, and the air felt cold when Yakata left the bed. He rubbed his eyes and opened the door. Meat, soup, rice, a glass of water, chopsticks, all left on a tray for him.

In looking down the hallway at the space where Ino had walked, Yakata saw another tray left in front of Nadeshiko's door. The same food, minus the meat.

He almost wanted to wait for her to open that door, to get her own food, so he could…

…but she wasn't allowed to talk to him, so it wasn't like anything would have happened.

(The things that Takeru had said, about her hurting him, rested quietly at the back of his mind, processed from his sleep.)

(The only person that could hurt him here was himself.)

(And his inability to do anything right.)

He took his food and set it on Hajime's desk and quietly and quickly began to eat.

(Trying not to look at the dried gift by the photograph, trying not to look at the narcissus in a vase that Nadeshiko had lent him. It had not wilted.)

The tray was gone from in front of Nadeshiko's door by the time he went downstairs to put his dishes away. He heard the television in the closed living room, heading down the hallway, but the house felt otherwise completely and utterly empty.

He went back to bed. His eyelids were heavy and the sheets were warm.

When he woke up and went downstairs, Ino was cleaning up from what was evidently a very small lunch. "Oh, Yakata-kun… Did you just wake up?" He nodded, rubbing his eye. "You were asleep for the _longest_ time. You must be hungry. What can I make for you?"

He shrugged, and sat down at the table. Ino began taking things out of the fridge.

There was a clock on the wall above the sink, and he saw that it was just past one.

"Nadeshiko-san's not, not home right now, is she," he said.

Ino paused, a knife in her hand. "…no, she left early in the morning, to go to the shop."

"Without me."

Ino sighed. "Yakata-kun, please try not to feel so bad about… what happened." She began slathering butter onto a slice of bread. "None of this is your fault."

It was.

He didn't say anything.

"…but, for your sake—even if you _really_ want to go—I think you should avoid working at the shop and just stay home. For now, I mean." She tore a leaf of lettuce. "It'll make things easier for… you."

Yakata wondered if it was possible to want to do something and not-want to do something so badly at the same time.

"…okay, Ino-san. I'll, I'll stay home today. It… it's what I should have done in the, the first place…"

Ino was quiet. She finished the sandwich, cut it in half, and put it in front of him, but she didn't leave immediately.

He looked at the sandwich, at her, and he saw that same pity on her face that he'd seen on Takeru's, the night before.

"Yakata-kun, this _really_ isn't your fault. If anything, it's… mine. I knew that… Sasuke probably wouldn't be happy if he found out where you were spending your time, so I should have…"

"St-stopped me? Before I even, I even left, right?"

"…no, I should have done a better job at… protecting you. Keeping him from finding out."

Yakata lowered his eyes. Ino's kindness felt twisted and strange.

"We'll figure something out, eventually. I don't think it's fair to keep you from something you… like so much."

Yakata almost liked Nadeshiko more than the flowers.

"But let's lay low for now, okay? Now eat your lunch, you must be hungry…"

"…thanks, Ino-san…"

He ate the sandwich, but he didn't taste it.

The day was long and it was empty. It felt like waiting.

Yakata tried to read, but he couldn't concentrate.

He wasn't allowed to take a walk.

And when he went to go try watching the television, he ended up falling asleep on the couch to the sounds of a soap opera romance.

Ino woke him up and offered to have him help make dinner. It was the closest thing to fun he had all day.

Sasuke's face was narrow and tight while they were eating. He didn't say much.

Nadeshiko wasn't even there.

And Takeru kept looking sideways at Yakata, quietly, with unreadable little eyes.

And after dinner Sasuke pulled Yakata aside and said, "You're learning the Uchiha fireball technique tonight. Get your shoes on, we're leaving to train."

He couldn't say no. He couldn't mess things up when people told him what to do.

(Unless he messed them up in the doing.)

(He still felt he was at fault.)

Sasuke taught him how to gather his chakra in his chest and blow it out through his mouth. There was an eagerness and a passion in the way he went about the lesson, that night. Yakata had never before seen it in him.

And he got angry when, try after try after try, the most Yakata could ever produce was a fireball the size of his fist.

"You can _do_ this, Yakata! Try harder! More chakra, more control! Turn it into _fire!_"

"I, I'm trying!"

"Try _harder!_"

So Yakata did. The skin on his upper arms was starting to hurt, especially when he touched them

There was very little progress made.

Sasuke gave up midway through the night. "We're done. We'll continue tomorrow. We're going home."

Yakata went with him, apologizing.

Sasuke didn't tell him that it was okay, that it wasn't his fault.

When he bathed that night, Yakata's arms burned with the fire he had tried so desperately to create, and his face stung.

Nadeshiko still wasn't home.

She was gone in the morning, too. Ino didn't say anything about it. Yakata didn't ask.

He passed the day, somehow. He practiced concentrating his chakra. He figured that maybe it would help.

Yakata made some progress that night, with Sasuke. The fireball grew just that little bit larger.

(And with it, so did the pain on his arms, his face, his hands, now.)

His chest ached.

Sasuke didn't acknowledge any of this, just pushing him onward, harder.

"It shouldn't be this _hard_ for you. It took me a week to learn when I was _eight_. You can do _better_."

Yakata quietly bandaged his hands, his arms.

In the morning, (another, a third morning without Nadeshiko), Ino soothed the pain for him and put bandages on his singed cheeks, and made him breakfast.

Yakata didn't feel like reading.

(He didn't want to enter Nadeshiko's room, despite the wonderful oasis of books she herself owned.)

He couldn't bring himself to fall asleep, even in front of the television.

(His arms still hurt to touch, even with Ino's help.)

He tried exploring the house but he got as far as the second drawer on Hajime's bureau before giving up, feeling like he was prying in places that ought not to be pried into.

And when they were cleaning the lunch they had made together, the winding ache in is heart grew too great to hold in, and he grabbed onto Ino's sleeve.

"Ino-san, can you, can, can you please just… take me to the shop for a few minutes today, please…" He couldn't even bring himself to look at her. "I have nothing to do and I, I can't, I can't _stand_ it. I'll even, I'll even stay away from Nadeshiko, I won't even say hello to her, just let me go, please, we don't have to tell…"

(Oh, what Ino would have given to just shatter everything holding her back to hug that boy and give him what he wanted.)

(From an argument, the night that Sasuke found out: "Do not let him leave the house. Do _not_ let him leave the house! If he's been out—and I'll _know_ if he's been out, Ino—then I'm going to have to lock him up in Hajime's room unless I'm with him. You wouldn't like that, would you? And you tell me you did it because you felt _sorry_ for him. _Sorry_ for him!")

(And this was after all the words Sasuke had given her about how stupid she was and how careless she was for even allowing this all to happen.)

(And everything else Sasuke had said to her, and her sick uncertainty, the irrational fears sometimes that there really was Itachi's mind hiding behind those eyes.)

(Even though the boy was really, truly, and honestly growing on her.)

"I'm… sorry, Yakata-kun. I don't think we're… safe yet."

And Yakata just fixed his eyes on the sink and said, "Oh. I'm, I'm sorry, I, I, I, I shouldn't have asked…"

"…it's all right," she said, and twisted the tap to rinse off the plate she was washing.

Yakata spent the rest of the day in Hajime's room. Meditating. Concentrating chakra.

(_"There are much better ways for you to be spending your time while you're in my home."_)

(Maybe things would be better if he actually listened more.)

(He'd told himself this many times, even before coming to Sasuke's house.)

There was a break in the monotony when Ino suddenly stopped her work in peeling potatoes—Yakata was peeling carrots beside her—and a great wide smile broke on her face.

"Yakata-kun, go into the pantry and get two more carrots and one more potato, once you're done there," she said.

"Wh-why is that?"

"Hajime's coming around for dinner tonight, we want to make sure there's enough curry for him."

(His smile, given form by his quiet admiration of that wordless communication, was a small comfort for her heart, but it was enough.)

Hajime arrived early, before his father and the rest of his siblings. "Lemme set the table, Mom. Before Karai," he said, after giving his mother a kiss on the cheek.

"Well _you're_ cheerful." Ino's smile was curled and curious as Hajime reached up for the plates.

"I've had a good week," he replied.

"Apparent_ly!_"

"I'll, um, I'll help too if you, if you want."

Hajime suddenly seemed to notice Yakata's presence, and he blinked a few times. "Oh. Hi there. How's my room treating you?"

"Oh, it's." And suddenly Yakata was bowing. "Th-thank you for letting me stay there! I, I, I really appreciate it!"

This Hajime seemed so different from the one that Yakata had first met. He smiled warmly and genuinely. He didn't look as tired. "It's no big deal. Here, you hold the plates. I'll get the water glasses too."

There was a slight pause in the conversation as they set the table together. "Dad working you hard?"

"Huh?"

"The bandages."

Yakata's hands were careful as he put down the next plate. "O-oh, um, I'm, I'm just only a little bit, um. Hurt."

"You must be a tough kid."

Yakata's head lowered. His cheeks hurt from his mouth stretching into what he hoped wasn't a smile. "I don't think so, not really…"

"Hajime, dear, you never _did_ tell me why you decided to come home tonight," Ino said, from the stove.

"Karai suggested it. Thought it'd be nice for me to poke my head in. We figured Dad would approve."

Ino paused, stirring the curry thoughtfully. "Well I'll be sure to thank her when she comes home for giving you the idea, Hajime. It's very nice of both of you."

"Eh. I guess," Hajime said.

It was strange, how in exchanges like this, even in just hearing them, Yakata found himself just that little bit more at ease with things.

(_"No, you're just very careful in choosing your words."_)

But when Sasuke got home—maybe even before then, in how Hajime so carefully pulled Karai off of him when she herself returned—his quiet enthusiasm had dampened and been replaced by a feeling of lukewarm distance.

And when Sasuke asked him why he was home, he gave a different answer. "The team got an assignment recently. A live one, eastern coast, causing a _lot_ of trouble. We leave tomorrow."

"Oh, a live one?" Karai said. "As in, someone new?"

"We might have a legitimate first-generation curse seal on our hands," Hajime replied. "It's very exciting." And Yakata saw, for a moment, his eyes grow warm as he addressed his little sister.

"And what does this have to do with anything?" Sasuke said.

Gone. "I thought it would be nice to spend one last night at home before we leave. I've been gone for so long, anyways. Figured I owe you guys that much, since I know you prefer me being home, Dad."

"I do," Sasuke said, though his posture was not terribly stiff. "And where have you been staying lately, anyways?"

"Jimichi's house."

"Ah. Your medic."

"Yeah, he let me sleep on his couch once I explained what was going on. It's been fun."

"_Fun_."

"Yeah. Though I do like being home, it's nice to take a break sometimes. Plus I think that Yakata-kun needs the space more than me."

"Well aren't _you_ generous," Takeru said, before taking a bite of rice.

"That_ is_ very generous of you, Hajime," Sasuke said.

Inou laughed and tried to make it look like he was sneezing. Takeru sourly took another bite of rice.

"I do want you home for good soon, though," Sasuke continued. "There is such a thing as being _too_ generous, you know."

"The guest's needs come before our own though, Father."

Inou shoved a spoonful of curry into his mouth to keep from betraying another reaction.

"_Family_ is what is ultimately the most important, Hajime. Yakata won't be here forever."

"Mm. So you want me back once Yakata-kun's gone home?"

"_Before_ then, if possible. If your medic's couch is good enough for you then our couch at home should be good enough too. You've been gone far too long."

Hajime paused. His eyes half-closed in thought.

"How about this, Dad. I'll come by for dinner again after the mission and make an effort at least once a week until Yakata-kun returns home."

"…and you can't be home full-time why?"

"Because Jimichi's couch is really comfortable."

Inou had his lips pressed very, very tightly over his spoon. Karai began to giggle, and even Yakata had to laugh, a little. Mainly it was because of Hajime's voice, dull and monotonous, and the sincerity he somehow managed to convey with it.

"…fine. Just make an effort."

"Sure thing, Dad. It's the least I can do. Sorry for being out so much."

"Hm." Sasuke went back to his food.

Even though Nadeshiko wasn't there, Yakata found himself not feeling bad much at all. His chest felt warm.

A seed of negotiation was beginning to grow, an idea.

And when he and Sasuke had left to go training that evening, he said, "Sasuke-san, can I, can I ask you something?"

"Anything."

"Is there, um. Is there any way for me to, to go back to the flower shop?"

An uncomfortable pause. "I'd rather you didn't."

"B-because it's distracting, right?"

"It is. You should be-"

"I don't, um. I don't think it's that distracting."

Sasuke looked at him. His face was slightly, but not angrily frozen. "And why do you say that."

"Because, well. Before you, you found out about what I was… doing, I was making good progress, right…?"

"…I suppose."

"And I've." Yakata swallowed, and his courage was heavy as it went down his throat. "I've actually been practicing a little on my own time, honest. I, I, I just want to, um. To go back. For a little while. I can hardly… hardly stand it otherwise… I have n-nothing else to do…"

No response from Sasuke.

"…I promise, I won't, I won't even try to say hello to Nadeshiko while I'm there. I promise."

Yakata said, hoping maybe it'd be a lie.

No response from Sasuke.

Yakata breathed deeply. "Sasuke-san, _please_…"

"I understand if you're a little bored, Yakata, but you're here to train. Not play with flowers." He continued onward, further into the training grounds. "Come on."

Yakata didn't move. "I, I _am_ training! But I… I want to do other things too!"

His heart was beating hard and terrifyingly fast in his ears.

Sasuke stopped walking. Back facing Yakata.

"Just… you said I was, I was making progress, right?"

"…you're taking to this new technique slowly. We have to spend more time on it. Now let's drop the issue, we're wasting enough time as it is."

Enormous air filled Yakata's lungs. "Then when I learn the technique, will you, will you let me _go?_ I'll, I'll try my hardest, I promise!"

Sasuke finally, finally turned around. "You mean to say you want me to let you go back to that… _flower_ shop once you perfect this technique?"

Yakata nodded, heavily, strongly. "I'll try my, my very hardest. I won't w-waste any more time."

And Sasuke—of all things—smiled. But it was a challenging smile. "I suppose that's fair. If it'll motivate you on further, well. The faster you learn this, the better."

"I promise, I'll learn it really… really quickly!" Yakata said. "But it's, it's okay, right?"

"We'll see."

Oh, to restrain that smile on Yakata's face.

He had never thrown himself so hard into his training.

His chakra bloomed and burst and popped and crackled in his chest.

(The faster he learned the faster he would.)

Sasuke watched on, yelling, spurring him forward, a hot and a burning sun.

(He had to learn it, he had to learn this.)

His arms in their bandages were barely singed. He smelled like sunburn and fire and sweat.

(Every breath brought him closer to.)

Bigger, bigger, _bigger._

Time wore on.

(Every second brought him closer to.)

It was later than they'd ever stayed out training.

(Every second away from.)

Sasuke said, once, that maybe they should take a break.

Yakata said no.

And so they continued.

(He had to.)

Yakata breathed in deeply and deeply and every breath was a wish.

(He'd soon be there. Back where he.)

And out.

(Belonged.)

The fireball illuminated Sasuke's face with reds and oranges and Yakata's uneasy triumph.

And Yakata stood, knees weak, head hollow and dizzy, gasping for air. Everything felt like it was on glorious fire.

"Was that… was that… what it's supposed to… look like?" he said, almost laughing.

Sasuke wasn't smiling. What was on his face was something resembling disbelief, or disappointment.

"O-okay, I'll try again! I'll try again, it'll be better this time…!"

(One more, he wouldn't mess up this time.)

Breathe in, deeply.

"Yakata…!"

And out.

And for six blindingly glorious seconds, night turned into day.

The effort brought Yakata to his knees.

Almost.

Sasuke caught him. His hands on Yakata's back were surprisingly gentle. "That was more than enough. You didn't have to do that."

The air felt so cold as Yakata just half-sat, half-stood there, gasping for it.

"I did… a good job…?"

"It was amazing. I knew you had it in you."

The praise entered his heart like cool water and he grinned with his chin falling toward his chest.

He'd done _amazing_.

"So I can… I can… go now…? To the shop…?"

The pause seemed to last for a horrible forever and Yakata's breaths began to slow as his worry increased. He closed his eyes.

"…not _tonight_, you need to rest after all that hard work."

Yakata looked up. Sasuke wasn't smiling, wasn't looking at him, but he didn't seem… angry. Or even remotely unhappy.

"Oh, oh, I, I understand, that's fine!" He tried standing up. His knees buckled, and Sasuke had to catch him again.

"Careful. Let's go home. You've burned some of your hair."

"Oh, I'm, I'm sorry…"

There, Sasuke laughed. "Just take a bath. Come on."

He gave Yakata an arm, a shoulder to lean on, and they slowly began on their way back.

"You know, Yakata."

"Mm?"

"That technique you just learned. In the old days, when the clan was… bigger, you weren't considered a member of the clan until you learned it."

(_"That's my boy."_)

(The words did not belong to Yakata, however. Yakata wasn't his boy.)

(Takeru was.)

"…so I'm pretty proud of you, Yakata. You learned it… well, even quicker than I did. Then again, you _are_ older…"

Yakata looked up with a raw, awkward smile on his face. "You, you mean it?"

"Yes."

He glanced sideways, his smile closing slightly. "Um, um, Sasuke-san? So… so how fast did, um. My… my father learn it?"

Sasuke searched his memory.

(And all he could find was Yakata.)

(And a memory of a fire-spitting girl that had learned it near-instantly.)

(He kept his mind on Yakata.)

"I don't know. But I'm sure you… did better than him."

"…really?"

"Well, I don't know. But let's say you did. He'd be proud of you too."

(And for reasons that Sasuke couldn't quite fathom, Yakata's closeness to him no longer felt so awkward, nor so full of obligation. His grip became just that little bit tighter.)

"So, um. That, that, that rule, does it, does it still apply?"

(Every one of his children had learned the technique.)

(Inou was the last one to learn it. In his weakness it had taken him almost a full year to even barely touch Yakata's performance.)

"I suppose it does. You are your… father's son, after all."

(Maybe the corruption hadn't settled in after all.)

(Especially considering the unfitting motivation for all of this wonderful growth.)

But Yakata was smiling. A proven Uchiha.

They reached the gate. Yakata let go of him. "I think I can… I can make it the rest of the way, Sasuke-san."

"Mm. Go take a bath. Rest. You deserve it."

"Thanks, Sasuke-san." Yakata walked, almost limping, to the front door, and he opened it. "Um. And. Um." He lingered in the foyer. His toes played against the heel of his shoes, almost slipping them off. "How soon until I, I can, um. G-go to the flower shop?"

(That dirty motivation.)

(…it was still a motivation.)

"…I'll talk to my wife about letting her take you tomorrow."

The smile Sasuke received was the warmest he'd gotten yet that day. It almost unnerved him.

(Itachi had never smiled that warmly.)

(Until the day he'd died.)

(But he took a quiet, twisted comfort in the fact that such a weak desire had unleashed so much latent power. Progress was progress.)

"You deserve it," he said again.

"Th-thank you, Sasuke-san," Yakata said, and he left to go take a bath.

Sasuke told Ino the news while Yakata was occupied, quietly and quickly and without any other, superfluous emotions.

"Why the change of heart?" she said. She was reading, on their bed, in her pajamas.

(Training had gone long, that night. He was surprised that she was still awake.)

(Truthfully, though, she couldn't have let herself sleep peacefully until they had returned.)

(For the boy's sake.)

"He proved himself to me. Nothing more. I'm going to bed," he said. He walked toward the closet.

"Sasuke, you smell like a bonfire."

"It's not that bad. I'll take a bath in the morning."

She returned to her book and kept her eyes firmly away from him as he took off his shirt and threw it in the hamper, and put on his pajama pants, leaving his chest bare. It was a warm night.

(There was nothing to see. It wasn't like Sasuke would let her enjoy his admittedly well-kept body, anyways.)

"At least let me keep the light on."

"That's fair," he said, and he got under the blankets, not even saying goodnight.

Ino, feeling generous, only read for a few more pages before turning in, herself. She couldn't bring herself to feel spiteful.

Though she couldn't help but wonder how Yakata had managed to turn Sasuke's opinion around so strongly.

Not after that night.


	47. Black Iris

_Chapter 47 - Black Iris_

* * *

Yakata slept in the next day, despite his excitement. He couldn't help it. Everything ached, everything burned, but it had been a sleep of profound and wonderful satisfaction.

Ino almost had to gasp when he came down in the early afternoon for lunch. "Yakata-kun, what happened to your _face?_"

He had bandages plastered to it, placed there the night before. He'd had to sleep on his back, because his cheeks were too sore to press against the pillows.

"I, I think I'm a little burnt from, from training last night," he said. His smile was necessarily small. "I tried to treat it a bit myself…"

"Oh you poor_ dear_, just look at you." She went up to him with both hands raised. "I hate burns, they're so difficult to heal properly… Here, give me your arms at least. I won't be able to do a thing to your face, but…"

"It, it's okay, Ino-san, it, it doesn't hurt that much." But he gave her his arms anyways. She unwrapped the bandages and found the skin was red and peeling, and sticky from the ointment he'd applied. He was learning.

"Well, either way…" Her hands glowed that pale blue-green, and she kept her eyes on them, watching, feeling the flesh beneath the dead skin slowly heal itself. "What do you want me to make you for lunch, before we leave?"

"Be-before we leave?"

"Mhm. I'll be dropping you off before I get groceries today."

"Dropping… dropping me off where?"

She looked up from her work. "Well, the flower shop, of course. Sasuke told me last night all about what you did."

His smile hurt, it was so big. "You, you mean he really meant it?"

Back to his arms, with a careful smile. "Well of course he did, he's not a man to break his promises… Especially not to you, Yakata-kun."

A laugh. "Well, um, uh, I'll, I'll have anything for lunch! Anything's fine!"

"That sounds fine." She took her hands off of him. "Scrub your arms with lots of soap and water, now. I'll get fresh bandages for you."

He ate his lunch with a stinging mouth and stiff arms, and he wore rubber gloves when he helped her clean up afterwards.

She kept him very close to her, on their way over. She carried a brown leather handbag under her shoulder, and walked with a quick pace.

There was a strange parade of emotions that rolled across his eyes as they began to approach the shop. Wide, shining excitement was there, but it was just as quickly replaced by a dull almost-fear.

"Um. Um. Um, Ino-san?"

"Yes?" She leaned in closely, almost unable to hear him over the sound of the nearby transport station.

"I, I um. I promised Sasuke-san that I, I wouldn't, um. That, that I wouldn't t-talk to Nadeshiko. If she was there. But, but if she is there, what, what should I, um. Do…?"

(His hunched shoulders and his face reminded Ino, heartbreakingly, of a much-younger Inou. Takeru and Hajime had never been so open with their emotions.)

"What he doesn't know won't hurt him. A little broken promise here and there is fine."

There, his eyes widened slightly, hopefully. "Y-you really mean it?"

"Trust me, Yakata-kun. I'm speaking from experience." Ino winked at him, smiling.

(Oh, but Ino's lies and broken promises were so much greater than associating with her stain of a daughter.)

(Then again, the things that Sasuke held dear were so very different from hers.)

They approached the entrance. "Now, I'm planning on picking you up in a few hours, but if Nadeshiko offers to bring you home… well, I'd be inclined to go with her. It'd be nice."

Yakata's mouth was tightly pinched.

"…or I'll just pick you up as scheduled. Don't worry so much about what we need to do, okay?" She patted him on the back and scooted him toward the shop. "Daddy, dearest, we have a surprise guest!"

Inoichi looked so very, genuinely surprised. "Yakata-kun!"

"H-hi there, Inoichi-san." Yakata wiggled his fingers in a hesitant hello.

"Well what brings _you_ back? And what happened to your _face?_" He chuckled. "You look like a roast ham."

"Yakata-kun can tell you everything later. I've got _shopping_ to do!" She ducked out with an petal-like wave of the hand. "I'll be back eventually! Ta!"

Somehow, Yakata didn't feel so terribly alone with Ino gone. He smiled, slightly.

"So, really. The bandages?"

"I, I got a little hurt practicing a new technique with, with, um, Sasuke-san." He scratched the corner of his mouth with a finger. "It, um. It's actually the reason I'm, I'm even here, so…"

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. Sasuke-san said, um. Well I, I kinda made a deal with him, actually… But, but he said when I learned the technique that I could come back and, and work at the shop again…" Yakata shuffled his feet. "Kinda… kinda silly, right?"

"Well I certainly think it's _something_. That's very impressive." Inoichi leaned amicably against the till and smiled a smile that wrinkled his eyes. "I'm glad to see you back, boy. I missed you."

"I, I missed you too, Inoichi-san. I'm, um. I'm glad to _be_ back." He looked up, shyly, with a little smile. "So, um. Is, is, is there, is there anything I, I can, um. Do for you today…?"

"Well Nadeshiko's in the back doing the usual, but I don't know if she, ah… wants to be disturbed, right now."

"Ah…"

"Though…" Inoichi looked at Yakata over the top of his glasses, "I get the feeling she'd be very glad to see you anyways."

Yakata nodded, gulping air. "O-okay."

He could see her there in the back room, hair almost brushing the floor behind her from where she sat. He approached cautiously, slowly, his hands pulled to his chest, thumbs touching thumbs.

"Um, Nadeshiko-san…?"

"Hello, Yakata-kun. I didn't expect to see you back." She didn't turn to look at him, instead binding together a pair of lilac blossoms with tape.

"I, I, I, um. Well I didn't, either, really…"

No reply.

"Would you, um. Would you like me to help you with arrangements today, Nadeshiko-san…?"

No reply.

Yakata's chest began to ache. "Oh, um, I, I'm sorry, I'll, I'll just, I'll just go help Inoichi-san then…"

But as he was leaving, he saw her head move out of the corner of his eye, and she spoke.

"Did you really make a deal like that with my father, to come back here?"

Her face carried that same, unbearably empty pain in it, the same he had seen on that day with Yatsu.

And Yakata nodded, trying to look at her and not his feet. "It, it seemed only fair, 'cos, 'cos he was so concerned with me, um. Not, not wasting time. So I… proved I could still do well. An' come back… here."

She blinked, once, twice. "I recognize those burns. The Uchiha fireball technique, isn't it."

"Y-yeah… You learned it too?"

When she lowered her eyes, it looked like they were closed. "Once. A long time ago."

"Ah…"

There was a long pause.

"I'll, I'll just, uh. I'll just go then…"

She spoke again before he could leave. "You didn't have to… push yourself so far, for this. It's not really worth it."

"…I, I really wanted to… to come back, though," Yakata said. "I, I couldn't stand being away. …stupid, I know…"

She looked up. "I don't… think it's stupid."

And she smiled.

(And his heart felt just that much lighter.)

"I'm glad you were able to come back. I'm just sad you're so hurt."

"Aw, it's… it's not so bad, and it'll, it'll heal anyways…" Yakata said. He looked down, sideways, his feet shifting weight. "But… thanks."

She pulled out the stool beside her. "I could use a little help," she said. "Some lily-of-the-valley, if you can? I'm going for a vertical look with this arrangement."

"Oh, sure, right away!"

He settled back into his role as if it had been made for him, and his face no longer even seemed to burn, so much as it seemed to glow with the happiness and relief he was feeling.

Though there was so much tension still left in his stomach, and none of it was settled by the fact that Nadeshiko was staying so very, very quiet. Her only speech was to request a flower, a ribbon, a tool. Nothing more, nothing less.

He managed to ask her, an hour, two hours later—he couldn't tell—after salvaging the courage he thought he'd had, "Where have you, um. Where have you been, by the way…? Because you, I haven't seen you in the… house…"

She took her time in finishing a section of the bouquet before answering. "I've been staying at my grandfather's house. I figured it would make things easier."

"M-make _what_ easier?"

She didn't answer that.

He felt shameful for shattering what had been an otherwise peaceful silence.

More time passed, pleasantly, painfully. Yakata gathered bravery like shells on the beach, bit by tiny bit, though his back ached from stooping over so much.

He spent a small amount in asking, once the orders had all been filled.

("I always seem to get done so much faster with you around," she had said, and the compliment fell heavily into his stomach.)

She was almost ready to begin on another project, but, "Um, Nadeshiko-san, would you, um. Walk home with me? 'Cos we're, we're almost all done here, see, and…"

"Wasn't my mother going to come and pick you up?"

He sucked in another breath. "I-I'd like to go back with _you_, though. If, if, if that… if that's okay, I mean…"

He couldn't explain why she looked so very sad when she said, "All right, just help me clean up, then."

So he did. He had to. And he told Inoichi to pass the message on to Ino about where they were going.

They left for home.

Together.

Silently.

With only the sounds of the rumbling transports for company.

Yakata was almost regretting what he had done. She had nothing more to do but surely she liked being at the shop just as much as he did, so who was he to take her from there?

But he wanted to walk home with her.

His courage weighed heavily in his guts.

And suddenly they were at the gates of the Uchiha house. "I'll be heading back, now," she said, quietly.

"A-aren't you coming in?" Yakata said.

"I'll probably continue staying at my grandfather's for a while longer; all my things are still there."

Twist. "O-oh, I… I see…"

"Goodbye, Yakata-kun. It was very nice to see you again."

She turned to leave.

He kept his courage from rising in his throat and instead pushed it into his arm, and he grabbed the string of her purse. "Na-Nadeshiko-san, wait…!"

She turned around. "What is it," she said.

"I'm." He gulped. "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry for, for asking this, but…"

(_"Why don't you ask her about it sometime?"_)

"…Nadeshiko-san, why does, why does… your father hate you so much…?"

She didn't say anything.

"I, I, I, I'm only asking because I saw… I saw how badly he, he hurt you the other day, and, and, and I just want to know what happened…"

She didn't say anything.

Yakata's shoulders rose to his ears and he closed his eyes, tightly.

"…I'm sorry, I'm, I'm sorry, if you… if you don't want to talk about it that's… that's okay, I'm, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked…"

She put a hand on his shoulder. "It's… okay, Yakata-kun. I… heard you, that night. Behind my door. And I heard the things you and Takeru were saying."

He looked up at her.

She wore that same smile that her mother, that her brother had worn.

But hers was far, far sadder.

"I'm very sorry for worrying you. It's not fair."

He swallowed. "I just… want to know what's going on…" he said, quietly, shamefully.

And Nadeshiko looked down, and sideways. "…I did something, a long time ago. Something unforgivable."

His stomach twisted like someone's hand was around it.

"Wha-wha-what did… what did you do…?" Yakata's voice was almost a whisper.

There was another pause, a very long one.

"…Yakata-kun, I want you to help me with something very important tomorrow. Can you do that?"

Twist.

Tomorrow was a Saturday.

(_"She's always gone on Saturdays. I figured she'd tell you."_)

"Well, well of course, I'll, of course I'll help you. What do, what do you need me to do?"

"Just come to the flower shop, as usual. You can have my mother take you. I'll explain everything then. I promise."

Hers was a smile that preluded tears.

(Though if they were her tears or Yakata's had yet to be seen.)

"O-okay, Nadeshiko-san. I'll do that."

"Thank you. I'll see you tomorrow."

She turned to leave and.

(_"She didn't do anything to you, did she?"_)

"Nadeshiko-san!"

Yakata didn't know why he was yelling, nor so desperately.

She just barely turned around. "Yes?"

"You… you wouldn't hurt..." Me, me, me, she would never hurt—"a-anyone, would you? Takeru, he, he told me—Nadeshiko-san, you wouldn't hurt _anyone_, would you?"

His heart beat, loudly, loudly, loudly in his ears, for every second that she didn't answer.

"…I don't… ever want to hurt you, Yakata-kun. You or anyone else."

It was an answer that filled him with a hollow, spiked parody of satisfaction, and it did not leave him comfortable.

His mind floated above his head for the rest of the evening.

When Ino came home, when he helped her cook, when he ate his meal, when he settled down for training with Sasuke.

(Sasuke, who, with a smug cheerfulness, asked him how his time at the flower shop had been, and all Yakata could say was, "It, it was all right, I, I guess…")

And he did not sleep easily, at all.

All he could think of was Nadeshiko.

"…_I don't… ever want to hurt you, Yakata-kun."_

Takeru.

"_She could _hurt_ you, and something tells me you'd hardly deserve it if she did."_

Nadeshiko.

"_You or… anyone else."_

Takeru.

"_I didn't say that she _was _going to hurt you."_

She would, she would never.

"_I just said that she could."_

(She could, she could, that was what was going on, she _could_.)

But she didn't want to.

(But how.)

Yatsu. A gentle, quiet, strangling.

Those eyes on that day.

"_I don't let people near me for a reason."_

That was the reason, that was, wasn't it?

"_She can't hurt you if you're not near her, after all."_

Yakata closed his eyes tightly and he hugged his pillow.

She wouldn't.

She would explain everything.

She promised.


	48. Indigo Hyacinth

_Chapter 48 - Indigo Hyacinth_

* * *

After a quiet, quiet breakfast, Saturday morning, Ino took Yakata to the flower shop. She didn't ask questions, and was sparing in her other words.

(Nadeshiko had told her everything when she came by to see if everything was all right, already knowing that Yakata had been brought home.)

She left him there, and returned home, quickly.

Nadeshiko was waiting for him.

"I'm glad you're here. Could you come to the back room with me and help with a few things?" she said.

"Yeah, of course…" Yakata said.

Inoichi looked up, waved weakly at him as he passed, but otherwise stayed at the till, buried in his magazine.

The workspace was very clean that day. "Have you, um. Not done any of the orders yet to-today…?"

"No, I've already done them. This is different."

"O-oh, I… I see…"

The air was very heavy, and humid. "No ribbons today, Yakata." She pulled out the stool for him before she sat down, herself.

And Yakata noticed—how could he have not seen them before?—a vase of marigolds sitting in the corner of the table, all reds and sun-yellows and oranges.

Nadeshiko began to work. Yakata sat, hands on his lap, watching.

And then she spoke. "Did you know, I have a flower for everyone… important to me?"

He shook his head, quickly, almost nervously. "N-no, I didn't. What do you, what do you mean, though?"

She blinked. Not looking at him. "When I want to give a gift to someone, I usually use flowers that fit them."

"Like, like, like the language, right?"

"Mm. You did something like that yourself, with that… gift you gave me."

(Nestled next to the rose.)

"Oh, oh, well, I, I uh, I just thought…" Yakata's fingers tangled into each other. "W-well, see, your… your _name_ is a flower, y'know, dianthus, an'… an' I thought it'd show I was… y'know, thinking of _you_. When I made it. I, I guess that was kind of dumb…"

"But it got the message across," she said. Her voice was just so rightly gentle. "And I appreciated it very much."

"Ah, well, um…" He stared at the leg of her stool.

"It's… sort of the same thing, with me. It lets them know I'm thinking about them, not just… creating art for art's sake." Carefully, carefully, she reached for a yellow marigold and tucked it into place within her hands. "My sister Karai is the foxglove."

(Foxglove: insincerity, ambition.)

Yakata looked up. "Foxglove? But, ah, why…?"

"It suits her."

Down. "Ah…"

"And Inou is daphne."

(Daphne: desire to please, shyness.)

Another marigold, with a muscle-red center. "Takeru is… clematis."

(Clematis: mental beauty, ingenuity.)

"And Hajime, my oldest brother. He is the lemon blossom."

(Yakata did not know that one.)

"Lemon blossoms, for fidelity and discretion," Nadeshiko said, almost whispering.

His face felt warm, and it was not the heat in the room. It was getting harder to breathe.

"Of course, I haven't… forgotten my parents. I've wanted to have a plum tree put in the back yard, for my mother, but…"

(Plum: courage, happiness, duty through hardship.)

Yakata had to gasp to make sure he was still breathing. "A-and your… your father?"

"…anemones."

(Abandonment.)

(He only knew this because she had told him this, days before, when making a bouquet of commiseration requested by a woman for her friend.)

("A husband should never walk out on a wife like that, not ever, not ever.")

(But those were not Nadeshiko's words.)

All he could stand to look at was her hands. Her fingers glowed with petals.

And she said, with so much warmth in her voice, "I… still don't know which flower to pick for you."

That made him look up again. She was smiling, gently, though her eyes were half-closed, almost sleepily.

"Y-you have a flower for… for me…?"

"Not yet. But you deserve one." She finally looked at him, away from her hands. "At least, I think so."

"Oh, gosh, I…" He couldn't tell if he was smiling or grimacing. His heart almost hurt, it was beating so quickly. "Why are you, um. Wh-why are you t-telling me this, anyways, Nadeshiko-san…?"

(_"I'll explain everything then. I promise_.")

He had to swallow to keep his throat from growing too dry. "D-d-does this have anything to, to do with…?"

She lowered her head, slowly, and raised it. A nod. "I have flowers for everyone important to me. Marigolds are Shusuke's flower."

(Marigolds: health, joy, remembrance.)

"Shusuke…? Wh-who is he?"

The arrangement in her hands was small, maybe the size of a grapefruit, and unusually simple, for her, carrying nothing but marigolds. She had wrapped them in paper. "We're going to visit him today."

She stood, flowers in hand. She began to leave.

And Yakata had to follow.

Inoichi didn't even look up as they left, together.

Yakata could feel his mouth shaking, slightly. He pressed his lips against each other, more tightly, but it didn't help.

He had to follow, had to (trust) follow her.

They walked for a very long time, into an area of the city that he didn't know. It seemed like a tired place. Paint peeled off the walls of the buildings. Shop fronts had signs that looked like they hadn't been updated in years.

Eventually, they entered an apartment building, up the stairs, to the fourth floor. The lights in the hallway of carpet like moss were a dull yellow.

Nadeshiko found a door, and knocked on it. Yakata hung behind her.

A woman answered, after a while. Her hair was brown and wispy and piled high and messily; her bangs fell into her face. She looked as tired as the building in which she lived. "…ah, Nadeshiko-san. So good to see you."

"Good afternoon, Kugi-san." She bowed, slightly. Yakata was frozen. "I'm here with the usual." Out of the bouquet she took one marigold, an orange one.

The woman took it, and she held it very close and very carefully to her face, closing her eyes. She brushed the petals against her eyes.

"I appreciate it, always. Thank you." Her head tilted sideways, and she put the flower down, and opened her eyes. They were brown, Yakata saw, and would have been beautiful if she were smiling. "A friend?"

"Yes. I'm taking him with me to visit Shusuke."

When the woman did smile, it only made her eyes sadder. "And how old are you, little friend?"

"T-ten, ma'am."

"Ah. Just a little too young…" She sighed. "I think he'll like having someone so small visiting, though. He must be so lonely. Thank you, Nadeshiko-san."

"I'll see you next week, Kugi-san," Nadeshiko replied. She bowed again. "Come on, Yakata-kun."

He followed her, uneasily, as Kugi closed the door behind them.

Further along, he finally asked, "Ah, um, who was, who was that…?"

"Shusuke's mother. I like to give her something for her home every time I visit. Something to make her house a little brighter."

"Ah, I, I see…" Yakata kept his eyes on his feet as they walked further. "Um, this, this Shusuke…san. That we're going to visit? Where does he, um, live…?"

Nadeshiko didn't reply.

He continued to follow her, his stomach slowly filling more and more with stones.

And then they arrived.

Shusuke lived in a graveyard.

The air was very quiet and the sky was very blue and very hot.

But Yakata felt very, very cold. And the tighter he pressed his lips together the more undeniable it was to him that his teeth were starting to chatter.

Nadeshiko moved on with the same purpose in her step that he had seen in the hallway of the apartment building.

And then they found him.

His gravestone was very modest, just a stone marker with his name carved on it, the year he was born, the year he died. It was, however, kept very clean.

Nadeshiko stood for a very long time in front of it, with her eyes closed.

And, eventually, she put the flowers down, kneeling to the ground as she did so.

(Marigolds: grief, constancy, misery.)

Nadeshiko took a small box of incense and a fold of matches out of her purse, and she took care to light one stick and place it in a holder.

She clapped her hands together, bowed her head, and in pulling them apart and folding them in her lap, she began to speak.

"Hello, Shusuke. I brought a friend today to visit with me. I hope you don't mind."

(Yakata remained standing.)

"His name is Yakata. I've told you about him, once or twice. He's a very good boy."

(Nadeshiko kept marigolds in her window planter.)

"He even gave me flowers, after I last visited with you. To cheer me up. Isn't that something."

(Marigolds were Shusuke's flowers.)

"Things have been up and down, since. But I suppose they're getting better."

(But Shusuke was dead.)

"Na-Na-Na-Nadeshiko-san, this, this Shusu—who is he?"

Her hair, brushing the ground where she knelt, almost sitting, seemed to blend into the fabric of her skirt.

"A boy I once knew."

She had her head bowed very, very lowly.

(Marigolds: remembrance.)

And Yakata got on his knees too, carefully, and slowly, as it hit him. The dirt pressed into his skin.

"O-oh, no, Nadeshi—I'm so _sorry_, I'm… what, what happened to him?"

She had her eyes closed. "I did."

His arm, so close to touching her back, froze, stiff. "Wh-wh-wh-what do you…"

(_"I don't let people near me for a reason."_)

"Nadeshiko what, what do you muh-mean by that..?"

Everything felt supremely cold.

She had her eyes closed.

(_"She could _hurt_ you, and something tells me you'd hardly deserve it if she did.")_

(_"…I don't… ever want to hurt you, Yakata-kun."_)

But she would never.

"…I see you have, once again, made it here before me, Nadeshiko-san."

And before his panic could peak and shatter it was smoothed over in an instant by a light, breathy voice.

A voice that belonged to a woman he was not to listen to.

"Murasaki-san." Nadeshiko began to stand.

Yakata stayed on the ground. He couldn't get his legs to move.

"…Shusuke says he's very glad to see you again." Murasaki had a strange face, almost matching her soft voice. It was very round, and her eyes had lashes so thick that it looked like she was walking with them closed. Her mouth was small and finely-shaped. "…he says the flowers are very nice, just as always."

"…thank you… Murasaki-san…" Nadeshiko's voice was restrained, tinged with something Yakata could not identify.

Murasaki, the madwoman, tilted her head slightly, as if listening of something just barely out of earshot. "…and have you been well? He would like to know."

Nadeshiko did not reply. And Yakata, looking up at her, his eyes shifting from woman to girl to woman, was almost crushed by the heaviness in her eyes.

"…he is concerned about you, you know. They do not allow him to follow you. He wants to know if you have been suffering or not."

Nadeshiko blinked slowly, several times, as if it were an effort to move even her eyelids.

"…I am well," she replied, slowly, carefully.

Carefully, slowly, Murasaki tilted her head the other way. "…he says he does not believe you. As always."

Nadeshiko said nothing.

"…he says you do not owe him anything any more. He tells me this all the time. They don't tell me this. This is just him."

And in the cold, the stiff-thick uncomfortable silence that followed, Murasaki's eyes opened just that little, little bit.

They were a strange, strange grey, like glass, or stones.

"…and you, you're Itachi's boy, aren't you…?"

Sasuke had told her that she was a sick woman, that she only spoke lies.

But hot air filled his lungs and his eyes locked with hers.

"…at least, that is what I'm told. The little boy, the one always with Sasuke-san. They say you look very much like him. Where did you come from, little one? They want to know. It's a matter of great debate. I've been listening since you arrived. They want to know why you have the same eyes as him."

The woman that always spoke lies, and yet.

And Nadeshiko was standing in front of him. "That's enough, Murasaki-san. I'll leave you to visit with Shusuke." She bent down, slightly, and she reached a hand out to Yakata. "Yakata-kun."

He had never seen his hands shaking so badly.

But he reached out for her hand because he had to (trust her).

But questions and echoes and coldness rung and rung and rung in his mind over and over and over.

What had happened to Shusuke?

"_I did."_

What did she mean by that?

"_I don't… ever want to hurt you, Yakata-kun." _

It had to have been an accident, it had to have…

"_You or anyone else_."

And over and over and over those ripples were the lie-words, the mad-words.

"…_and you, you are Itachi's boy, aren't you…?"_

His hands were shaking so badly so badly so badly but.

Nadeshiko's hand was strong and firm and warm and there and all he could do was follow and breathe deeply and follow her.

She did not move too quickly, nor too slowly. And when the air finally began to grow warm, when the city finally began to grow familiar to his eyes, she stopped walking and led him to a bench, and sat the both of them down.

And on her face, so usually filled with delicate sadness or emptiness or heaviness, was an expression of an exquisite and painful anguish. She was pulling her lips together in some sort of effort, and she had her fingers resting on her forehead. Her hair fell over her shoulders and into her lap and onto the surface of the bench.

"I'm sorry, Yakata-kun. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry," she said, over and over and over.

There was a feeling in his arm, a feeling of melting, and loosening.

And even though he felt hollow and wrong and scared his heart held the strongest feeling of all.

And he reached out and put his arm behind her back, and he leaned against her, resting his head against her shoulder. "It's okay, it's okay, Nadeshiko-san, it's okay," he replied, in a quiet echo that even he wasn't sure she could hear.

Even though he wasn't quite sure that it was okay at all. Any of it.

But he had to calm her down. Seeing her pain was the only thing of which he was sure wasn't okay.

She eventually quieted down. And, then, a variation: "That… none of that was supposed to happen…"

"Wh-wh-what wasn't…?"

"I wanted to leave before she…" Her head bowed lower. "She could have made things so much worse."

"It, it's okay, Nadeshiko-san. She… she didn't do a-anything, I don't… I don't think…" His voice felt uncomfortable, pressing against the back of his throat. "She's… she's not well, anyways, right…? Sasuke-san told me…"

And there a waterfall tumbled into his guts, cold and chilling.

Sasuke.

All of this, with Shusuke and the marigolds and the corruption, was this why he hated her?

He felt like he was assembling a puzzle with only half of the pieces, because none of it made sense.

This Shusuke, dead, boy Nadeshiko knew, and she… blamed herself for…

But Nadeshiko said nothing about Murasaki, nothing about Shusuke.

Yakata had to speak. "E-either way… So… so this is where you go every Suh-Saturday, to visit, um. Sh-shusuke-san…?"

She nodded, slowly.

"That… but that's very n-n-nice of you," Yakata said. "Bringing fuh-flowers an' things to him an' his, his mother…"

"…it's how I repay my debt." Nadeshiko's voice, small and soft and sad, cut through everything.

"…your, your debt?"

She didn't say anything more.

She laced her fingers together and rested them on her lap, leaning forward. Yakata took his hand off of her back.

What did she mean by "debt"?

_("…he tells me, you do not owe him anything any more. He tells me this all the time.")_

The puzzle piece did not fit any of the others.

"Nadeshiko-san, so… so is this why… Sasuke-san is so… so mad at you all the time?"

Her hair covered her face, from the front, from the sides. "He doesn't like that I do this. He never has."

"Doesn't like that you… that you visit Shusuke-san?"

Her head tilted to the side, slightly.

"But that's… but that's good of you, to visit… to visit people like… that... At least, I, I think so…"

She sighed. She stood. "I'm sorry, I suppose I've just made you more confused…"

"No! No, no," he said. "You're, it's… I, I understand if this is, this is hard for you to, um. To talk about."

She began walking away.

Yakata stood. "Na-Nadeshiko-san! I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, I'm really sorry, I shouldn't, I shouldn't have made you do this, I shouldn't have, I shouldn't have asked…!"

She stopped, there, and turned around. "It's my fault, not yours. Please, you don't need to apologize," she said. She held out her hand. "I'll take you home, now. We've had a long day."

And with hands that were only that little bit less shaky, Yakata took her hand, and she led him home.

Once again, she would be leaving him alone. "I need some time by myself, I think. But I'll come back, eventually. Just… not today."

"I, I, I understand, Nadeshiko-san. I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, today was…"

A hand on his shoulder. "Please, it's okay," she said. "I should have thought this through more. _I'm_ sorry. Please don't worry."

He looked down, biting at the inside of his lips as he sucked them in. "Will I, will I see you tomorrow then? At the, at the shop?"

And the smile she gave him was the only comforting one he had seen that day. "Yes. I will see you tomorrow. Goodbye, Yakata-kun."

And she left.

Yakata went inside, after that. He took off his shoes, and found Ino pouring herself a glass of iced tea in the kitchen, and told her he was home.

"…is everything all right?" she asked him, afterward. "What happened out there? Nadeshiko, ah, she told me that she was going to…"

"It, it's okay, Ino-san. I'm just kinda… kinda tired, I guess," he said. "I'm gonna… I'm gonna go rest upstairs, I think."

There was kindness and sadness and sympathy on Ino's face. "Do whatever you need to, dear," she said.

(It was the first time she had ever called him that, but he could hardly notice.)

He went upstairs with heavy, tight-lidded eyes and laid down on Hajime's bed, on his back. He spread his arms and his legs wide over the mattress.

Trying to process.

Everything.

His mind had the pieces of a puzzle and he was determined to solve.

As much as he could, anyways..

Shusuke, whom Nadeshiko cared enough about to give him a flower.

(Yakata wondered what kind of flower he.)

Shusuke, a boy she used to know.

Shusuke, who was dead.

Nadeshiko blamed herself. She had happened.

(Whatever that meant.)

She visited him every Saturday. She gave him marigolds, his flowers.

(Quietly, his mind set aside the pieces of Murasaki. Pieces of another puzzle.)

(How did she know about his father?)

And Sasuke hated her for this.

Sasuke.

What did Sasuke hate?

Sasuke hated: weakness, laziness, lateness, complaints, Nadeshiko.

Sasuke hated that she did this, and she did this every week.

Sasuke hated that she…

…still blamed herself?

In looking the puzzle over it seemed far too incomplete, far too simple. Yakata's eyes narrowed and darted here, and there, in corners and by the window, on the ceiling.

What wasn't he seeing?

But in a knocking on the door, the pieces flew apart and back into their box, and Yakata sat up. "Y-yeah…?"

The door opened. It was Takeru. "Everything all right?" he asked.

"Oh, uh, I, I suppose..." Yakata leaned back a little bit on the bed, resting on his palms. They felt stiff from the bandages.

Takeru's face, narrow-featured and sly, widened in skepticism. "You suppose?" He sighed. "Oh, let me guess. She took you to visit Shusuke today."

The words out of his mouth hit him surprisingly hard. "How, how did you know…?"

"Oh, please. She's my sister. She's been visiting that kid's grave every Saturday for… wow, almost ten years, now," he said. He crossed his arms. "And since you were gone today and Mother was in an antsy mood… well and everything _else_ that's been going on, it was just a matter of induction."

"Oh, I, I see…" Yakata said.

(Another piece in the box: ten years, she'd been visiting him for almost ten years.)

(She'd known Shusuke since she was at least eight years old. He must have meant a lot to her.)

"So what exactly did she end up telling you, there? Probably hardly anything, knowing her," Takeru said.

"Well, well, uh, she..." Rummage, rummage. "She told me that, that this is how she repays her… her debt. And that, um. That what… what _happened_ to Shusuke-san, that she, um. That she had something to… do with it… I guess…"

And there, of all things, Takeru sighed. "A _debt_. Hm. I'll never understand that mind of hers, I never will." And he went and he sat down next to Yakata. He laced his fingers together, curiously, thumbs touching thumbs only at the tips. "That's _really_ all she told you?"

Yakata nodded. "W-we didn't talk much. Wh-while were there, I mean…"

And he shook his head. "Ah, I should have known better than to expect her to be _open_ about any of this… And I had such hopes that she'd be able to around you."

"Wh-what do you mean…?"

"Do you want to know what really happened to Shusuke?" Takeru glanced sideways. His eyes were very, very black. "I mean… well, I thought _maybe_ she would tell you, but… I think since she went and brought you to his _grave _and everything, maybe… it's right that you should know the full story."

Yakata's head started feeling hollow again.

"I-I don't know, I, I think that if Nadeshiko-san wants to, to tell me everything, she should… tell me."

Another sigh from Takeru. It was saturated with pity. "If she didn't tell you by this point, she _never_ will. And…" Takeru put his hand on Yakata's shoulder. It was very thin and his fingers were long and beautiful. "…honestly, I think it might be safer for you in the long run if I just told you now."

Takeru's hand was very steady. Yakata's shoulders were shivering.

"…Takeru-san, what, what, what are you saying…?" he said.

"…the reason why Shusuke's dead is because of her, Yakata-kun," Takeru said.

His mind reached for the puzzle. "It was… well, I know that she… that she thinks it's her fault, but it was an accident, right…?"

Takeru's silence was.

(_"I don't let people near me for a reason."_)

"…it, it was an… an accident, right…?"

He shook his head. "She… killed him, Yakata-kun. Not even remotely on accident. What she did was… deliberate and cold-blooded, and she had no remorse for it, either."

The pieces scattered violently across the table.

"But, but she, but she visits him every… but she's… for, for ten years…!"

(She couldn't have killed someone when she was eight?)

"It's nothing but a ritual. Something to convince other people that she's actually sorry. That she actually _feels_ something."

Yakata was breathing like he was running for his life.

"But she does…!"

"She's… not normal, Yakata-kun. She never has been." Another pity-filled sigh. "It's… why I tried to warn you. I tried to warn you, just in case she… well, I don't want to think about that…"

Yakata felt like he was going to throw up.

"But, but, but, but how, but she's, she's so _nice_ to me…! She would, she would, she would _never_ hurt me, she told me, she _told_ me…!"

Takeru had his arms around him before he could bolt off the bed. They were skinny, like Ino's, but very, very strong. "Calm down, calm down, calm down. Just take deep breaths. Deep breaths, Yakata-kun, okay? I know this is a lot to handle."

Deep breaths.

"She said she would…"

Deep breaths.

"She said she never…"

Deep.

"She would never…"

Breaths.

"…hurt me…"

He collapsed back on the bed again. "Ta-Takeru-san, I don't, I don't understand, she said she would never…!"

"And you don't have to _worry_ about that. Chances are she'd never have the opportunity. Or the urge. Any more, at least."

Yakata wanted to wipe his eyes. They felt hot, and wet.

"I don't… but h-_how_, I don't…"

Takeru put his arm around Yakata's shoulder.

And he said, "Let me explain."


	49. Bittersweet Nightshade

_Chapter 49 - Bittersweet Nightshade_

* * *

"My sister Nadeshiko was born about one, two years after me. And since she was a girl, my father didn't have many expectations for her. Which I suppose was fair, given that he already had me and Hajime. Two sons, you know? That's usually more than enough for most people.

"But, then, well, Inou was born, eventually. And then Karai. Which I suppose is beyond the point.

"The point is, my father wasn't terribly keen on her from the start. But my mother didn't mind that much at all, she'd always wanted a girl. So Nadeshiko was always staying home with her, helping her around the house. She was always a very… quiet person, even back then. She didn't like to talk to people, she liked to play by herself. She wasn't very close to me or Hajime either, though when Inou was born she helped Mother take care of him. Not sure how much that counts, though.

"I guess you could say she's always been…" A very long and thoughtful pause. "_Different. _She taught herself how to read, before she even went to school, you know? Just by finding books around the house and picking through those. Of course, nobody noticed _then_, but by the time she was five it became _really_ apparent how smart she really was. When they sent her to the academy, just like everyone else. Do you know how long it usually takes someone to graduate from that school, Yakata-kun?"

Yakata shook his head.

(Everything else was shaking, also. Slightly.)

"Seven years, normally. Of course," Takeru added, "there will always be exceptions to the rule. _I_, personally, graduated after only three years. And my brothers have done it in five."

"O-oh."

"Nadeshiko graduated after just one year. The same year as me and as Hajime."

Yakata swallowed.

"It shocked everyone. There was a genius hiding in that mind, behind that pretty face of hers. My father was probably the most surprised. After all, you don't expect great things from such quiet children, really. Or girls. But there she was.

"He was nothing but excited once he got over that part. And right away he was Nadeshiko this, Nadeshiko that, just all _over_ her. He insisted on training her himself. It left no time for me or for Hajime but, well. Then again, we'd both been assigned to three-man cells, so we had new senseis to teach us. It wasn't a big loss."

Takeru said, his beautiful, slender fingers tightening into themselves.

"He was so happy to have someone so talented to train, though. That's the thing about my father. He loves challenge and he loves improvement. Maybe that's why he's so keen about you, Yakata-kun. Why he pushes you so hard."

(The little boy with the face plastered in bandages and healing salves.)

"It was really wonderful, for maybe a year or so. Hajime liked his sensei, I liked mine _enough_, and my father was the happiest he'd ever been, training Nadeshiko, just further exploring that talent. I didn't think it was creepy, back then, the way she just followed orders without question. Doing whatever he asked of her. Then again, you're supposed to _obey_ your parents, right? I suppose she took that a little more literally than people are supposed to.

"That's the thing about Nadeshiko, Yakata-kun. She tries to act normal but there's no _understanding_ behind the actions. She does them in imitation, because that's what she's told to do, because that's what everyone _else_ does. At the academy she liked to just sit and watch other kids play instead of actually joining in.

"Though… and this is just what I've heard, but—when she actually tried to finally play with them, she was just a little _too_ friendly, just a little _too_ perfect at playing games. The teachers, of course, caught on, but they just dismissed it as bullying. But kids are sometimes more perceptive about that kind of stuff.

"The _rest_ of us didn't really find out about this until it was too late."

"Wh-what do you mean by, by too late…?"

Deep breaths. Yakata was taking deep breaths.

"Well, there's this thing we have about twice a year, called the chuunin exams. It's… I suppose you could say it's a test of skill for ninjas, and it allows for promotion to higher-ranked missions. More _dangerous_ missions—but they're also more exciting, and they pay better. It's basically necessary for anyone that wants to advance beyond the basics. My, ah, _other_ brother and sister are both participating this year. We'll have to see how _that_ turns out."

"Ah, I, I see…"

"Everyone else has participated, though. I managed to advance and get promoted through the exam when I was… oh, maybe a year older than you—you're ten years old, right? And Hajime was in the same bracket as me, though we didn't actually get to _fight_ each other."

"Fuh-fight? Y-you, you might have had to fight him…?"

"Mm. The final phase of the exams involves one-on-one, no-holds-barred combat between participants. It's normally very exciting to watch."

"Nuh-normally…?"

The puzzle pieces began slowly gathering themselves at the center of the table.

"They decided that Nadeshiko was ready to participate in the exams after she turned eight years old. My father insisted on it. Even though we were older, Hajime and I were held back that year.

"She was a marvel. Everyone saw it. I heard about it all after the fact, how she just breezed through every trial they threw at her like it was nothing. And when they gave her a month or so to train, my father all but _disappeared_, he was so busy with her. He was so excited for her. She was the youngest participant in years.

"So then the actual tournament began. And of course the whole family showed up to watch: me, Hajime, my mother. Inou and Karai were so _young_, so I doubt they have any memories of this happening, but _I_ do. Actually… I think I was about… _your_ age when this all happened, Yakata-kun."

Yakata swallowed. Breathed. Deeply.

"And Father was just so excited, he'd spent the whole month just training with Nadeshiko non-_stop_. He couldn't wait to see how she'd do.

"Turns out, he'd trained her too well. Her first opponent was that boy, Kugi Shusuke.

"And… Yakata-kun, I have never seen anything more terrifying in my life, the way she fought. It was like she wasn't even human, just something wearing a human skin. She tore into him without mercy. Broke his back. He was almost _five years older_ than her, and she handled him like he was an infant."

(Five years older than eight meant that Shusuke had been thirteen. Once.)

(He had been older than Yakata.)

(She was older now.)

Takeru's hand on his shoulder tightened. It did little to reduce his trembling.

"And do you know why she did it? They asked her, after the match, after she was declared the winner, why she had gone so _far_. And she just said, 'I was told not to hold back, and I didn't.' I was there, when she said that. I'll never forget those eyes of hers. There was nothing in there. I couldn't believe that something like that was my _sister_."

Some_thing. _Yakata tried to breathe deeply and couldn't.

Takeru's hand was trembling, a little. It took him a very long time to continue.

"The look on my father's face when she said that, Yakata-kun. It was like someone had stabbed him in the stomach."

Another pause. Takeru seemed to calm himself, slightly, clearing his throat.

"They disqualified her, of course," he continued, quickly, halfway through his cough. "Once it was apparent that Shusuke hadn't made it. Not like… he had any chance at surviving, anyways, the way she had..." Another cough. "And then one morning she was gone, and I didn't see her again for months. I don't know where they took her. A hospital, or an institution, or something.

"Father wasn't ever the same after that, too. He focused on me, on Hajime, on Inou—Inou entered the academy the year after all this happened, you know—and trained us harder than we'd ever trained before. Hajime and I even qualified for the next round of chuunin exams, in the winter. And we both passed, of course.

"When she finally came back she was like how she is now. Like she was before, but now it's like there's something… I don't know. _Missing_. Like she's not as alive any more. I personally think they _did_ something to her, but, then again, what do I know?"

Takeru knew a lot. He knew a lot more than Nadeshiko had told him.

"Father never did forgive her for what she did. For misusing her talent like that. Her power. He can't forgive _himself_, really. Thought he'd taught her better. But, really… can you blame him? For getting angry at himself, for having his own child turn out like… well, her?"

Yakata didn't know. But all he could do was shake his head.

There was a long and a dry pause.

Yakata spoke. "And he, he doesn't, and he doesn't like her vi-vi-visiting him because…"

"Oh, it disgusts him. Making an effort, but feeling none of the remorse. He hates that. He just wants her to _stop_. But she doesn't. What was it you said she called it? Repaying her debt? I suppose that's how she's rationalized it…"

Yakata's mind floated back to that place again, carried on by the words and.

"She hasn't, well. Done any sort of ninja work since then, either. _I _wouldn't be surprised if she was _banned _or something. Deemed too _dangerous _to work. Of course, nothing's happened _since_ but… well."

And Takeru looked at the ceiling with an expression that was never made to touch his face, an expression that shattered confidence and smothered assurance.

"…even _I'm_ still afraid of her."

Back to Yakata. Back to looks of worry, pity, sympathy. That suited him only barely more. "Maybe that's why I'm so concerned about you. Since you've gotten so close to her. She's _never_ let anyone so close to her."

_("I don't let people near me for a reason.")_

Takeru took a careful breath in through his nose, and a deep one. "I think you're… a fine kid, Yakata-kun. I don't want to see you hurt. And with this whole Nadeshiko thing… I'm just trying to warn you. I mean, I suppose she's harmless _now_, yes. But if something _did_ happen, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself. I doubt my father would, either. That's why he blew up so badly at her, the other night, you understand? He's scared too, about what might happen."

Yakata nodded very, very slightly, very, very shakily.

"…but even with that, Yakata-kun. I… I just can't help but feel that you aren't being treated well here, overall. Even I wasn't trained until my hands bled and I had burns on my face."

This, Yakata looked up at. "Y-you weren't? But…"

But wasn't ninja training supposed to be like this? It was supposed to be difficult, wasn't it? Things were difficult.

"You're having a tough time. I can tell. The training, this… stuff." And Takeru moved his hand off of Yakata's back and onto Yakata's hands. "If you ever want to talk to someone, you can talk to me. I want to help. You don't deserve this much pain, physically or emotionally. You can talk to me, ask me anything. Honest."

And all Yakata could do was nod and nod and breathe and breathe deeply.

"I, I, I, I think I, I'd like to, to be alone for. For a little while, Ta-Takeru-san… Please…" he finally said, whispering, trembling.

"Sure, I understand. There's a lot to think over. I'm sorry I had to be the one to tell you, but… I think it'll be for the best."

Yakata nodded, nodded, nodded.

Takeru got up off the bed, and began to leave.

"I just don't… I don't understand…"

Takeru turned around. "Hm?"

"She's just… she's just so, so _nice_ to me and she said I had, I had a, she said she had a _flower _for me_…_ She c-couldn't have…"

Yakata's hands were in front of his eyes.

"I, I, I, I don't understand…"

"Maybe she _has_ been nice to you. Maybe she even _cares_. Or, at least, _thinks_ she cares. I just don't want to take any chances, if it turns out that you're wrong and something happens. You're too good a kid for all this."

Takeru closed the door behind him.

And Yakata curled into his trembling knees.

And he did not cry.

He couldn't.

It wasn't like he was scared. Well, he _was_ scared, but this wasn't a normal fear.

His mind rebelled against Takeru's words.

Gentle hands.

(That had killed someone.)

Those kind words.

(Just imitations with no feeling behind them.)

But he was her brother. He had known her for years. He knew things.

(Yakata knew things too, didn't he?)

She had killed someone, she had no emotions.

(And yet, he remembered how tightly she had held him that night, in the hallway. How she had smelled like incense and earth and Shusuke's flowers.)

(How much she appreciated the flowers he had made for her. She had noticed he had put her name in it.)

(She had a flower for everyone she cared about.)

She cared about Yakata.

…he flopped onto his stomach and pressed his face into the pillow as hard as he could. It hurt his skin and his lungs but it was all he could do to keep from screaming, holding his breath until he couldn't stand it any more.

He couldn't blame Sasuke. He couldn't, because, because, she had killed somebody, because she wasn't normal.

(But, but she seemed normal to Yakata, but she was so kind.)

Sasuke hated himself, he hated her, there was.

Nothing Yakata could do about that.

He shut his eyes tight. It hurt, it hurt.

He couldn't blame Sasuke but.

But that was in the past. She visited every Saturday. She was sorry. She was _sorry_.

(It wasn't possible, that she didn't feel anything.)

(He remembered how fast her heart had been beating when she had held him.)

And it was in remembering this that Yakata looked up, chest burning.

Her heart had been beating so fast. Just like his.

Had she been excited?

(_"I don't let people near me for a reason."_)

…scared?

(That she was getting so close?)

(_"She's _never_ let anyone so close to her."_)

(Those were Takeru's words. _Takeru's_ words. Takeru, who knew better.)

(_"Besides, I have never heard her laugh so much in my _life_. That is _something_. I'm glad she has you, Yakata-kun."_)

(Inoichi. Her grandfather. He knew her too.)

She had felt something.

She felt things.

Takeru was wrong. Even though he was her brother.

Maybe he was telling the truth.

But he was wrong about that.

Nadeshiko felt things, she _cared_ about him.

She was sorry for what she had done to Shusuke, surely.

And she would never hurt him.

…at least, he hoped she never would.

But he trusted her.

And he hugged his pillow and thought about her heart and how bad she must have felt about everything.

How bad he felt for her and how little he could do about it.

Though the next day was Sunday. And she said that she would see him again at the flower shop.

Maybe he could do something then.

He had stopped shaking, his brain no longer reeling with paradoxes and inconsistencies. He had one truth, the truth that Nadeshiko felt things, and that she cared about him, and he clung to that truth for dear life.

That was the only thing that was important.

(And the only thing he could do to keep his body from being completely taken over by the sheer, guts-clenching horror he had been feeling, otherwise.)

(And the restless wonder and forbidden curiosity about the woman, Murasaki. Had she known his father?)

(Her puzzle pieces remained, shining vaguely at the edges, at the far side of the table of his mind.)

He rested his head on the pillow again and breathed in deeply. Repeating over, and over.

_She feels things, and she cares about me, and she's sorry. She feels things, and she cares about me, and she's sorry._

And once he was convinced he wouldn't worry Ino, he went downstairs. The television was on, he heard, so he slid the door to the living room open just a little bit and peeked shyly in.

Ino had her knees drawn up to her chest, leaning against the arm of the couch, though her position loosened when she heard the door. "Oh, Yakata-kun, is something the matter?"

"N-no, Ino-san, I'm… I'm fine, actually," he said, and offered a little smile. "I, I just wanted to, um. Let you know that, that I'd be happy to get dinner started, whenever you're… you're ready."

Ino's smile in return was uneasy, or it could have been genuinely relieved. Yakata couldn't tell. "Sure, I'll let you know." She'd fully unfolded, there, her feet on the floor. "Did you want to join me before then? There's nobody else in the house but Takeru, and he's up in his room listening to _music_ or something…"

"Oh, um, I, I don't… like television much, Ino-san…"

"Oh." A spark of memory. "My mistake, then, I seem to have forgotten."

Yakata slid the door open, just that little bit more. "I wouldn't… I wouldn't mind, um. Giving you a little company, though," he said. "Really, I, I wouldn't."

There, that smile was undeniably relieved. She patted the cushion beside her, and he sat there, holding his hands on his knees. "I was just watching some soap opera, but we can put on whatever you want." She reached for the remote, on the table in front of them.

"No, it's fine. We, we can keep watching this."

She pulled her hand away. "Well, all right, then. Just let me know if you get bored."

"I will."

Yakata didn't end up watching much, just pressing his head back into the cushions, his thoughts in other places.

Slowly, the afternoon slipped into night.

The next day was Sunday, and Yakata would see Nadeshiko at the flower shop. He helped with dinner, he trained with Sasuke (Sasuke, whom he couldn't blame, who seemed back to normal, who was smiling a little while they ate), he took a bath (face stinging, face stinging), but his mind was in that tomorrow.


	50. Juniper Wisteria

_Chapter 50 - Juniper Wisteria_

* * *

"That's all the orders for the day." It was the afternoon. Sunday. Yakata had just put away the last tray of arrangements into the fridge. They had already eaten lunch.

"Well that's, that's great!" Yakata said. He set the tray down on the table, set himself down on the stool. "Do we, um. Start on tomorrow's, then…?"

"Maybe. Maybe not." Nadeshiko looked up, slightly, as if thinking.

(Yakata hadn't brought up a word about the other day before to her. Their work, that day, had been begun silently, with only a set of glad greetings exchanged between them.)

(Yakata was okay with this, for now.)

(A small pile of bravery was starting to grow in his stomach.)

"Ah. I forgot." She got up off the stool.

"F-forgot what?"

"One more thing I need to do."

He watched as she went, with her ever-careful hands, and began choosing her materials. Mostly garnishes. Green things. Plain things.

Oak leaves. Broom. Horse chestnut. The brightest flower, truly, was a geranium, red as a burn.

But it was when she began reaching for a small spray of orange blossoms that the choices started to look slightly familiar. She took a while to find everything from the boxes and baskets of extras on the shelves. "Uh, um, Nadeshiko-san, do, do you need my help with anything?"

She sat down, scattering her treasures. "No. I think I'll be fine. Just watch."

And with her hands she worked magic.

It was unlike anything he had seen before, and he had seen her work, bouquet after arrangement after tiny wristlet of flowers, and marveled in its beauty and its quickness every time.

But here, she was slow, she was deliberate, and she was careful. The geraniums she placed at the center, cushioned by greenness and white blossoms and hard straw-ish brown.

Her hands moved like dancers in perfect harmony with one another, graceful and elegant and perfect. Not a move was wasted.

Yakata could hardly feel himself breathing.

And suddenly.

There it was.

The oak leaves and trefoil that she had used were glorious rays of things, like arms or wings, around the geraniums. The orange blossom wrapped around a bare spray of lavender, two different textures of pale, bringing out the geranium's redness.

She rested her hands in her lap, once she was done. Just looking at it.

And he spoke first. "I-it's really pretty, Nadeshiko-san," he said. "I think it's… it's one of the best you've ever done."

It was plain, truly. More green than any other color, like a handful of leaves. But it was the plainness that emphasized the beauty of everything else, he felt.

Nobody else could have made it but her.

But she wasn't smiling. She just blinked, looking at it. "It's missing something," she finally said.

"Oh, what is it…?"

She stood, and went to the front room, and she came back with a single, white flower.

A camellia.

And she carefully, carefully, placed it in the arrangement, like she was tucking a child into bed. It was like it was meant to exist there, between the lavender and the orange blossom, between the geraniums.

"There," she said. "That's what it needed."

And all Yakata could do was agree with a breathless, "Yeah…"

"It's an improvement over the last one I made you, I think," she said.

"The, the last one…?"

"The one I left for you when you first arrived. It's probably dried out beyond recognition now."

And then he suddenly remembered, the shriveled little shadow of what she had just created, sitting on Hajime's desk beside the strange ever-fresh narcissus that Kotoji had given him. He could feel his shoulders rising. "Y-you mean this is… this one is for me?"

"Mm."

She had used those careful hands to make something for him, something this beautiful.

His throat felt thick.

"Wh-why…?"

"Well, the first was to… welcome you. This sort of arrangement is typically used for housewarmings and bringing babies home. I thought to put my own spin on it, however. Change a few things."

"Oh, I… _thank_ you…" He held his hands in each other, fighting back a smile with a swallow. "But um… why, why make it for me again? I mean, I've, I've already been here for…"

"I thought to refresh the one I gave you, as an apology for yesterday. Though if you would like for me to make you another…"

"No, no, I… I love it, I honestly do," Yakata said. "I'm just glad you, you, you… thought to do that, really, you didn't… need to apologize…"

"I'm just… glad you like it," she said. "I took a bit of a risk with it, but… I think I made the right decision, in the end."

"A risk?"

"I didn't know if your flower would fit. But I suppose it did."

Pull. "Muh-muh-_my_ flower?"

"It took me a while to decide, but I finally found it. I think the camellia suits you."

Camellia. "Those mean, um. Gra-gra-gratitude, right? And, and loyalty…?"

"Mm. White ones, specifically, also mean… adorableness."

She smiled at him very directly there, and began laughing when Yakata's face started turning red. "I, I, I'm not _adorable_."

"Well I think you are."

He stared at the flowers instead of her. His flower.

(_"I have a flower for everyone important to me."_)

"A-a-anyways, this, this arrangement, you said it… it's for welcoming someone to, um… To a new home, right…?" he said.

"Usually, yes."

"And the, um. Camellia. You normally don't put those in there, do you…"

"No, not usually."

"…I suppose it, um. Fits in after all, I, I, I, I guess…"

Oh _no_ did he sound _stupid_. Saying all this stuff with flowers and.

She put a hand on his knee. "I suppose it does."

His smile smoothed, though it still hurt his cheeks. It had been so long since he'd been so calmed by her words.

(And considering the day before.)

His stomach fell, heavily and coldly. He pulled his hands away from her and up near his chest, and he stared at his fingers.

"…Yakata-kun, what's the matter?" Nadeshiko said.

"I, um." He gulped. "Nadeshiko-san, I… Takeru-san…" His mouth felt almost stiff, it didn't want to move.

Why were these words coming now? Now, of all times?

(Because it felt too perfect, too comfortable, too quick a snap to "normal.")

(He couldn't just take that without.)

"…he told me what you, what you… what you _did_, yesterday. What happened to Shusuke. What happened a-after that."

She took her hand off of his knee and folded it in her lap, perfectly and tightly. "…did he."

Yakata nodded. "He told me e-e-everything. And I, I, I think I… I understand, now. Why you don't… why you don't… let other people near you…"

She looked away from him.

"…you're scared of… of _hurting_ people, aren't you…? Like you… like you hurt Shusuke-san."

She looked out the window.

"But… but, Nadeshiko-san I… I know you won't hurt me. I_ know_ you won't."

No response.

Yakata's heart felt strong and yet weaker than it had ever felt before.

His chest rose and fell with huge, deep breaths.

"…and, and even if you… did. I. I wouldn't care. I'd know you, you didn't mean it. That you... that you couldn't _help _it. And I'd still… I'd still _care_ about you. A whole… a whole _lot_. No matter _what_ happened."

A hot tear rolled down one side of his face, over his bandages.

"You're the… you're the."

The words wouldn't stop coming.

"…you're probably the first real friend I've, I've, I've ever _had_, Nadeshiko. I don't… I don't want you to go away because you're scared of hurting me…"

The truth was embarrassing and sad and stupid and stupid and yet.

(The girls back home stared at him and whispered and gossiped.)

(Their mothers weren't any better. They were the ones who first called him witch-boy.)

(And the boys would hassle him and make him show off how smart he was, how skilled he was. At best.)

(When they weren't making him run home to nurse thrown-rock bruises in the morning, smoothed over with his mother's reluctant hands.)

(And those teachers, those awful, awful teachers, that made the very act of speaking a crime.)

Was he really so lonely, that he wanted to cling so badly to her still?

Was she really his first friend?

(She had a flower for him.)

"…I'll… I'll be fine, Nadeshiko-san. So no matter what happens, I'll… I'll still like you. I'll still… I'll still _like_ you." He wiped his eyes, sniffed. "I, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, this is… this is stupid, I'm sorry…"

And then he noticed that she'd raised a hand to her chest, resting it on her collarbone, barely brushing her heart.

"…please, don't apologize," she said. He could almost barely hear her. "I should… probably bring you home. I'll get a box for your flowers."

She began to stand.

And Yakata reached out his hand and took hers before she could leave.

"…please come home for good this time, Nadeshiko-san," he said. He stared at his knees, not her. "You… you don't need to stay away any more. It's okay."

She didn't respond.

He stood.

"…I like it when you're home," he said. Clumsily, he wiped his eyes again, with his other hand. "I _miss_ you. So… please?"

Gently, she took her hand out of his, but she did not leave. "I'm going to bring you home," she said, "and then return to my grandfather's house."

Yakata had to bite, hard, into his lip, to keep from saying anything further.

But then she turned around, and he looked up and he saw her eyes, shining and wet and.

(She was crying.)

"…I need to get my things, first. It wouldn't be wise to go home without them."

Yakata shoved himself forward and he hugged her with a strength in his arms that he didn't know he had.

And she hugged him back.

He pressed his head hard against her chest as the tears came, freely and full of breath and relief and.

She was going to return home.

His heart was beating so quickly.

(Just like hers.)

"When you. When you go visit Shusuke next Saturday, I, I want… to come with you," he said, quietly. "Because… because it's not as bad, when you're not alone. …right?"

She took a breath in. Her voice was high. "Yes. It's not so bad. And I'm sure… it will turn out better this time."

"I _know_ it will, Nadeshiko-san." He pulled in just a little closer. "I… I know it will."

(And listening to all of this from the front room, Inoichi took of his glasses and rubbed his eyes and was thankful that nobody else was around to break the two of them apart.)

They left for home after Yakata pulled away from her, volunteering to get the box himself, to Nadeshiko's gentle delight. And he was the one that held it as they walked back home together.

Though there was a pause, on the way.

By the station.

It was Nadeshiko who had stopped, suddenly, seemingly without any reason. And then she started walking towards it, and Yakata followed.

"Wh-what's going on?" he said.

"Hajime?" she replied.

She walked up to the gate, where people entered, where people exited. And people were exiting, from a transport that had just recently pulled in.

Apparently, Hajime, her oldest brother, had been a passenger. And her voice cut through the crowd and he looked up—ah, and there Yakata recognized his face, plain and tired and like Sasuke's—and he went up to the fence. "Nadeshiko, what are you doing here?"

"I suppose I could ask the same of you. I thought you were on a mission."

"We _fulfilled_ our mission. And we brought back a bit more than we had anticipated." He tilted his head slightly. "Oh, hello there, Yakata-kun."

Yakata nodded his head. "H-hi, Hajime-san."

"Well I'm glad it went quickly. Do you suppose you'll be home, tonight?" Nadeshiko continued.

"No idea."

"Hajime! Hey, can you give us a little help here?" A girl was waving to him, from a bit further up. She had pink hair, and she was very short—maybe only as tall as Yakata was—but her limbs were stocky and clearly muscled.

"Coming, coming," Hajime called over his shoulder. "At any rate, I'll let you and Mom know if I can make it. I'll probably be back tomorrow."

"That's good."

"Hajime, c'mon!" The pink-haired girl was waving again. Two other people were with her, a girl with dark brown hair and those strange pearl-eyes that Yakata had seen only once before, and a boy with sandy hair with pouches of all sorts on his belt. He was assisting another woman off the train.

The woman was very fat, and her hair was very red, and she moved carefully, grimacing, as if every motion pained her, even with the other boy propping her up.

But when she looked up, her eyes, red and strange and visible behind even her glasses, met with Yakata's, and they widened in a way that he did not expect. Her mouth fell slightly open.

Yakata hid himself behind Nadeshiko.

Staring, he hated when people stared at him.

(And she was staring at _him_, not at Sasuke, not at Nadeshiko.)

"Ha-ji-me!"

"Sorry, Nadeshiko."

"It's all right. I understand. I'll see you later."

"Yeah, later."

Hajime returned to them as a very tall man began to, clumsily, exit the transport. He was carrying something wrapped in a blanket in his arms.

Nadeshiko pulled Yakata along with her presence.

"…Nadeshiko, did, did, did you know a-any of those people? On the train?" he said, after a time.

"Well of course, that's my brother and his team."

"N-no, I mean… the people they were… with." He gulped. "That red-haired woman. Sh-she was… she was _staring_ at me. I could _tell_."

"…I'm afraid I didn't know her," Nadeshiko replied. "I don't think she was staring at you, though."

"But she was…"

Nadeshiko walked on, thoughtfully, calmly.

"Well. Even if she _was_ staring at you, it was probably only because she didn't expect to see such a… cute little boy right away."

Yakata's laugh was like a series of coughs. "St-stop it, why are you _teasing_ me all of a sudden?" he said, pushing into her.

And all she did was laugh in reply, with her mouth closed, keeping her secrets.

She always seemed to know what to say.

She dropped Yakata off with a promise—yes, she _would_ come back—and a wave of the hand, and the first thing Yakata did, after sloughing off his shoes, was to run up to Hajime's room and replace the flowers on his desk.

He brought the withered husk downstairs to the kitchen, but from there, he found himself suddenly at a loss. "I-Ino-san!" A long pause. "Ino-san, hello!"

He heard the toilet flushing, somewhere, and his face burned. Ah.

Ino arrived shortly afterward. "Yakata-kun, when did you get home?"

"N-not too long ago. Um. I need to throw this away, should, should, should I, um. Put it in the garbage or what?" He held the flowers up, slightly, in an awkward motion.

"Well of _course_ you put it in the garbage, silly. Here, give it to me." She held her hands out, but he shook his head. "No? Well, okay." A pause. "What _is_ that, anyways?" she asked.

"Oh, it's, um. An arrangement Nadeshiko-san made me. But it's all dried-up now, so, so she made me another. So I'm gonna get rid of this one."

"Oh _did_ she, now," Ino said. She tilted her head sweetly.

Yakata nodded. "Yeah. Oh! And, um. And she's coming back home tonight! I, I got her to come home! I mean. Um." He fidgeted. "Well I, I, I didn't _get_ her to come home but we _talked_ today at work, and… yeah…"

Ino put a hand on his shoulder. "That's _wonderful_ news, Yakata-kun. I'm happy for you."

He gave her a little smile. It didn't seem to sting as hard, that time.

(None of his smiles seemed to sting that much any more.)

He threw the dried flowers away and went upstairs, announcing it as he did so. And Ino just crossed her arms and quietly marveled, wondering what had happened.

Something good, no doubt.

Yakata finally felt like reading. And, his heart swelling with courage and happiness and goodness knows what else, he went into Nadeshiko's room, the grass-smelling room, and he dove into her bookshelves and did not surface for a long time.

And, as promised, she returned home a few hours later, a duffel bag slung over her shoulder containing a few clothes, a few books.

"I'm home," she said, softly.

Yakata was the first to greet her, with a wild, breathless smile. "Wuh-welcome home!" he said.

She smiled back. "Thank you."

And with his help, she began to unpack.

(And she noticed, with a tiny laugh in her heart, how her books were misarranged just so, just so slightly.)

* * *

It was at dinner that Nadeshiko finally spoke up. About Hajime, of all things.

(When Sasuke and Takeru had been quietly glaring at her for the rest of the meal. Inou avoided her gaze. At least Karai was happy to see her.)

(Then again, Karai was happy about just about _everything_.)

"I saw him at the transport station today. He'll be home by tomorrow, full time."

"Oh, really. That's good," Sasuke said. "A quick mission. He's usually gone longer."

"_Much_ longer," Takeru added.

"It'll be nice to see him home!" Karai said.

"Wonder why that is," Sasuke continued. "That these _missions_ always seem to take so long for _him_."

"I think they're just really far away, is all, an' it takes a lot of time to travel," said Karai.

"Who knows," Takeru said.

Very little else was said on the matter.

After dinner, Ino got a phone call, which preoccupied her for quite a long while. Karai did the dishes. Inou took a bath. Sasuke and Yakata had their training.

("You seem happy," Sasuke said.)

("It, it's because I am," Yakata replied.)

(Sasuke's glance was suspicious, mocking, and yet strangely glad, all at once.)

And Takeru made his way toward Nadeshiko. She was in her room, he knew. He went in without knocking.

She was on her bed, reading. She had her legs pulled up beside her, one over the other.

"So you decided to come back, did you," he said.

"I did. I felt things had gotten better."

"_Better_."

"Yes. I was no longer making things difficult."

Takeru leaned against the doorframe, his arms folded. "You know, I honestly thought that you wouldn't come back. At least, until Yakata-kun went home."

"I suppose you were wrong, then."

He rolled his eyes. "Look at _you_. When did _you_ get so sarcastic?"

"I'm not being sarcastic, brother."

Takeru paused. "So he's okay with you, then? With what you did?"

"That's what he said."

"You know I told him literally _everything_."

"I don't doubt it."

"And he's not even scared of you? Scared of what you could _do_ to him?"

She turned a page, carefully. "Anyone would be scared. But he told me that he didn't care."

A pause, a long one. Takeru shifted his feet over the other. "Wow. He must not even be _human_. I mean, if he can accept even _you._"

"Somehow I doubt this, brother." She didn't look up from her book.

Takeru glanced away from her with little, dark, narrow eyes, and back. "…y'know, I really have been wondering. Why it is Father decided to bring _him_ home. Out of the blue like he did, at that."

"He showed potential. And from what I gather, he's been living up to it."

"Oh, that's what _he_ said. Personally," Takeru continued, "I don't believe it."

She looked up, with a flick of her eyes. "Then what do you think is the reason, Takeru?"

(Oh, did Takeru ever have theories.)

All he did was shrug. "Father's gone mad, I think. Abducted a child or something in a fit of delusional thought. That's all."

"Delusions, is it."

"He thinks that kid's his brother, Nadeshiko. Our uncle, back from the dead."

She blinked.

Her eyes returned downward. "Interesting theory, brother."

He hated talking to her, with her tepid voice. It was impossible to get her angry.

(Or any other emotion, for that matter.)

"Well, I'll be the one saying 'I-told-you-so' if he turns out to be some sort of mind-controlling monster and kills us all."

"Yakata-kun isn't a monster."

"Like you have any right to judge."

Takeru didn't close the door behind him.

Quietly, Nadeshiko marked her place with her finger. She walked to the door.

And closed it.

(Yakata was not a monster.)

(But even with the marigolds in her window. In the Saturdays she spent kneeling, speaking to a boy whom she knew was no longer there. Whom she had barely even known before his departure.)

(In Murasaki's messages from "him.")

(Even in her father shoving her against the wall, and the rose-violet bruise on her back. In every hateful glance and blue-hot word.)

(_"I WILL NOT LET YOU CORRUPT HIM!"_)

(She still couldn't decide if she was truly a monster or not.)

But Yakata.

Even if he thought she really _was_ a monster, secretly.

(And, inside, she was fine with this. She accepted this.)

(Because surely that was what everyone else thought.)

He was kind enough not to treat her like one.

And she appreciated that more than any words she could have ever used.


	51. Interlude: Little Bird

The following chapter contains instances of non-explicit violence, as well as verbal and emotional abuse. I apologize on all accounts.  
- Rii

* * *

**INTERLUDE**

**LITTLE BIRD**

* * *

"Chakra types. List them for me."

"Earth, lightning, fire, water, wind."

"And which is superior over which?"

"Lightning trumps earth; earth trumps water; water trumps fire; fire trumps wind; wind trumps lightning."

"Excellent. And the Uchiha clan possesses which two chakra types?"

"Fire and lightning."

"Meaning our strengths are?"

"Against wind, against earth."

"And our weaknesses?"

"None, if we train hard enough."

And it was there that Sasuke put his hand on his daughter's head. He smiled at her, pulling her closer, his fingers on her ear.

"Very good, my little bird. You never disappoint me."

Nadeshiko smiled.

"Thank you, Father."

They were walking home, together. They had spent the afternoon training. The finals of the chuunin exams were coming up.

Nadeshiko had done very well. Especially considering that she did not have a team. That she had participated alone.

"But you," her father told her, told everyone else who argued against him, "are exceptional. A team would simply bog you down and keep you from reaching your true potential."

She would not have minded a team, truly. She felt she might have been able to work well with one.

But her father knew the Hokage, both the old one and the new.

"Speaking from experience," Kakashi had said, "it would be more socially ostracizing for her if we put her in a team with much-older teammates."

("Though," he added later, "sending her off on high-ranked missions at this age could be extremely problematic.")

"I just don't want her to be _lonely_," Naruto had said. "I mean, being in a team teaches you lifelong skills, y'know? But it also gives you friends that stay with you forever."

("Right, Sasuke?" he had added, with his sun-blinding smile. Her father had no answer.)

"You are," her father told her, "a prodigy. You are strong enough to stand on your own."

And her father always spoke the truth.

(And while Nadeshiko felt she might have been able to work well with others, others had a tendency of not wanting to work well with her.)

(She tried, at least. But she couldn't complain.)

Her father was her teacher. Somehow, people got the idea that he'd do a good job.

(That, and his insistence had been so strong and so vocal that there was very little out there that could dissuade him.)

(That, and the fact that nobody else wanted to be her teacher, finding her incredible skill to be a terrifying thing.)

(Natural skill like that hadn't been seen in decades.)

(Out of any clan but the Uchiha, even longer.)

(Of course, she would not realize this until she was much older.)

And he did do a good job, as clearly evidenced by Nadeshiko's performance in the chuunin exams thus far.

The written exam felt too easy. Maybe they were trying to give a false sense of security, she thought. It made her nervous.

And then the Forest of Death. It had been easy enough to navigate.

And there was something about the fact that Nadeshiko was so small and had such a delicate face that threw people off guard when she threw them against trees, after paralyzing them with genjutsu.

She figured it was an advantage.

Participation that year was slim. There were no preliminaries. This displeased her father.

What displeased him more, however, was her hair.

"I have told you before, Nadeshiko," he kept repeating, on the way home, "to never wear your hair like that."

She had tied her hair back with a string, while in the Forest. It had made things easier for when she was fighting.

Her father didn't like when she did that. She tried to avoid it at every instance.

"But it's necessary."

She loosened her hair for him. It fell to her elbows, dark and a little ragged from lack of washing.

"Otherwise it gets in my eyes."

"Then have your mother cut it off."

Here her hands protectively wrapped themselves around a strand.

"Of course, I…"

Her father's hand was on her shoulder.

"Never mind. Keep it long. But don't tie it back."

He wasn't looking at her.

And she just nodded and told him.

"Yes, Father."

She learned to fight with it long. It made her father smile when she said that she would view it as a challenge.

"If someone tries to grab it," she said, "I'll just use it as leverage for a swift kick, no matter how much it hurts."

"That's my girl," he replied, patting her on the head.

That's what he always called her, when she wasn't his little bird.

She was his girl.

"He doesn't call _me_ things like that," Takeru complained, at times, to his older brother, to their mother. "_Little bird_, like she's so special. He didn't even _care_ about her until she started school."

"Takeru, _you're_ very special to your father, too," their mother said, calmly. "You're his _bright_ one. You've heard him call you that before, haven't you?"

(Sasuke had been calling Takeru that since he could walk, practically.)

"I _guess_."

Takeru, ten years old and angry.

(And envious.)

Hajime never said anything. He was just the first son. Nothing special.

Inou was just "little one," sometimes. And he was little, and shy, always clinging to their mother's legs.

And the baby was just the baby. She was too little for a nickname, born only barely the year before, when Nadeshiko was still at the academy. Her father wasn't terribly fond of infants, anyways.

Training with father always took up so much time. But Nadeshiko couldn't complain.

The chuunin exams were coming up. She had to learn. Polish her skills.

Every morning, after breakfast, they would leave.

Every afternoon, before dinner, they would return.

Takeru was not pleased by this length of time.

"Father, can you train with me today?"

"Not today, son. Maybe after the exams are over."

He put his hand on Takeru's head.

"Your sister needs to be at her top form."

Nadeshiko could see how much resentment he felt. She apologized to him, later. After the first instance.

"Why are _you_ apologizing, _you're_ the one getting all this special attention."

He shoved her away. Disappeared somewhere.

She did feel bad that she was taking away his time with their father. Before the exams, when they were all at school together, their father had spent equal time with them.

At first.

Until Nadeshiko began surpassing them even in those casual instances.

Making her father's eyes widen.

She saw how happy it made him.

She saw how displeased it made Takeru.

She did not apologize again.

She could not complain.

She focused on the task at hand.

Her father taught her many things.

He taught her how to breathe fire. How to handle a blade. How to hold lightning in the palm of her hand.

"Your stamina," he had told her, "is incredible. I would have killed for power like yours when I was your age."

"Thank you, Father."

She took pride in her skills. In the things she learned.

Everything he told her to do, she did.

Her father was, after all, her father. Head of their clan.

His word was absolute. It was the truth.

So she listened. And she continued to learn.

And her father grew closer.

And closer.

He had never been terribly affectionate with her. He did not show his love with hugs or kisses, like her mother did. Truly, he avoided touching anyone, and would tense up when embraced, or jostled. She knew this.

She knew her father showed his love through attention paid, through time spent.

She knew she was his most beloved.

She did not mind this.

(Others might have.)

Because she loved her father right back, and the things he taught her.

She did not show her love with held hands or smiles. But with improvement, and effort. This was acceptable.

He knew how much his word weighed upon her.

How much respect she gave him.

She was the only one who made him smile so much, laugh so much.

She was his little bird, and he was her father.

And she never disappointed.

And then, the day of the tournament finals arrived.

There were eight finalists. A fine, even number. The brackets had long ago been decided.

Nadeshiko's opponent was a boy named Kugi Shusuke. He was Hajime's age. He had graduated from the academy just the year previous.

She knew him. Vaguely.

He was what they called a "leftover." Some dunce of a student that showed little promise. One that didn't fit in.

He had been paired with two others in similar situations.

A tea shop owner's daughter that had a habit of falling asleep in class.

A hyper-tense first-generation ninja that snapped at other students for disobeying rules.

Shusuke's problem was that he was one of those students, disregarding rules at every turn.

He called himself "unorthodox" with a grin that suggested he'd learned the word only minutes before.

They did not fit with any other team.

So the Hokage took them in as his own. The new one.

"If I don't," he had said, "then who will?"

It was a decision that perplexed many, except for the ones that knew him. That camp was not surprised at all.

(Nadeshiko knew Naruto well. He came over for dinner at least once a month. He gave everyone hugs, especially the baby. He told stories.)

(Somehow, her father tolerated him.)

And it was in standing across from him in the arena that Nadeshiko found herself reminded of him very much.

She told him so.

(They were the fourth match of the day.)

"Yeah, yeah, y'think so? I'm glad ya do!"

He had black eyes with sharp corners, a white smile with sharp corners.

"I'll tell my sensei that when I'm done with you. Don't worry, I won't hurt you _too_ bad."

Nadeshiko blinked.

"Hurt _me_?"

"Well, _yeah_. We gotta fight 'n all that. I'm kinda bummed I have to fight _you_, but I guess it won't be so bad."

"Why?"

"'cos you're so _tiny._ And I don't like fighting girls. But that's okay, I guess."

"If you're finished talking, young man?" The proctor pushed his hair behind his ears and rested his hand on his chin, impatiently.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good, I'm good."

Shusuke reached out his hand.

"Let's have a good fight, though, 'kay? I won't hold back if you won't."

If Naruto's smile was like the sun, his was like a star.

Before the match, Nadeshiko's father had told her one thing.

"Don't hold back. No matter what you do."

Her father's words were the truth and they could not be disobeyed.

Nadeshiko reached out her hand, and she shook Shusuke's with it.

"Yes," she said, "let's have a good fight. I won't hold back."

And she didn't.

And yet.

She did not understand why it was that Shusuke was suddenly no longer moving.

She had only held him.

With her eyes. With her arms.

Tripped him. Kicked him. Kneed him.

Felt things cracking.

Lightning surging through her limbs.

She didn't understand why blood was oozing out of his mouth, why it stained his red shirt an even darker red.

All the others had gotten back up. Eventually.

In the Forest.

She had made sure. She had been practical. She had conserved her strength there.

She did not hold back here.

She did not understand why his eyes were rolling into the back of his head.

She had fought with her father, with her brothers before.

They had always gotten back up.

They had bled, yes.

(That one day, she had broken Hajime's nose. Hajime did not say anything about it.)

But they had always gotten back up.

She did not understand how Shusuke could have possibly been so.

Breakable.

When they were not.

There was a growing pool of redness beneath Shusuke's head.

The proctor was yelling. The match was over.

She stood still.

She had not meant to do.

This.

Her hands had blood on them and it was not her own.

Medics were rushing onto the arena.

The watching crowd was very quiet.

The blood on her hands belonged to Shusuke.

They began carrying him away on a stretcher.

Much of him was still left on the ground.

On her hands.

He was not moving.

She did not understand.

Why?

Had she really hurt him that badly?

He was not moving.

But she could.

And she did. Even though there were many bodies and many hands in between them, she ran and she followed the medics, and Shusuke.

"Please," she said, with a little voice, "is he okay?"

"I'm sorry," she said, when they told her to leave, "I didn't mean to hurt him so badly."

They would not let her in when they took him into surgery. So she waited outside.

Eventually, her father caught up with her. He asked her what she was doing.

She told him.

"I need to see if he'll be all right."

She had not yet truly washed her hands. The blood had dried and turned brown, like rust.

"I didn't mean to hurt him so badly."

"But, you didn't hold back," her father said. "Your skill, Nadeshiko, they'll see that. Well done, little bird. I'm very proud of you."

He asked her to come back to the arena. There was another fight waiting for her, soon.

She refused. He asked why.

Again, she told him.

"I need to see if he'll be all right."

"I'm sure he'll be fine," her father said, "now let's go."

She did not move.

Her hands were covered in Shusuke.

She could still feel the crack of things within him in her thighs, in her wrists.

The next fight, if she were to participate, would be against another little boy. A foreign boy. One she didn't know.

"…will I do the same thing to that one?"

Her father tilted her head curiously, at that.

"Excuse me?"

"If I fight the next one, will he end up here too? And the next?"

"Nadeshiko," her father said, "what are you talking about?"

When she had tried her best, before, they had always gotten up afterward. She had never hurt them.

So badly.

When had she become so strong?

"Father, I didn't mean to hurt him so badly," she said. "I shouldn't have fought like that."

"Don't say things like that," her father said.

He grabbed her arm.

"You have another fight waiting for you. Your next opponent won't be as weak. It'll be a better fight."

Her father always spoke the truth. And she loved him too much.

But.

She pulled her hand away. She wrapped her fingers around her palm.

"Let me stay here until I have to fight," she said. "Have someone get me when I have to go. I want to stay here for now."

It was with a great reluctance that her father finally left.

And all she had were her thoughts, and Shusuke.

She had only done her best.

But her best had never hurt her father so badly.

And she started remembering.

At the academy. When she had to be taught with older students because she kept surpassing her peers, moved up into higher and higher classes.

They were always less-skilled than she was. If she had kept with them.

Would they have ended up like Shusuke too?

For a year, for a year and a half, all she had was her father, her brothers.

Her father was legendary. She knew this. Anyone would look weak compared to him.

Anyone would feel normal compared to him.

Even her.

But Shusuke.

Was she really that strong?

Even if her next opponent were stronger. If she did not hold back.

Just more blood on her hands.

Just more blood.

Her father had told her not to hold back.

He had praised her.

She was his little bird. She did not disappoint him.

A little red bird.

But birds did not hurt people. Not like this.

When they sent a chuunin to go pick her up, to inform her that her match was due to begin, she said that she would not go.

"Uchiha-san, we're already pushing it as it is... If you aren't in the arena in a half hour then your match is forfeit."

She looked up at him.

Shusuke had come to her without fear.

Look what she had done.

This child, barely older than him, was terrified of her. His eyes were trembling, resting anywhere but her face, her body.

Her hands, especially.

She had only ever been praised for her skills. Her strength.

Her father had said he would kill for such power.

Was such power really worth killing for?

(Shusuke had been in surgery for a very long time.)

In the academy she had been praised, also.

But other children.

Weren't so kind.

They wouldn't let her play with them. She had tried.

They whispered things about her.

"They're just jealous of you," her father had said, "pay them no mind."

Jealous, were they.

Or afraid?

Seeing this boy here, Nadeshiko thought of this.

They were not jealous.

They_ were _afraid.

…her father was wrong.

"If that is the case," she told the boy, "then I forfeit my match. Award the victory to my opponent. I want to stay here."

"…a-are you sure?"

She had never been so sure of anything in her life.

Power like hers was not worth killing for.

Hurting for.

She _scared_ people.

And realizing this scared her.

Her father was not pleased when he found out.

It was fortunate that he had Naruto.

And they both were fortunate that they had Sakura.

"What she has demonstrated," Sakura said, down another hallway, her forehead covered in sweat and worry, "is true concern and compassion for not only her fellow countrymen, but for her fellow ninjas in _general_. Do you have any idea how _rare_ that is?"

Naruto had his hands shoved under his arms.

"That alone," Sakura continued, "should promote her to chuunin, Sasuke. And this is saying absolutely _nothing_ about her skills… impressive though they were. …right, Naruto?" she added, gently.

She had a hand on his shoulder.

"…yeah, that sounds about right," he said.

The volume, the tone of his voice did not suit him. At all.

Her father seemed calmer, hearing this.

"She still should have gone out to face that second opponent instead of sitting out like she did."

Sakura had to leave, resisting every urge to slap him.

Naruto needed her more.

Nadeshiko was with her mother.

Shusuke never came out of the operating room.

When Sakura came by, later, Nadeshiko asked what had happened.

"…I'm sorry, Nadeshiko-chan, there was very little we could have done."

She pulled on the hem of Sakura's scrubs.

(She didn't feel like touching people.)

"Tell me what I did. Tell me how I hurt him."

Her mother said that she was just upset and that she didn't need to be so dramatic.

Nadeshiko said it, again, looking Sakura right into the eyes.

"Tell me what I did."

She had long since washed her hands. But she still felt Shusuke on them.

"Tell me how I hurt him."

There had been too much bleeding. Bones lacerated organs. Too much irreparable damage.

There was nothing they could have done. Even after hours of effort.

"So I killed him," Nadeshiko said.

"Honey, don't say things like that," her mother said.

"Let's go home," her mother said.

All that Sakura could do was apologize.

But Shusuke was dead.

Power like hers truly wasn't worth killing for.

She had killed him.

She hadn't meant to hurt him so badly.

She had only been told to do her best.

For a week, she thought this over.

For a week, she stayed in her room.

(Her mother defended her. Keeping her father out. She was just upset.)

She didn't want to talk to him.

Him, the great liar. Who had told her that this strength was such a gift. Who had praised her so much.

Even though she loved him.

Her own body scared her.

And it scared her more, how he loved what she so hated.

But he was her father.

But he was not true.

Naruto's eyes were brighter when he came to visit. Much later.

He had a box with him. He asked to speak to Nadeshiko.

The Hokage, like her father, had to be obeyed.

Unlike her father, there was a better reason for this.

He opened the box in full view of her, and her parents. Inside was a green flak jacket. It was her size.

"Congratulations," he said to her, "you've been promoted to chuunin, Nadeshiko-chan. Well done, y'know."

Her father was very proud of her.

Nadeshiko wasn't.

He wanted to celebrate. "Anything you want," he told her, "we'll do. This is a great achievement."

"I want," she said, "to be left alone, please. I'm sorry."

Her father didn't seem to understand.

Why was she not happier?

She no longer asked herself.

Her mother, helpful in her answers, had a suggestion.

"I think she's still a little shocked over what happened..."

"People die," her father said. "It's a lesson she has to learn."

Nadeshiko took the box upstairs.

She let it sit on her desk for three days.

And on the third day, she took it off of her desk, and quietly left the house with it.

She went to Naruto's office.

She introduced herself, politely. She kept her voice soft. He looked tired.

"I am here," she told him, after he asked, "to announce my retirement."

She knew what a chuunin was.

She learned what it was they had to do.

And she knew, in the laws written by the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, that if any ninja of Konoha were intent on retiring from the service, they were to relinquish both their forehead protector and any other award or indication of rank to their Hokage, and negotiate further terms of the retirement.

"Please," she asked him, quietly, "if there is ever a war, do not draft me. I don't want to ever hurt anyone again."

"Nadeshiko-chan…"

Naruto's hands were placed uneasily on the surface of the desk.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing? I mean, you're a _smart_ kid, y'know, but… well, you're only _eight_. You have a whole lot ahead of you, y'know?"

"I know."

"And there's a lot more to being a ninja than just, y'know, fighting people. You could become… an ambassador, or a bodyguard, or a medic, if you wanted."

"I know."

"You've only been a chuunin for three days. Maybe you should think this over a little more."

He paused.

"Have you talked to your family about this?"

"No," she said, "and I don't want to. I have… thought this over for a long time. This is the decision I want to make."

She bowed.

Power like hers was not worth killing for.

"I want to live a life where I will never have to worry about hurting people. Please allow me this, Hokage-sama."

Naruto kept the jacket and the forehead protector with him. Just in case.

That evening, Nadeshiko announced her retirement to her parents.

Her father.

Sat her down at the other end of the kitchen table.

"This isn't funny, Nadeshiko."

"It's not a joke, Father."

He was standing.

"You can't be serious."

"I am serious, Father."

Her mother was standing nearby. Watching.

"I can't believe this. Over this? Over this _one_ little match?"

"Yes. I don't want to hurt anyone else. Not ever."

Her father rolled his eyes.

"I thought I knew you better. You're a _genius_, Nadeshiko. You're _incredibly_ talented. You should know better than to let something as small as this get in the way of your gifts."

"But I don't want to hurt people."

"People are always going to get hurt, little bird. It's inevitable."

"But they don't have to. I don't have to."

He slammed his palms on the table.

"Stop for a moment and just listen to yourself. Think for a moment."

She had been thinking. For more than a moment.

"What you've just done, what you're saying _now_, is that you'll just… throw away _all_ of this talent because you don't want to _hurt_ people?"

"Yes."

His voice was very low.

"Nadeshiko," he said, "you are going to get out of that chair, and you are going to walk with me back to the Hokage Manor, and you are going to ask for your flak jacket and your forehead protector back."

"No."

She had never seen such hate in his eyes.

"No? NO?"

Directed at her.

"No."

"Well you don't have a choice!"

He was getting louder.

"Yes I do. I made my choice, and I am not going to let anyone get hurt because of me ever again."

He threw up his hands. He was pacing.

"You're STILL hung up on this! HURTING people! What, can you not HANDLE it?"

"I can't _stand_ it. You just told me to do my best. And I did. And I killed him. I can't _do_ this any more."

She saw her mother reach out with weak hands. "Sasuke-"

"Nadeshiko, the FIRST thing you learn as a ninja is that people. Will. Get. Hurt. It's a fucking JOB REQUIREMENT."

"Sasuke, please-"

"Then I don't want to be a ninja," Nadeshiko said.

There was a very long and a very dangerous silence.

She spoke again.

"I don't want to hurt people. I don't want _anyone_ to get hurt."

She was staring at the table. But thinking of her hands.

Shusuke had long since been cremated and his name carved into a headstone, but she could still feel his blood on her hands.

His bones beneath her fingers.

Her father walked over to her.

Stood over her.

She felt very small, compared to him.

(She had felt normal, compared to him.)

(The great liar-man.)

"Well, guess what, Nadeshiko."

His voice was almost a whisper.

"Not. Everyone. Gets. That. Option."

And suddenly he was yelling again.

"People are ALWAYS going to get hurt, and sometimes? YOU DON'T HAVE A FUCKING CHOICE."

"Sasuke-"

"Did my BROTHER have a choice when he was ordered to MASSACRE HIS ENTIRE FAMILY AND CLAN? NO."

He was standing across from her at the table, now, having paced all the way around.

"NINJAS. HURT. PEOPLE."

Nadeshiko felt her throat tightening.

Her eyes burned.

Everything felt weak.

"…but _I_ have a choice."

Sasuke slammed his fist against the table again. The legs cracked from the weight.

"NOT SO LONG AS YOU LIVE IN _MY_ HOUSE, DAMN IT!"

"Sasuke, please, calm down-"

"SHUT UP, INO, THIS DOES _NOT _CONCERN YOU."

Nadeshiko's eyes burned.

And she covered them.

"YOU ARE DISHONORING THE ENTIRE UCHIHA CLAN WITH THIS _BULLSHIT_, NADESHIKO. YOU DISHONOR ME, YOU DISHONOR YOUR BROTHERS, AND YOU DISHONOR EVERY SINGLE UCHIHA WHO CAME BEFORE YOU."

Her eyes felt wet, and hot.

"You," he yelled, almost desperately, "are a NINJA! You have TALENT, Nadeshiko! And SKILL! You could go _so_ far…!"

She breathed in deeply and her breath felt ragged.

"And you're just THROWING IT AWAY! You're THROWING IT AWAY, NADESHIKO!"

"_I KNOW!_"

Nadeshiko was screaming.

And it occurred to her that she was sobbing.

She couldn't remember ever crying before.

"_That's what I want! _ THAT'S WHAT I _WANT!_"

She did not see her mother, stitched into the scenery, tears flooding her own eyes, arms clutched over her chest.

She did not see her brothers, listening from the floor above.

Hajime clinging to his knees and a pillow.

Takeru smiling grimly.

Inou, rubbing his eyes from underneath his blanket, having gone to bed early. Awoken by all the screaming.

The baby stayed asleep.

She did not see her father's eyes narrow. His breath slow down.

But she heard him.

"Fine. Fine. If that's what you want? Then that's what you'll get."

She heard him coming closer.

"So long as you live in my house, you are a ninja."

And his voice was right over her head, and it was very low, and very dangerous.

"Get out."

Her mother finally spoke, and her words were not weak.

"Sasuke, you can't _do_ that! She's eight!"

"WELL IF SHE'S MATURE ENOUGH TO ANNOUNCE HER RETIREMENT, _LIKE AN ADULT_, THEN SHE'S OBVIOUSLY MATURE ENOUGH TO LIVE ON HER OWN!"

"That's not how it works, Sasuke!"

"WELL THEN PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME, INO. I WOULD _LOVE_ TO HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE MATTER."

Nadeshiko took her hands off of her eyes and put them over her ears.

She bent over and closer to her knees.

And she wanted to disappear.

She just.

Didn't want to hurt people.

Any more.

Sasuke and her mother were fighting like she had never heard them fight before.

She tried not to listen.

She tried not to look.

But then she heard her mother's voice in her mind.

_Go upstairs. Pack some clothes. Don't ask questions. I'll keep your father away._

She could almost barely hear her, over the sound of Sasuke's own screaming.

Nadeshiko got off the chair.

"And where are _you_ going?"

She went down the hallway.

"Oh, so you're going to finally listen to me? Well, GOOD!"

His voice rose.

"GET OUT OF HERE!"

Louder and louder.

"I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOUR FACE EVER _AGAIN!_"

"Sasuke, LISTEN to yourself!"

She went up the stairs.

"SHUT _UP_, INO."

Her hands were unusually clumsy as she stuffed clothes into a canvas bag. She wiped away hot tears with the back of her hand.

She didn't understand why she was still crying.

Why her eyes hurt so much.

"Naa…?"

She knew that voice.

She didn't want to turn around.

"Inou, go back to bed…"

"Big sis, whassa matter…? Why are you cryin'?"

"I'm fine, Inou."

"Are you cryin' cos Mommy and Daddy are yellin' at each other?"

(Downstairs: "Don't give me that bullshit about her being your daughter too, Ino! That has NOTHING to do with ANYTHING!")

"Inou, I'm okay."

She heard him coming closer. He had a blanket with him and it dragged, softly, on the floor.

"Sis, what's goin' on?"

He pressed himself up against her. He was small, and he was warm.

"I'm scared…"

And he was so much younger, so much more delicate than Shusuke.

She pulled herself away from him.

If she hurt him…!

Her own body terrified her.

"Little brother, please, go… go back to your room," she said.

Inou's face was full of.

Fear.

That was what it was.

Just like everyone else.

"…Naa, what's wrong…?" he said.

(He was the only one that called her Naa. Though the baby was picking it up, too, adding it to her few words.)

Nadeshiko could not ever remember crying.

It felt strange.

She heard the front door open.

She left her room quickly, before Inou could say any more, apologizing over her shoulder.

It was her grandfather.

"Ino, honey, I came here as quickly as I could. What's the matter?"

"Oh, so you're bringing _him_ into this, too? When did you call him?"

Sasuke.

"Daddy, please, take Nadeshiko."

Her mother was coming down the hallway. She had been crying. She still was.

"She needs to stay with you for a while."

Sasuke didn't say anything about this.

"Please, Daddy…!"

Her grandfather had dry, stringy arms, and he reached out to Nadeshiko.

"Come on, dear, let's go."

Nadeshiko, eyes cast downward, followed behind.

But did not touch him.

"Daddy, please, take care of her, I'll explain everything later…!"

Her mother's farewell.

"GOOD _FUCKING _RIDDANCE!"

Sasuke's.

Her grandfather did not ask any questions as they walked together to his house. Not even with his mind.

When they got there, he turned the lights on and brought her to the second bedroom.

Her mother's old room.

She put her bag of clothes on the bed.

"Is there anything I can do for you, honey?"

She shook her head.

He left her alone.

She knew where everything was in the house.

Her face felt raw, and stiff.

She went into the bathroom to wash it.

And when she looked into the mirror.

Her eyes looked wrong, puffy and red.

Carefully, she put the face towel away, and went back to her room.

And she laid down on the bed. She pulled her knees to her chest and held them with her arms.

And the weight of her freedom fell down upon her with its full and paralyzing strength.

If she had done the right thing, why did it feel like she had done something wrong?

(Because she had done something wrong.)

Everything felt suddenly cold. Even though the day had been hot.

She couldn't breathe.

And yet.

She didn't feel alone.

Like a hand on her back, there was that comfort.

She wasn't alone, at least.

Somehow, her mind calmed.

Somehow, she fell asleep.

She would stay with her grandfather for over a year.

Eventually, she returned home.

Once, after many talks, it became apparent that she would not corrupt Inou, who had begun school in her absence.

Things had changed.

Somehow, Karai seemed to remember her. Or maybe only seemed to.

Inou now avoided her.

Nadeshiko almost felt happy about this.

(Thank goodness, she wouldn't be able to hurt him, then.)

Takeru and Hajime had become chuunin with little upset. Takeru made his father proud.

Nadeshiko was proud of them both, anyways.

Sasuke viewed pacifism as an infection. It made people weak.

It made them waste their talents.

A self-destructive disease.

Inou wouldn't turn out like his sister. This, he made sure of.

Nadeshiko just.

Stayed out of the way.

If she stayed away, she could not corrupt.

She could not hurt.

Everything would be fine.

And this suited Sasuke.

And it suited her.

It was easier that way.

But, sometimes, she could not help herself.

Nadeshiko showed her love in little gifts.

In breakfasts made and left out without a word.

In books gently lent out with a lack of acknowledgment as a library card.

In distractions and misdirection and defense for what she saw as a much worthier love.

In flowers left on graves and grown in windows.

A constant reminder.

For Shusuke's sake.

She would do this.

It was not better that way.

But it was easier.

For everyone.


	52. Orion Alphard

_**Konohagakure Curse Seal Rehabilitation Program**_

_**Assistance Request Report**_

_**Name of Requestor:**__ Chief Inspector Itongokiri, Village of Hakyo, Land of Waves_

_**Summary:**_

_Reports of the disturbances began approx. one month ago (June-July 27 AU), though some reports state that the activity has been going on for at least two years, albeit to a lesser degree. Unclear if damage produced during this time due to possible affected individual, or local wildlife. Initial report filed by local trappers, confused by forest damage and other signs of berserk state damage. Contacted local authorities, who then contacted dept. Reports of unusual roaring sounds, rumbling and crashing in the distance, unusual tree damage, etc. Initial descriptions and photographs seem to indicate an energy-producing curse seal mutation ("Beamer"), due to the nature of the damage, in addition to the expected enhanced strength, etc. Damage seems confined to nearby forest and rural area, has not spread to Hakyo proper, nor any other residential area._

_**Mission Outline:**_

_Orders are to investigate quickly and determine the location of the affected individual, as curse seal activity has not been reported widely in this area and further non-action may prove harmful to both the affected individual and the local population. Due to the confined nature of the destruction, it can be assumed that the individual has lived with their condition for a while, and/or is lucid enough while in their berserk states to not seek out populated areas, and/or lacks bloodlust, etc. These traits are not usually apparent in second-generation mutations, where the berserk state is far less controllable and is harder to hide. Therefore, if said individual is found to be a first-generation curse seal victim, procedure may be changed accordingly. Otherwise, follow standard procedure in aiding and processing the individual._

_(Addendum: It is imperative that the reason for the increased activity and destruction is also determined in processing the individual, to aid in future therapy sessions.)_

_Kedamono Enbi  
Chief of Staff  
Curse Seal Rehabilitation Program _

* * *

**ACT 7**

**BONE**

* * *

_Chapter 52 - Orion Alphard_

* * *

Preliminary Actions: Mission Summary (and a Brief History)

Reports about the disturbance had begun to trickle in maybe a month previous, through the hotline. Reports of loud crashes and stomps, inhuman roars, and trees found scorched with holes and enormous gouges in them.

Basically, entirely indicative of a curse seal victim who had run out of CV's.

Better yet, the area was unaccounted for. Meaning that someone had migrated.

Or, the more-likely option, that this was someone new.

After all, Orochimaru kept very careful record of every single one of his experiments. And the team made a point of keeping careful record of every single victim they found. Deceased or otherwise.

There were still a lot of people left unaccounted for. Twenty-seven years was a lot of time for a population to scatter.

And multiply.

Orochimaru did not have any children on his roster. Barring the ones who had _begun_ as children, of course.

The CV's had been developed almost entirely for them, those second-generation children. Though, of course, there were other uses. Not every curse seal victim was exactly a model citizen. It didn't help that the seal itself had a bad habit of causing mental illness and tendencies of extreme violence.

Therapy and medicine helped. A lot.

And for those that needed a little extra help, well. There was a wing in Konoha's hospital just for them.

Luckily, once the aggression and the delusions were taken care of, a surprising amount of people were keen on returning to society, if they hadn't already been trying.

As one man put it, "I didn't _ask_ to be experimented on."

And a surprising amount of people were keen on having relationships with these returnees.

As one wife of a curse seal victim put it, "It's the man I fell in love with, not the monster. The monster he is in bed, however…"

After which her husband nudged her, his face flushing, and she stuck out her tongue at him, playfully, nudging him back.

Though Sakari always hoped that, whenever a "live one" was reported, that it was a child, a second-gen. Out of the four members of the seal team—the field team, anyways—she was the one who threw herself into her work most completely, feeling an intense passion and sympathy for any offspring of a first-generation curse seal victim.

First-gens had much more control over their transformations. A luxury that genetics and body modification didn't allow their children.

Not every curse seal victim was so open about their condition, however.

It was always so tragic when their secrets manifested in those children, for that reason entirely.

Because it was so undeniable.

As Sakari put it, whenever the subject came up, "I just want them to know that it's _okay_ for them to be the way they are. That we can help them live with that."

Another reason why "live ones" always got everyone so excited: because they were, well, _exciting_.

The seal team's usual duties were check-ins once every three months or so, to replenish any needed CV's, write down any incidents, have them filed.

Yawn.

(Even though it wasn't so bad. Really.)

Now, fighting down a rogue victim in a full second-level transformation?

_That_ was fun.

A challenge, anyways. Jimichi didn't like it. He preferred the healing aspect.

Which was why, generally, he stayed on the sidelines. He _was_ the medic, after all. He had to stay safe, for the sake of his other teammates.

There were four of them, naturally. Like any other team.

Fuguki Jimichi, the medic.

Hyuuga Ninako, the scout.

Haruno Sakari, the muscle.

And Uchiha Hajime. The leader.

They had been working together for three, almost four years. And they made a damn good team, if their results were any indication.

Naturally, the Seal Team had existed long before their particular squad had been put together. And curse seal victims had been dealt with for far longer, though usually by independent ANBU teams. It was Naruto's idea to make a dedicated squadron for them.

"I mean, it'd be a really good thing if we have this, like. Public group that people _know_ they can go to if they need help, y'know?" was how he explained it.

He used this same reasoning when he set up plans to reinstate the police force, adding, "'cos, uh, even though they _do_ kinda take care of internal crime and stuff, I don't think that 'Torture and Interrogation' is exactly the most… approachable thing. If people need help, y'know. I mean, yeah, you can approach anyone with a green vest if something's going down, but it's super hard to get everything organized cos there's no, uh… organization. Y'know?"

(Sasuke eventually got used to it. Even though the Uchiha name was no longer associated with the department.)

(The reorganization of the crime department, as it happened, ended up saving the government a significant amount of money as time went on, after a year or so of flustered adjustment.)

(And once Andou got his hands on it, well. He was probably the first ten year old to have ever successfully aided in the consolidation of eight different departments from three different focuses into one concentrated force.)

(Then again, he was Andou. He drafted up a neater, cleaner genealogical chart for the Hyuuga clan when he was five. For fun.)

The Seal Team was, technically, associated with Health Services, and Konoha's hospital. And the majority of the staff _was_ at the hospital, the folks responsible for treating the in-patients, the therapists, the child care specialists, the hotline operators.

Hajime and his team were just the face, the field guys.

And, naturally, they'd been carefully chosen to represent only the best that Konoha had to offer.

(Sasuke only allowed himself to feel pride for his son's achievement once this had been stressed to him.)

(The best that Konoha had to offer, hm? Well, that was their opinion, he supposed.)

(Wondering why they had chosen Hajime and not his brightest one, Takeru.)

(The fact that the Seal Team would likely not have existed if it hadn't been for his involvement, years and years ago, in setting free the occupants of the North Base was entirely lost to his memory.)

But Hajime was an excellent leader. Smart and capable. And, presently, discussing the team's plan in what to do in their inevitable confrontation with the reported target.

Transport Up

"Standard procedure, right?" Sakari said. "Gather intel, have Ninako do a scan of the area, then approach, standard-style?"

"Yes," Hajime said.

"We know anything about the town, again? Hakyo, innit that what it's called?"

"Uh-huh," Jimichi said.

"Anywhere near Ryokyo?"

"Seems to be in the general area," Ninako said.

"We should visit Karin-san, then. Once we're done here."

"I don't think that's such a good idea, Sakari," Hajime said.

"Aw, why? Karin-san's great."

"She always gets angry when we drop in unannounced, Sakari-chan," Jimichi said.

"Plus she always gets so _weird_ around Hajime," Ninako said.

Hajime said nothing.

"We could at least call her, if you really wanna set something up," Jimichi said.

"Maybe. If we're close enough."

They continued to run.

"I do want to go sight-seeing, though. I love the coast. Bet Kenji'd love it if I brought him home some seashells."

"Whatever you want, Sakari-chan," Jimichi said.

Standard Procedure, Step One: Gathering Intel

So how long had the disturbances been going on?

"Well things been kinda quiet around here mostly, they've only just now gotten troublesome."

"We've been hearing things for about a year. Two years. Didn't think to say anything 'til now though."

"I didn't even know this was a thing until recently. I always just thought it was a wild boar, or a monster doin' all this."

"They're not monsters," Sakari said, "they're just a little different, is all."

And where were they mostly concentrated, those disturbances?

"Just in that forest over there. We found some trees cracked in half while huntin' in there recently. Looked pretty serious."

"Animals don't do that."

"Nope, they sure don't."

"That's why we figured to get together and see if there was somethin' could be done about it."

"Yep."

And was there anyone they know in town, or in the general area, who might have been responsible for this?

"How d'you mean?"

"The general profile for these sorts of people is someone that… tends to live alone, isolated," Ninako said, "prone to anger or annoyance, sudden shifts in mood… You guys know anyone like that?"

Exchanged glances.

"Well, there is that one guy."

"Which guy?"

"You know, the big fella."

"Oh yeah, that guy."

"_Which_ guy?" Sakari said.

"Lives out in the woods. He's been there… how long?"

"Can't even remember."

"Yeah, me neither, s'like he's been there for forever."

"Maybe if we asked your mother?"

"Please, if you could stay on the subject," Hajime said, "tell us more about this man, if you can."

"Well, he's really tall."

"_Really_ tall."

"A big fella."

"Yup."

"Doesn't come out of the forest much. Trades vegetables for food sometimes. Or milk. He likes milk."

"Oh, and he likes chickens."

"_Loves_ chickens. Won't eat 'em, though."

"Nope."

"So he's something of a hermit, you might say?" Ninako said.

"I guess that's what you could call him."

"Weird guy. Doesn't talk much."

"Yeah, I'd say he's a hermit."

"…you don't suppose he's the one causing all this trouble? He's odd but he seems so gentle, not violent at all..."

"We'll find out soon enough," Ninako said, with a smile like the letter V. "Thanks for the information."

Standard Procedure, Step Two: Scouting the Area

"What do you see, Ninako?"

"Trees. Lo-ots of trees."

"And?"

"We got some serious splinter damage going on, for one. …aaand some burns and hole damage. We might have a Beamer on our hands."

"Great."

"Don't worry about it, Hajime," Sakari said. "If we work fast enough we won't have to deal with that."

"Hopefully. Look further, Ninako, see if you can find where this guy lives."

"Already on it."

A pause.

"Okay, there's a house maybe a mile down from here, in a clearing. Kinda small. There's a garden out back, too. Hahaha, check this out, he's got chickens too…"

"Anyone human there?"

"…might be. There's something _small_ in the house, not a chicken, but I have no idea what it is."

"See if you can confirm for us."

"Gotcha."

"Guys," Jimichi said, "what's that sound?"

The sound was their target, approaching at 30 miles an hour and increasing.

(Not) Standard Procedure, Step Three: Confrontation

The earth shattered.

"Oh, _there_ he is!" said Sakari. Smiling.

"Fall back!" said Hajime.

He reached for a blank scroll, for his brush.

The man with orange hair like fire and brown skin like mud reached for a tree.

"Ninako, look out!" Sakari said, needlessly.

The tree was intercepted by Ninako's exquisite palms and twirled into a oblivion of shredded pieces.

"I'm fine!" Ninako said.

"GET OUT… GET OUT…!" the man said. He breathed deeply, bull-like.

"We're just trying to help, sir!" Sakari said.

"GO AWAY!"

His back seized and shifted in ways they were unfamiliar with.

The air grew hot and orange.

"Oh, _crap_, he _is_ a Beamer!" said Ninako.

And in an instant a row of trees were suddenly cored through with a sound like a roaring crack.

"GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT GET OUUUUUT!"

Hajime's brush flew over paper.

An enormous snake of ink and whiteness came out of it and wrapped itself around the man, pinning his massive arms to his side.

"Sakari, you know what to do!"

"Right-o!"

"GO AWAAAAAY!"

Sakari had a CV in hand and she was very small and very strong and very quick.

The man was stronger. Ink splashed everywhere as his arms ripped the ink-snake apart, getting on clothes and faces and mud-colored skin.

A large arm like a tree trunk hit Sakari in the stomach and sent her flying into another tree.

And the man.

Began to flee.

Roaring as he went, almost like he was sobbing.

"Orders, sir!" Jimichi said.

He was at Sakari's side in an instant. She was coughing.

They could have pursued him but.

"Let him go, we can try again later."

"Good idea…" Ninako said. She was wiping ink out of her eyes. "Hahaha, _man_, Hajime, way to _go_."

"You okay there, Sakari?" Hajime said.

"Owwwww jeez." Sakari had one eye closed.

Jimichi had his hands on her and they were glowing.

"I'm sorry about that," Hajime said.

"Not your fault, really…!"

"Don't move, you've got a cracked rib or two," Jimichi said. "I'm gonna try and mend those first before I work on the bruising."

"Man, that guy was… something. I mean, your python-bind usually gets 'em, Hajime," Ninako said. "We're gonna have to step up our game."

"How long until you think we'll be able to move Sakari, Jimichi?"

"Don't rush me, Hajime. But we should be fine in a few minutes."

"Nah, nah, nah, I think I can walk, I'm feeling miles better!" Sakari gave a weak thumb's-up. "You want us to move out soon, Boss?"

"It's best if we get out of the area. In case he comes back."

"And it'll probably be better for Sakari-chan if we can get her rested and laid out for a few hours, at least." Jimichi's brow was furrowed. "That was a bit of an impact."

"Oh c'mon, I feel fine."

"Sakari-chan, please don't strain yourself, I'm not _done_ yet."

"At any rate, can we get some clean clothes and a shower?" Ninako said. She flicked ink off of her hands. "I feel disgusting. You got an extra jacket for me in there, dontcha Jimichi?"

"I have everyone's clothes with me, Ninako." Jimichi's pack carried many things.

"We have rooms booked in a hotel in Hakyo. Once Sakari's ready to go we can check in and rest. We'll give another go tomorrow," Hajime said.

"Sounds good t'me, Boss."

Sakari gave another thumbs-up, and it wasn't as weak. It made Hajime smile, a little.

(Not) Standard Procedure, Step Four: Rinse, and Repeat

There was trouble at the hotel.

"…I thought we had two rooms with two beds each," Hajime said.

"I'm _sorry_, dear, there must have been a mistake."

"Can we get what we originally asked for?"

"'fraid not, we don't have enough rooms."

Hajime groaned.

"Oh that's no _problem_. We can just split up the rooms between us and share beds."

Sakari had her arm around Jimichi's shoulder.

"You sure, Sakari?" Ninako said.

"Well, if it's okay with _you_ guys. I'm just _peachy_."

"Well I could always sleep on the floor or the couch or something if you wanted to share the room with me, Hajime," Jimichi said.

"Oh, who said you had to room with _him?_"

Sakari had her hand on Jimichi's chin. It was a bit of a reach for her.

"Oh get a _room_, you two," Ninako said, laughing.

"Oh. I intend to."

Jimichi's face was slightly red.

Hajime's wasn't.

"So I take it you'll keep the rooms?" the receptionist said.

"Seems like!" Ninako said.

A few minutes later, Sakari and Jimichi were on the bed together. "You know I really wanted to have you carried here," Jimichi said.

"I _told_ you I can handle it, silly."

Jimichi sighed, rolled his eyes. He'd taken his pack off and put it on the couch.

"Take your shirt off, I want to see if the bruising's gotten any worse."

"Okie-dokie."

He'd already given Hajime and Ninako their changes of clothes, in the hallway, when they were fumbling with room keys.

Sakari had a body in miniature, proportioned like a woman, with hips and breasts and other curves, but smaller, more compact, like someone had taken her by the head and the feet and pressed together. Her muscle-stomach was a map of mottled reds and growing purples.

"Oh, dear, dear. This is going to take a while." Jimichi tapped his fingers together. "Sakari-chan, I _told_ you, I should have carried you."

"Hey, it's just bruising. Nothing this old girl can't handle."

Jimichi sighed. "Get onto your stomach, please."

She winced a little, as she did so.

His hands were very careful, and gentle.

"I'll let you sleep on the bed, if you want," he said, after a while. "I'll take the couch."

"Oh, you don't have to do _that_."

"No, really, I don't want to make you uncomfortable at all."

"Jimichi, it's fine. Besides, I doubt my girlfriend would care if I had to share a bed with you. We're grown-ups, aren't we? Not like I'm gonna get cooties from you or anything."

She looked up over her shoulder at him with her round eyes.

"Well, if you really say it's fine." Jimichi's eyes were elsewhere, though he was smiling.

"It _is_ fine. I don't mind at all."

His fingers moved over the ridges of her spine.

"Wonder how long it'll be before _those_ two get at it, though? I mean, _you_ know them."

"You _know_ we were all thinking the same thing there," Jimichi said.

"Oh, absolutely." A pause. "Well, except maybe for Hajime. You know how he is."

"Business as usual until nobody's looking." Jimichi laughed, shaking his head. "He's hopeless."

"_Tell_ me about it."

He took his hands off her back. "Well, the good news is you didn't do any more damage to your ribs or spine coming over here. I'll see if there's anything I can do for your stomach in the meantime, then."

"Jimichi, you are such a _sweetheart_."

"Just doin' my job, Sakari-chan."

In the next room over and a few minutes later, Ninako was coming out of the bathroom in her underwear, toweling her head off. "Oh, that felt _good_. Shower's free if you wanna use it."

"Thanks."

He was sitting on the edge of the bed with his shirt off, his fingers laced around his knees.

Ninako's heart-shaped mouth slid sideways. "Okay, Hajime, what's the matter?"

"Hm?"

"You've got that look on your face you get when something's bothering you. Come on, tell me what it is."

She got on the bed with him and held her hands together between her knees.

"That skirmish today. You should have been able to see him coming."

She sighed. "Oh, _that_. My eyes were a mile _away_, Hajime, I'm not omnipotent."

His expression didn't change. "I _know_ you're not. But you… well, you just seem a little… off today."

"Off?" She sighed again, but it was halfway to a laugh. She leaned back on the bed as her voice rose and fell. "Ah, first Jimichi, now _you_."

(He had asked her on the way over if she was feeling well, and he had felt her cheek. She didn't have a fever, and she had laughed at his worry there, too.)

"Ninako, please. Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I've been fine, honestly. A little tired, maybe, but nothing _too_ bad."

"You think you should have stayed home? Maybe you're still getting over that stomach flu you had."

Ah, she laughed there. "Hajime, that was _two months_ ago. You _worry_ about me too much, it's _cute_." She leaned in and put her nose by his ear, and he jerked back.

"Ninako, _stop_ it."

Though he was smiling. He couldn't help it.

"I'm _fine_. Honestly. I mean, sure, there's… a lot on my mind, I guess. Maybe I should put it out of the way 'til the mission's done," she said.

"_What's_ on your mind?"

Ninako tossed the towel, lazily, to the floor, and lay on her stomach, on the bed. "Hajime, y'think we should get eloped?"

The question passed through his mind three times before he could react. "…wait, eloped? As in, like, _married?"_

"Yeah, that."

"Ninako, I—where did _that_ come from?"

She shrugged, and the beautiful curves of her scapula made the black straps of her bra subtly shift. "_I _dunno, it's just something I've been thinking about lately." She sighed, and it was very deep and heavy. "'course, I know it wouldn't be anything _official_, knowing my family and _especially_ knowing your _dad._"

She already had her forehead covered with a white band of cloth.

She turned and looked at him over her shoulder.

(He loved how she did little things like that, even though he knew she could see him anyways.)

"It's just, we're practically married to each other _anyways_, aren't we? We've been together _how_ long?"

"Seven years this September."

"Right." Pause. "Wait, _seven_ years?"

"Seven years since you first said it was okay for me to call you my girlfriend and let me hold your hand. And the rest."

She looked up, and down, and smiled at the memory. "You romantic little _dweeb_. That was your fifteenth birthday!"

His face turned just so slightly red. "And?"

"You thought I was taking you seriously _then_?"

"Ah, well, um…" His face grew redder, his eyes sliding sideways.

She got up and she put a hand on his shoulder, with wonderful, playful, mocking laughter. "Hajime, I'm just _kidding_. Seven years this September, that's how long we've been together. Though I loved you _long_ before that, and that's the truth."

She laid a sweet kiss where his ear met his jaw and his shoulders rose beneath her touch.

"Now where was I…?" she whispered.

"You were making a point?" he said, quietly, through his hot smile.

"Okay, well, that's a _long time_ to date someone, you know? But it feels like we're still just _kids_, sneaking around behind our parents' backs. It's stupid."

His eyes softened. "Ninako…"

"It's just got me _unsettled_ is all, okay? It doesn't feel right."

"And… you want to settle this by getting eloped?"

"Yeah!" She sprang back away from him with the enthusiasm of a child, sitting on her feet. She clasped her hands in front of her chest. "I was thinking we could do it after the chuunin exams or somethin', ask for some time off. You know Naruto-san would give it to us."

"Yeah," Hajime said, "he probably would."

"So we'd find some cute little temple and have a priest do it and, bing! Married! You and me, husband and wife. Just like that."

Hajime, despite his confusion and worry attempting to override it, couldn't stop grinning.

"I'll… take it into consideration," he said.

Ninako laughed. "You _dork!_ 'I'll take it into consideration'? What _are_ you, some kinda feudal lord or something?"

"I'm just trying to be responsible about this. Ow, Ninako, get _off."_

She draped her body over his, cheek against cheek, chest against chest. "You're _too_ responsible sometimes."

"I _know_," he said. He put his arms over hers, pressing his temple against her closed, beautiful eyes and their long lashes. "I just think this is… something we should think about before we make any plans, is all."

"_Think_ about it?" She suddenly pulled herself away and sat on his knees. Her face was hurt, almost puckered. "Does this mean you don't really… _love_ me? I mean, if you have to _think_ about it…"

He put his hands on her shoulders. "No, no, no, no, Ninako, it's not… it's not _that_. I mean, it's not like I _don't_ love you. Hell, if I could, I'd… I'd run away with you right _now_ and marry you _today_, but… well, we _can't_ and oh _damn_ it Ninako will you stop _laughing_ at me!" His face narrowed against the noise. "You just said that to embarrass me, didn't you."

"Oh you _know_ I did," she said. She covered her mouth with the fingers of one hand, and reached for him again with the other.

(Ninako had a hobby, and that hobby was making Hajime blush. He was, she believed, at his cutest when he was at his most flustered.)

"It's okay, if you wanna think it over a bit more, that's fine with me," she said. She kissed him on the high ridge of his cheekbone, and laid down on her stomach again, resting her chin in her palms. "Don't know _why_ you'd ever need it, though, if you supposedly _love _me so much."

"Oh come _off_ it, Ninako." He laid down on his back, his hands behind his head, his head turned towards hers. "I… I love you too much for this _not_ to be something special. I don't want to rush it, I want to plan it. Make it… _real_. In our own way."

She scooted closer, on her elbows. "And what do you mean by that?"

He looked at the ceiling. "…like a… honeymoon or something would you stop _laughing_, I'm trying to be serious about this!" He rolled on his side, his back to her, as she laughed with her forehead on the bed. "I'm saying we should plan this like a vacation! Get… married first, and then do things that… married couples do. Go to the beach, get massages… _I_ don't know, things like that."

"I think," Ninako said, once she was over her laughter, slipping an arm over his arms, "that sounds _wonderful_."

Her nose was on his base of his neck, and it was making its way up to his hairline with kisses to keep time.

"…but only after the chuunin exams are done, okay? I don't wanna leave before Karai and Inou are done with them."

Her kisses ceased. "You really worry about those two, don't you, Hajime?" Her voice was softly, sadly admiring.

He didn't respond.

(He didn't need to.)

(Oh, did he _ever_ worry about them.)

(And she knew this.)

"Just one more reason why I love you so much. You've got such a big _heart_." She rested her cheek in the crook between his shoulder and his neck. "The big heart of my big concerned Hajime."

"_Stop_ it, Ninako," he said, chuckling.

He could feel her body convulsing with a barely audible laugh, her smooth, gently-round belly against his smooth, all-angles back. "So what's say we have a little honeymoon of our own, here? To hold us off until we make our… plans."

"Mm, what, with Sakari and Jimichi next door?"

"There've been worst places. Besides, you know they _totally_ set us up for this."

"Yeah. I know."

"So are you for it or what?"

He turned over and laid beneath her, stomach to stomach, face to face. "Absolutely."

They were left alone with their bodies and their love until the morning.

Both of them cherishing every moment, because they knew how rare such moments were back home.

(Everyone in the team did.)


	53. Lyra Altair

_Chapter 53 - Lyra Altair_

* * *

The first time that Hajime met Ninako, he was five years old.

It was the entrance ceremony for the academy and his mind was already reeling from excitement. His mother and his father were in the crowd behind him and he kept looking back over his shoulder at them, nervously, excitedly.

But it was when he finally noticed the girl beside him that he found his attention utterly captured.

She was his size, his age. Her hair was brown and cut cleanly against the angle of her jaw.

But her eyes.

He'd never seen eyes like that before.

She was smiling, smiling. Laughing, too, at jokes he could not hear.

He asked his father about her later, once the Hokage Kakashi was done with his speech. "She had really weird eyes, like… _white_ eyes."

"Must have been a Hyuuga, then," his father said, and said no more.

His mother just smiled and smiled, his little brother holding her hand, his baby sister slung on her back.

He saw her again, when classes began. She was not sitting next to him, but near him. Still smiling, still strange.

It was at lunch that he finally talked to her. "Hey, you. You're a Hyuuga, right?"

"Yeah, that's right." She was drinking juice from out of a plastic bottle and was more focused on her lunch than on him.

"What's that mean, anyways?"

"Whatcha mean, 'what's that mean'?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "I 'unno, I just asked my dad 'bout you an' that's what he said you were."

She giggled. "That's 'cos it's my _clan_, silly."

"Oh." He closed his mouth. "I see."

"An' I already know what clan _you're_ from. You're an Uchiha. I can see it from that thingy on your shirt."

"Oh, huh."

"Yeah, my dad told me all 'bout you guys. Pretty high-class."

"High… class?"

She shrugged. "I 'unno. You sure ask a lot of questions."

"No I _don't_."

"Well you sure _stare_ a bunch."

"Wha'd'you mean, I _stare _a bunch?" He had crossed his arms.

"You were eyeballin' at me this morning. At the ceremony."

But she hadn't been looking at him then, and she wasn't looking at him now.

"I wasn't starin' at _nobody_," Hajime said. "And what do you know, anyways, you're not even' _lookin'_ at me."

She finally looked at him there and her smile was very sweet. "_Yeah_ I am! I've been lookin' at you all _day_, cos you got such a stupid face."

"N-no I don't! My face is not stupid."

Though some part of him was surprised to learn this staring-fact. And almost happy.

She started laughing. "My name's Ninako. What's yours?"

"Hajime," he said.

"Y'wanna eat lunch with me, Hajime-kun?"

"Sure."

They were, from that moment on, nigh-inseparable.

As Hajime himself reported it at dinner, that first night, "I made a friend at school today!"

"Really," his father said.

"Yeah, a girl named Ninako. She's that one I saw this morning. With the Hyuuga eyes."

(She had explained how they worked at lunch that day.)

(Not that he had understood any of the conversation at the time. But it seemed interesting.)

"Ah. I see," his father said.

"That's _wonderful_, sweetie." His mother was attending to the careful mess on Nadeshiko's high chair. Takeru was eating from his plate with a fork, the handle made of blue plastic.

"Yeah, she said she wanted to walk home from school with me next time."

His father had picked him up that first day. They had talked the entire way home.

"Am I not good enough?" said his father.

"Well… I like walking to school with you, Dad, but…"

"Sasuke, remember what they told us at that informational meeting?" his mother said. "They said to encourage classmates to walk to and from school together. I think that'd be wonderful, Hajime."

"Let me walk you to school in the morning at least."

"Okay," Hajime said.

After a while, his father didn't even do that, leaving him to walk to school however he wished. Whether it was out of respect for Hajime's wishes or because he had simply gotten too busy, he didn't know.

Soon Ninako was his morning and his day and his afternoon.

His best friend.

They came to be called, after a time, the Golden Pair of their class. Always first, always second. They sat together in class, always. Chose each other as partners, always.

Their houses weren't anywhere near each other—hers in the enormous Hyuuga compound to the west, his in the Uchiha-owned property to the east—but they always managed to meet halfway.

And then, she asked, "So, hey, can I come over sometime?"

"Huh?"

"I wanna come over sometime!"

"To my house?"

"Duh, of _course_ to your house!"

They were walking home together, nearing the halfway point.

"I'm gonna talk to my dad an' mom and see if it's okay, can you ask yours?"

"Oh… sure, I guess. Why d'you wanna come over, though?"

"To play. Or somethin'. I think it'd be _fun_," Ninako said.

It did sound fun. "Okay," Hajime said.

Well, his mother was for it, at least. "I'd love it if you had a friend over, Hajime. Nice little playdate."

"Who _is_ this friend of yours, Hajime?" his father asked.

"Hyuuga Ninako."

"_Her?_"

"Oh, that's so good of you, Hajime. It's good to be friends with girls," his mother said.

"I didn't know that you were friends with her, Hajime."

"Well, we are…"

"And there's nothing wrong with that, Hajime. Let's have Ninako-chan over. It'll be _nice_," said his mother.

"Fine," said his father.

So Ninako came over, the afternoon after the next.

It was fun.

And the only playdate they ever had.

After her mother came to pick her up, Hajime's father took him aside and gave him a Talk.

(Halfway across the city, Ninako's father was doing the same thing.)

"Hajime, while I am proud of you for trying so hard to make nice with the Hyuuga clan, seeing as they're so… _influential_," His father's mouth shuddered, slightly, "you don't need to go so out of your way. These things aren't necessary."

("Ninako, little one," her father told her, "the Uchiha clan is no longer as powerful as they used to be. You don't _need_ to associate with them.")

"So does that mean I can't be friends with Ninako-chan any more?" he asked.

("But I _like_ Hajime-kun, Dad. It doesn't matter that he's an Uchiha or not.")

That would have been the _worst_ thing.

But his father sighed. "No, you can… continue being _friends_ with her. But no more playdates."

("I know," her father said, "but the elders _do_ think that it matters.")

At least, he had that. And he smiled.

"Okay," Hajime said.

("I'll allow you to continue to be friends with him, but you can't visit his house any more," her father said. "It's for your own good.")

They spent their time together in subtle, other spaces, from that day onward. Neither of them minded.

So long as they were together, there was happiness to be had.

(It serves to be mentioned that, from Takeru's entrance into the academy at age five, he only ever associated himself with children who could better him. His playdates were civilized excuses for him to beat up other boys, and have them feel like they were enjoying it. Sometimes like it was an honor.)

(Usually.)

(And Nadeshiko didn't have friends.)

Time passed. Hajime got taller, and stronger, and so did Ninako, keeping up, running ahead, pulling him with her.

Hajime, eventually, got another little brother, in his second year of school. He'd been too young to remember when Takeru or Nadeshiko had been born, so it was particularly exciting for him when his mother announced it at the start of spring.

"Oh, that's so _cool!_ Y'think I'll get to meet it when it's born?" Ninako asked, when he told her the news at lunch, in their new classroom.

Hajime poked at his rice. "I dunno… _You_ know what my dad said, you can't come over any more."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I know." Ninako balanced a pickled radish on the edge of her lip, pouting. "It's no big deal, I'll probably meet it _eventually_."

"Yeah, when it's older," Hajime said.

(It would take a few years for Ninako actually meet Inou, face-to-face. This didn't bother her terribly.)

Hajime first met Inou when he was seven, on a cloud-scattered November day, a week before Takeru's fifth birthday.

His mother had been breathing too deeply all morning and making phone calls and rubbing her swollen stomach, where his brother was growing. And after Sakura showed up with a bag slung over her shoulder—Hajime knew her through checkups and meet-ups and her daughter Sakari, who was a year below him at school—Hajime's father took him and Takeru by the hand, and they left the house together, and did not return for many hours.

(Nadeshiko stayed home. With the women.)

Inou was there when they came back, strange and squishy and red. But a little brother all the same.

Ninako had her own chance to be excited when the next year came. "So guess _what_," she said.

"What," Hajime said. It was a February morning.

"So there was a _whole_ lot of ruckus the other day, you wouldn't _believe_."

"Why's that?"

"We got an _heir_ last night. _All_ of a sudden."

"An heir?"

"Yup. He's gonna be the next clan head, prob'ly."

"Oh. Wait, so _you_ got a little brother now too?"

Ninako there laughed—Hajime _loved_ her laughter—and shook her head. "_No_, he's not my little _brother_. He's more like, uh…"

(How had her mother explained it to her, when her father wouldn't?)

"He's sorta like my cousin! I guess."

"Oh. Well that's cool, I guess," Hajime said.

(Hajime did not have any cousins. Nor would he ever.)

That was the last that Hajime would ever learn of Ninako's little cousin.

For a while, anyways.

Takeru entered the academy that spring. Somehow, life got harder.

"Hajime, this is incredibly disappointing. Your brother is two entire grades below you and he's already catching up. Work harder."

So Hajime worked harder. And when that wasn't enough, he let out his frustration to Ninako.

"Ever since he started school it's been all about _Takeru! _Nothing I do is _good_ enough for him any more." Hajime was almost eight years old and his little brother—whom he liked enough, whom he got into fights with at home because they were brothers and that was what brothers did—had become an enemy.

"That's dumb," Ninako replied. "You're super smart, though, Hajime. No matter what your stupid dad says."

"Y'mean it?"

Her nod was enthusiastic and powerful. "'course, though you're not as smart as _me_."

"Shut up, that's not _true_," Hajime said, with a wicked grin, with a nudge to her shoulder.

(Ninako had already begun her hobby.)

(Ninako, who could never talk about the things that frustrated her.)

("What happens within the walls of this compound are not to leave them," her father told her. "Do you understand? These are things that are only shared amongst Hyuuga.")

("Okay, Dad," she replied. Hating it.)

It was Ninako's idea to start avoiding Takeru. Which suited Hajime.

He began with other chores.

"Mom, can I feed the baby?" he asked, one afternoon, on a day off. "Or something?"

"Hajime, you are so _sweet!_ Here, put him in his high chair."

"But I dunno how."

"Well, then, I'll show you."

His mother appreciated it. Until his father found out.

"I don't think it's exactly _fitting_ for a boy to be fussing over _babies_," he said, almost amused.

Takeru stood behind him. They wore the same expression.

"You're the one who insisted on all of these babies in the first place, Sasuke," his mother shot back, with a sharp smile. "I need all the help I can get."

That seemed to persuade him. "Well, see if you can get Nadeshiko to help first. She's old enough, isn't she?"

Nadeshiko was five years old, due to enter the academy the next year. She was quiet and obedient and already her mother's best helper around the house. She handled Inou with a precious carefulness.

"Whatever you say, Sasuke," his mother replied, as he was leaving. Smiling.

Hajime found other ways to avoid Takeru.

Outside the house.

Training with Ninako.

He improved. His teachers told him that perhaps they'd be able to skip a grade.

They. Both of them.

They tried to do everything together, if they could help it.

Hajime got the feeling that his father would have been more impressed with him if Takeru hadn't been shifted up _two _grades in the meantime.

Two. Of course.

The comparisons, of course, were made.

Hajime coped by learning how to distance his heart and his mind, as well as his body, from it all. It was nothing personal. He was still smart, a head above all of his other classmates.

Oh, and he had Ninako. That was probably the best thing.

(And the reason for everything else. She was his motivation and his confidence and his favorite sparring partner. Always one step behind him, always one step ahead.)

"You should try and keep attention away from yourself. It's better to be unnoticed than noticed and in _trouble_ or somethin'," she said. "If your dad's distracted by somethin' else then he won't go comparing you to Takeru all the time."

"You sure?"

"Trust me. Works all the time for me," she said, with her smile like a piece of paper on fire.

The year that Nadeshiko entered the academy was full of distractions.

One of them was, of course, Nadeshiko herself.

The other was the announcement of another baby. "It'll be here around February or March," their mother said, during dinner one night.

"I want you to help me with the nursery if you can, okay, Hajime?" she added, aside, when he was washing dishes with her afterward.

"Sure, Mom," Hajime said. "I'd be glad to help."

Their father was already spending more time with his sister than with his brother.

Hajime had been neatly removed from all of it after Nadeshiko punched him in the nose and broke it. There was blood everywhere.

"I'll spend more time practicing at school. So this won't happen again. You work with Nadeshiko, Dad," Hajime told him.

(Somehow, the fact that she was better than Takeru sat more easily in his mind.)

(Even though.)

(Like always.)

(There were comparisons.)

(But they were always against Takeru, now.)

("Takeru, honestly! Can you not even beat your own little _sister_ in a fight? Work harder!")

This seemed to satisfy him.

Hajime passed the time with painting and punches and keeping Inou out of his mother's way and Ninako.

Always Ninako.

Ninako was the third distraction, but hers was a late one.

One day, she didn't show up at school. Or the next day.

She was gone for a week. The final exams were in a month. It was February.

Hajime, gathering his courage, stopped by the Hyuuga compound after school after far too much waiting. He asked for her.

(She wasn't allowed to visit his house, and the sentiment was confusingly but understandably mutual.)

"Sorry, young man, but you can't see her," a woman in a blue kimono, in a white stole, said, when he asked. "Why don't you make your way out, now? Go on."

He was shooed out with gentle hands and a politeness that seemed antiquated, passed down, like an heirloom.

When he finally saw her again, she didn't feel like talking.

"Hey, what happened? What's the matter? Where were you?"

She had a bandage wrapped around her forehead.

"…nothing, I just had a… bad week."

She wasn't smiling.

Class went on. She performed as usual. Stunningly.

(Nadeshiko had made it into their grade. The highest level. She was a small shadow with heavy eyes that always sat at the back of the classroom.)

(Takeru, sitting in the front row, did not like looking at her.)

Hajime asked Ninako if she wanted to eat lunch with him and she said that was fine.

Again, he asked what had happened.

"I'm… I can't talk about it."

"Oh. I'm… I'm sorry for asking."

She didn't look at him as she quietly ate her lunch.

(Hajime, by then, fully understood the way that those cloud-colored eyes worked. But somehow he got the feeling that, here, she really _wasn't_ looking at him.)

But after school, when she was packing up.

"You two go on ahead. I'm gonna stay behind and practice," he told his siblings. He'd been saying that a lot, recently.

"All right, brother. I'll see you at home," Nadeshiko, six years old, said.

"You sure could _use_ some practice, _that's _for sure," Takeru, eight years old, sneered.

"Speak for yourself, brother," Hajime, ten years old and filled with worry and impatience, shot back.

He left before Takeru could respond.

(It was a lucky thing for Takeru that Nadeshiko was not a cruel person, nor one particularly inclined to laughing. Or smiling.)

(He still hated her, and didn't touch her when they returned home together. To train with their father.)

Hajime, meanwhile, was following Ninako. She still wasn't really talking to him, and each moment of near-silence just made him feel worse.

"Hey, you wanna just hang out a little bit? I could buy you some taiyaki, I know how much you like that. Red bean? Is that okay?"

She walked on.

"Ninako, come on…"

The road leading away from the academy did not have any people on it.

It was snowing.

"Ninako!"

She stopped, beneath a tree. Her head lowered.

It let him catch up with her.

"Ninako…?"

And suddenly she was hugging him. She buried her face into his shoulder. Sobbing.

It felt.

Strange.

"Ninako, what's the matter…?"

He didn't know how best to put his arms back around her.

"I hate them…!"

"What?"

"I HATE them, Hajime…! All of them, I hate them all!"

Her whole body was shaking, convulsing, and the tears coming out of her beautiful eyes were hot on his shoulder.

The day was cold.

Somehow, he managed to make himself fit. Pressing his head against her head, his arms mirroring hers in the way he clung to her.

"I hate this family…" she said, quietly. Her breaths were sharp and sudden. "Why was I even born? Why would they _do_ this…?"

"Ninako, it's okay…" Hajime said.

Because he had no idea what else to say.

"I hate this family, I _hate_ this family…" She pressed her eyes against his shoulder even further. "I hate them all, Hajime. I wish I had never been born."

(The heir of the Hyuuga clan, Andou, had a birthday in February.)

(He was three years old.)

(And every Main family member needed a Branch bodyguard.)

"Ninako, don't say that…"

"What." Sniff.

"That you'd never been born. I'm… _I'm_ happy you were born. You're my best _friend_ an' nobody else comes close…"

His voice was quiet, tucked into her shoulder.

"So don't say things like that, Ninako. Okay…? It's gonna be okay…"

Whatever the problem was.

He felt her arms tighten.

"And I'm glad you were born too, Hajime…!" Her voice was high, turning into another sob halfway through.

Under the tree, Hajime held her tighter back.

"Okay," he said.

"Please don't go," she said.

"Okay," he said.

And he didn't.

When she finally let go, wiping her eyes, she apologized. "M'sorry, I've just been kinda… sad lately."

"It's okay if you're upset. Are you feeling better now?"

"A lot better, 'cos you're here. But don't tell _anyone_ about this, you got it?"

Her smile set his heart on fire.

"I don't want anyone thinking' I'm some sobby wimp or anything."

(Nor did she want anyone from the Main house finding out about the things she had said.)

(She could only barely say them to her family. And her father's comfort was only ever a gentle hand on her back at bedtime, and pained glances.)

(Hajime was her size, and he had her heart.)

(She could tell him anything. Even this.)

(Within limits.)

"It's okay, Ninako, your sobby secrets are safe with me," Hajime said. He smiled back.

"Oh, come _on. _So were you really gonna buy me taiyaki?" she said.

"What, you really want some?"

"Yeah, I'm _hungry!_"

"Okay, okay! Then let's _go_," Hajime said.

Neither of them returned home before it turned dark.

Neither of them wanted to leave each other.

But they had to. Hajime heard his mother calling out in his mind. Dinner.

"I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" he said.

"Okay," she said.

Takeru had a black eye at dinner. "You have a good time _practicing_, Hajime?" he said.

"Yeah," Hajime replied, "I did."

And he meant it.

That was almost the first separation.

The real one came in April.

When Ninako's name was called out, the second in a group of three, just like all the rest, he was not with her.

They had always chosen each other for partners. But not this time.

"It's okay," she told him, in the hallway afterward, "we'll still get to see each other. I swear."

She was wrong.

This was the first separation.

He didn't see her again for almost three years.


	54. Aquila Vega

The second time that Hajime met Ninako, he was twelve years old.

It was the end of the first part of the winter chuunin exams. He didn't want to be there. He did not want to be there.

But Sai-sensei told Hajime that he had skill and that he believed in him.

Things his father never told him any more.

(His father, of course, wanted him to participate too. But Hajime didn't care about his opinion any more.)

His father had started paying attention to him again. And Takeru.

Takeru was there at the exams, too. Takeru wanted to be there.

Takeru was his father's favorite again.

Hajime tried not to care.

Caring made him angry.

He hated being angry.

But he couldn't help it.

The best he could do was to keep his heart and his body distant.

This hurt less.

He lived in his training. His painting.

Sai-sensei had noticed this, most strongly, after Nadeshiko.

Well.

"You are holding your brush far more tightly than normal today, Hajime-kun."

They were in the studio together.

"Is there something angering you?"

Sai-sensei had been bringing Hajime to the studio since he was eleven.

"I understand if you feel frustration over what happened. With your younger sister."

Ink skidded wetly across paper.

"I'm not angry," Hajime said.

Sai-sensei, with his paper-white skin and perpetual smile, tilted his head slightly and walked behind him.

"Do that again," he said.

"Do _what._"

"Put your anger on that paper again."

Anger in ink like a ribbon like a leash like blood out of an artery ripped over the neck of the lion-dog that Hajime had been working on.

Plain ink. He had to learn to perfect a form before using the chakra-enriched ink that Sai-sensei used for combat. This was training.

"I'm not _angry_," Hajime said.

"Do not think. Just paint what you are feeling."

"Sai-sensei…"

"Go on."

So he drew another line, without purpose or meaning, just being.

Another line.

Another.

The lion-dog had been perfect but Hajime didn't want.

That.

Perfect was his father's expectations and perfect was never enough and perfect was Takeru and perfect was.

(Ninako.)

Hajime was breathing heavily. Ink had gotten all over the table.

"That is anger," Sai-sensei said. "And that is the best work I have ever seen you do."

On the paper, Hajime had drawn a snake, black and violent and made of sharp not-snake angles. The snake had devoured the lion-dog, was digesting it.

"True art," Sai-sensei said, "is emotion given form. Not imitation. It took me years to learn what you have just done."

Sai-sensei was all about focus.

"Well done, Hajime-kun."

This was why Hajime was learning how to paint in the first place.

Because he had no focus, before. He was skilled in every area but he had no strength.

Sai-sensei gave him that.

Of course, his father disapproved.

"Art as combat? Pathetic."

But then.

His father disapproved of everything.

But Takeru.

Which was why Hajime did not want to be there.

Frankly, he wanted to drop out. Because he knew he'd just be compared.

Again.

There was no Nadeshiko to deflect from his mediocrity.

(He hadn't seen his sister in months, and would not see her again until her mother brought her home with careful hands the following New Year.)

But he held on. For Sai-sensei.

(Not his father.)

Because at least Sai-sensei believed in him.

(Because he no longer had those cloud-eyes and that fire-smile, that always-listening ear.)

So when he saw her there, with her sharp-cut hair and covered forehead and her eyes with long butterfly-wing lashes.

He didn't know what to say.

It had been two, almost three years.

(And those years had been harder for him to endure than anything he had ever experienced.)

(Mostly because of Nadeshiko.)

(Though he would never admit this to himself.)

(It really was harder to do things alone.)

(Though he had Sai-sensei.)

And during that time she had gotten taller.

(Like him.)

And also more beautiful.

(Like a woman.)

It was hard to swallow.

There she was.

She wasn't looking at him.

(Here, he couldn't tell if she really _was_.)

The Hokage Naruto was making a speech.

She was standing with her hands behind her back, bouncing on the balls of her feet. She was wearing black leggings and a sand-brown-sky-blue jacket.

She was smiling, smiling. But there was something missing in her smile.

(There had been something missing from Hajime, though he would never admit to himself.)

Hajime couldn't stop swallowing, even though his mouth felt dry. His stomach was doing snake-somersaults

The Hokage Naruto was done with his speech.

Sai-sensei in his all-black clothes and black eyes was smiling nearby, waiting, with his other classmates, Ayako and Oki.

Sai-sensei could wait.

(And his father wasn't there.)

"Ninako-chan!"

She turned around.

"Hajime?"

"Fuh-funny seeing you here, huh?"

He scratched the back of his head, awkwardly, like they did in the movies. For lack of a better action.

"Yeah, it's, uh, been a while," she said.

Her smile was strained, even he could see that.

"Yeah, it, uh, it has."

They were still the same height, he noticed. She had dirt on her face.

"Well, uh, I see you made it! In the chuunin exams, I mean. Good job!" she said.

"Yeah, uh, same to you! I guess."

There was a pause like a dull knife.

"So I'll see you during the tournament?" she said.

"Oh! Oh, uh, sure, yeah, that sounds… great."

She was smiling, smiling, but there was something missing in her smile.

Wow, so this was how he was going to reintroduce himself? And look like a _huge freaking dork?_

(She meant too much to him for him to keep acting this way.)

(But the way that she was looking at him that she was talking to him did she even care any more.)

"SO YOU WANNA HANG OUT SOMETIME?"

Why in the world was Hajime shouting.

Everyone stared at him. Even (especially) her.

"Um. Like. After. This, I… mean…"

Oh. Great.

He could see Takeru laughing.

(But he didn't see Naruto's smile paired with it.)

Why did he DO that?

"I'll… think about it," Ninako said. She smiled again, and waved. "Seeya, Hajime."

(What was that in her smile?)

Obviously she was just pitying him.

"Yeah… bye…"

Why did he do that why did he do that why did he.

"Very brave of you, Hajime-kun."

Sai-sensei was standing behind him.

"I do hope that she reciprocates."

"Can I go home, Sai-sensei? I kind of want to die."

"I do not think that dying would be a wise course of action, Hajime-kun. But I think that going home is. Come on, now."'

It was better than nothing.

Of course, Takeru had something to say on the matter, on the way home.

"So you got an explanation for that back there, Hajime?"

"Shut up, Takeru."

"Are you finally going through puberty, Hajime? Must be tough."

"Shut _up_, Takeru."

"I'm just saying. You're almost thirteen. Should be about now."

Hajime was trying not to think about how his voice had cracked. Horrifyingly.

"And you're eleven, what the heck do _you_ know?" he replied.

"Enough." Takeru had a thin smile and it wore Hajime's patience very thin.

(Takeru had a hobby, and his hobby was stringing girls along. He found them useful sometimes.)

Hajime tried to stay out of the way for as long as he could.

The New Year came and went. They gave students the month of January off to train, because of the holiday. This made sense. There would be a tournament in February.

There was good food, he supposed. And Karai, whom he attended to. She was so small and so different from the life that he was supposed to lead that sometimes he couldn't help it. At least his father left him alone about it.

Though he'd feel stupid if he talked to Karai about his troubles. Well, stupid_er. _She was two years old and, though she was very good at being quiet, he doubted she would even have any idea what he was talking about.

Didn't stop him from picking her up and hugging her sometimes. When things felt overwhelming.

Because she always hugged back. She called him Haa-nii. Honey.

For some reason, Hajime never felt nearly as close to Inou. Then again, Inou was always with their mother. He was a small and shivering boy and he preferred soft things and skirts to the legs of taller boys.

His foolishness still ate away at his stomach, however.

Until, one afternoon, a studying afternoon—he was practicing broader, looser, more intense brush strokes—there was a snowball thrown against his window.

He let it pass.

Then another.

With the third snowball he finally went to the window and opened it. "Will you _stop_—Ninako-chan?"

"Hey, I finally got your attention!" Her smile was covered by her breath. It was a cold day.

"What are you _doing_ here?"

"Well, I thought about it! And, y'know, I'd like to hang out sometime!" She was yelling.

"Shh, be _quiet_, someone's gonna _hear!_ Hold on, I'll be right down!"

"Okay, cool! I'll meet you at the gate!"

Hajime had to take a moment to compose himself after closing the window.

Sitting on his bed. His legs wouldn't stop moving. He ran his fingers through his bangs.

Oh holy _crap_.

Why in the world was he smiling this was no time to smile his heart was beating oh he was so going to die.

He managed.

To get himself together, and put on his coat. A black coat. A sensible coat. Because he was a sensible young man, you see.

(He had been favoring black for quite a time, and well-tailored clothes. Sai-sensei was rubbing off on him, he supposed.)

(Either that or he just didn't want to look like his father.)

(Or Takeru.)

"What are you doing here?" he asked Ninako, again, at the gate. "And how did you get into the front yard, anyways?"

"I used the gate, duh, are you _stupid_?" she laughed.

And with just that laugh she completely wrecked him. The façade crumbled.

"But you're not—how did you know where my room was, anyways?"

She was still laughing. "Have you honestly _forgotten?_ I'm a freakin' Hyuuga, dude. I can see through anything. And I saw _you_ in your room. What were you painting in there, anyways?"

"I was… training."

"Training? Get out of here."

"No, really, it's—why do you even care, you still haven't answered my question!"

"_What_ question?"

"Why are you here?"

"'cos I wanted to see you, that's why." Her smile made it feel like the middle of spring. "It's been _way _too long, and since everyone's pretty much on vacation right now, I… thought I'd stop by."

"…are you serious?"

"Of _course_ I'm serious, Hajime. I really miss you."

It was cold and that coldness made his teeth hurt when he smiled.

_Hey, Mom?_

_Yeah, hon?_

_I'm gonna be heading out for a bit._

_Oh, where are you going?_

"So where you wanna go?" he asked Ninako.

"Anywhere's fine."

_For a walk or something, I'll be back before dinner, okay?_

_Okay, honey, take care of yourself._

"Then let's go. Your… favorite food's still taiyaki… right?"

She put her arm around his shoulder and squeezed him. "Come on, I haven't changed _that_ much."

(Feeling an enormous relief that, oh wonder of wonders, he really _did_ remember stupid stuff like that.)

(She felt like she was going to swallow her heart when he had _said_ those things, a few days back. And her heart was big and it was hot and it made her words come slowly and clumsily.)

(She was glad to have him back.)

"So what's been going on with you?" he asked. They were sitting on a park bench together. They had to brush the snow off of the seat before sitting down.

"Training. _Lots_ of training. When I'm not out with Genyo-sensei it's me an' Dad practicing Gentle Fist. But it's fun, I guess."

"Oh, yeah, sure," Hajime said. "Must keep you busy."

"Busy, yeah. But that's no excuse for me not to seek you out, that's kind of dumb of me."

"No, no, don't… say that. I'm just as much at fault," Hajime said. "There was nothing stopping me from… _I_ dunno, stopping by your house and seeing if you were available."

"Hm."

They ate, for a while.

"You been okay too, Hajime? How's your sensei?"

"Oh, Sai-sensei? He's… cool. He's taught me a lot."

"Like that painting technique?"

"Yeah."

"That sounds wicked, you'll have to show me how it works sometime."

"Oh, sure. I mean, I'm_ nothing_ compared to him but he says I do a good job."

"Maybe I'll get to see it at the tournament. First-hand. It's been ages since we've sparred."

Hajime's hands tightened around his taiyaki. "Oh, uh. Sure, I mean… oh, jeez."

He didn't want to fight her. Anyone else.

(Maybe (especially) Takeru.)

But not her.

"…oh, I… probably shouldn't have said that."

"…it's okay…"

She put her hands, her half-eaten taiyaki in her lap. "No, really. I, uh. I heard about what happened. With your sister."

(Black hair and red blood and Hajime had no idea that people could fight like that.)

"…I get it if you don't wanna talk about it. It's kind of, uh… Never mind. I'm sorry. Forget I said anything."

Silence and snow.

And.

Hajime put his hand on her wrist.

"Actually, um."

He kept his head down.

"…I kinda… _do_ want to talk about it. Because Sai-sensei, he… well, he's _nice_, and he helps me out with just about everything else these days, but… He kind of… doesn't _get_ some things."

"…like what?"

His hand was on her wrist.

"He talks about emotion and… stuff like he just kind of barely understands how it works. He gets people but he doesn't _get_ them."

"Uh-huh."

"So… heck, I haven't… really had anyone to talk to. I mean, it's not like I can talk to my _dad_ about this, and my mom…"

She pulled her arm away from his hand.

And held his hand in hers, her fingers in his palm.

"Then why don't you tell me what's on your mind?"

They talked for hours.

Their fathers were not pleased to find out where they had been.

Such relationships were acceptable as children, but.

Hajime and Ninako were getting to be of An Age.

Sasuke did not approve of the idea of his firstborn son ending up with a Hyuuga. One of Konoha's old clans. Old power. He hated old power.

Frankly, he didn't want his children associating with anyone he did not approve of. And Sasuke did not approve of many people.

And barring the fact that the Uchiha clan was only a shade of their former glory and worthy of only that much respect.

Hyuugas only married Hyuugas.

Only Hyuugas.

Hajime had no idea how his father had even found out.

Probably Takeru. He was too smart for his own good. And he probably remembered that—dumb thing he had said. To her. Then.

(Much as Hajime hated admitting it, yes, Takeru really was more intelligent than him.)

(Ninako had been discovered by a passing Branch member, seeing her on the bench with that boy.)

"It's the New Year, Hajime. You're supposed to be spending time with your family. Not cavorting around with girls."

("Ninako, you can't just leave the house whenever you please any more. You have _duties_.")

"Dad, we just… _talked_."

("_Screw_ duties, I just wanted to talk to him again!")

"No excuses. I'm fine if you're in that… studio with your sensei. That's 'training,' isn't it?"

The way he said it, Hajime could hear the quotation marks around the word.

He didn't say anything.

"From now on, you tell me when you're going somewhere, where you are going, and who you're going to be with."

("Ninako, I know. But you can't do these things any more. I… really wish that you could, but the clan head doesn't feel the same way I do.")

"And what if I can't find you."

"You tell your mother."

(Or Takeru would tell him.)

"Okay," Hajime said.

("_Screw_ her," Ninako said softly.)

Perhaps that was one of the first indications that what they had was.

Well.

There was a word for it somewhere.

Because, obviously, they didn't let that stop them.

Ninako got very good at sneaking out of the house.

And so did Hajime.

They tried to spend at least their weekends together, in that January pause.

And when the actual tournament rolled around, things went.

Well.

Hajime didn't get to fight Takeru, finding himself overwhelmed by a Cloud ninja with a strange and incredible static barrier that shredded his paper and ink and made every hair stand on end.

But everyone saw his art. He had been practicing.

"A thing of beauty," Sai-sensei told him, after he walked off of the arena with ink burned onto his arms. "It was a marvel to watch. You fought very well. I would even consider it a victory for art."

"Thanks, Sai-sensei," Hajime said, almost laughing.

Trying to avoid his father's eyes.

Hajime's static-armed foe was bested by Takeru. It figured.

(Hajime almost, almost got to fight him. Oh, to have been able to do that.)

(Even if he'd ultimately lose.)

(As much as he hated to admit it, Takeru was stronger than him, too.)

(But anything to smash that smile off of his face.)

Takeru, ultimately had to battle Ninako.

He won, again.

It figured.

At least this made his father happy. Overwhelmingly so.

Hajime just stayed out of the way and took comfort in the lack of criticism.

The judges deliberated and, the week after the tournament concluded, the chuunin candidates were announced.

There were many, that year. And among them were, indeed, Takeru, and Hajime, and Ninako.

Yes, this pleased his father. And his mother insisted on throwing them all a party, to which his father begrudgingly agreed.

It was nice. Though Hajime's mind was elsewhere.

(It seemed Ninako's was as well.)

At 11 PM, there was a snowball on his window.

"Ninako, what are you _doing_ here?" Hajime said, again.

"Put on some clothes, we're gonna go celebrate!" she whispered. Her voice cut through the air with a loud hiss.

"N-now? But it's late!"

"Exactly! C'mon, let's get outta here!"

"Okay, okay, just hold on!"

Hajime got on his coat and his white scarf.

He had gotten very good at sneaking out of the house in the month since he and Ninako had found each other again.

He was a ninja, after all.

Her cheeks had turned slightly red from the cold, from her waiting.

"So where do you want to go?" he asked, again.

"Anywhere's fine," she said, again.

So they went somewhere. Anywhere.

And they celebrated with warm food from whatever stands were still open at that hour—which weren't many—and hot cocoa from vending machines—those were always around, anyways—and laughter and talking.

"So at least that's out of the way!" Ninako said.

"What is?"

"The whole chuunin thing. I guess we're home free 'til we're jounin, right?"

Hajime shrugged. He had gotten his cocoa plain, hers with whipped cream.

"Also, for the record? Your little brother fights _dirty_. I'm_ still_ sore."

His fingers tightened around his cup. "…I'm sorry."

She nudged him. His cocoa sloshed around dangerously in its paper cup. "Why are _you_ apologizing? Not _your_ fault he's a jerk."

"…you really think so?"

"I know so."

He felt a warmth in his chest and he was pretty sure it wasn't from the hot drinks.

Time passed. It got very late.

And then Ninako got a headache.

It was a bad one, causing her to drop her cup. Foamy barely-cocoa spilled out onto the snow.

"Oh. Crap. Cra-ap, crap, ow, ow, owww…!"

Hajime shifted his cup to one hand and reached the other out to her. "Ninako, what's the matter…?"

"Nothing, nothing, nothing, I just, I have to go now, I'm sorry, I stayed out too long."

Her eyes were tightly, tightly closed. Hajime's heart was squeezed just as tightly.

"No, Ninako, are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"No, no, seriously, I—augh…! I told them I was going out for karaoke with my teammates but they must have found out I was with you instead or something…!"

"They…?"

"My stupid _family!"_ She began walking away. "I'm sorry, Hajime, I… I gotta go…!"

He followed. "Ninako, please, what's going on?"

"I'll tell you later! But right now I gotta _go!"_

And she went.

Leaving him alone.

He threw the rest of his cocoa away and, quietly, snuck back into his house. Nobody woke up.

Hajime was very good at what he did.

The next time he saw Ninako—which was the day after the day after—she wore an expression of anxious hurt. Her eyes were restless.

"You okay?" he asked, once they were alone.

"…Hajime, can you keep a secret?" she said.

"…sure, I think I can," he said.

"You _think_ you can or you _know_ you can?"

"I… _know_ I can." He nodded. "What is it?"

She looked around, needlessly. Something was wrong.

"Follow me," she said. So he did.

She took him to a photo booth, and closed the curtain behind them.

And she took the band off of her forehead.

"…Ninako, what is that…?"

It was green and it was faint and it.

"You just… sounded so worried about when I had to leave so suddenly, that I… I felt it was only fair that I told you…"

(It had been three years since that day, under the tree.)

She kept her eyes to her knees.

(With her head and her sobbing shoulders and arms that struggled to fit in place.)

"It's a cursed seal. I've had it for three years."

She told him everything in that photo booth, their knees and their thighs touching each other on the little seat.

About how sudden it had been. She hadn't been told in advance.

How painful it had been when Hanabi, the head of the clan, burned it there, with no compassion in her eyes.

How, when she died, it would do horrible things to her beautiful eyes. For the sake of the clan.

He had never felt such anger in his life.

"But why would they _do_ something like that to you?" he said, trying not to scream. His voice cracked. "Ninako, that's _unfair!"_

"I know," she said.

"They shouldn't do things like that to—to anyone! Ninako, seriously…!"

"I _know,_ Hajime," she said.

"Why didn't you tell me _earlier?_"

"Because I'm not supposed to. These things… aren't really supposed to leave clan walls."

She closed her eyes and her lashes pressed against her cheeks and flared out sideways, like the wings of a swallowtail.

"…and I didn't want to worry you."

"_Worry_ me? Ninako…"

"No, seriously, Hajime. This… this is just how my clan _is_. I got used to it. Well. I'm _getting_ used to it. 'cos there's nothing I can do."

"But Ninako-"

"So I didn't want to get you all tangled up in that 'cos I knew you couldn't do anything to change that, okay? That's why I never talked about it."

She opened her eyes and the smile that was paired with them was reluctant and sad.

"Plus, honestly, you need the help and stuff more than me. Mostly 'cos you can _do_ something about half the stuff that happens at your house… So I gotta be strong for you, you know?"

Hajime took a big breath in and he tried to keep his mouth closed, because he had no idea what would have come out of it if he didn't.

He hugged her instead.

"H-hey, what's the big deal?" she said. Her shoulders narrowed from his arms squeezing hers.

"You don't have to worry about me worrying about you! Or whatever!" he blurted. The words were hot and airy and sudden. "And you don't have to worry about being strong! Just… be yourself! And tell me when stuff's bothering you! Okay?"

Strangely.

She started laughing.

"Ha-Hajime, what are you… doing…!"

He let go of her and tried to scowl. Tried, and failed, pretty miserably.

"Just… don't worry about that stuff. Okay? I tell _you_ stuff, so… it's only fair that you get to tell me stuff. And stuff. Yeah."

She was still laughing as she put her headband back on, and she leaned in and pressed her forehead against his temple, putting her arm around his shoulder.

"That's what you want?"

"Yeah." A pause. "Well, and… we should be more careful from here on out. I don't want your head to hurt like that ever _again_, Ninako, that's just _wrong_."

She closed her eyes. "Okay," she said.

The photo-booth was surprisingly warm from their own heat and breath, despite the winter, and the meager curtain keeping the cold out.

"…so, that one afternoon, after you were gone from school for a week."

"Hm?" She pulled her head away.

"Is it cos they… they were _doing_ that to you?"

Oh. That day.

"…yeah. I didn't want to go to school."

"…I don't blame you," Hajime said.

Ninako had separated herself from him entirely, now, and put her hands on her knees. She was not wearing mittens, preferring the pockets of her coat.

"…but, you remember what you told me? How you… wished you'd never been born?"

She really had wished that.

(And sometimes, when things at home got really bad, she still did.)

"I'm still glad you were born, Ninako. It's true. I mean, sometimes I wish you'd been born into a different family, or _I'd_ been… born into a different family, or whatever, so you wouldn't have to get _hurt _like this, but… I'm just glad you're here, anyways."

Hajime was resting his head on her shoulder.

"…me too, Hajime."

She rested her head on his.

(There was something like love that Ninako felt that night.)

(And Hajime felt it, too. Though he didn't have a name for it, at the time.)

Though nothing that strongly was felt between them again for quite some time.

The years passed with sneaking-out like clockwork and shared lunches and laughter and sometimes-cheerful-sometimes-hateful commiseration. True to her word, Ninako finally began opening up about the things that went on within the clan that frustrated her so.

A typical lunchtime conversation:

"Can you believe it? I got another bloodline superiority whatever speech yesterday from Hanabi-sama."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah! Bitter old _hag_. 'The Hyuuga clan must always exhibit the most admirable qualities, the Hyuuga clan must always strive for perfection,' blah blah blah shut _up._"

"Pfft. Sounds like my dad."

"I _know_, right?"

"Hey, you think he should have married her instead of my mom? I mean, it sounds like they'd get along enough over that."

"Well if he had done that then we'd be _cousins_ or something, and that'd be just _gross_, man. I'll take the current you, thank you _very _much. Besides," she added, carefully, "I get the feeling that Hanabi-sama wouldn't go for a non-Hyuuga."

"Yeah," Hajime said, "and I get the feeling that my dad wouldn't go for _a_ Hyuuga."

"But you got a thing for me, dontcha."

Hajime didn't answer.

(Oh, yes, was Ninako ever so grateful to resume her most favorite hobby.)

(Even before she meant any of it seriously.)

Hajime could keep secrets. She trusted him.

(Though some things never left clan walls in _any_ circumstance.)

It was curious, too, how quickly they were promoted from chuunin to jounin within those two years. Ninako first.

Well, technically, Takeru first. But it couldn't be helped.

(A question: How does one sneak out of a compound belonging to a clan that can see through any substance?)

(The answer: Very, very carefully.)

Their skill was literally unheard of. But recognized all the same.

And it was only after the jounin promotions, after the pressure lifted, after they had gone as high as they could go that.

Well.

Their minds finally had room for.

Other priorities.

"So I got. Um. Dinner reservations," Hajime, fourteen, almost fifteen years old, announced. "For the day after my birthday. For you and me. So yeah."

"Hajime," Ninako, barely, barely fifteen, replied, "is this a _date?"_

(Uh.)

(Crap.)

"No," Hajime replied, "it's_ not_. I just wanted to do something actually _fun_ for my birthday 'cos. Um. My _family_ won't let me do anything really fun. Naturally."

Ninako's heart-mouth spread widely. "When and where, then?"

The not-date proceeded.

Well.

There was a great deal of staring and a great deal of not-eating.

Hajime made.

Attempts.

At conversation.

"You look… nice."

"Uh… thanks."

Well, she _did_ look nice, he felt. She was wearing little pearls in her ears and lip gloss.

(And she _had_ tried to look nice, actually. Just in case it really _was, _well.)

(Though she wondered if it wasn't. Maybe it wasn't. Just in case.)

"Do you, uh. Like your food?"

"Yeah, it… it tastes good."

She fumbled with her fork.

Hajime took another sip of water. It was his third glass that night.

Funnily enough.

Ninako was the one that spoke up first.

Just barely.

"Look, Hajime-"

"Ninako, I-"

An awkward silence as they decided what to do next.

"Uh, you first…" Hajime said.

"Oh, uh, sure."

She tapped the fingers of both hands on the table and sucked on her lips.

"Look, I'm… I'm really sorry, I'm making this, like, _super_ awkward," she finally said.

"No! No, no, you're not, you're totally fine, seriously…" Hajime replied. Awkwardly.

"No, I'm… not."

She swallowed.

"Listen, Hajime, I..." She breathed in, and out. "Okay, so, you know how you always tell me to—tell you whenever something's bothering me?"

"Well, yeah, of cour—oh, no, _I'm_ not bothering you, am I?" Hajime's palms attached themselves to his forehead. "Oh, jeez, I knew this was a bad idea…"

"Hajime, Hajime, no, it's not that!" she said. "It's, it's… kind of nothing to do with you. It's my fault."

"Oh, really…"

"Y-yeah, really." She swallowed. "Um. Well, see… I've been… _teasing_ you a lot about how you, like. Well you're pretty much my best friend, man. Uncontested. And I keep on, like, making fun of you like you're my… boyfriend or… something…"

His hands slowly, slowly fell. "…yeah…?"

"And, I mean, it's all in good fun, right? You know we're just friends and stuff." Her voice was unusually high.

"…y-yeah, just… friends."

Hajime's head was tilted just slightly and he seemed suddenly very interested in the edge of his plate.

"…well, see, the truth is. I like you, Hajime. I _really _like you. Like. _Really_ really. And I just… for the longest time, I thought it was _wrong_ 'cos, y'know, you're my best _friend_, and that's kinda… well _wrong_, innit? I mean, just 'cos you're a boy and I'm a girl doesn't mean we _have_ to date, but…"

Hajime was still staring at his plate.

"…I can't _help_ it, Hajime. I mean, you're… you're what I _think_ of when I fall asleep at night."

And she suddenly breathed in and said something that sounded like "Eek!" and she covered her mouth and.

"…oh, great, now you think I'm a huge _creep_ don't you oh Hajime I'm _sorry_, just… just forget I _said_ that."

But this time, it was Hajime that was laughing. And it was a strange laughter, because he was not used to it.

"…y-you know, uh. I'm. I'm the… same way," he finally managed.

"…are you serious?"

"As a… heart attack. I'm… always thinking about you, Ninako."

Light and gasp-like laughter was coming out of Ninako, finally. "Oh, man, I can't believe this…"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, like… I thought it was just all in my head, really. For the longest time. I didn't think you'd _ever_ get past, or, or _want _to get past, well, the whole _friend_ thing. I mean, knowing you…"

"What do you _mean_, 'knowing me'?" Hajime was trying to frown. Trying.

Her laughter gained strength. She could barely speak. "Well, it's just… you seemed so focused on us being just _friends_ for the longest time and stuff!"

"I was just doing that 'cos I didn't want you to get creeped out and stop _being_ my friend or whatever if you weren't… interested!"

She was holding her stomach. "Hajime, what the heck! There's no way you'd _ever_ be able to creep me out…"

"Well _you're_ the one that actually _told_ me that you wanted to be _just friends_ just now!"

"I did _not!_"

"Yeah you did!"

"Well I'm not saying it _now!_ Are you?"

"No!"

"Well… well good!"

They just laughed, after that. People noticed, and stared.

(Though nobody that could have gotten them into trouble.)

Not like either of them cared.

"So… what the heck do we do, then?" Ninako said, when they were leaving, not bothering to take their barely-eaten leftovers with them. "Do we, like… hold hands or something?"

"Oh, gosh, are we _supposed_ to?"

"I dunno, I've never dated anyone before!"

"Yeah, well, neither have—oh man we're _dating_, aren't we!" Hajime's eyes got suddenly very wide.

And Ninako just started laughing, all over again. "Yep. Yep! I guess we are."

"…so, uh. Does that mean I should. Call you my. Guh. Girlfreh…"

"You can call me," Ninako said, "whatever you want, Hajime. 'Girlfriend' included. But… I'll settle for 'soul mate' or 'darling sugar princess' if you're uncomfortable with that for now."

"Ninako…"

"I'm serious. Boyfriend."

He didn't respond, that time, but oh goodness did his smile make her smile.

They only lightly laced their fingers into each other, palms barely touching, as he walked her home.

In case someone saw, so it'd be easy to pull them apart.

There was a sort of unspoken understanding between the two of them that.

Well.

They got the feeling that neither of their families would approve.

But they would learn to be careful.

They had learned to be careful with everything else.

They didn't attempt anything resembling a kiss for two or three more dates.

Yeah, they were dates. Even if Hajime had a hard time believing it.

(And, frankly, Ninako did, too, though she had an easier time of hiding her joyful skepticism.)

When they did finally work up the courage, the results were laughable.

Literally.

Ninako began giggling and had to pull herself away from his face.

"What's wrong, did I do something wrong?" Hajime said.

"Your… face…!"

"My face?"

"You look so _stupid!_"

"W-wait, you're supposed to… to do it with your eyes _open?_"

"I have a _Byakugan_, duh!" She could barely breathe. "You had your eyes closed so tight, it was adorable…!"

"St-stop it, okay?"

They eventually got it right.

That was the way things were, with them. Long stretches of contentment and satisfaction punctuated by intensely awkward readjustments.

When they made the decision to try having sex when they were eighteen, nineteen years old, for example. After several make-out sessions began going a _little_ too far, in their collective opinions, and they took the time aside to talk about it. Like adults. Naturally.

They didn't want to risk anything. Even though they were just doing it with, well. Each other.

(And Ninako had other fears. She wasn't ignorant.)

(Hyuugas only married Hyuugas to produce more Hyuugas.)

(Besides, she was too young to deal with that.)

Ninako had to buy the condoms because Hajime felt too awkward about doing it himself.

Naturally, she didn't let him hear the end of it.

After they managed to, uh.

Figure it out, naturally.

In a hotel room, because they couldn't risk anywhere else:

"We can… stick to just making out for a while, yeah?"

"Yeah, that sounds cool."

"Yeah."

"Awesome."

"…you're _adorable_, you know that?"

"_Ninako_."

It was around that time, coincidentally, that they came to be put on the Seal Team, along with Sakari and Jimichi. They'd been brought into Naruto's office with the other two and told the news personally.

Of course, Hajime's face betrayed no excitement, just a calm, stoic, proper expression of thankfulness. Ninako, at least, was grinning.

Afterwards, once they were properly alone, they wrapped themselves in each other and did not let go for the longest time.

It was a bit of a miracle. They almost couldn't believe their luck.

They had an excuse to be together. A legitimate one. They didn't need to sneak out any more.

(Not that their new job would _stop_ them from the occasional jaunt out, but.)

How this had come to happen, neither of them knew, and neither of them cared to find out. They were just happy to finally have it.

(But within the walls of the Hyuuga compound, there lived a woman with a gentle smile and a purple heart that held many secrets, and knew many more. She wielded her influence like a needle, carefully and almost invisibly.)

(Having a dear friend in the Hokage surely didn't hurt at all, either.)

There were, as it happened, a great deal of benefits that came with their involvement in the Seal Team.

Of course there was the excuse to be together, that was obvious.

There was also the fact that their work had them out of the city and oftentimes the country, which afforded them far more privacy to do what they wished when they were off-duty.

Though it did take them a while to get comfortable with the idea of being at all romantic around Sakari and Jimichi. For the longest time they carried on with extreme discretion, getting closer to their teammates in the meantime.

Hajime actually felt relieved to find himself becoming friends with Jimichi. He did not get along well with most other young men his age. Then again, Hajime didn't get along well with many people, preferring to only expend a minimal amount of emotional effort in dealing with others if he could help it.

This worked well with his family. Not so much outside of it. Though he hadn't noticed so much because, well, he had Ninako, and Sai-sensei. And that had been enough for him, for a while.

Jimichi, who was just… normal, was a nice addition to all of that. It made him more sociable. Better-adjusted. At least, _Hajime_ felt so.

Though when Jimichi himself said, "Man, Hajime-san, you're a lot nicer than I thought you would be," when they were out sharing drinks during a mission, Sakari and Ninako off elsewhere (Sakari had… _issues_ with alcohol). Hajime found himself caught off-guard.

"How do you mean."

"Well, you're just so… _stoic_, Hajime-san. If you don't mind me saying."

"Stoic."

"I mean… Sort of unapproachable, I guess? A… a man of few words, that's what I mean."

"Oh."

Hajime took a sip of his beer.

"Then," he said, "I'm glad you feel that way."

A pause.

"About me being nice, I think. Not being, uh. Stoic. I should probably work on that."

Jimichi laughed, at that.

They talked a lot more, after that.

It became somewhat apparent, after that, too, that apparently he and Ninako weren't being as discrete as they'd thought they were being.

Sakari had a bad habit of "forgetting" things.

Like tents.

"Looks like two of us are gonna have to share! Oh, silly me." She had a giggle like bubblegum. "Hajime, Ninako, you don't _mind_ at all, do you? Because I don't want to have to share a tent with Jimichi-kun."

"No," Ninako said, speaking for the both of them, "I think that's just fine."

"You think they're onto us?" Hajime asked, from between her arms, that particular night.

"Ju-ust a bit," Ninako replied.

They never really thought of bringing it up, after that point, given how clear it was that their teammates were accepting of their relationship.

(Especially, silently, Sakari. Her father's connection to the Hyuuga clan through his most beloved brother in arms, in so many words, Neji, afforded her a very painful insight into the lives of the Hyuuga, and Ninako in particular.)

(And very little needed to be said about the connections she had on her mother's side. In the phone calls her mother sometimes received that went on for far too long and yet always seemed to end so abruptly.)

(And, by golly, she had her papa's heart, and she wanted all of her friends to have happy endings. Especially those two.)

(So she was always the one scheming for ways to improve their happiness.)

They still kept up the façade, when things needed to get serious. Their job came before their emotions, after all.

But this full and distant and understanding-ness made things more comfortable otherwise. Much more comfortable.

Their corner of the world was a small one, but it was all they had.

And so, they continued on, living for each other, away from everything else.

(Unaware of how breakable everything really was.)

(And how quickly a crack in the glass was growing.)


	55. Ursa Arcturus

C_hapter 55 - Ursa Arcturus_

* * *

Standard Procedure, Steps Two and Three: Scouting and Confrontation (Again)

The second skirmish went far better than the first, to say the least.

One of the key factors in this was the wise decision for Ninako to scout for the target from the safety of the forest's edge, where he was probably less likely to attack.

"We should have done this from the start," she said.

"Yeah, but, we were _investigating_ before. So it's okay," Sakari replied.

"Do you see anything?" Hajime said.

"I'm looking."

A pause.

"Nobody at the house."

"Nobody?"

"No, just those chickens."

"Then find him."

"_Okay_, Hajime."

Another pause.

"Ah. There's our guy. He's looking angry as usual. Second level. Odd, though, you don't often see so many transformations so close together. Something must be stressing him out."

"Poor thing," Sakari said.

"How far away?" Hajime asked.

"Two and a half miles out, moving west."

"We'd better go meet him then," Hajime said.

So they moved out.

The interception was a wild success of a thing.

Hajime managed to bind him with a bigger snake, a stronger snake, sending it through the underbrush and striking spontaneously.

He could see that it wouldn't last long. "SAKARI, NOW!"

"Right-o!"

Sakari ran forward, aiming for a blow to the base of the spine, to shock him.

"Please hold still, sir!"

She punched.

The man began to stagger from the blow, coughing, gasping.

"NO… NO…! GET OUT, GO AWAY…!"

His arms strained against Hajime's ink-snake. The blacks stressed themselves into cream-greys.

"Ninako, disable his arms."

"On it, Hajime."

The veins around Ninako's eyes bulged. Radiant pulses of chakra concentration were suddenly, magnificently visible, and she went for them.

She managed to disable the man's left arm before the snake gave way. She and Sakari were well off of him before either of them could be tossed into trees.

He went for.

"HAJIME!" Ninako cried.

Hajime's paintbrush was flying across the scroll, creating a spider, an octopus, something with many legs to bind. He was improvising.

The man's right arm was still usable and it was shifting to a size that did not belong on normal humans.

His hand was the size of a cart wheel.

And it covered Hajime completely. Fingers like tree roots wrapped around his arms. Hajime's paintbrush was flying.

Out of his hands.

Ninako went for the shoulder, Sakari went for the back, Jimichi went for a CV.

All Hajime could do was stare and trust.

When suddenly.

The man's grip loosened.

His skin began to fade from mud to sand.

And he said, "Sasuke…?"

He let go of Hajime. His working arm was shrinking. Ninako, feeling foolish, dropped off of his back.

The man continued. "Sasuke, is that you…? What are you doing here…?" He had a deep voice, but he spoke carefully.

"Are you… talking to me?" Hajime asked. The man nodded. "I'm… sorry, but my name's not Sasuke."

"Oh… I'm sorry, you just… look like someone I used to know, is all." It was strange how the man actually sounded apologetic as he spoke. "You have the same eyes. So when I saw them, I calmed down."

"Oh, really? Well, who was _your_ Sasuke?" Sakari asked, from his dead left arm.

"Oh, his… name was Uchiha Sasuke. I haven't seen him for a very long time…"

Hajime, shaking out his arms, paused before he could pick up his equipment. "…that's my father," he said. "You knew him?"

"You're his son…?" Hajime nodded. "Oh, I suppose that makes sense, then…" the man said, thoughtfully. "I haven't seen him in years and years…"

"Sir, do you know who we are?" Sakari asked him.

"No, I don't know any of you other folks, I'm sorry," the man replied.

"Well, we're here on behalf of the Curse Seal Rehabilitation Program. I understand that your condition can be difficult to live with, sir. We're here to help you with it."

"Oh. Help?"

"Yes, we have medicines and other services available that can make life a little easier for you."

Sakari went on. Ninako was at Hajime's side. "You okay there?" she whispered. "I was scared, for a moment."

"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied. He began rolling up his scroll. "I'm more shaken by the fact that this guy knows my _dad_ than anything."

"Should be an interesting story."

"Yeah."

"Now what's your name, sir?" Sakari asked.

"My name…? It's Juugo."

"Ah, Juugo-san! Is that so! I'm afraid I don't know you!"

Sakari knew the name of every known and unaccounted-for curse seal victim. Her eyes were sparkling.

Juugo was new.

"My name is Haruno Sakari. My colleagues are Uchiha Hajime and Hyuuga Ninako, over there, and Fuguki Jimichi, over there. He'll be able to heal any injuries we might have caused in encountering you."

"I can't feel my arm," Juugo said.

"My fault, sorry," Ninako said. "I can get at the pressure points so you can move it again, if you want."

"Oh, that'd be nice…"

But in reaching her arms up to try and get at the points, Ninako asked, sheepishly, "Uh, could you please sit down…? It'd make things easier."

"Oh, sure, sorry…"

"So, Juugo-san," Sakari asked, "can you tell us what caused this particular transformation in you?"

Ninako's fingers were quick and very precise.

Juugo thought.

And as soon as his left arm was working again he was using it to raise his left hand to his face with his other hand as an expression of absolute distress spread over his face.

"...my son!"

Ninako hopped away. A precaution.

"Your son?" Sakari said. She got closer.

"Oh no, oh dear, oh _no,_ he must still be in so much pain, oh no…!"

"Calm _down_, sir. What about your son?" Sakari said.

"He had another _attack_ and I started losing control so I left the house before I could _hurt_ him and oh _no_ I have to go _home_, what if he's, oh _no_…"

Juugo was hyperventilating. His hands, enormous even in their natural form, were clinging to the sides of his head, orange hair between his fingers.

Jimichi prepared a CV. Just in case.

Hajime got an idea.

"Juugo-san."

He approached the man and looked him in the eyes.

(He hated being compared to his father. But.)

"Calm down, and tell us what the matter is with your son."

And Juugo.

Began to calm down.

The rest of the team looked on.

That was their leader.

"Well, he, he has a _condition_ and…"

Juugo was taking deep breaths.

A glance was shared around them.

"Oh, it's usually _okay_, he was fine _yesterday_, I was able to _deal_ with it, but today, today it was just so _bad_…"

"And this condition your son has, does he have transformations like you do?" Hajime said.

Juugo didn't respond.

"Juugo-san, we understand if you're frightened, but we can help the _both_ of you," Sakari added. "Honest."

"They're… he's… oh, I should go back home and check on him…" said Juugo.

He started to stand. He was enormous, even untransformed, well over six feet tall.

"I want to make sure he's okay, it should be okay now, it's been enough time. I'm so sorry if I hurt any of you…"

"I'm totally fine, Juugo-san!" chirped Sakari. "You don't mind if we come with you, then? I think it'd be best if we checked up on your son as well."

"I… I don't know, he's very delicate, and we've been able to take care of ourselves for the longest time…"

"Then we'll just have to be even _more_ delicate," Sakari said. "What's _his_ name?"

"Asaoto…"

"Oh, what a unique name! Well then, let's go on and check on Asaoto-kun, Juugo-san."

Sakari walked side by side with Juugo as they continued on, and her head only came up to his elbow.

"That was kind of brilliant, you know," Ninako said, aside.

"What was."

"The way you talked him down. Seriously."

"It was nothing," Hajime said. "Let's get going."

Jimichi put away the CV.

Just like Ninako had seen, there were chickens in the front yard.

But no Asaoto.

Juugo was distressed.

But not too much.

"Oh dear, he must have… it must have gotten worse, he must have had to use the trapdoor…"

"Trapdoor?" Sakari said.

"Karin set it up for us." Juugo sniffed, and pointed to a short metal pole in the corner of the main room with paper seals all over it. "For when things get too out of hand, so he can make his way over her to her… lab right away, so she can treat him…"

"Karin?"

Juugo nodded, slowly. "She lives in Ryokyo. She's a friend of ours, a good friend…"

"That's strange, I think we know her too," Jimichi said. "How long have _you_ known her?"

"I've known her for a… _long_ time… She's helped us so much…"

"That's… odd, though. If you know Karin-san, then why aren't you in any of our records, Juugo-san?" Sakari said.

"Maybe Karin-san's treating them herself?" Ninako said.

"I don't know… I need to get to Asaoto, though, I need to see if he's okay…" Juugo said.

"Just how exactly does this 'trapdoor' work, Juugo-san?" Hajime said.

"…I don't know. It's something to do with chakra, but it lets him get from here to _there_ in only a few seconds. She set it up for us. I don't know how it works…" Juugo said. "Asaoto, he's… very delicate, but even he can use it…"

"You think you could show us how it works, Juugo-san?" Sakari said. "It'd really cut down on our travel time."

"I don't… think so. I'm not used to using it, I prefer to run to her place because it calms me down, whenever this happens… Besides, if I showed you, I'd be taken there _too_ in explaining it, and that wouldn't be any good I don't think…"

"…point taken. Ryokyo's not terribly far away, we should get there in an hour if we run. Do you suppose you could keep up, Juugo-san?" Hajime said.

"I think so," Juugo said.

"Then let's move out and see if little Asaoto-kun's doing okay, okay?" Sakari said.

"Okay," Juugo said. He managed to smile.

They moved out. But not before Juugo apologized to the chickens first, for scaring them.

* * *

Hajime's curiosity got the better of him on the way over.

"So, Juugo-san, how exactly do you know my father?" he said, when they were about a third of the way there.

"Oh, we… met a long time ago. He helped me out of a very dark place."

(His father? _Helping_ people?)

"That's interesting," Hajime said.

"I am still very grateful to him, even though it's been such a long time," Juugo continued. "Is he doing all right?"

"He's fine," Hajime said.

"So when did you meet _Karin_-san, then?" Ninako added, seeing Hajime's mouth tighten. "I'm curious."

"Oh, I met Karin when I met Sasuke…"

"At the same time?"

"Yes, she was with him at the time, as his medic… Though, we got separated, later," he added, before any more could be asked. "We all did. She found me after the war. I was lost for a very long time."

"Oh, I see…" Ninako said.

"Because of her, I… actually have a lot more _control _of myself." He sounded proud as he said this, though sadly so. "I can't… control a lot of things, still, but I can at least try to steer myself out of the way, or tell people to run away so I don't hurt them…"

"That's very _good_, Juugo-san," Sakari said. This made him smile.

"I still can't live in any sort of… city or town, though, I'm not strong enough for that…" Juugo continued. His face fell. "It'd make things so much easier for Asaoto if I could just live in Ryokyo, where _she_ is, so we wouldn't have to rely on trapdoors and things…"

"It's okay, Juugo-san, don't feel bad about those sorts of things," Sakari said.

"So how long have you known her, exactly?" Ninako asked.

"Oh… I can't remember, but it was before Asaoto was born…"

"Where is Asaoto-kun's mother? If you don't mind me asking," Sakari said, carefully.

"He… doesn't have a mother…" Juugo said. "I've... well, Karin's _helped_, but I've had to raise him alone…"

"You poor thing…" Sakari said. "How old is he?"

"Six? I think? I don't know how old he was when I took him in…"

"So he's not your biological son?" Jimichi said.

"I don't… think so. But he's my _son_. He is," Juugo said.

"Of course, Juugo-san," Sakari said, though the glance she shared with her teammates afterwards was slightly uneasy.

"So she _has_ been helping you? The both of you?" Ninako said. Juugo nodded. "Maybe that's why he's not on our records, if she's taking care of him herself."

"We'll ask her when we get there," Hajime said.

"Sounds like a plan, Boss," said Sakari.

They ran onward.


	56. Andromeda Atlas

_Chapter 56 - Andromeda Atlas_

* * *

Sakari managed to keep the mood light once they reached the town. She was good at that.

(And this helped probably more than any of them realized, as it kept jittery victims calm in the worst circumstances.)

"Looks like we get to visit Karin-san after all! I'm so going to have to visit the comic shop here, too, I bet there's a new issue of Haru-Kuru out!"

"Haru-Kuru…?" Juugo said. The curiosity in his voice was almost childlike.

"Yeah, it's only my absolute_ favorite_."

"Well, what is it…?"

"Well!" Sakari was almost bouncing from the question. "Haru-Kuru's a superhero that's got a Curse Seal, see. But she's learned to control it and use it for the forces of _good!_ But she also has a pretty average life when she's not punching bad guys. She's a librarian."

"…really." Juugo had a gently-growing smile on his face.

"Uh-HUH! She's been really popular with kids that have Curse Seal mutations. She's sort of a role model! The artist's daughter is actually a Seal Victim herself, she was the inspiration." Sakari nodded a few times. "I think it's _fantastic_. So many kids read it and they're told, yeah! There's nothing wrong with them! They can control their conditions!"

"…it sounds very nice," Juugo said. "I wouldn't mind reading it. It sounds very nice."

"Oh! Well I'm sure I can lend you an issue sometime!" Sakari said.

Juugo gave a big, almost sheepish smile back.

"We're here," Hajime said.

The door to Karin's clinic was unlocked, but the sign in the foyer said that the Doctor Was OUT.

"Karin-san! Hello, are you around?" Sakari called.

There was no response.

"Karin-san!"

"Ninako, check and see if she's somewhere in the house," Hajime said.

"Right."

A moment of searching. Juugo, who did not wear shoes, shuffled his feet nervously. He barely fit in the room.

"She's sub-level. In some sorta examination room. She's got another person with her, and…"

Ninako tried to restrain what was obviously some sort of horror on her face.

"…oh, jeez, I _think_ that's a kid…"

Juugo was the first to move.

"Asaoto, that has to be him…!"

"Juugo-san, please!"

Sakari followed.

And all the rest.

Juugo, evidently, knew what he was doing. There was a sliding door near the back of the house and he near ripped it clear off of its hinges in opening it.

"Juugo-san, please, calm down a little, okay?" Sakari said.

There were stairs made of concrete, and Juugo began going down them. Naturally, the team had to follow.

They could hear Karin yelling.

"I _told_ you, get _out_ of here! Now! Just _leave_ already!"

"Karin-san, excuse us!" Sakari called out.

"But-"

"NOW!"

And as they arrived on the bottom step, they caught a glimpse of a white-skinned man with bones in his arms.

That disappeared in an instant.

The bones clattered to the concrete floor in a hollow cacophony.

They looked like human bones.

Almost.

Reflexively, Ninako tried to track him but his chakra was gone in an instant, well out of range.

Karin came out of a back room and closed the door behind her. She was breathing heavily, a hand wrapped tightly around her stomach.

"What… are you doing… in my house…?" she said.

"Karin-san, who was that man?" Sakari asked.

"Are those _bones_…?" Jimichi asked, voice quavering.

"You tell me… what you're doing here… first… okay…!"

"They're with me, Karin… They told me they could help…" Juugo said, quietly.

"Juugo…" Karin's expression softened, just a little bit, as she caught her breath. "_You_ brought them here?"

"I needed to see Asaoto, and they said they had to come with me…"

Karin took a moment to take off her glasses and rub her forehead, her temples.

"Karin-san, we were just responding to a call-in," Ninako said. "We kind of had no idea that you were treating Juugo-san personally, or his son."

"Well, I am." She pressed her glasses further up the bridge of her nose. "Juugo's a special case, and he doesn't apply to your work, okay?"

"Karin, is Asaoto here…?" Juugo was holding his fingers in his fingers.

She sighed, heavily. "Yes, Juugo, he arrived maybe two hours ago." Her voice had gotten very suddenly gentle. "But he's still very sick, okay…? I was in the middle of treating him when _you_ all barged in."

"Oh…" Juugo said.

"We're very sorry, Karin-san!" Sakari said. "We didn't mean to interrupt."

"If… you don't mind me asking, though, Karin-san," Jimichi said. "Does… Asaoto-kun have the same condition as Juugo-san? I mean, we don't doubt that you have everything under control, but it'd be nice to know what's going on."

"…it's similar. And I do have it under control," she added, forcefully. "You four don't need to worry about him, okay? Now if you'll excuse me, I should probably get back to work."

"But, um." Sakari was raising her hand, almost sheepishly. "Karin-san, what are these bones…?"

She couldn't stop staring at them.

"They're…" Karin's eyes were almost closed. "…nothing for you to worry about, okay? Just… biological waste. I'll have them incinerated after I'm done here."

"But, ah, what are they _from_…?" Jimichi said, quietly. "If you, ah, don't mind me asking…"

And it was then that the door behind Karin opened of its own volition.

And a very, very small child peeked out.

"Mommy…?"

He was very, unhealthily, skinny. Green eyes were sunken into deep, red-bruise-colored sockets, and every bone could be seen in his little hands. His hair was white, and very thin.

"…is that Daddy? Is he here?"

Juugo was across the room and the child was in his arms before Karin could.

"No, he's—!"

Object.

And it suddenly became very apparent where the bones had come from.

They were Asaoto's.

Somehow, Juugo managed to hold the child—naked, and incredibly tiny, especially compared to him—in the crook of his arm, despite the enormous spikes of white bone that were coming from out of his spine, and the joints and ribs of his left side. There seemed to be more bone than boy.

"…I'm not done treating him," Karin said, quietly.

Jimichi had his hands over his mouth. Ninako's stomach squirmed; she felt like she was going to throw up. Sakari's hands clung to each other.

Only Hajime looked on with any sort of composure.

Juugo was mumbling apologies.

"Asaoto, I'm so sorry, I'm so _sorry_, are you hurting? I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have lost control like that…"

But Asaoto.

Was smiling.

"It's okay, Daddy…" He had a very little voice, and it was thin, like his body. "I tried to hold on longer but it started hurting too much so I decided to go see Mommy… I'm sorry I scared you, Daddy…"

Juugo was sniffling.

"It's okay, Daddy, honest… Mommy's been taking them out of me, it doesn't hurt any more…"

He reached up with shaking twig-arms, and he put his hands on Juugo's face. There were blue veins under his skin.

"I promise, it doesn't… Please don't cry, Daddy, it doesn't hurt any more, honest…"

It was Hajime who spoke up.

"'Mommy'?" he said, looking at Karin.

Karin's expression was supremely uncomfortable.

"…he… calls me that. I'm not _really_ his mother, but I've been… treating him since he was an infant. So I might as _well_ be…" She cleared her throat. "…Juugo, can you please carry him back to the examination room? I'm not done yet."

"Karin-san, what in the world is wrong with that boy…?" Jimichi had somehow managed to find his voice.

"…it's a genetic disorder," Karin said, flatly.

Ninako ran up the stairs, looking for the bathroom. She didn't feel like she was going to throw up any more. She _was_ going to.

"Well is there anything I can help with?" Jimichi said.

Karin sighed. "Well, I had to shoo out my _last_ assistant because he was being such a little _pest._ I could use the help."

"Was that who he was, that man with the bones?" Sakari said.

"Yes," Karin said, through her teeth, "he was. He wouldn't _leave_ so I had to force him out with damn _ninjutsu_. That boy, honestly…"

"I'm sorry, Karin-san," Sakari said, almost on reflex.

"Well I'd be _more_ than happy to help with anything," Jimichi said, stepping forward, almost a little too quickly.

"Oh, me too! Um. Would you like me to help incinerate these? You have a furnace, right?" Sakari said, raising her hand.

Hajime was heading up the stairs, looking for Ninako.

"In the back, down the far hallway, to the left," Karin said. "Just put them in there, I'll burn them myself, later, okay?"

"Sounds fine to me!" Sakari said.

"Jimichi-kun, you can come with me, okay?" Karin said.

He followed her.

Asaoto was still comforting his father.

"Please, Daddy, don't worry, don't be sad, I'm fine," he said.

Upstairs, Ninako was wiping off her mouth in Karin's bathroom with a towel. Her eyes were watering.

She felt Hajime's hand on her back.

"Are you feeling all right?" he asked.

"Yeah, just… a little shaken," she said. "That poor _kid_…"

"It's a little… disturbing," Hajime said.

"Tell me about it…" She was breathing very deeply. "No idea what came over me, though… I mean, I've seen _worse_…"

"Maybe because he was so young."

She didn't answer.

"Ninako, even I was unsettled, it's _okay_."

She put her hand on his back, and held on, tightly.

"You think you'll be all right?" he said.

A pause.

"Yeah," she finally said, wiping off her face with her sleeve. "I'm fine."

* * *

Eventually, Karin and Jimichi got finished with their work.

Asaoto, without all the bones, looked even smaller than he had before. He was finally clothed, in a white t-shirt that would have fit Hajime or Jimichi normally, but fell over him like a religious garment. Juugo was carrying him everywhere.

Presently, he was eating yogurt at the kitchen table, with hands that weren't trembling nearly as badly, sitting in Juugo's lap.

"So what's his story?" Ninako asked Jimichi, in the hallway outside the kitchen. "Did Karin-san tell you anything?"

"She said she'd explain to us once Asaoto-kun went down for a nap. All that bone growth takes a_ lot_ out of him. Jeez, that poor _kid_…"

"I can't imagine…" Ninako said. Her hands tightened underneath the pocket of her hoodie.

"He's such a trooper, though. He didn't cry or anything when you guys were extracting those bones," Sakari said.

And Asaoto did, eventually, go down for a nap. He and Juugo retreated to some unseen room, the boy waving weakly at Sakari as he went, yawning. He had his legs, more like wooden dowels than limbs, pulled up to his chest.

"Living room," Karin said.

She sat down with difficulty, not bothering with refreshments.

"So, then. I'm sure you all have questions."

"Quite a _few_, Karin-san," Jimichi said. "I'm really concerned about Asaoto-kun."

"Yeah, I… don't blame you, okay?" Karin said. "He's been making my life just that little bit more uncomfortable, ever since Juugo found him."

"He's a foundling?" Ninako said.

Karin nodded. "Goodness knows where he found the poor thing, but he was in an _awful_ condition and Juugo was just… well, he was _beside_ himself, and I had to do something to help."

"How long ago was this?" Sakari said.

"Four, five years ago. He was just a baby. But his bone growth was already a problem." She had her hands in her lap, and they curled into tight fists at the recollection. "Poor thing looked more like a ball of spikes than a child. Couldn't even move."

"Oh, my…" Sakari touched her lips, unable to do much more.

"Were you and Juugo-san in contact before this happened?" Hajime said.

"Oh, well of _course_. You all… _do_ know who he is, right?"

Four very confused glances.

"He's the _origin_ of the Curse Seal. Patient Zero, as it were."

"You're _kidding_," Sakari said.

Smiling.

"No, no kidding. I actually developed the CV's by analyzing the enzymes in his blood that cause his berserker state and coming up with 'counters' to them. Well, once he and I ran into each other again, that is. He came to me for help because he was having the hardest time keeping control of himself after the war."

"Ah, that's… really neat, actually," Jimichi said.

Karin's smile was sharp and glossed with pride.

"I'm aware that he's not on any of your records and, frankly, it's probably for the best, okay? I've been treating him with custom therapies for _years_ now. CV's don't work on him as effectively."

"Oh, jeez, good thing I never tried to use one on him, then…" Jimichi said.

"Wouldn't have made much of a difference. Don't worry about it, okay?" Karin said.

"So, then, you've been treating Asaoto-kun on the side, as well?" Hajime said.

She nodded.

"So what's the cause of _his_ condition? Another sort of curse seal?" Ninako said. "Or a second-generation mutation, something like that?"

She shook her head. "No, he… well, I suspect he's a remnant of a clan formerly native to the Land of Water. The Kaguya."

"Kaguya?" Hajime said.

"It's only a hunch. None of them are supposed to have survived," Karin said. "The only thing I have to go by is the fact that some members of that clan had a… kekkei genkai that allowed them to control the growth of their bones."

"And you know that how…?" Hajime said.

Karin gave him a hard glance. "_Orochimaru_ was in possession of the last living Kaguya, or so I thought. I helped treat him myself, when he was still alive, though only the _records_ remain of him."

"Oh."

"Moving on," Karin said. "Of course, Asaoto and that _particular _boy aren't terribly alike. For one, Asaoto has no control over his bone growth and is prone to… 'attacks' where… well, you saw the aftermath of one."

"Poor _thing_…" Sakari said, softly.

"It's… very unfortunate," Karin agreed. "Like I said, when Juugo first brought him to me he couldn't even _move_. It took me _days_ to figure out how to remove all the bones. It's much more manageable now, okay? Usually his attacks aren't this severe, but I'm finding that his stress level often has something to do with it."

"Have you come up with any sort of treatment…?" Jimichi said.

"Groping in the dark here, honestly," she replied, with a depressed shrug of the shoulders. "I hope in a few years to be able to come up with something like a CV just for Asaoto, to stop the growth during an attack. But right now it's just too early, okay? All I can do is make sure that Juugo keeps him calm and that he's kept on a high-calorie high-nutrient diet. His attacks are _murder_ on his metabolism, you saw how skinny he is…"

"Karin-san, that's awful…" Sakari said.

"You don't need to tell me, okay? I wish I could do more."

Her eyes were downcast, brimming with regret.

"So have you asked where… Juugo-san found him, ever?" Ninako said.

"Oh, I've _asked_, but he never goes into detail." She sighed. "The only thing I have to go on is the fact that… well, _years_ ago, Juugo and that Kaguya boy—Kimimaro, that was his name—were very close. So if he were to find some child, abandoned, that resembled him so much—with the bones and everything—then I wouldn't be surprised if he just latched onto him like no tomorrow. He's already so devoted."

"And given his condition…" Ninako said, her hand on her chin. "I mean, if it was already apparent as an infant."

"Mm. Lots of people would get scared," Karin said, "so I wouldn't be surprised if he were abandoned by his… original family because of it. And Juugo had a habit of… _wandering_ before Asaoto. That boy's forced him to settle down, so he's closer to me. Just in case."

Karin was holding her head up with her hand.

There was a silence.

And it was.

Not a comfortable one.

"Um, Karin-san…?" Sakari had her hand raised, unnecessarily, again.

"Yes, Sakari-chan, what is it?"

"I hope you don't mind my saying this… but you don't look at all well," she said, her brown eyebrows rising and knitting together. "And besides, aren't you expecting?"

The question was.

Not a comfortable one either.

"Sakari-chan, I appreciate the concern, but I'm fine, okay? The… little one is, too."

"Well, I'm _glad_ to hear that, but it just seems like this is all very taxing on you, Karin-san," Sakari said. "Asaoto-kun and your work here in the village and everything. Even with assistance, with a baby in the house…"

"Sakari-chan."

Sakari pursed her perfectly-shaped lips. "I'm just wondering if it would be easier if… we had Juugo-san and Asaoto-kun brought to our curse seal rehabilitation ward in Konoha, if only for a short while."

"No," Karin said, the barest of edges in her voice, "I don't think that's necessary."

"Karin-san, I'm just a little worried about you," Sakari continued. "You're marvelous at your job, but…"

"Have you thought of seeking outside help for Asaoto-kun, at all?" Jimichi said. "I mean, you're probably the most skilled doctor for miles, and it must be difficult handling everything alone."

"No, and I don't need to."

Karin suddenly sounded.

Very angry.

"You do know there's a _reason_ I handle everything alone. It's not like I'm doing this for _fun_, okay?"

"…what is it?" Sakari said, when no one else did.

"The Land of Water is… a little off-the-_hinges_ when it comes to rare bloodlines. There's already a fair amount of refugees living in town and nearby that I have to treat, Asaoto _included._ The _last_ thing I want is for them to get their grubby hands on him for their purposes. He's only _six_, for heaven's _sake_. He doesn't _deserve_ that, okay?"

"…that's… kind of a good reason," Ninako said, when no one else did.

"More than you probably _know_," Karin said.

"Then wouldn't he be safer in Konoha?" Hajime said.

Karin paused.

"We _do_ have facilities that could treat him, and more staff on hand, now that I think about it," Jimichi added.

"If you gave them proper instruction on how you were treating him before," Sakari added, also.

Karin took off her glasses.

"I'm sure we could help Juugo-san, too," Jimichi said.

Karin rubbed the skin between her eyes.

"It'd be a lot easier for you, Karin-san, I'm _sure_," Sakari said.

"Hey, hey, aren't you guys kinda… ganging up on Karin-san like this?" Ninako said, managing a laugh.

"I'm just _worried_, Ninako, for Karin-san and Asaoto-kun both. Oh, and I'm sure we could help Juugo-san more, too…" Sakari said.

Karin rested her head against her hand again, her fingers touching her eyes. "Look, all of you, I appreciate the worry. But I'm seriously _okay_, okay?"

"Is it what's best for Asaoto-kun, though?" Hajime said.

Karin gave him an eye full of electricity.

"I don't think you're in a position to judge, Hajime-kun."

"Yes, though, ah—this is just my opinion—but it might be better for him at a larger facility, where his father could also be cared for. I mean," Jimichi cut in, "Juugo-san expressed quite a bit of regret about having to live so far away from towns and cities because of his condition."

"But we can handle that!" Sakari said.

"Juugo," Karin said, "is different, and there are reasons why I treat him myself, okay?"

"Guys, please…" Ninako said.

"We should at least ask Juugo-san if he'd be for it," Jimichi said. "It's only fair, Karin-san."

Sakari gasped.

"Oh, oh, and! If you went to Konoha with them, at least for a little bit, you'd be able to talk to my mom about… _that_ stuff," Sakari said.

Karin paused.

And put her glasses back on.

"Ah. So you know too."

"Know what, Sakari-chan?" Jimichi said.

"Just the bare facts, and I picked up on a few other things," Sakari replied, but not to him. "She's kept me sort of informed. I think it'd be a good thing."

Karin glanced at the ceiling.

And sighed.

"Fine. There's no use arguing any further, it seems. Go ask Juugo, once Asaoto's awake from his nap. But not before then, you understand? They both need their rest," she said. "If he's interested then I'll go with you all back to Konoha for a few days—and _only_ a few days, those two aren't the _only_ ones I'm responsible for around here, you know—and get your staff down there caught up to speed. But I'm going home afterwards, okay? I'm due in two months and I don't want anything happening to me this late."

Karin began to stand, with difficulty. Sakari helped her.

"You're making a good decision, I think," she said.

"Yeah, well… we'll see, okay?" Karin replied.

"Guys," Jimichi said, aside, once the two of them were out of the room, "do you have any idea what Sakari-chan was talking about?"

"No clue," Ninako replied.

Hajime didn't.

Juugo, once asked, was more than receptive to the idea of moving to Konoha, for Asaoto's sake. Though a little scared.

"Are you sure they'll be able to handle me…?" he said, with a quavering voice.

"I'm _absolutely_ sure, Juugo-san. And Asaoto-kun will be _much_ better off, I think," Sakari said, with a voice sweet as caramel.

"I'm excited," Asaoto said, with the littlest voice.

He ended up staying at home, falling asleep again in Karin's guest room, under a blanket that was twice as thick as he was.

Sakari went back with Juugo to Hakyo to get his things packed up. And to get the chickens taken care of.

(Juugo and Asaoto had named all of them. They managed to find someone in town that would keep them and promise not to eat them.)

In the meantime, Jimichi called the hospital to inform them of the incoming patients.

In the meantime, Ninako was making arrangements for their transport out the next morning—there was no way they could have gone on foot, given Karin's condition—and somewhere to stay until then, given how little room Karin's clinic had.

In the meantime, Hajime managed to catch Karin alone.

"If you don't mind, I have a question for you," he said.

"What is it?"

They were in a side room. Sterile, with counters and fluorescent lights, like a kitchen that wasn't made for people. It was where Karin mixed her medicines, and it was what she was presently doing now.

"I wasn't aware that you and my father had a past with each other."

Karin's hands ground a red substance with a mortar and pestle.

"And how do you know that?"

"Juugo-san informed me. He mistook me for my father when we met."

She sighed.

"It's not much of a _past_, if you're curious about the… _extent_ of it, okay," she replied. "He and I collaborated in a team for a couple of months, before he..."

Her hands stopped.

"…decided that I wasn't of use to him any more."

She continued her work, her eyes forced down.

"Sounds like him," Hajime said, flatly.

"Hm."

"And Juugo-san was a part of that team?"

"For a time, yes."

Karin reached for a bottle full of plastic capsules, poured a few into her hand, broke them apart, and ground the contents in with the rest.

"So why did he form a team with you and him?"

"You _really_ want to know?"

"Well, it's…"

Hajime's eyebrows lowered, and he frowned.

(He told himself that he didn't care about his father, but.)

"He doesn't talk much about his past. I'm just curious."

"Hmph. Why am I not surprised," Karin said.

She reached for another ingredient, a broken off piece of something waxy and brown.

"He asked for my assistance in killing his brother," she continued. Matter-of-factly. "Though he ended up changing his… goal quite a bit, in the process, okay."

"…oh," Hajime said.

(Genuinely surprised.)

(And almost wondering why.)

(What little Hajime knew about his late uncle was that he was a martyr, a tragic hero, a role model.)

(This seemed unthinkable.)

(Then again.)

"I was mostly tossed aside once the war began. And from there, well. I don't think there's much else to say, okay?" Karin said. "Does that answer your question?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

He struggled for a way to.

Smother the silence.

"What is that you're making, anyways?"

Karin took the powder, now a rust-blood-rose color, and began spooning lumps of it into little paper squares.

"It's medicine."

"Oh. For someone in the village?"

"No, actually, for me."

"Ah."

"I'm bringing enough for a short trip over. It keeps the little one healthy. Don't want to risk anything."

"Ah."

"You can leave if I'm making you uncomfortable, okay?"

"Ah. Um. Sure."

So Hajime left.

And Karin sighed.

(He reminded her of Sasuke, only far more tactful and freely awkward, in both behavior and voice. Goodness, those eyes.)

The night passed without upset. Asaoto had no attacks.

(Ninako found at least one room with two beds in it.)

(And, of course, it went to Sakari and Jimichi.)

And, in the morning, once everything was confirmed packed, once Karin left a note on the fridge ("For my assistant. It's only courteous of me to tell him where I am and when I'm coming back, even if we… fought yesterday.") they set out via transport to Konoha.

Asaoto managed to stay small and calm. It was supposed that his excitement—of the good kind—was keeping his stress level down. He was kept wrapped in a blanket, however, and never out of Juugo's arms. The air-conditioned transport was too cold.

* * *

When they arrived, Yakata was the first thing that Karin saw.

His face and his arms were burnt and his cheeks had bandages stuck to them.

Her eyes met with his eyes, large, and so, so black.

(…oh, goodness.)

(His eyes.)

(Were the same.)

He ducked behind a girl with thickly-lashed, dark eyes, like his. She was tall, and her hair was long, and she managed to hide him almost completely.

It affected Karin more than.

She could possibly have ever cared to admit.

(…oh. That was…)

(…him.)

For the sake of everyone else, she pulled herself together, and told herself that the squirming in her stomach was because of the unborn child, and not the boy.


	57. Gemini Antares

_Chapter 57 - Gemini Antares_

* * *

It was a very motley crew indeed that Sakura had to greet at the hospital that afternoon.

"I don't want to waste any time here, okay?" Karin said. Juugo waved awkwardly behind her with one hand, holding Asaoto with the other.

"Well hello to you _too_," Sakura said. "You, uh, look… Are you okay, Karin?"

She hadn't seen Karin face-to-face in years. The change was.

Well.

Just a little unsettling.

"Just tired. Can you show me the space you've prepared for Asaoto? I figure the faster I get you debriefed about him, the better."

"Sure…" Sakura looked around. "Oh, uh, I think I can handle myself from here on out, guys," she told the rest of the team. "I appreciate the help."

"Mom, you _know_ I still want to help, no matter what," Sakari said.

"Sakari-chan, you should listen to your mother. Go… get some dinner or something, okay?" Karin said.

"…sure, sounds great! I'll see you _later_, Asaoto-kun, okay?"

"Bye-bye, Sakari-nee," Asaoto replied, waving at her from his blanket.

"Keep us informed of what happens," Hajime said.

"I will, I will," Sakura said.

"I'll be coming in tomorrow, at any rate, Sakura-sensei," Jimichi said.

"Come _on_, let's go, okay?" Karin said, lowly.

So they went.

"Honestly, Karin, are you all right?" Sakura said, further down a hallway. The wing she had chosen for them was on the first floor. For a reason. "You sure you don't want to get some rest first?"

"This first. Then rest. Jimichi-kun _did_ tell you that I insist on sleeping at the hospital, right? In case something happens while I'm here."

"Of course, he told me everything," Sakura said. "I set up a room on the same floor as Asaoto and Juugo so-"

"Good, good, that's perfect," Karin said. She almost looked like she was limping as she walked.

Karin had brought photocopies of all of Asaoto's charts, all of Juugo's charts, and she carried them with her in a canvas satchel. Juugo carried her other luggage.

Karin took them out of the bag and handed them to Sakura while they were still walking. "Here. Though I suppose you'll want to check him out first and foremost."

"Him?"

"Asaoto." Her voice was a sigh.

"Oh! Yes, absolutely. It'd be nice to get something current," Sakura said. "Do you want me to take you to his room first or-"

"Room first. Then we'll examine him, okay?"

"Well okay then."

Karin's room, to her relief, was directly next door to the one that had been prepared for Juugo and Asaoto.

"So he _did _tell you to give them a room together, thank goodness…" she sighed. "I was afraid you'd try to separate them."

"Well… the only danger would be if Juugo-san had an episode in Asaoto-kun's presence, but we have staff on constant patrol and-"

"Oh I would never, I would never, I wouldn't ever _hurt_ him, I swear, I'd run _right_ out of there if I ever started to lose control…" Juugo was starting to mumble.

"Juugo-san, I didn't mean to imply anything-" Sakura began, but she found herself interrupted.

By Asaoto.

"Daddy, it's okay, I know you'd never hurt me, it's okay…" He put small, comforting hands on his father's collarbone.

His voice was very young and very quiet but it carried a sweet solemnity that Sakura rarely found in boys twice, three times his age.

Juugo's face calmed, visibly.

"At any rate," Karin said, "you made the right decision, okay?"

They unpacked, quickly.

"There's an examination room just down another hall we can use," Sakura said. "Juugo-san, you can stay in here if you want."

"No, I… let me carry him."

"Daddy, I can walk."

"Asaoto…"

"Asaoto, let your father carry you. Okay?" Karin said. Her voice was strangely soft.

"Okay, Daddy, you can carry me, then."

In that moment, Juugo held him just that little bit tighter, closing his eyes with the embrace.

He set the boy down on the examination table a few feet and a few minutes away, blanket and clothes and all, and tapped his fingers together nervously.

"Juugo, you can step outside while we work, okay?" There was a knowing gentleness to Karin's face, and it was strange how suddenly it had come upon her. "We won't take very long."

"Okay… Asaoto, I'll be _right here_, okay? I'll be just outside this door…"

Asaoto touched his father's arm as he left. "It's okay, Daddy. I'll be good."

Juugo left.

"…he gets so nervous whenever I have to examine Asaoto. It's better not to risk anything," Karin said, as if it were an explanation.

"But I won't cry, Mommy. I promise," Asaoto said, looking up at Karin with big, water-green eyes.

"'Mommy…'?" The way Sakura said it was far less accusatory than Hajime.

"Am I not a'pposed to call you that here…?" Asaoto said, whispering, lowering his head into the blankets.

"No, dear, you can call me whatever you want," Karin said. She gave the boy a little kiss on the forehead. "We're going to take off your blanket now, okay? It's going to be a little cold but I'll try not to take long."

"Okay," Asaoto said.

Sakura was silent.

It took a shift back into Karin's sharper mood to get her to speak. "Well go on, go get a chart started for him or something. For_ your_ records?"

"Oh, right."

Sakura had to mentally shake herself a little. The way that Karin could shift her moods so quickly was downright _jarring_.

Then again, one would have to have heart of stone not to feel some sort of pity towards Asaoto. Even Sakura, who only knew about his condition through vague terms and telephone calls, felt her heart twisting just looking at his emaciated body.

It was worse when they had actually unclothed him, to check his heart rate, his meager blood pressure. His skin seemed little more than a bare film stretched over his skeleton, and he couldn't stop trembling. But the boy remained unblinking, though vaguely sad, as Karin discussed her modes of treatment thus far. In front of him.

For a six-year-old, he seemed to have a remarkable understanding of his situation.

"So far I haven't been able to isolate whatever causes these attacks, if it's an enzyme or a hormone or something else," Karin explained. "I'm getting _close_. Drawing blood during or immediately after an attack might be best, since that's how, well, we discovered the cause behind Juugo's own transformations. Problem is, him living away with Juugo…"

"If anything happens, Karin, we'll be sure to draw blood and have it analyzed," Sakura said. "And, of course, I'll send everything along to you."

"Thanks, I appreciate it," Karin said, though her voice was not terribly grateful. "I really wish I could stay and continue dealing with him myself, but I can't be here more than a few days, you understand."

"Yeah, I understand."

"I have patients back home waiting on me and—no offense—but I'd rather not risk having anything happen to the little one while I'm here, if I can help it. I've had too many close calls for comfort."

"You mean Asaoto-kun?"

Karin's expression was tired as she looked at Sakura, over the top of her glasses. "No, not him. The one _I'm _having."

"Wait, you mean you're…?"

Sakura's eyes flitted to Karin's belly, and back to her face, for just the slightest moment.

"Yep."

"Oh, I… should have noticed. Congratulations," Sakura said.

Feeling slightly ashamed that she had mistaken the swelling for normal fat.

"Thanks," Karin said, softly.

But then again, considering Karin's size…

"How far along…?"

"Seven months. Almost eight."

"Wow, you're… really getting far, there. I kinda noticed you were, uh, having a little difficulty getting around."

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't be traveling if I had the choice. Your daughter is remarkably persuasive, though."

Asaoto was rubbing his thin fingers against each other, waiting, patiently. He was starting to shiver quite severely.

"Oh, I'm… sorry, did she force you to come?"

"No, it was my decision," Karin said, sighing. "Besides, she said it herself. This is a good opportunity for us to discuss our, ah. Findings. Face to face."

"Findings…?" A pause. "Oh. Oh! Those. Yes, well, we can cover those when you're more rested."

"Thanks, I appreciate it," Karin said, actually sounding like she meant it, this time.

"Mommy, I'm getting kinda cold…" Asaoto said.

"Ah, well, we're done here, aren't we?" Karin said, quickly. "Got everything you need written down?"

"Oh! Yes, yes, sorry, there, let's get you dressed again."

"Thank you, ma'am," Asaoto replied.

Sakura went to get Asaoto's blanket, from the other end of the table. It had been neatly folded, out of habit.

And it was in seeing the boy pull on his t-shirt.

That she noticed something.

"…Karin?"

"Yes?"

"What's that?"

"What's _what?"_

Sakura approached the boy carefully. "Asaoto-kun, hold still for a moment," she said.

"Okay."

His hair was very thin, an almost transparent white, but it still managed to cover the marks.

Almost.

She hadn't even noticed when she was checking his heart, earlier. But she was not looking at his neck then.

She was now.

And there, she saw it. A red ring, like a fresh bite, on the back of his neck.

"There, do you see it?" Sakura said.

"See _what?_"

"This ring of discoloration here."

"…what of it?" said Karin, quietly.

"How long has he had these?"

"As long as I've known him, why?"

The cold waters of realization started tumbling from her head into her chest.

She had seen those same marks on.

Yakata's neck.

And something tickled the back of her mind, a memo, a photograph, freckles on the back of the neck and a scar on the left shoulder blade.

Kiine.

"I need to check something." She left the table and went rummaging in a drawer for a needle, a vial.

"Sakura-"

Sterile pads, gauze, a bandage. "Asaoto-kun, I'm going to have to draw a little blood from you, all right? It's going to hurt a little bit, like a tiny pinch."

"I'm sure it won't be that bad…" Asaoto said, with a glass smile.

"Sakura, what are you doing?" Karin said.

"Just," the needle went in, "testing a hunch," and came back out again, and Asaoto's blood, dark red, had filled the vial. She covered the puncture mark with the gauze, with the bandage, but the skin had already sealed up. "Karin, watch him, I'll be right back."

"No, _I'm_ coming with you," Karin said. She followed Sakura as she left the room. "J-Juugo, go inside and watch Asaoto, okay?"

Juugo was more than happy to.

Sakura was heading for the labs.

"Sakura, please, just tell me what you're doing, okay?"

"I'm _checking_ something."

She found a microscope, pipette, slides, solution.

"Checking _what?_"

Blood, sandwiched between two slides.

And under the microscope.

There.

"…your cells are in his blood, Karin."

"Wh_-what?"_

"Here, take a look yourself." Sakura stepped away from the microscope.

Her heart was racing.

Karin looked.

"Th-that's impossible," she said.

"Karin, those are the same cells that were… that were in Yakata's blood, in Taki Kiine's blood…"

"How did you think to check…?"

"I saw those same markings on the back of Yakata's neck, and Kiine, and I thought, maybe there was a…"

"Maybe there was…?"

"…a connection between them."

Karin's breathing got heavy and fast. "Oh, oh… _no…"_

"Karin, what do you think this-?"

Karin was already leaving the lab. Sakura had to follow.

She found her sitting on a bench in the hallway outside, gasping for air. She had a hand on the base of her stomach, as if she were nauseous.

"Karin, are you okay?"

"It… it can't be, not Asaoto…"

Sakura sat down next to her. "Karin, please, calm down, who-"

"He can't have _given_ him to Juugo, that's…"

"Karin-"

"Or maybe somebody else and—no, not him…!"

"Karin, please-"

"Asaoto can't be one of them…!"

And suddenly, for Sakura.

Things started clicking into place.

"…you don't mean to say that you think Asaoto-kun is…?"

Like Yakata.

Like Kiine.

A clone.

The youngest yet.

Sakura's suppressed fears, cold and slithering, began to rise in her stomach.

"…no wonder, just… no wonder. Juugo was so close to him, they had been so close, so of course he might…"

Karin, unable to bend over, leaned back against the wall and covered her eyes with her hands.

"…how could I not have _seen_ it…?"

Sakura decided, wisely, to wait until later to discuss their findings.

Karin needed.

To rest.


	58. Corvus Aldebaran

_Chapter 58 - Corvus Aldebaran_

* * *

Karin, following her arrival, following the revelation—there was no better word for it—about Asaoto, caught her breath and retreated to the room that Sakura had set aside for her and slept until the next morning, without much of another word.

Sakura tried to continue on with work as usual.

Juugo tracked her down in the hallway, after this.

"Is Karin okay?" he asked. "What's wrong? She won't answer her door…"

Sakura groped for words.

"She's… a little tired from the journey over, I think," she said, managing a smile.

"Oh, I see… I hope she's okay…"

"It's okay, Daddy. Mommy told me that the baby just makes her kinda tired sometimes."

Asaoto nestled so naturally into the crook of Juugo's arm, not even taking up the whole space. His blanket made his small face look even smaller.

"That's… generally how it is," Sakura said.

Trying not to let the boy's new nature bother her.

Then again, Yakata didn't bother her. Even though she had known the.

(…man he used to be?)

Then again, Yakata lived with Sasuke and out of sight. And he'd been out of her mind since then.

(Well, until Kakashi came to her about him.)

Then again, she had only met him, properly, once, the month before. Kiine likewise, an even longer time before.

(Kiine was a distant, political, barely-connected creature in her mind, at this point.)

Though Kiine's origins were as unknown to her as Asaoto's were, since Karin didn't bother going into details.

For the time being.

"But she'll be okay. Right, Sakura-sensei?" the boy said, delicate and articulate.

"Yeah, I'm sure she will," Sakura said.

Sakura wasn't sure if she would be, though.

She found herself calling Ino in the middle of dinner, unable to stomach more than a few bites of food. Sakari and Kenji and Lee all looked up as she apologized and went to get the phone.

She stood, just holding it, for quite a while. The dial tone eventually became the busy tone.

She hung up.

Thought.

Picked up the phone again.

Dialed.

Hung up.

Why the hell was she even _doing_ this?

Picked up dialed put the phone to her ear as if trying to prove a point.

Waited for a forever.

"Uchiha residence, this is Ino."

"Ino, hi, it's—it's me."

"Sakura? Hey, what's the matter?"

Words jumped out of her mouth. "Yakata. Um. How is he?"

"Yakata-kun? He's… fine?"

"Ohh, good, good, that's good."

"…Sakura, what's going on."

"Nothing, nothing, just… _super_ busy day at work, you wouldn't believe…"

She could _hit_ herself. She sounded like Ino did.

(After something had happened.)

(Which, something had.)

"And… what does that have to do with Yakata-kun?" Her voice was suddenly quieter. Sakura could hear her hand on the bottom of the receiver.

Why was Sakura even calling her _anyways?_

"Just… is he _okay?"_

"_Yes_, Sakura, I said before!" Ino's voice was a whisper-hiss. "Goodness, will you tell me what the matter is?"

"It's… Um. Karin, she's at the hospital. With me. To help with some… research."

"Okay…?"

"And I thought to. Oh, _you_ know. See how he was doing. In general. For her sake. Since, um. You _know._"

"Since I know _what?_" Ino said.

"Who Yakata is," Sakura whispered.

"Who he-" A very, very sudden pause. "Oh. _Oh_. Goodness, I had almost forgotten about that…"

"What, _honestly?_"

With him living in her house all the time? With that face always in her sight?

Another pause, not nearly as sudden, but just a severe.

"…either way," Sakura continued. "So he's well?"

"Yes, for the third _time_," Ino said. "Is Karin really so insistent about his condition?"

"Well… _no, _but I'm sure she wants to know. Given that he's here."

"…sure."

Sakura thumbed the bottom of her elbow.

"Sakura, honestly, what's _really_ bothering you?"

"I told you. Work today, it was-"

"You already told me that, what's going_ on_."

Sakura swallowed. Bit her lip.

"Just… a bit of forewarning. We might—need to look at him soon."

_JUST MAKE SOMETHING UP, _an insistent little voice screamed, from the back of her head. _C'MON!_

"I don't know if Sasuke will like it. So I thought to warn you. That's all."

"…ah. I understand." Ino's voice suddenly regained its softness. It was a relief. "Thank you, Sakura, I'll… stay on my toes. I appreciate the warning."

"Yeah, sure, any time," Sakura said. "Is, uh. Everything else okay in the house?"

"…yes, Sakura, everything is _more_ than fine," Ino said. Though she actually sounded like she meant it, there. "I keep telling you to stop worrying about me."

"Sorry. Can't help it."

(She really couldn't.)

"It's okay. I have to go, now. You take care," Ino said.

"Yeah, you too."

Ino hung up first.

Sakura returned to the empty dining room, the kitchen. She still hadn't regained her appetite.

Lee was cleaning up. "Hello, darling. Did you want anything further to eat? Otherwise I will continue with the cleaning."

"No, Lee, I'm… just not that hungry today." She rubbed an eye. "I'm sorry, it really looked delicious."

Lee leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek before dropping a pot in the sink. "Do not worry. We own a refrigerator for a reason. Should you regain your appetite, this dinner that I have so lovingly prepared for you and our children shall be there for you, chilled and ready to reheat at your leisure."

Her heart swelled with just that little stroke of comfort. "Thanks…"

She didn't notice, a few minutes later, that she hadn't left the kitchen. Leaning against the green-tiled wall, near the fridge, trying to process her thoughts.

"Something is bothering you," Lee said, from the sink, with his yellow rubber gloves and his yellow apron. The one that Sakari and Kenji had made for his birthday, together, years ago.

"Huh?"

"Did something happen at the hospital?"

"Oh. No, not much…"

"I understand." Lee's gloves squeaked as he finished with his plate. "When I am done here, I should give you a nice back massage."

"Lee, you don't have to do that."

"I do not have to, but I would like to," he replied, with a smile like a bow on a present. "After all, did I not promise? To always be there to comfort you in your times of trouble. And I do keep my promises."

He _had_ promised, years ago, and held fast to it. She smiled. "Well… maybe later. Not sure if I'm in the mood for a massage, exactly, though."

"Then perhaps we shall attempt something different!" Lee said brightly. "Would you prefer I satisfy you in the bedroom, dear wife?"

She started laughing. "L-Lee!"

"Well it _is_ my husbandly duty to offer myself to you for such purposes," he replied, with utter sincerity.

"Well… _Lee_, you don't have to put it like _that_."

"Why not? I enjoy my duties as your husband!" He went back to washing the dishes with enthusiasm. "Whatever you wish to do to reduce your stress level, darling wife, I shall be willing to assist or at least make a most admirable attempt!"

"You are too good to me," Sakura said. She laid a kiss by his ear.

"I am only giving you what you deserve," Lee replied, looking back at her. "My offer still stands."

"I'll think of something you can do," Sakura said.

"Most excellent."

"I'll stay out of the way if you guys are planning anything loud," Kenji said, helpfully, poking his head into the kitchen.

"Kenji!"

"What! Just being respectful of your guys' privacy. If that's what it comes to."

"Very good of you, son! Respect towards one's mother and father is integral in the formation of a fine young man," Lee said. He clenched a fist and held it in the air. The rubber of the glove squeaked loudly.

"Thanks, Dad!" His almond-angled eyes with their strong lashes sparkled with exuberant youth.

"You _two_," Sakura said, barely holding back her laughter. "I'm getting out of here."

"You still want your privacy?"

"_Kenji!_"

"I'm just offering, Mom!"

"Just… fine, stay out of the way!" She grinned. "Just in case!"

"Then shall I prepare myself for your imminent pleasure, Sakura?"

"LEE!"

Sakura was feeling better, in the morning.

And so was Karin.

Sakura caught her after catching up with the rest of her staff. She was helping feed Asaoto in his room, holding out spoonfuls of mashed fruit and alternating it with yogurt. Asaoto sat in Juugo's lap.

"Good morning, Sakura-sensei," the child said, brightly. He licked yogurt off of the top of his lip.

"Oh, good morning." Karin turned around, briefly.

"G'morning," Juugo said.

"Things going all right over here?" Sakura asked.

"Splendidly," Karin said.

"We're having breakfast," Asaoto said, helpfully.

"Are you really."

Sakura was almost surprised that she was smiling. She couldn't even think of the boy as a.

It didn't seem to matter as much to her any more.

(Then again, she hadn't known who he.)

"We got strawberry mash today, it's pretty good," he said.

"Well, I'm glad."

His smile was a six-year-old's smile.

"Well, Karin, if you're feeling better, I wouldn't mind us sitting down together and sharing notes. Discussing findings."

"Hm? Oh. Sure, when I'm… done here, okay?" She cleared her throat.

"Oh, of course. I'll be waiting for you in my office. You, ah, do know where that is?"

"If I can't find my way over I'll just track your chakra."

"…sure! Enjoy the rest of your breakfast, Asaoto-kun."

"Thank you, ma'am."

She really did feel better about looking at him. He was just a boy.

From the night before, in bed:

"Lee," she said, "suppose there was another you."

"Another me?"

"Mm. Exactly like you. Only… well, younger. And smaller."

"I am supposing that there is another me, now."

"So… would you expect that… _other_ you to be the same as you? Or different?"

"I suppose that would depend on several factors," Lee replied. "Would this other me have led the exact same life as me?"

Sakura paused. "That's… a pretty good question."

"Because while I do not doubt that another me would have the same vim and vigor and love of life that I myself feel, I am also willing to imagine that he might make different choices and choose other paths because of the things he has encountered. I myself would never have such an appreciation for the power of youth had it not been for Guy-sensei."

"You really think so?"

"It is something I think of often."

Sakura turned over on her back. The fan in the corner of the room cooled the sweat on her chest. "Wow, I… never pegged you for that sorta thing."

"Even one such as I must set time aside for deep thoughts," Lee replied.

That, at least, calmed her about Asaoto, since Lee's warm, consistent comfort had only taken care of her general anxiety.

Whomever he had come from, he was probably a different person from him.

(Probably. Dealing in hypotheticals was only a sort-of comfort, after all.)

(And the "however" still bothered her.)

(Lee couldn't possibly have answers for that.)

Karin met with her a half hour later. "Seems I made my way over here easily enough," she said.

"Ah, good to see you. You can sit down, if you'd like," Sakura said.

"Thanks."

She didn't let the silence last long, after Karin sat down.

"So, really. Are you feeling all right?" Sakura asked.

"Of course I'm feeling all right, why would I not?" Karin said, a soft snap in her voice.

"You seemed… well, pretty shaken. By what we found out yesterday."

"…oh. That." Karin shifted herself in her seat. "Yes, it… was a little upsetting. But I think I'm fine, okay? I just needed a nice rest, a night to think things over."

"That's good, I'm really glad to hear that," Sakura said. "I mean, you looked like _death_ when you first came in, so I was worried that the shock might-"

"I'm _fine_, okay?" Karin said again. "Honestly, I'm more mad at myself than upset."

"Mad?"

"That I didn't notice. I mean, hell, I went for five years thinking it was just a coincidence that Juugo _found _him. I'm _better_ than this, okay?" Karin glared at the corner of Sakura's desk.

"You honestly didn't know, though. I mean, I wouldn't have thought anything of those markings if I hadn't seen them on Yakata and Kiine and such first."

"Mm. I thought they were _birthmarks_, honestly. _Birthmarks_…"

"_Karin_. Don't beat yourself up for this, okay?"

"I'll try _not_ to," Karin replied. She looked up. "Just… put yourself in my shoes, okay? I can't help but blame myself here. I should have known better."

"Karin, _please_. No one could have known. This whole _thing_ just has us confused."

"You've got that right." She sighed. "At any rate, we have other things to talk about. Don't we?"

"Ah, yes, exactly," Sakura said. She reached into one of her desk drawers. "I have the medical charts for Yakata and Kiine right here and-"

"I've already seen them, you sent me _copies_," Karin said.

"…yes, I know, but I thought to get them out anyways."

"Fair enough."

"…oh, um. Speaking of Yakata. He's living with Sasuke right now, and his family. He's doing well," she added, quickly.

"Ah." Karin blinked, a few times, looking at something Sakura couldn't trace. "I think I saw him at the transport station, actually."

"You did?"

"He was with some girl. Long hair. His face had bandages all over it. What happened?"

"Oh that must have been—bandages?"

"He looked burnt."

"I… don't know what would have caused that. Oh! Which brings me to the point I was trying to make."

"Which was?"

"Did you want to, ah, inspect Yakata yourself? Because I could always ask Sasuke to bring him to the hospital for you."

Karin's expression was surprisingly sour, in reply. "_Inspect_ him? What is he, an _antique?_"

"Well _no_, Karin, it'd be just a standard checkup, or whatever you wanted to do." Her chest felt tight with sudden, unusual awkwardness. "I just thought maybe you'd like to actually _meet_ him, instead of just relying on a chart."

"Is there anything physically _wrong_ with him?"

"…well, no, I don't think so. Beyond… well, the burns, as you said."

"Then why would I need to meet him, much less take a look at him? We already have his chart, okay?"

"I just thought… look, did I insult you or something?"

"You didn't insult _me_. You insulted him, okay?"

A befuddled pause. "How did I-"

"Maybe I'm just overreacting." Karin interrupted just a little too quickly. "I mean… okay. Take Asaoto. He's a child. And… regardless of his condition, or anything _new_ we might have learned about him, I still _think_ of him as one, and _treat_ him like one." Her speech grew high, and passionate. "He's not like an _experiment_ or anything, okay…?"

"Karin, calm down…"

She took a few deep breaths. "I'm sorry. I guess I'm still trying to process."

"It's okay. Besides, you… well, you know Asaoto-kun better than me."

"Mm." Another deep breath, in, and out. "Well… besides the fact that giving Yakata a checkup is more or less superfluous—regardless of what you've done or haven't done so far—I don't think I have the fiber to confront Sasuke about him."

"'Confront'…?" Sakura said.

"I'm too tired to deal with him right now, okay?"

Sakura didn't have to think too hard about this.

"I understand. I could always ask him for you, you know."

"It's fine, you don't have to. Really."

"Well, all right. But if you ever want to-"

"I don't, okay? Now, may we move on?"

So they moved on.

There was little to discuss that wasn't already known between the two of them.

Though a little discussion was spent on things that.

Weren't so clear.

"So what do you think was used to, ah… _make_ these children?"

Karin's pause was very severe and very poisonous. "Human cloning is more or less a pipe dream, at this point," she said. "Not because it's not _feasible_, of course it's _possible_ with enough research, Sensei was already attempting it before he…" She cleared her throat, shifting in her seat. "It's just that I doubt anyone _else _would want to go that _far, _okay_._ Especially after the things that… _Kabuto_ did in the war, of course, which you could hardly consider _human_. Which is exactly what I think he was aiming for, anyways."

"Right…"

"But, if there was a way… Well, _he_ was already skilled with using surrogate mothers in his experiments with embryos. But that would probably attract attention somewhere if girls just started disappearing like that, for his use. He's too smart."

It intimidated Sakura, how Karin so easily spoke about such unsettling things.

Then again. She was Karin.

"Since it's been so long, I wouldn't be surprised if he somehow managed to expound on his techniques in growing organs in culture jars and moved right on to fetuses," Karin continued. "Artificial wombs."

"Wouldn't that be something…" Sakura said.

"Yes," Karin said, her hand firmly over her own, "it would be."

A long silence.

"How many do you think… _he's_ made?" Sakura said, finally. "I mean, we're aware of three, already…"

"I don't think I could be able to say," Karin replied. "Even if we tried to guess—going by average gestational age, the number of years he's been missing, factors like that—we'd probably be wildly off."

"Probably…"

The conversation was, eventually, exhausted.

Almost.

"I'm going back to check on Juugo and Asaoto, okay?" Karin said. She adjusted herself, preparing to stand.

"Oh, Karin? One last thing."

"Hm?"

"You said… yesterday, that Juugo-san never went into detail about how he came to be Asaoto's father."

"Ah."

"Just… from the way you were going on about it, do you think that… _he_ gave Asaoto to Juugo personally?"

"…that would be something, if he did," Karin replied. She stood, slowly. "It seems more likely that Asaoto was abandoned by… whatever family he was given to initially, since I doubt that _he'd_… show himself to Juugo so plainly. But I can… try and ask him about this for you, later. He trusts me more. No offense, okay?"

"None… taken?"

She began for the door.

"Oh, and Karin?"

"Mm?"

"…do you have any idea from… _whom_ Asaoto came from? Like how, ah, Yakata came from Itachi..."

And with that question, Karin's eyes grew just that little bit softer.

"…Juugo had a friend, back when he was still in Orochimaru's… possession. A boy named Kimimaro. They were very close." A pause. "Kimimaro had the same condition that Asaoto has. He… passed away in the effort to transport Sasuke from Konoha to the Land of Sound."

"…oh. So you think-"

"It's only speculation, okay?" Karin turned toward the door. "Maybe I want to think that Orochimaru had a little bit of a heart, if he chose to allow such a child to fall into Juugo's hands. But it could be anything. As for Taki Kiine, I have no idea. The Uzumaki clan is not my area of expertise, okay?"

She took another step out the door.

"I'm planning on leaving the day after tomorrow, by the way. If you need to know anything further about Asaoto's treatment before I go, you know where I am."

"…yeah, sure."

Karin left, and the space of her absence seemed impossible to fill.

Sakura attempted to cover it with work. She had other patients to see, after all. Accident victims. Infections. Expectant mothers.

Her position afforded her a blessed amount of productive distraction.

* * *

Karin reappeared, before the end of the day. "Hey, Sakura."

Her voice was like a hand, and it made Sakura turn around in the hallway where she'd been caught. "Oh, Karin."

"Can I talk to you for a bit? I figured I'd try talking to you once you came near the wing again."

"Sure, of course." Karin began walking, with a beckoning hand, and Sakura followed, until Karin felt they were sufficiently isolated, it seemed. The air was still. "So what did you want to talk about?"

"I… asked Juugo for you, about Asaoto," she said. "Once I was sure I had him alone and he was calm enough."

"Oh. Oh! Did he tell you anything?"

For some reason, Sakura's chest felt like it was full of air.

"He… clammed up on me. I'm sorry. All I could get out of him was that he made a promise. 'I made a promise, I made a promise,' that was all he kept _saying_, and I had to stop before he got too upset."

"Oh, I… see."

Sakura's chest felt hollow and her stomach felt tight.

"Look…" And Karin looked her right in the eyes, her lips pressed tightly together. "I'm really sorry. I honestly wish I could do more, but, well… I don't want to make things worse, okay?"

"No… really, I appreciate it," Sakura said. "Thank you for doing that for me."

"Hey, saved you the embarrassment," Karin said. "Or, well, worse."

"Yeah…" An uncomfortable laugh punctuated Sakura's words. "Again, thanks."

"Hey. Least I can do, okay? I'm not here long, might as well help where I can."

"Mm."

Squirm.

"Well, uh! I'm heading home soon. I'll see you in the morning, unless something happens," Sakura said.

"Mm, I see. I'll see you in the morning, then."

Though for some reason.

Sakura did not take her usual route home, that evening.

And instead found herself winding by the Uchiha residence and knocking on the door. Karai, the youngest, answered.

"Oh, hi there, Sakura-san!" she said. "Can I do anything for you?"

"Your, uh, dad home, Karai-chan?"

"Oh yeah, he just got back! HEY, FATHER!" She yelled over her shoulder, and very loudly. "SAKURA-SAN'S HERE AND SHE'S ASKING FOR YOU!"

…yes, that girl certainly had a very loud voice, when she wanted to use it.

"You can come on in, if you want," Karai continued.

"Oh, no, I probably won't stay terribly long," Sakura said, waving her hand. She saw Sasuke coming down the hallway. "Ah, Sasuke!"

"Sakura. What brings you here?"

Karai got out of the way almost immediately.

"Oh, nothing, just thought to kind of get you up to speed on some stuff that's happened."

"_What's_ happened."

"Well you do know that Karin's in Konoha, right?"

"Karin?" His eyes were just that bit wider. "What's _she_ doing here?"

"She decided to accompany Juugo-san on a journey over. He's going to be living at the hospital for a while, with his, ah, son."

And then his eyes narrowed. Whether it was annoyance or an attempt at recollection, she couldn't tell. "Ah, really."

They did not widen again.

And for some reason, a memory and a mood and an expression jumped into her mind. "Ah, Sasuke…? Did… something happen between you and Karin, when you went to go visit her last month? You seem kind of… off."

Sasuke's lip curled upward. "You sound like my _wife._ Go spread rumors elsewhere, if you have nothing better to do."

"…well excuse _me_," Sakura said.

"You're excused."

She couldn't help but sigh. Roll her eyes a little. _Sasuke._

"Is that all you have to say to me?" he said. He had his arms crossed.

And for some reason (a good reason) Sakura looked around, a little.

"Well, and I wanted to tell you that we found another one. Like Yakata."

Sasuke's expression did not change. "What do you mean, like him?"

"It's a little boy named Asaoto. Juugo-san's… son, actually. Karin says she thinks he came from someone named Kimimaro. I mean, that is to say…"

Sasuke's expression did not change.

"Did you, ah, know him?"

"No."

"Oh. Well, then."

"And you're telling me this _why?" _Sasuke said.

"…I just thought I'd let you know, Sasuke. Common courtesy. That's all."

"Well. I appreciate it."

And it was in that moment that a face appeared at the end of the hallway, and it was light pink from burns and covered with bandages.

"S-Sasuke-san, it's… it's time for dinner."

It was Yakata. And upon seeing Sakura he blinked, several times, before saying, "O-oh, hello there, um, Sakura-san!"

"Yakata-kun," she said, not even needing to make an attempt at sounding polite.

Maybe it was Asaoto, maybe it was her husband, maybe it was something else or all of it or none of it or whatever.

But she was able to smile when she looked at that boy, there. She saw Itachi's face _on_ him, yes. But it was also not Itachi.

It was Yakata.

"I'll be going, then," Sasuke said.

"Sure, I'll be going too," Sakura said.

And they did so, Sasuke returning to his dinner table, where his first son had finally reappeared, to his lukewarm satisfaction.

And Sakura to hers, where her family ate curry so hot it would have burned her mouth off. But because they were her family, sweet curry had been made and set aside just for her.

The night passed without incident.

But in the morning, there was a man at the gates of Konoha. He was very angry, he was very impatient, and he was asking for Karin.


	59. Aquarius Regulus

_Chapter 59 - Aquarius Regulus_

* * *

"Look, just tell me where the hell you're keeping her, okay? I know she's here."

"Sir, please, if you would calm down-"

"Like _hell_ I'm calming down, where the fuck's _Karin?"_

"Sir, please."

"Quit calling me 'sir,' you little shitstain, and answer my question!"

Hatsumoto's patience was wearing. Very. Thin.

"I'd answer your question," he said, "if you told me who this 'Karin' woman is."

The man had pointed teeth and he bared them as he thought. "She is," he replied, "_extremely_ fucking important to my job and if I don't see her then everyone here's in serious trouble. Got it?"

"I think that's reason enough," Yamada said, pleasantly.

Hatsumoto's glance was sharp and tired and in Yamada's direction. His partner did not notice.

"Look, sir, we at least need you to…" His eyes glanced from side to side over the blade on his back. "…declare yourself by filling out a few forms. As you're quite obviously carrying a weapon."

"Yeah? Well I _declare_ that I got shit to do. C'mon, Shingetsu, you tell me where she is."

"Okay, Daddy!"

The silver-haired man and his companion in miniature stormed off before much else could be done.

"…well, we could always send a message ahead," Yamada said, helpfully.

Hatsumoto just sighed.

The message, through luck and connections and very enthusiastic interns, reached Karin before the man did.

Barely.

"Ah, yes, there's, um, a man with silver hair that's just arrived, and he wants to see you. He's got a little fellow with him."

They had woken her up. To her discontent. "You have got to be kidding me," she said, rubbing her eyes, reaching for her glasses.

"Do you know them?"

"KARIN. THE _FUCK_ ARE YOU."

"Oh yeah. I know them."

And they knew where she was. They made this very clear from the lobby of the hospital, where everyone could hear.

Especially her.

"I'll be right down," she sighed.

And right down she went. In her pajamas.

Suigetsu was still shouting, despite the efforts of the staff to get him to quiet down and explain himself.

"SERIOUSLY, WOMAN, WHAT GIVES? GET OVER HERE."

"Quiet _down_, I'm _here_." She had her hands on her hips as she entered the lobby. She hadn't brushed her hair yet.

Shingetsu was the first to respond, with an overjoyed "Mommy!" and a hug around her middle. Which was an effort for such little arms.

Only someone like Suigetsu could have looked so angry and yet so relieved. "Fucking _hell_, _there_ you are. You had me worried to death, why the hell aren't you back at the clinic?"

Karin stroked the boy's head a few times, idly, with her reply. "Because I had to go with Juugo down here, that's why."

"Juugo? He's here?"

"Yes, and Asaoto too."

"What the—why?"

"It would probably be best," Karin said, looking left, looking right, "if we take this conversation elsewhere, okay? And if you apologize for being so disruptive."

"Ah."

"Daddy, you _were_ bein' kinda loud," Shingetsu said, matter-of-factly, letting go of Karin.

Suigetsu scowled. Stammered. "Sorry for… being all loud."

"And disruptive."

"You don't tell me what to say."

"_Say_ it, or we'll get in even more trouble, okay?"

"…and disruptive there are you _happy_ where the hell have they been keeping you anyways."

"Just… follow me, okay?" Karin said.

So they followed her. Shingetsu practically clung to her arm as they went.

Sakura, naturally, caught word of everything a short while later, and made her way to Karin's room a short while after that.

"So what is this I hear about you receiving _guests_, Karin?" she said, with as much intimidation as she could muster.

"Oh. Good morning, Sakura," Karin replied, and yawned.

"We're here to check up on her, 'zzat too much to ask?"

Sakura's intimidation was tarnished a fair amount by her sudden confusion. "…who _are_ you, anyways?"

"None of your business."

"_Suigetsu_. At least _try_ to be polite, okay?" Karin sighed. "I don't think you were ever properly introduced to Hozuki Suigetsu and his son."

"Hi," Shingetsu said, from Karin's smallish lap. He had his arms wrapped around her shoulders. "I'm Shingetsu."

"Uh, hi right back…" Sakura said. She quickly cleared her throat. "But, really. What are these two doing here?"

"Acting as my escort out," Karin replied, flatly.

"…what?"

"She left the clinic a… bit too suddenly and we gotta make sure she gets back safely, understand? Don't want anything to happen."

She nudged Suigetsu with her elbow, and hard. "How quickly I left and why is not under your control, Suigetsu. I'm worried about Juugo, okay?"

"Well _yeah_ but-"

"_Regardless_. They're here to bring me home tomorrow," Karin said, glancing sideways, and then back at Sakura, "in place of your staff. I apologize for any _inconvenience_ they might have caused, okay?"

"Mommy, I'm not an inconvenience, am I?" Shingetsu said, resting his head, like a puppy, on her chest.

"No, Shingetsu, you are _not_," Karin said, fondly. She ruffled his hair and he dug his head in just that little bit more.

(Shingetsu's hair was thicker and longer than Asaoto's and just a little bit darker.)

Sakura stood for a moment, eyebrows shifting lower, higher.

"…you two aren't, uh, _together_, are you?"

"No," Karin and Suigetsu said, simultaneously, and belligerently, "we are _not_."

"Just asking…" Sakura said. "What with the 'Mommy' business. Is this like with Asaoto?"

"What does she mean," Suigetsu said, with narrow, sliding eyes, "'like with Asaoto'?"

Sakura felt surprisingly flustered in her reply. "Well you said you weren't together, so if he's not your son and he's calling you 'Mommy' like Asaoto is..."

"Ohh. That. Yes, well… that's the case here too, okay? _Believe_ me," Karin added, flatly, glaring at Suigetsu.

"The hell are you looking at me like that for?"

"Where's Asa-otouto?" Shingetsu said. "I wanna see him."

"Shingetsu, he isn't your little brother," Suigetsu said.

"But I wanna _see_ him."

"He's next-door, Shingetsu, with Uncle Juugo. You can go see them while I talk to your father, okay?" Karin said.

"Next door? Really?"

"Yes, but be _careful_ with Asaoto, okay? And don't bother Juugo too much!" Karin said.

"I WON'T!"

Shingetsu was off her lap and speeding out the door before Karin could say another word, brushing past Sakura as he did so.

When she did finally speak, it was, "That boy."

"Don't look at _me,_" Suigetsu said.

"I wasn't _looking_ at you."

"Um, did you guys need me to leave you alone?" Sakura said.

"Yeah, we have some things to talk about," Karin said. "If you don't mind."

"No, no, I understand, that's fine," Sakura said. "I'll just… let the staff know that Suigetsu-san is here. Um. What time did you plan on leaving tomorrow?"

"Soon as possible," Suigetsu said.

"When I feel ready," Karin said.

Suigetsu grumbled.

"Well just let us know in advance," Sakura said. "And, um, Suigetsu-san."

"Yeah, what."

"…I'd really appreciate it if you left your, ah, _sword_ with our security personnel down the hall."

(Sakura knew that sword.)

"…I'm not gonna be using it," Suigetsu said.

"Then why do you need it with you?"

"Nobody touches my sword but me." He crossed his arms and left no room for negotiation on his face. "Besides, I won't _use_ it."

"Suigetsu, just… give her the damn sword, okay?" Karin said.

His shoulders tensed.

"…I'll drop it off myself," he said. "Show me where the hell your security whatever the hell is."

Sakura noticed his eyes wandering through the open door of Juugo's room as she led him down the hallway. Shingetsu was sitting on the hospital bed and speaking animatedly to Asaoto, who blinked slowly, and listened, and smiled.

"So, um." Sakura tried to deflect the stares with speech. "How… do you know Karin, exactly?"

"None of your business," Suigetsu said, and said no more.

The rest of Sakura's afternoon was fairly quiet, minus an insistent, insistent insistence from Suigetsu that nobody touch the sword absolutely _nobody_ touch it or even think of touching it and only he may touch it when he comes back to get it the next day when he and Karin leave now where's his son.

Suigetsu was surprisingly cooperative everywhere else. The model visitor, being (relatively) polite and (relatively) quiet and staying out of the way.

And then Sasuke showed up.

Nobody had any idea how he had found out about Suigetsu's entrance, nor why he was even bothering.

(It could have just been Sakura telling him about Juugo and Asaoto, or the fact that, in Konoha, unguarded facts and rumors spread like mice in a storeroom full of food.)

Sasuke had a most wonderful talent for looking like he was searching with purpose when he was, in fact, terribly lost. So his meeting with the rest was more of an accident than anything.

They were eating together in the cafeteria. The kids had been allowed to order their favorites. Presently, Shingetsu was tackling an intimidatingly large flan.

Juugo, naturally, spotted him first, and made this clear with a delighted, "Sasuke!"

"Oh, great," Suigetsu said, after a quick look over his shoulder. "What is _he_ doing here?"

"What are _you_ doing here?" Karin asked, as Sasuke came closer.

"It's been so _long_. You look healthy, Sasuke…" Juugo said. His was a smile with closed, happy eyes.

"I heard you were in town. Didn't expect to see _more_ of you, though," Sasuke replied. He didn't look at Juugo. "Suigetsu. What brings you here?"

"Well hella-freaking-lo to you too, Sasuke. Why do you _think? _I'm here for _her_."

"Her? You mean Karin?" An eyebrow rose. "I didn't think you even liked her enough to associate with her any more."

"Well pardon me for showing a remote amount of concern for the _mother of my child_, Sasuke," Suigetsu said. "Times _change_."

"Stop making such a big deal out of it, okay?" Karin whispered, leaning forward in her chair. Her face was barely flushed.

"What, so it isn't a big deal? I think it's a big deal," Suigetsu replied.

"Please, you two, don't fight," Juugo said, quietly. Asaoto, in his lap, his usual place, put another spoonful of vanilla ice cream in his mouth.

Sasuke's eyes just flicked between the two of them. Suigetsu, he noticed, had cut his hair short, and there were more lines on his face, but his eyes were still young and full of violet anger.

"Ah," he finally said. "So you _are_ the father. I had a feeling."

"Oh bull _shit_," Karin said, almost laughing. "No you didn't."

"The hell is he talking about?" Suigetsu said, with a lemony scowl. He looked at Sasuke, when Karin started sniggering. "The _hell_ are you talking about, Sasuke?"

"I had a feeling that you were just saving face when you told me that the father was nobody I knew," Sasuke continued. "Didn't think you'd settle for _him._"

"Oh fuck _you_," Suigetsu said.

Shingetsu, from the chair beside him, giggled. "Daddy, you said a swear."

Sasuke's eyes rested on the boy for a moment. Of course, condescendingly. "Is _that_ one yours too?"

"Yes," Suigetsu replied, "he's my _son_."

"Hi," the boy said, wiggling his spoon at Sasuke, "my name's Shingetsu."

"Hm," Sasuke said. "Well, I suppose you could have picked a worse option to settle _down_ with. I'm assuming it didn't work out with the last one?"

"Are you _trying_ to piss me off?" Suigetsu had his hand on the edge of the table.

"Just ignore him, okay?" Karin said. She had stopped laughing, instead letting her face fall into a neutral, resigned expression. "_I'm_ not offended."

Suigetsu's teeth sunk into his bottom lip. He returned to his lunch.

"But really, Sasuke," Karin continued. "Are you going to continue taking shots at us or do you have something meaningful to say?"

"I'm just here on my lunch break. Can't stay long." He put his hands deeper into his pockets.

"The fuck are you even here, then," Suigetsu said.

"No particular reason."

"I can't _believe_ you."

"Suigetsu, please calm down a little," Juugo said. His face had grown increasingly worried, but not distressed.

Sasuke took a moment to look at Asaoto, drawn there by his father's voice.

For a moment. "I'll leave, then."

And he left.

"What the _fuck_," Suigetsu said, after a while. "_Jeez,_ I can't believe you used to have a _thing_ for that guy."

"I never had a thing for him," Karin said, glaring at him.

"Right, and I'm a fucking fairy princess."

"Both of you, please…" Juugo said.

"Daddy, you're really swearin' it up today," Shingetsu said, with a cheeky smile.

"Yeah, and you'll be repeating _none_ of it, you understand?" Suigetsu said, shoving his boy, gently. Shingetsu nodded.

"…Juugo, what's the matter?" said Karin.

He was quiet for a long time. "He didn't even say hello to me," he finally said.

"Oh, Juugo…" Karin reached across the table and put a hand on his arm.

"Just _ignore_ him, Juugo," Suigetsu said. "He's not worth it."

"It's okay, Daddy…" Asaoto said. "Don't be sad. Maybe he was just having a bad day."

"Asaoto, _every_ day's a bad day to that guy," Suigetsu said.

"Oh." Asaoto ate another spoonful of ice cream, but he left the spoon in his mouth for a while. "That's kinda sad…"

"What is?" Karin said.

"Being so _angry_ all the time that you can't never have a good day. I think that's really sad," Asaoto said.

"Yeah," Suigetsu said. "It really, really is."

* * *

Sakura went to check on Karin in the evening. This was almost becoming a habit.

_But that's stupid_, she thought to herself, _it takes longer than this for things to become a habit and besides she leaves tomorrow, anyways._

She was only checking twice a day, anyways. In the morning, and at night, before going home.

And Karin was leaving the next day, anyways. Maybe she'd need help packing. Even though she hadn't packed much.

Sakura's mind functioned best when it was trying to do two things at once and it was always looking for more, at its most fervent. It was productive as hell at best and annoying and jittery at worst.

(She hadn't heard about Sasuke's appearance at the canteen.)

(This was probably for the best.)

The door to Juugo and Asaoto's room was open, so she poked her head in there first. "Hey, you guys doing okay?"

"Hi, Sakura-sensei," Asaoto said.

"We're doing just fine…" Juugo said. Apparently they had been reading, together, on the bed. Shingetsu was with them. There was still space left over in Juugo's lap.

"Good to hear." Sakura paused. Noticed something.

Missing.

"Ah, Shin…gatsu-kun?"

"Shingetsu." A giggle.

"Right, Shingetsu-kun… Where's your father?"

"He went to go take a walk. Or get Mommy something. _I_ dunno. He told me to stay here with Uncle Juugo."

"We're reading a story," Asaoto said.

"I can _see_ that," Sakura replied. "Well… you guys just holler if you need anything. The staff's here for a reason."

"Thanks…"

"Thank you, Sakura-sensei."

"Bye-e," Shingetsu said.

A little down the hall, Karin's door was closed.

"Karin? Are you there?" she asked, softly.

No response.

"Karin?"

"Mmuh, jus', hold on." Karin's voice sounded almost slurred.

"Hey, is everything all right in there?" Sakura asked.

"Jus' fine, gimme a seccon. Unnh…"

A great deal of time passed between her reply.

And another moan.

"Karin, what's going on? Are you okay?" Sakura had her hand on the door handle.

"Just… hold on, I can… handle it."

"Karin, I'm coming in."

"No, don't-"

Karin was sitting on the bed with her tunic unzipped. Her hands were on her stomach. They were glowing with chakra.

"Get OUT of here, I'm not DONE!"

There was something red dripping from her mouth.

Sakura shut the door, despite her medical training and her common sense and her worry and the voice in her head going _WHAT THE FUCK._

She was breathing like.

_WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?_

Like she had been in battle for hours.

Her heart was loud and fast and.

What in the world was wrong with Karin's _stomach?_

That wasn't normal. That wasn't, by any stretch of the word.

Skin wasn't supposed to look like that. Skin wasn't supposed to be puckered and streaked through with red striae and covered with deep scar-memory gouges.

And Karin, was, was she trying to _heal_ that?

Karin had been bleeding from the mouth.

_GET THE FUCK BACK IN THERE!_

So Sakura did, closing the door behind her.

Karin was zipping up her tunic, by then, and she had wiped her mouth off. Sakura did not hesitate, this time, in approaching her.

"Karin, are you, are you okay, do I need to call anyone for you, what in the world was-"

"Sakura, calm _down_." Somehow, Karin sounded calmer than Sakura did. "I'm fine. Just… calm down, okay?"

But skin wasn't supposed to look like that _skin wasn't supposed to look like that._

"But your—what in the world happened to your stomach?"

"Nothing for you to worry about, just… old scars," Karin replied. The side of her mouth curled up. Slightly. Bitterly.

"Scars? What in the world _from?_"

Sakura's hands reached for the zipper of the tunic, almost on reflex what in the world could cause such things but.

Karin caught her hand and held it, firmly. Almost reassuringly.

"Let's just say that my patients aren't always the safest people for me to be dealing with, okay? I get hurt sometimes. They're just scars. Nothing new. I'm fine."

Sakura's hands were trembling.

Just below the collar of Karin's tunic, just beneath her sleeves, she could see the circle-edges of bite marks.

Just scars. Nothing new.

"Karin, _Karin_, but…"

"Please, just… stop. I'm fine. Honest, okay?"

Karin's red eyes were red around the edges.

She took Sakura's shaking hands and pushed them away, and let go.

"But… what were you trying to do just now? I mean, you looked like you were in pain."

"Oh, that…" She leaned back a little, on the bed, and rested a hand on that (awful horrible tortured poor) stomach of hers. "Premature contractions. I was able to stop them with some healing chakra and medicine."

"Premature—Karin, that's serious!"

"It's nothing I haven't dealt with before, okay?"

The few seconds of silence after that statement was like a cold knife in Sakura's stomach, and the edge was Karin's voice.

Nothing she hadn't—oh that was.

"I've… almost miscarried. Several times." Her voice was suddenly much softer, and the movements of her hand over her stomach were softer still. "But somehow this little one's managed to hold on."

"Just how often has this been _happening?_" Sakura said.

"…not often. And this is the only time since I've gotten here. I figure it's just because I'm stressed about the situation. It should be easier when I get home."

"Karin, maybe you should stay-"

"I can't stay."

"But you-"

"Look, Sakura, it was just one instance, and I got it under control, okay? If you hadn't barged in then you wouldn't even have known."

Karin's eyes were very red and they could be extraordinarily intimidating if she wanted them to be.

(And she did.)

"You don't need to worry about me. I'm fine," she said.

Sakura struggled to.

Regain her power. She was Chief Medical Officer for a reason, wasn't she?

"You were—bleeding from the mouth, though."

Karin actually laughed at that. "Oh, did I get some on my face?"

"Your face?"

She pointed to a glass on a rolling table beside the bed. There was a red residue still left in it.

Karin was wiping her mouth off, needlessly. "It's probably the medicine, I kind of chugged it down in a panic and choked because I didn't mix it thoroughly enough." She managed another laugh. "How dignified of me."

"Oh, I'm… sorry, it just looked like blood and I… well, I don't know _what_ I was thinking," Sakura said.

"Hey, easy mistake. You were shocked, okay? I understand." There was a smile, and it was not bitter any more, but reassuring. "Even I can't stand to look at myself in the mirror any more. It's bad. I get it."

"Karin, don't say that."

"Hey, it's my body, I can say what I want about it." Her eyes lowered to her hand. "Besides, it's keeping this little one healthy, and it's still well enough for me to take care of others, and that's enough for me."

It was strange and unsettling, how quickly Karin could shift her moods.

(And how sad she seemed to be, while simultaneously grateful.)

"It sounds like you're really working hard, for this child's sake."

"More than I probably should," Karin said, with a sigh. "Then again, I'm desperate."

"Desperate…?"

Karin thought.

For a strange long while.

"…never mind," she finally said, "it's not much of a reason."

For not much of a reason.

Sakura sat down next to Karin on the bed.

And she thought for what seemed like a longer while. Looking for the right words.

"Well, whatever the reason," she decided, "I hope it'll feel like it was worth it."

"I hope so, too," Karin said, quietly.

"Hey. It probably will. Speaking from experience here," Sakura said.

She finally smiled. The knife was finally gone from her stomach.

"Hey, what makes you think _I'm_ not experienced?" Karin said. "I'm juggling Asaoto and Suigetsu's little bratling with my work—you have no idea _how many times_ he just drops that kid off at my house and just expects me to take care of him—don't think I don't know how to handle kids, okay?"

"Fair enough!" Sakura said. "Oh, I don't think I ever asked—are you expecting a boy or girl?"

"Hm?"

"Well, do you know? Or are you leaving it a surprise? I mean, Lee insisted that we didn't find out until our kids were born, and that turned out all right."

"Oh, no, no, I already know. It's a boy."

"Oh, how _sweet_. Have you picked out any names for him yet?"

"Yes," Karin said, "I know his name."

"What is it?"

"Osato."

"Osato! Well that's an… interesting name," Sakura said. "But I think there's a fair amount of charm to it!"

"Oh, just tell me it's stupid, okay?" Karin said.

"It's _not_, Karin, I think it's very _cute_."

"Sure."

"I mean it!"

"I'm a sensor, Sakura, and I can _tell_ you're lying, okay?"

"Oh come on…"

(Well, it was just a little unusual, but who was Sakura to judge? Honestly?)

(Plenty of children had last names for first names, right?)

"At any rate," Karin said, "this has gotten me _ridiculously_ tired out. I sent Suigetsu out to run some errands for me. If he comes back, just tell him I'm sleeping, okay?"

"Oh, sure, absolutely. You should get your rest," Sakura said. "I mean, after that scare of yours…"

"It wasn't a scare, and I'm _fine_," Karin said.

"Well, if you say so."

"I know so. For heaven's sake, Sakura, I'm a doctor too. You think I don't know how to treat myself? Now let me sleep. I need it, okay? Especially for the trip tomorrow."

Sakura got off the bed. "Okay, okay. If you need anything, just… you know who to call."

"I know."

And it was when Sakura was almost out the door that Karin said, "Hey, Sakura?"

"Yeah?"

Karin was still sitting on the bed, though there seemed to be a new sort of heaviness around her. "Sorry for scaring you so badly. I really do appreciate the concern. It's a lot more than I usually get."

"It's… fine. Right?" Sakura replied.

Yet, for some reason, her smile felt just that little bit more uncomfortable.

"Yeah, it's fine. Goodnight."

Was Karin's voice uncomfortable too? Sakura left before she could think too hard about it, closing the door behind her.

Suigetsu wasn't anywhere nearby, so she left a note with his son—Shingetsu not Shingatsu, he was eager to inform her again—about it. She wrote it on a piece of paper from the memo pad in her pocket, just in case. A nine year old's memory was not the best thing.

"I hope Mommy gets some good sleep," Asaoto noted, following the message. "She tells me the baby just makes her tired sometimes."

"Yeah," Sakura replied. "Just a little tired."

For Karin's sake, Sakura hoped for no more incidents. No episodes from Juugo, no attacks from Asaoto, no premature contractions.

At least until Karin got home.

She worried, for once, about how she would get by at the clinic on her own, especially with little Osato on the way.

(It was still a strange name.)

She'd been told that Karin had assistants, but…

But the same reflexes that kept her from worrying too hard about Ino and her children and all the phone calls kicked in, and told her to stay out of things, for her _own_ mental health. Karin had a good handle on herself.

If she hadn't walked through that door, if she had been just a few minutes late, she wouldn't have even known.

She'd be fine.

Unfortunately, in the morning, Karin did not return home. All transport in and out of Konoha was halted.

And for a very, very good reason.


	60. Ophiuchus Etamin

_Chapter 60 - Ophiuchus Etamin_

* * *

The initial concern was raised by a Hyuuga member of the border patrol. It was the night shift. Quiet, normally. And there hadn't been any sort of major attack to the city in decades—minus that debacle with the "terrorist" from the Land of Earth at the chuunin exams a few years back, which was more of a half-baked publicity stunt than anything. And sometimes the occasional bandit newbie that thought they could be intimidating. Those were almost cute.

No, stuff the size of the Day of Pain and the Day of Crushed Leaves didn't happen any more.

But they still stayed on their toes. This kept the civilians happy.

Therefore, even though he was sure it wasn't a really big deal, the Hyuuga guard Hidokei decided to speak up. "Hey, senpai."

"What's up, Hidokei?"

"I see something weird."

"Weird? What is it, you think?"

The veins around his eyes increased as he concentrated. "I don't know, but there's two of them, and one of them has a _lot_ of chakra."

"How much we talking?"

"This guy could be a _jinchuuriki_ for all I know. He's lighting up the area like a miniature sun on my Byakugan."

"Well jeez, you suppose they're ninjas?" His senpai, Urokawa, poked his head above his shoulder. "Kind of a late hour for someone to be out. You think it's maybe a returning cell?"

"Nope. There's only two of them," Hidokei replied. "Besides, I dunno who the hell else in town has that much chakra b'sides the Hokage. And they kinda… don't look like ninjas. I think."

"That's… weird." Urokawa thought for a moment. "Hidokei, you wanna go check it out? I'll send some guys to go with you."

"Oh man, really? Sure, I'd love it!" Hidokei said. And his senpai smiled.

"Cool, then. Come with me."

Hidokei had a heart that thirsted for action. Call it the result of a lifetime within Hyuuga walls. Even this job hardly ever allowed him much.

A four-man cell was almost literally thrown together (Urokawa, in one instance, yanking a medic from the back of his collar to join the team) and was sent out to go investigate.

Hidokei was, of course, the scout. Duh. He was a _Hyuuga_, that was what he was _supposed _to be.

Their plan was drafted out beforehand. Standard procedure. Maybe they were just a pair of drunkards fooling around in the forest. One of whom happened to have a ridiculous amount of chakra. Who knew. They would be cautious but practical. It was four in the freaking morning, anyways.

Eventually, there was visual confirmation. Two males, roughly the same height.

The first was young, maybe in his early twenties. He had very pale skin and very dark hair that fell in his eyes, and he was dressed simply and had a leather bag slung over his chest.

His companion was taller, if only barely so, dressed in patchy blue and black. He could have been fifteen, or fifty. Hidokei couldn't tell. His hair was grey and his face was curiously ageless, and undefined.

"What do you _mean_ you can't tell us what he looks like?" one of the chuunin said, when Hidokei reported this.

"I don't _know_, I just can't get a good handle on this guy!" Hidokei whispered back. They were maybe forty, fifty feet away from the men. Observing. "It's like every time I take my eyes off him his face _changes_. He's the one with all the chakra."

"Maybe you ought to get your eyes checked."

"Shut up and let me see if I can get a better look," Hidokei said. He was a Hyuuga, for fuck's sake. He didn't need to have his eyes checked. They were perfect.

Neither of them were armed, it seemed. All they seemed to be doing was talking. The dark-haired one seemed far calmer than the other.

"They're probably lost or… something. Sure seem like travelers," someone said, when they moved back a fair bit to discuss their strategy. Hidokei kept an eye on them.

"Dunno about the taller guy," someone else said.

"He gives me the creeps," Hidokei said.

"Well let's just go at it amicably," said the reluctant medic. "Don't want to cause any trouble."

A flashlight was produced and turned on for a proper announcement.

"Excuse us, sirs? May we help you at all?"

The next thing they knew, a wall of water was thundering their way. A _large_ wall of water.

Evidently, the grey-haired man knew how to use his chakra too. To great effect.

"Sirs, please, just explain yourself, we don't mean to-" and suddenly the second guard was drowning.

"Everyone fall back! We don't wanna fight with you!"

"Don't touch my master don't touch him don't touch my master DON'T TOUCH HIM DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HIM."

The forest had suddenly become a river and it was a loud river and a strong one, and the second guard was still in its grip.

"Sage ALIVE, what the HELL?" someone said.

"Fall BACK!" someone else said.

"STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP DON'T GO NEAR HIM."

"Please, _please_, dear, calm down! Just get them away from us, we need to get _out_ of here!" the dark-haired man said. His voice was deep yet quaveringly feminine.

"Oh I'll get them away, Master, I'll get them, I'll, there's, a Hyuuga, scout, scout, KILL THE SCOUT."

And the look on that man's face, twitching and shifting and uncertain, carried with it only one possible meaning for Hidokei:

He was going to die. He was _dead_.

The second guard was still enclosed in a globe of water, trying to calm himself so as to not waste oxygen.

"Hyuuga scout, DIE, kill the SCOUT."

He lunged forward.

"KILL THE SCOUT!"

"Oh SHIT!"

Hidokei felt hands grabbing him that were far too strong to be human hands and he felt the bones in his left arm creak from the strain.

He felt his joints separating and his arm pulling out of its socket and he felt his joints tearing.

And he screamed.

"Dear, dear, dear, dear, _DEAR_, let him GO, I don't want us to make a _mess!"_

"But I'm not, I'm not making."

TUG. Another scream. The medic stood, frozen and drenched.

"I'm not making, a mess, Master, there will not be, blood, there, there won't, I'll just."

His other hand enormous and strange and barely resembling skin clamped around Hidokei's neck.

"I'll just snap his neck then, I will, that won't be messy, Master."

Tears were leaking out of Hidokei's beautiful eyes.

Eyes that would be ruined when they finally found his body.

(Were those really going to be his final thoughts?)

"No! No! Put him _down_ and focus on getting us _out_ of here!" the dark-haired man shouted over the water.

His eyes were yellow behind that dark hair.

(He tried to think of something else.)

Somehow, the message got through.

(And couldn't.)

Hidokei was very suddenly dropped. He clung to his arm as irrational torrents rushed around him, trying to scream more but finding water blocking the sound in his mouth.

All he could see was water and pain and.

Suddenly the river was gone and his medic, water dripping from his nose, was at his side.

The pain was still there.

"Hidokei, answer me! Are you all right?"

And all Hidokei could do was sob.

He was too out of it to aid in the flustered report to the Hokage an hour later.

Yes he most certainly needed to hear about this.

"Wait so say what?" Naruto was rubbing his eyes, still half in his pajamas, somehow, in his office.

"Kage-level. At least one of them," someone said.

"We can't just go ignoring this skirmish," someone else said.

"And he knew to target Hidokei-kun," the medic said. His face felt tight from stress. "He recognized him as a Hyuuga first, and then identified him as a scout."

"Whoa, that's… bad," Naruto said. "I mean, Hyuuga are pretty well-known, but…"

"Not so much outside of Konoha, much less the Land of Fire," someone said.

"I've got a _seriously_ bad feeling about that, especially," the second guard said. His breath still felt thick from his half-drowned lungs. "This guy knows about us."

And Naruto thought on this, for a moment, eyes half-closed, mouth drawn tight.

"We'd better go find him, then. And his buddy. Send some squads out to investigate right away. In the meantime." He yawned, deeply. "Close the gates and stop all travel, in an' out. I don't want a guy like that in the city, y'know? 'specially not with…" Another yawn. "Not with the chuunin finals so close. This sorta thing can't be good for travelers."

"Absolutely, sir," someone said. "We'll get on that immediately."

Naruto had one eye closed. "…say, uh, why isn't your commanding officer with you guys?"

"He's preoccupied," said the medic.

"With Hidokei."

"He got hurt kind of badly in the skirmish."

"A broken arm. At least."

"Ouch. Well tell him I said get well soon." Naruto rubbed his eyes. "I mean it, that kinda really sucks."

"I'll be sure to pass that along, sir," said the medic.

Other news was, eventually, passed along.

To a certain few, it was just another, awful thing to worry about. Clones and Orochimaru beside.

And to Karin.

"What do you _mean_, I can't _leave?"_

"I'm sorry, Karin, but it's a city-wide ban on travel, in or out. A security issue. It shouldn't last more than a day," Sakura said. "I'm really sorry, I know how badly you need to get home."

"Well what the hell _kind_ of security issue?"

"An S-rank threat. That's all the detail that's been released."

"…_fuck_, that _is_ serious." Karin looked around, for a moment, afterwards.

(The boys were nowhere in sight. Well, _boy. _Asaoto she didn't worry about, but Shingetsu was a horrible little mimic.)

"Have they honestly not said anything more?" she continued.

Sakura shook her head. "Nothing. Honestly, I only know because, well. Naruto. Everyone else is being told it's just routine maintenance and… guard quality checks or something."

Karin's face became very red.

"…then why the hell did you tell _me? _I don't need this stress, okay? At all!"

Sakura stood, very small and very shamed, for a moment. The day before was fresh and wet in her mind.

"I'm… I'm sorry, Karin, I should have considered. You were just so angry, I just-"

"No, no, no, it's… fine. It's fine." Karin was wiping a bang away from her forehead, her eyes tightly closed, then opened. "You said these things usually take a day to resolve, right? Even with an S-rank threat?"

"Knowing our guys, yeah. It might not even be that severe, and they're just saying that to get them to work harder."

"That's some method of _encouragement_," Karin said, crossing her arms.

"Well, _kids_ these days. They've never had any real… experience with what we've had to face." Sakura folded her arms, as well, but by clasping her elbows instead of knotting them into each other like Karin did. "The prospect of experiencing the things that we had to deal with _excites_ them, more than anything."

"They should feel grateful that they've only had to imagine," Karin said, softly.

Sakura's silence and lowered eyes was her reply.

"Regardless of what it is," Karin continued, "I'm going home before the end of the week, 'S-rank threat' or not. Suigetsu can protect me."

"Let's hope we won't have to fall back on that," Sakura said. "I'll let you know if anything changes."

"Thanks. I'll pass the news on to Suigetsu, okay? It'll be easier for us if I'm the one that's dealing with him."

(Suigetsu, as it happened, was getting breakfast-lunch-something outside, with Shingetsu.)

("Can we 'splore, Daddy? I never been _inside_ Konoha before.")

("No. We're heading back soon.")

And Sakura left, to attend to other patients.

Namely, Hyuuga Hidokei.

His senpai, Urokawa, was sitting at his bedside when she came in. "Things going all right?" Sakura asked.

"He hasn't woken up, yet." Urokawa had wide, fish-eyes, and they looked very pained.

"I would imagine; they put him on some pretty strong stuff for his shoulder."

Sakura went to pick up his chart.

"I can't help but blame myself," Urokawa said.

"Huh?"

"For what happened to him."

Sakura's eyebrows knit together in well-practiced sympathy. This happened often, with accident victims. "Please, don't. It's not your fault. You had no idea that what was out there was such a threat."

"I still feel at fault."

Sakura put a hand on his shoulder. "You'll be feeling better when he's feeling better. At any rate, he'll probably appreciate you being there when he wakes up." She covered her smile by flipping through the papers on her clipboard. "Do you know if anyone from his family's come by, by the way?"

"They were here. Earlier. I think." Urokawa's thumbs whirled, slowly, around each other. "I mean, they _must_ have been…"

"Mm. Well, let me examine him, quickly, so if you please."

"Oh, sure, sure, sorry, Haruno-sensei." Urokawa stood, quickly, and pushed his chair out of the way.

"It's okay, I'll be right out," Sakura said. She put the chart down and concentrated chakra into her hands—not to heal, but to inspect, sending it out in short bursts that could bounce back and be read. "Hmm, the tendon damage is still pretty bad. I'll have extra mending sessions added." Her hand moved from his shoulder to his arm. "Fracture same as usual. That's good, at least. I haven't seen crushing damage like this since…"

Urokawa tried to clear his throat.

"…at any rate, that can be healed more easily. He should make a full recovery, and relatively quickly." She made quick note on the chart with her pen, and put it back at the edge of the bed. "I'll leave you be."

And she did.

And when Hidokei finally woke up, minutes, hours later, he could do nothing but gasp for a good long while.

"Hey, hey, you all right?" Urokawa said, putting a hand barely on his hand. His relief was entirely genuine.

"Wh-where am I…?"

"You're in the hospital. Are you in any pain?"

"What, what happened with the hostiles? They escaped, didn't they…"

"They did, but we have ten teams out searching for them now." Urokawa's fingers tightened. "It's okay, we'll find them and figure out what happened."

"He was going to _kill_ me…" Hidokei closed his eyes and put his good hand on his face. (They had already wrapped his forehead for him. Thank goodness.)

"But he _didn't_, okay, kohai? You're okay, now."

Hidokei's eyes were still closed. "Those eyes, those yellow eyes."

"Whose eyes?"

"The man he called Master."

* * *

The investigations came to very little fruition. The grey-haired spook and his dark-haired master had, apparently, done far too good a job at disappearing.

Searches had been conducted both along the border, inside and outside, and in a five-mile radius beyond, with Hyuuga volunteers doing scans where possible into further stretches of land. Investigation made way for patrol, following the sunset. Flashlights joined knives.

The lack of results was maddening in how it couldn't be relief, only more difficulty, only the promise of a greater challenge.

This set people on edge.

A retching man found in the bushes turned out to be just that—a sick, drunk chuunin, separated from his team and come home too late from a mission. But he was pounced upon all the same.

Naturally, apologies were given, and he was sent home with a few bruises.

It began to rain, after the sun set.

Another set of poor creatures, some early-bird tourists from the Land of Earth who hadn't heard of the happenings in Konoha but were eager to travel there all the same, were thoroughly interrogated and scanned for genjutsu use and any other sort of disguise. This greatly offended one of the travelers, a woman with a wide and window-like jaw that had been mistaken for a man. Though the cause of her offense was unexpected.

"This is how I _naturally_ look, you boneheads!" she said, crossing her wide arms. "I don't need to do _anything_ to look this good. I'll have you know that I'm mistaken for a man all the _time_ back at home."

"M-my sincerest apologies, sir," the squad captain said.

"Don't call me _sir_," the ma'am said.

They were sent into town with severe confusion and red faces for everyone involved.

Therefore, they were extra cautious when they found a man crunched over himself about four miles east of Konoha's border.

Especially considering his injuries, which were already richly apparent from the smell of his blood several feet around him, even mixed with the rainwater. He was moaning, softly.

Yeah, they couldn't mess this up.

They shined a flashlight on him, first. His hair was dark and it stuck to his face and his cheeks. "Excuse us, are you okay?" The medic was the first to speak, on instinct.

"…I seem to have… done something to my back… I'm… finding it a bit hard to…" He began coughing. Blood mixed with saliva came out of a very pale mouth.

"Sir, what happened to you?" They began surrounding him, the medic drawing nearer, the others with their backs toward him. On the lookout.

"Another victim?" someone whispered.

"This isn't like with the Hyuuga," someone else whispered.

"Please, just… help me, would you…"

"We'll help you, sir, don't you worry," the medic said. Her flashlight moved up and down the man's form. His clothes were wet with rain, and the blood of injuries unseen. "Can you tell us what happened to you?"

"If I told you, you'd likely have to… _kill_ me, dear…" he replied.

The medic laughed, though it was a strained laugh. The paleness of his skin was worrying her. "Sir, please, I appreciate you trying to keep the mood light, but..."

He began laughing, though his voice was thick and the laugh was hard and joyless. "I'm sorry… Just help me, please, I'll explain everything… later…"

"We should bring him to the hospital," someone said.

"Unless you think you can treat him here?" someone else said.

"I would… _indeed_ appreciate being taken there… I rather would…" the man said, curling in deeper into himself. He began moaning again, his shoulders tensing.

"Please, sir, we'll take you there. I think you're too injured for me to treat right now." The medic's hands were gentle as she tried to unfold him. "Can you stand?"

"Oh, I suppose I could… try."

He tried, and crumpled to his knees.

"Dear, I'm… _sorry_, I suppose I'm… just too weak…"

"Don't blame yourself, sir, you've lost a lot of blood." the medic said. She cleared her throat, her voice gaining needed power. "Guys, I need some volunteers! You're gonna get your hands dirty but I don't care, we gotta get this guy to the hospital!"

Reluctantly, she gained her needed few. Blood was just blood. Most everyone else was drenched from the rain.

Glances were everywhere as they began on their way. This man was injured. Horribly so.

And something had to have caused those injuries.

"So can you tell me your name?" the medic asked. "At least?"

And the man just laughed, again. Though it sounded more like a wheeze than anything.

"You're so young…"

"Hm?"

"Perhaps I should be… grateful. Will you… make a promise to me… young lady? Since you've been so… _wonderful_ already…"

"A promise?" She blinked, and shifted the injured man further up her shoulder. "What do you want?"

"When we… _arrive_ back home. No matter how I'm… _received_. Please… allow me to be treated as any other patient. I am _injured_, after all…"

"Well of course, why wouldn't I?" the medic said. She tried to make her smile reassuring, but it only ended up looking nervous.

"I'm not exactly a… _welcome_ visitor," the man replied. His own, inexplicable smile was grim. "I get the feeling that Konoha won't… _appreciate_ one of her most _infamous_ prodigal sons returning so unexpectedly."

"Infamous…?" Her voice was suddenly very quiet. "Sir, who are you, exactly…?"

His hair was very black and it was matted with blood, and in a subtle shift of his head he shook aside his bangs.

His eyes were very yellow and his smile was very thin.

"Does the name _Orochimaru_… ring any bells to you, dear…?"

The medic had to break her promise.


	61. Fanfare Subito

_Ooda turned three today. Bought him a cake. Books, too. He has little interest in typical children's toys. Prefers to read._

_Still surprised he managed to teach himself. Acted like he'd done something wrong when talked to about it. Didn't cry._

_Starting to consider schooling options for him. Only two more years. Public schooling allows for proper socialization. Want him to be well-balanced._

_Might be too advanced by that point, however._

_Already reading medical texts. Caught him looking through patient records, too. Said he was curious. _

_I keep archives locked. He tries door on occasion, at night. I hear him._

_Too smart for his age. His intelligence is frightening._

_Mustn't let this affect me._

_He enjoyed the cake and books. Thanked me for them when put to bed. Slept so peacefully after._

_I __know__ he is just a child._

- From an entry in the diary of Karin; December 21st, 6 AU

* * *

**ACT 8**

**ADMITTANCE**

* * *

_Chapter 61 - Fanfare Subito_

* * *

Orochimaru was being surprisingly cooperative.

Surprisingly.

Despite his injuries he maintained a very genial attitude, and insisted that he still be treated for his inexplicable, severe injuries.

"I'm not here to _fight_, you know. No, no, no, not in the _least, _I don't mean a single _one_ of you any harm at all. And even if I _did_, I'm rather out of sorts at the moment." And he waved his head there, weakly and casually, in the jail cell they'd brought him to, several floors underground and swarming with ANBU. "I would _ever_ so appreciate if you healed me fully, however. This isn't exactly _comfortable, _you know."

The medic had only done a bare amount of healing, not wanting to touch him afterwards. She had stopped the bleeding, but not the pain. That was fair, in her eyes.

"Then why are you here," the head of the ANBU guard asked him. They were waiting for the Hokage. All in masks. They couldn't risk anything with this man.

"Why, my most _favorite_ little _test_ subject is in town, I heard. And I simply _had _to come by and check on her. After all…" And here he leaned forward and his yellow eyes gleamed dangerously in the half-light. "…she did leave _ever_ so suddenly, and I'm _ever_ so worried about her."

"_What_ test subject."

"Why _Karin_, of course. And the _extraordinarily_ precious cargo she's carrying, as well. Where _are_ you keeping her, anyways? I _do_ hope you're taking good care of her. She is _particularly_ special to me."

When he laughed, his laughter echoed coldly against the concrete walls.

"Might you allow me to see her, by the by?"

"Absolutely not," the ANBU guard replied.

"Hm. Figures. Konoha. _Hospitable_ as _always_…" He leaned back in his chair, as much as he could, with his arms bolted behind him. "Your fault if something _happens, _then."

"What do you mean by that."

His reply was his laughter and his knife-cut smile.

Naruto managed to arrive before the sunrise. The anonymous masses guarding Orochimaru's cell informed him of everything that had been learned so far.

"So he's… the one behind all this? The attack yesterday?" For some reason he seemed far, far more awake this time.

"He hasn't taken any responsibility for the attack, but we'll be sure to ask him."

Naruto's face was low and trembling.

"Keep an eye on him and do _not_ let him hurt anyone," he said. His breathing was very careful. "Post extra guards at the hospital and get as much out of him as you can, in the meantime. I need to talk to Sakura."

"Sir…?"

"Well, she's the one looking after Karin-san, isn't she?" he said. He read reports, after all. And reports about Karin's stay had been filed and given to him by Andou. His memory was surprisingly sharp when it was important. "And… _he's_ here because of her, isn't he? For whatever reason, y'know."

"…of course, sir. We'll keep watch."

Though, on his way out, Naruto was stopped by a voice in the hallway. "Excuse me, Naruto-san."

He turned around. An ANBU with a cat mask stood there, uneasy and alone.

"Yeah, what is it?"

He removed the mask, partly, and a black, tired, familiar eye looked back at him. "May I have permission to tell my father about this?"

"Oh, Hajime-kun! Why didn't you tell me it was you? Did they pull you for duty this morning too?"

"Yeah, they came by the house this morning. Said they needed all the help they could get, since… _Takeru_ already helped with the afternoon shift." He removed his mask entirely, and tried to keep from yawning. "My question still stands, about my dad."

Naruto thought for a while, his expression tight. "…go ahead, but be careful. He might not take the news well. But, well, y'know. I think it's only fair for him to know, too. 'specially considering his past."

Hajime put his mask back on. "At least what I know of it. Thank you, sir."

He disappeared.

It was probably a very good thing that Naruto was not the sort of person to think too deeply on the why of things, and more on the actions that needed to be taken in reaction to them. And even then.

Orochimaru, frankly, was not supposed to exist.

And this fact hit Sakura far harder than it hit him. "Wh-what do you mean, Naruto." She was still in her pajamas, as she answered the door. Lee lingered behind her, worriedly.

"They found him all beat up outside of the city an' brought him into custody. He says he's here for _Karin-san_."

"Oh, heavens." Sakura's eyes were very wide and her voice was very quiet. "Well give me a moment, let me get some clothes on."

They walked back, quickly, together. "Do you want me at the hospital?" she said.

"Afterward. Okay? I'm not good at explanations and stuff. And I think it's only fair for Karin-san if she gets the full story too, y'know? So you gotta get the full story first. So you can tell her. Y'know?"

"Yes," Sakura said, fearfully, "I think that's fair."

Thinking to herself how badly things might have gone if Karin were given the news by an ANBU.

(So far, at the hospital, they had given no indication of their presence. But they were there all the same. Ensuring that nothing happened to her.)

The ANBU were as glad to see Naruto back as they could be. "Hokage-sama, we were unable to make much headway."

"That's fine, that's fine. Is he still secure?" Naruto said.

"Yes, and he's made no attempt at escape yet, either."

"Well let's just hope it _stays_ that way, y'know," Naruto said. "Let me in to talk to him."

"Hokage-sama, that-"

"Just let me, okay? Sakura too. I have some questions for him."

He was the Hokage, and his word could not be denied.

They saw Orochimaru first through one-sided glass. He was sitting in a chair in the middle of a room furnished only by ANBU guards at each corner, with his hands and his feet both shackled. His clothes—white shirt, black pants—were covered in his own, brown blood.

And he was smiling, slightly. His hair was shorter, and his face looked younger.

But his eyes were the same.

Andou was waiting by the glass, furiously jotting down notes, flipping through the existing pages of his notebook, and writing more. He'd gone with the Hyuuga ANBU as soon as the news went out about Orochimaru's capture and had not left the glass since. He didn't look up as he handed Naruto a sheet of paper.

"Notes on the situation thus far. Should I make a copy for Haruno-san?"

"I'll just give her mine," Naruto said, and did so. Sakura barely had time to skim it before she had to fold it and put it in her pocket.

The door to the cell was opened by an ANBU, and they walked in.

Orochimaru looked up, and his smile widened. "Well goodness _me_, I didn't think I'd be receiving _visitors_. Isn't this my lucky day!"

"Hello, Orochimaru," Naruto said, flatly.

"And hello right _back_, Naruto-kun. You've grown so _magnificently _since I last saw you_._ The same goes to you, Sakura-chan. I am _truly_ jealous of your beauty."

Sakura had to swallow her reaction.

"Though… just the two of you? Wher_ever_ is my dear, dear Sasuke-kun? I do miss him so."

"Sasuke'll show up if he feels like it," Naruto said.

"Goodness, that rather lowers my chances, then, doesn't it," Orochimaru said, with an aside glance.

"He's on his way?" Sakura whispered.

Naruto just shrugged. "What are you _doing_ here, Orochimaru," he continued, "and where have you been all this time?"

"Oh, I already told your little guards, but I _absolutely_ don't mind repeating myself. I'm here for _Karin_. Won't you let me see her?" He tilted his head slightly, filling his eyes with sweet, convincing worry.

"NO. We won't let you NEAR her," Sakura said, through her teeth.

"Temper, _temper_," Orochimaru said. "Really, now, I wouldn't go making such statements without knowing the full _story_, dear. But, I suppose it can't be helped."

"WHAT full story."

Orochimaru's smile just widened, slightly. "Just believe me when I tell you, dear, that she is not one you should be leaving _unattended_. Especially with that… _child_ of hers." His eyes wandered with the pause in his words. "I'm rather invested in it. Don't want anything _happening_ to it, you know. Very high-maintenance."

Sakura's breathing began to quicken. She took a step back, almost a stumble.

"What are you TALKING about."

"Sakura, hey, hey, calm down." Naruto put a hand on her arm, on her shoulder. And with his touch she, indeed, felt calmer, though she was still too angered to think of it was a genuine reaction or just a placebo effect. "You still haven't answered my question, Orochimaru," he said.

"Oh, _goodness_, I'm _sorry_, that's _terribly_ rude of me. _Which_ question, dear?"

Naruto kept his hands on Sakura, and he asked, "Where have you _been_ for all these years? You were—_supposed_ to be dead."

"Yes, and I had wanted for that most _wonderful_ assumption to remain in place for as _long_ as I could have possibly managed. But I suppose you can't have everything," Orochimaru replied. "I've been here and there. Getting my bearings again, once I got used to this new body and all that. It's really quite something, isn't it?" he added, looking, almost appraisingly, at one of his arms as he lifted an elbow. "Looks exactly like me. Only, well, _better_, I suppose. It's _lasted_ the longest, at any rate."

"You managed to revive yourself?" Sakura had managed to control her breathing.

"I have my ways." His words were paired with the barest twitch of a wider smile.

"And what have you been doing, all this time? Since you kind of haven't been bothering us, y'know," Naruto said.

He laughed, slightly, moving his head in substitute of a fluttering hand. "Oh, I lost all _intention_ of _bothering_ you and everyone else back home years and _years_ ago. I decided to focus on other projects, stay out of the limelight and all that. Much safer, much quieter. And _so_ much more productive, you would not _believe!_"

"What kinds of projects," Sakura said.

"That, my dear, is for me to know, and for you to find out. My apologies. I'm rather not in the mood to discuss that yet. Though…" And he shifted himself, slightly, in his chair. "_If_ you let me see my _dear_ Karin then I just _might_ be inclined to divulge more to you."

"_Forget_ it," Sakura hissed. Naruto's hand on her arms tightened and she struggled to keep her anger.

"Well, it was worth a try." Orochimaru shrugged, glancing at the ceiling. "Your collective loss, I suppose."

"Can you at least tell us if you were the one responsible for the attack yesterday?" Naruto said.

"Oh, an attack?"

"In the early morning, near the border. A squad of four was assaulted by a water-using ninja and he had someone else with him that he escaped with. Sorta matched your description, y'know. Was that you?"

"Oh. Oh! Yes, that was indeed me."

"Mind explaining?" Naruto said.

"_Do_ tell me where to start."

"That guy that was with you, for starters? Who is he?"

"Ohhhh, _him_. He's… an _experiment_, I suppose. Not exactly the most stable little fellow, I'm afraid. Having him go with me was a bit of a_ mistake_, I think, but, well. Hindsight is twenty-twenty, as they say."

"An experiment?" Naruto said.

"Something like that, yes. I intended to use him as a guardian for when I traveled. Hardy thing, and strong; he _never_ tires, _never_ runs out of chakra. Though I rather lost _control_ of him toward the tail end of my journey. It's… well." And he gave a sheepish, incredibly unfitting smile, there. "He's the one that's put me in this rather _humiliating_ position, actually."

"So he's the one that beat you up?" Naruto said.

"Sad but true. So embarrassing, _really_," Orochimaru said, with closed eyes. "Then again, that's what I get for using untested _prototypes_. You can hardly blame me, though, I was in too much of a hurry to get here to think clearly. I do apologize for the damage he caused to your squad, by the by. I really do not intend _any_ harm towards you or _any_ other citizen of Konoha."

His sincerity was sickening.

"So what happened to him?" Naruto asked.

"Returned to the earth, seems like," Orochimaru replied, sighing. "He was rather falling _apart_ in the middle of doing me in. Rather lucky for me, I suppose."

"Well at least he won't be hurting anyone else," said Naruto. He was not smiling.

"Yes," Orochimaru replied, opening his eyes, his slit pupils tightening in the light, "so it seems."

And that was when Sasuke arrived.

Angrily. His clothes looked thrown on.

"Where is he, where are you keeping him, let me _see_ him, let me THROUGH!"

He came through the door by force. Steel was a bare obstacle for him, much less flustered ANBU.

"Sasuke, what are you-!" Sakura began.

And there Orochimaru just smiled. "There's my boy," he said, softly.

And for all his yelling as he barreled down the hallway just a few seconds previous.

Sasuke.

Was rendered speechless.

Save for one word.

"You…!"

"Yes, _me._ I'm surprised to see you again so soon _too_, Sasuke-kun. You're looking as fine as ever."

Sasuke was just breathing. Heavily.

Sakura pulled herself away from Naruto. In preparation.

(It terrified her, how scared Sasuke suddenly seemed to be.)

"Tell me, I'm curious," Orochimaru continued, lightly, "before we have ourselves a _proper_ reunion. Are you enjoying your time with your older brother? Or, well. _Younger_ brother, now, I suppose."

Sasuke's hands tightened into fists, and they were shaking. Sakura could see his chest rising up and down, now.

"Since I'm so _certain_ that you are. I _do_ hope you've been taking good care of him, by the way, he's such a _precious_ thing. Oh!" A bright curiosity entered his eyes, and the smile paired with it was small and very pointed. "Has he gotten those _beautiful_ eyes, yet? Or are they still unchanged? I'd _really_ like to know."

"Sasuke," Naruto said, confusion and the beginnings of fear sewing themselves over his eyebrows, "what is he talking about?"

Sasuke didn't say anything. The rest of his body had started to shake.

"…I'll take that as a _no,_ then," said Orochimaru.

"Sasuke, what does he mean, your time with your brother…?" Naruto said.

"…you haven't been keeping _secrets_, now, have you, Sasuke-kun?" Orochimaru's voice was clipped, almost childishly playful.

That was when Sasuke left, with Sakura following close, close behind.

Naruto looked from them, to Orochimaru, to them, and back again. "We'll continue this later, Orochimaru. But, uh. Thanks for being so… cooperative so far."

"My _pleasure_, dear," Orochimaru replied, with a languid smile. "I am happy to serve."

The ANBU closed and locked the door behind him as he left.

He found Sakura trying to calm Sasuke down in a stairwell, a handful of hallways away. He wouldn't stop talking.

"You don't _understand_, you don't _understand_, she told me that… that _thing_ was…!"

"Sasuke, please, what are you-"

"SHE'S BEEN KEEPING THAT THING AT HER HOUSE."

"WHO has, Sasuke?"

"KARIN! KARIN, aren't you LISTENING to me? I can't believe I—why the hell did I even _believe_ her?"

He was starting to pace, avoiding her hands.

"Sakura, what's going on-?" Naruto said.

"Sasuke, when did—what are you even TALKING about?"

He stopped to catch his breath. "When I visited Karin. She had. He. It. _He_ showed up. She told me he was—she told me his name was—she gave me some… bullshit story about—why the _hell_ did I… she was keeping that thing at her _house_, Sakura!"

"You mean you… saw him before?" she said, trying to navigate through his jump-starting-jump-stopping sentences.

And he was yelling again. "YES! And I fucking BELIEVED her, what the hell was I THINKING, just, how, how…!"

"Sasuke, calm DOWN, for—you mean he was at _Karin's _house?"

"YES! YES! How many times to I have to REPEAT myself?" Sasuke threw his hands up, sideways, down, in frustration.

"So… you mean that Orochimaru's been living with Karin-san…?" Naruto's face was tangled as he attempted to piece together what he could.

"I don't—oh, if that was—_Karin.._." Sakura had to stop for a few seconds to keep from jumping to… irrational conclusions. "That… can't be the case."

"That monster, that, she was keeping him _there_," Sasuke said. "He knows about Yakata, even, I mean how could…!"

"Yakata? Who…?" Naruto said. A moment of thought. Naruto had a surprisingly sharp memory, when times called for it. "You mean that kid?"

Sakura and Sasuke shared a miserable, terrified silence.

"…that stuff he was saying about your brother… Sasuke, what's going on…?" Naruto said.

"…I have to go home," Sasuke said. He began for the stairs.

"Sasuke, wait, come on!" Naruto said. He began to follow. "Just tell us, y'know? Stop!"

"I have to go HOME, I can't let anything HAPPEN to him!" Sasuke shouted back, down the stairs.

"Sasuke, c'mon!"

There was a bare pause. "Sakura, you… you tell him! I have to go HOME!"

And Sakura grabbed Naruto by the arm, so he could go no further, so Sasuke could go home.

"Sakura, seriously, what the heck's going on? What's this got to do with that Yakata kid?"

Sakura honestly felt like crying from frustration, from fear.

But she swallowed, to keep the tears from coming out, and told him, "That boy, Yakata. The one that Sasuke's been keeping at his house. He's… a clone of his brother. Itachi. And Orochimaru made him. If that wasn't… confirmation, I don't know _what_ is."

Naruto blinked, his mouth slightly open. "…a clone?"

"Like… a copy, a double, a… a twin, I don't _know,_" Sakura said. She let go of Naruto's arm to run her hands over her forehead and through her bangs. "The point is, he's basically a younger version of _Itachi_, and Sasuke's been taking care of him since… July or something."

"…and Orochimaru made him?"

"Yes, yes, that's… what it looks like."

And Naruto looked down, thinking it all over. Nodding, slightly, his eyebrows knit together. "Then I'll make sure that Orochimaru goes nowhere near him. I'll tell Sasuke's kids—Hajime, Takeru, y'know—to guard the place an' make sure nothing happens. I mean, he sounds like a pretty important kid."

She almost had to laugh, but that would have really brought her to tears.

That was Naruto.

"In the meantime, Sakura, you should _really_ go talk to Karin-san, I think," he continued, the worry on his face blooming into deeper concern. "Figure out just… what the heck Sasuke was even _talking _about—I could barely _understand_ him. Find out if Orochimaru was really living at her house, y'know. Or at least get her caught up with all the news."

And she opened and closed her eyes, a few times, nodding. "Yeah, I'll… I'll go do that."

"And report back to me as soon as you can, y'know?"

"Well of course I will…" She started up the stairs.

And she felt his hand on her arm again.

"Sakura. It's gonna be okay, okay? We'll figure this out."

She couldn't match his certainty.

But his words helped.


	62. Tiento Chiuso

_Chapter 62 - Tiento Chiuso_

* * *

Sakura, at the hospital, in the afternoon, in a braver mood and not shaking from lack of breakfast, asked to speak to Karin privately.

It was almost a shame to break up what had been an otherwise peaceful scene. Karin had been brushing Asaoto's hair while Shingetsu chatted along about things that were very much of interest to his nine-year-old mind. Suigetsu waited by a window. Staying out of it. Trying not to smirk too widely.

"Why, what's going on?" Karin said, after Sakura asked.

"…just, trust me, I need to speak to you alone," Sakura said.

"Why alone?" Suigetsu said.

"Because it doesn't _concern_ you, that's why," Sakura replied.

"Who _says_ it doesn't?"

"Suigetsu." Karin put the brush down. "Stop it."

He stopped it. But his face had lost its smile.

"We can take this outside," Karin said. She stood, with her usual, visual discomfort. "I'll be right back, okay?"

"Okay, Mommy," Asaoto said. "Shin-nii, you wanna brush my hair…?"

The conversation continued, gently fading out of earshot.

"Yeah! But you gotta brush _my_ hair afterward, okay?"

"Okay."

As they walked down the hall.

"Shingetsu, be _careful _with him! You want to get yelled at?"

Karin's own smile slowly fading.

"It's okay, Suigetsu…"

And was gone.

"So, what is it?" Karin said.

Sakura almost wished she were delivering news of a terminal cancer diagnosis instead.

But, she said, "Orochimaru's in Konoha, Karin. He was arrested early this morning and brought into custody. And he's been asking to see you, frequently."

She might as well have chosen the former option, from the look on Karin's face. Pained and terrified and begging for anything but hopelessness.

"You… are, are you sure it's _him?_" she said, softly.

"It's… kind of undeniable… We tested for genjutsu and he's completely clean, and-"

"You can't be _serious…_" Karin's interruption was almost too quiet to hear. "Please… please tell me this isn't the case…"

"I… I wish I could, Karin, I honestly wish I could. And Sasuke…" Sakura inhaled. "Sasuke was saying things about how he saw Orochimaru at your _house_, Karin. When he went and visited you last month."

That was where Sakura would have told her how many weeks she had left to live.

Karin wouldn't take her hands off of her stomach.

(Off of the child that Orochimaru was _ever_ so invested in.)

"…Karin, have you been in contact with him…?" Sakura said, quietly.

There was no word, no nod, no indication of agreement.

Only Karin saying, "Let me talk to him."

"What? No, absolutely not!" Sakura said, her anger pushing away the heavy horror and uneasiness that was clustered in her stomach and chest.

"Let. Me talk. To him. Okay?"

"Talk to me _first_, at least!"

"_NO._ HIM FIRST." Karin's voice was incredibly, suddenly, frighteningly strong. "He's asking for me, isn't he? He wants to see me, doesn't he?"

"Karin, please, you can't be serious…" Sakura said.

Karin's glare, her shoulders, rising and falling, spoke volumes.

"Talk to me first. Just… tell me what's going on," Sakura said.

Karin half-shook her head, but her eyes got stuck on her elbow and stayed there. "I can't," she said.

"Karin, _please_."

"Sakura, I _can't, okay?_"

"What _can't_ you explain, Karin?"

"Just… just let me _talk _to him, please, I'm _begging_ you."

And Sakura noticed that tears were leaking out of the corners of her eyes.

"I'll tell you all I can later, just… just let me _see_ him, okay?"

It was a strange and twisted feeling of mercy that led Sakura to comply with Karin's request.

And the unbearable ache in her ears that was her desire to learn the truth.

Karin demanded that Suigetsu not come with her. And maybe it was something in her voice, or in her eyes that caused this, but Suigetsu shrunk back without so much as a single protest and he let her pass.

(Though the look on his face was an echo of hers, all wide eyes, thirsting for a misinterpretation.)

It took a long time to make it to the cell where they were keeping him. Down all the flights of stairs, down all the hallways.

Orochimaru was still there, behind the one-sided glass, shackled and all. Though his expression was not as delighted. He had his hair in his face.

Andou was still there as well, with his notebook. There was a folding table set up beside his chair, and there were dirty, thin plastic bento containers piled upon it. He offered Sakura a new summary, and she declined.

"I'm here with Karin. She wants to talk to him," Sakura said.

There was a fair amount of ANBU resistance.

"_I_ made the decision. He asked to see me. He won't hurt me," Karin said. "He _won't _hurt me. Okay?"

The certainty in her voice was chilling.

(Especially considering the context.)

She kept both hands, both forearms on her stomach, and she did not remove them.

They opened the door and let her and Sakura through.

Oh, how Orochimaru's face lit up. A single eye peeked through his bangs. The other was swollen from a nearby bruise.

"Karin, _dear_! I thought they'd never let you in to see me. So glad you finally saw _reason_, Sakura-chan."

Karin looked like she was about to burst into tears, and Orochimaru's face folded into a delicate frown, to mirror hers.

"Oh, dear, dear, dear, _please_ don't cry! I'm _quite_ all right, you see. Not feeling a pain in the world."

"I, I see…" Karin said.

"And don't even _begin_ to think that I'm _mad_ at you, dear, no, no, not at _all_. Why, yes, I was so… _worried_ about your sudden departure… but I see you're quite safe and sound here, regardless. I _do_ hope that they're taking better care of _you_ than they are of _me, _though."

"They're taking care of me, yes." Karin swallowed, and sniffed back tears.

Orochimaru's smile was grossly warm. "Thank _goodness_."

"Suigetsu, he… came to check on me, anyways…" Karin said.

"Oh _did_ he! What a good boy, just as he should," Orochimaru said, nodding. "Taking care of that _little one_ of his too, is he? He's well?"

Karin just nodded. As if she were ashamed.

"Oh, but what am I _doing_, worrying about _that_ one. How is the one in the works, dear?"

"It… it's healthy."

"Taking your medicine?"

She shook her head. "I… I'm almost out, I didn't make enough for the stay."

Orochimaru's eyes, which had been semi-closed, snapped open. "Well that just won't do, now, will it. I _did_ have a bag with me, with extra doses for you, _just_ in case, but I'm afraid it got lost in the woods during my… little accident."

"Accident?" Karin said, a sharp tinge of confusion in her voice.

"Prototype gone sour. It's _none_ of your business," he replied, quickly, coldly. He returned to his flowery language immediately afterward. "At any rate, Sakura-chan! Do you suppose you could have someone retrieve that bag and that medicine for me? Shouldn't be hard to find, it's really of _utmost_ importance. I doubt I'd be able to make more from scratch as I am."

Sakura's mouth felt dry and unready for speaking, but she had to.

And yet, she found herself unable to talk to him. But Karin… "That… medicine, it's not the stuff I saw you drinking, when you had the premature contractions…?"

"Sakura, please, don't…"

"Premature—Karin, _dear!" _He leaned forward, as much as he could. "You aren't being _careless_, are you? My, my, my, _my_, I _knew_ I shouldn't have let you out of my sight, _especially_ not with this one…"

The last two words.

Stung.

"…just what exactly do you have to do with Karin's _baby_, Orochimaru," Sakura said.

"Sakura, please, stop, don't…"

Karin had her hand clamped over her mouth. Tears were rolling over her fingers.

"Well I'm not its _father_, if _that's_ what you're thinking," Orochimaru replied. His mouth was curled, almost in disgust. "No, no, no, though I did have _quite_ a bit to do with its creation, _that's_ for sure."

"Its _creation_…?"

"You don't _honestly_ believe that this is a _normal_ child… do you, Sakura-chan?"

Karin's eyes were closed very tight.

"It needs that medicine to survive. Otherwise the poor thing will _abort_ itself, and we just can't _have_ that, can we? Such a delicate thing."

(_"I've… almost miscarried. Several times.")_

"And I don't think you'll want that bloody sort of mess staining _your_ hands, Sakura-chan."

His voice was old, there, and very threatening, and his smile was hard and mask-like.

"Find that medicine, would you. I'd hate for things to end _here_, not after all this."

"Please, just… listen to him…" Karin said, through her hand.

"I am only asking for a _little_ bit of cooperation," Orochimaru said. "Nothing more, nothing less. I ask _again_ that I personally treat her, as well, but-"

"Any course of action," Sakura said, trying to keep her voice from shaking, "will be chosen by our _Hokage,_ Naruto. In the meantime, Karin, I'll take you back to the hospital."

She pulled, gently, on Karin's arm, but Karin would not move.

"Karin, come on, let me take you back."

Karin drew in a long and shuddering breath.

Orochimaru's head bent, and he looked up at her with something that.

If it had been on any other face.

Would have been comfort.

"Go with her," he said, "I'll be _fine_, _truly_. This cell isn't _much—_it's _far_ too cold for my tastes—but at least I'm not being _tortured_ or anything, dear. And I'm sure that Sakura-chan is taking good care of you. And the little one. She'll be enough for now, until we get that _medicine_ back."

"Okay," Karin said.

"So hold on for me, dear. You and the little one _both._ _Everything_ will be all right."

Karin barely managed to hold in a sob as she nodded.

And left with Sakura shortly afterward.

They did not return to the hospital, immediately. Sakura sought out a quieter hallway so Karin could sit down. She had taken off her glasses, then, and was wiping at her eyes with every other shuddering breath.

"Karin, are you okay…?" Sakura asked.

She shook her head. "No, no, I'm…" A gasp. "I'm not, I'm not…"

"What… what's been going _on, _Karin…?"

"I can't tell, I can't _tell _you, I…" She set her glasses down on the bench and covered her eyes with her palms. "Please, _please,_ don't hurt him, don't _hurt_ him, okay? He doesn't mean any harm to you, I swear, he'll leave you alone…"

Sakura tried to put a hand on Karin's shoulder but she noticed that her own fingers were beginning to shake.

Pieces were beginning to come together, and they hurt her mind with their edges.

"Karin, how long has…?" she asked.

Karin just continued to cry.

And in between her tears, there were words.

"Please, just… find that medicine, I can't lose this one, not… not this one…!"

Somehow.

Two words that, out of Orochimaru's mouth, had been a knife with a stinging blade.

Became a crushing bludgeon out of Karin's mouth.

"'This one'…?" Sakura could barely hear her own words, soft and shivering and near-silent.

("_It's nothing I haven't dealt with before, okay?"_)

(Skin wasn't supposed to look like that.)

"…Karin, what has he been _doing_ to you…?"

(_"You don't honestly believe that this is a _normal_ child… do you, Sakura-chan?"_)

"…what in the world are you _carrying_…?"

Karin wiped her eyes one last time, and reached for her glasses, and put them back on.

"I want to go back to the hospital," she said. She didn't look at Sakura.

She began to stand, holding her stomach as she did so.

"Karin-"

"I want," she said, "to go back to the hospital, okay? And I am going to wait there until that medicine is found."

"Karin-!"

"No more questions, Sakura."

She began down the hallway. Her shoes made soft, heavy sounds on the floor.

"Everything that needs to be said has been said. Making _me_ say any more would only… hurt me further. Okay…?"

Sakura couldn't move, for a moment.

But she eventually forced her legs onward, and next to Karin.

"I understand."

She was only slightly lying.

Slowly, they returned to the hospital, and Karin returned to her room, and she did not come out of it for quite a while. Though Sakura saw, out of the corner of her eye, Suigetsu ducking into it shortly afterward, and he closed the door behind him.

Sakura resisted the urge to listen in. She had a feeling Karin would know if she was trying, anyways.

But it was in passing by Juugo and Asaoto's room that an unsettling.

Suggestion? Idea? Truth?

Came upon her, and made her footsteps halt for a moment.

Asaoto had called Karin "Mommy." Quite often, really.

Asaoto, a clone-child. Karin's cells had been in his blood.

A clone, made by Orochimaru.

Even with the disbelief, with the shock and horror that Sakura had witnessed on Karin's face during the revelation.

…had she really known, all along, where Asaoto had come from?

…was Karin _really_ his mother…?

Karin, who was carrying a child. That was not normal. That Orochimaru had _such_ an interest in.

That could not live without red medicine like blood.

(Suigetsu's little boy, Shingetsu, who called her Mommy too, despite her insistence.)

(That she was not his mother.)

(But he still.)

Oh, _Karin._

She had to grab her thoughts with both of her hands and shove them to the back of her mind because otherwise she wouldn't have been able to do a DAMN THING at work. She had to focus. Focus.

She had a surgery to perform in the afternoon on a little girl with an intestinal disease and another surgery to observe because the interns needed their practice and, beyond that, Hyuuga Hidokei, she needed to check on his progress and.

Focus.

Crisis and Orochimaru and everything beside, there were still sick people that needed to be treated.

They were the immediate and she had to.

Focus.


	63. Pasodoble Agitato

_Chapter 63 - Pasodoble Agitato_

* * *

Sakura was able to get back to Naruto in the evening.

Somehow, Sasuke was there, too. Naruto had managed to pry him away from his home, after convincing him that, yes, Ino, Hajime, and Takeru combined were more than enough of a force that could protect Yakata.

From a conversation on the way back to the Hokage Manor, together:

"So they know, right? About who he is?"

"What do you mean."

"Well he's sorta your _brother_, isn't he? Does your family know that?"

"…my wife knows, nobody else," Sasuke said, once he was certain that nobody else was around.

"Oh, okay, 'cos I told Hajime an' Takeru to stick around your house and protect that kid for you and I didn't mention that, y'know. Did you want me to?"

"No, and I'd appreciate it if as few people knew as possible."

"Okay, awesome, I understand. But if Orochimaru says anything that the other ANBU hear-"

"Just as long as he's protected."

There was a bit of silence.

"… so, was it… Sakura who told you? About him?" Sasuke said.

"After you stormed off 'n stuff, yeah. Dude, I kind of don't _blame_ you, this is some… bad stuff, y'know?"

"Hm."

"Must be super weird, huh. Having him around like that?"

Sasuke didn't answer.

"But kinda nice, right? I mean, I know how much-"

"I just want to make sure that he's safe," Sasuke said, quickly.

"He will be," Naruto said, smiling. "Don't worry."

"I'll try _not_ to."

From a conversation in the Uchiha house, shortly after Sasuke's departure with Naruto:

"So I, I still can't leave the house…? What's… what's going on, I, is something wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," Ino said, with a hand on Yakata's shoulder. The boy was lingering near the foyer.

"Then why is... But Sasuke-san, um, he told me he didn't want anything ha-happening to me…"

"Nothing's gonna happen to you, little guy. I promise," Hajime said.

(Hajime, who had stayed at home since informing his father of Orochimaru's arrest, and had not been there to hear.)

(Certain things.)

Takeru, the other guard, said nothing.

(He hadn't heard them, either, having slept in after his shift was over and taken up his new "mission" with well-disguised disdain.)

Nadeshiko had stayed home, that day, since the initial, angry re-entrance of her father. For Yakata's sake.

(She would break her promise, to protect that boy. But she prayed that, whatever was happening, it would never come to that.)

Presently, Sasuke was leaning against the wall of Naruto's office with his arms crossed. Trying not to worry.

"Everything all right?" Sakura said.

"Eh, could be better, but we're doin' what we can," Naruto said.

Sasuke scoffed. "Can't see how you can be so _cheerful_ about this."

"Sasuke, I'm not being cheerful, I'm just trying not to _panic_ or nothing, okay?" Naruto said. "Panic's not gonna do anyone any good, y'know."

"I suppose," he grumbled.

"Anything happened while I was at the hospital?" Sakura said.

"Well the ANBU guys are telling me you let Karin in to see Orochimaru. That true?"

A stiff corner of Sakura's mind uncoiled and creaked, even though his voice hadn't been remotely accusatory. "Yeah, it's… true. It really shook her up, I probably shouldn't have let her go, even though she insisted on it…"

"She _wanted_ to see him? Figures. That just_ figures_," Sasuke said.

All Sakura could do.

Was glare at him.

"Is she okay, though?" Naruto said.

"Yeah, she… needed to rest afterward, but I got the feeling that…"

And suddenly she remembered.

"Oh, that medicine! Naruto, did they tell you about that?"

Naruto paused for a moment, lowered his eyes to a piece of paper on the desk, and lifted it to consult it. "Andou-kun put down something about Orochimaru mentioning some sorta medicine, why?"

"I… can you send a team out to find it? Karin really needs it. _Really_ needs it."

"And _why_ is that?" Sasuke said. Sakura noticed that his foot was jittering.

His strained sarcasm and carefully concealed tics only made her more nervous. She had rarely seen him so anxious.

"Because that kid she's carrying is gonna _die_ if she stops taking it, _that's_ why, and she's almost out of what she brought with her. That's the reason why Orochimaru's even _here_, Sasuke. He's worried about her. And the…"

Theory suggestion truth THEORY.

"…and what she's carrying."

Because it couldn't possibly be, that Karin was being used in Orochimaru's experiments still.

Or that she was the mother of all these children.

Those were just.

Theories.

_("Though I did have quite a bit to do with its creation, that's for sure."_)

If that wasn't a confirmation of _something_, she didn't know.

"The only thing _he_ ever cared about," Sasuke said, "was if _experiments_ were going the way he wanted them to."

"Sasuke, _stop_ it," she snapped.

"Stop _what_. I'm only saying what you already _know_," Sasuke replied. "There's something going on with that… _thing_ she's having, isn't there."

Sakura felt awful for feeling a hesitation in her thoughts.

Was it even really a _baby?_

"That, the… He told me that he had something to do in… in _making_ it," Sakura said, quietly. "When I brought Karin in to talk to him. I don't know what he meant by that—he said he's not the… the child's father, but."

Sasuke suddenly shifted away from where he had been leaning and began pacing along the far wall of Naruto's office.

"So he's been in contact with Karin-san?" Naruto said.

"That's… what it looks like, yes," Sakura said. "At the very least."

"…well we should talk to _him_ about that first, you said Karin-san wasn't doing too hot, y'know," he continued, nodding, crossing his arms. "I mean, heck, I sure wouldn't be, if I was in her situation. That guy _still_ creeps me out, can't even imagine how bad it must be for her."

Sasuke scoffed.

"Yeah, that… sounds right," Sakura said. "Did you wanna send the T&I guys down there or…?"

"Nah, I can talk to him myself for now—well, you guys can come too, if you want. I mean… he's actually being pretty cooperative, y'know."

"It's suspicious as _hell_," Sasuke said. His voice was clipped. "Orochimaru? Cooperative? This whole thing _reeks._"

"Well, _yeah_, Sasuke, it's suspicious, but we might as well take advantage of it, y'know?" Naruto said. "If things start going sour then there's stuff we can _do_ about it later. I mean, y'don't take out the entire toolbox when it looks like you just need to use a hammer, right?"

"…what in the world are you even _talking_ about," Sasuke said.

"I'm just saying that maybe he's mellowed out in his old age or something!" Naruto said, with a slight smile.

Sasuke's expression carried three statements within it: "I hate you," "You can't be serious," and "Are you _high?"_

"At _any_ rate," Sakura interrupted, "we'll have to talk to Karin too, when she calms down some. At least after we find that medicine of hers. I get the feeling that she's been… keeping some things from us."

"More like outright _lying_," Sasuke said. He lowered his head. "Told me that thing was her _son,_ I can't _believe_ her…"

"Maybe she didn't have a choice, Sasuke," Sakura said. "I mean, I'm trying to give her the benefit of the doubt…"

She paused.

"…wait, what do you mean she told you 'that thing was her son'?"

Sasuke didn't say anything. He turned around, instead, continuing to pace.

"Yeah, what the heck d'you mean by that, anyways?" Naruto said.

"Was this… what got you so upset this morning?" Sakura said.

Sasuke didn't say anything. But he stopped pacing.

"Yeah, Sasuke… Can you try explaining or something…?" Naruto said.

He took the time to make several heavy, almost angry sighs.

"You all remember when I went to visit Karin. Last month. It was about Yakata."

"Well, of course, you came back _with_ him, after that," Sakura said.

"Yes, well, while I was there, when we were talking, _he_ showed up and she told me that he was her _son_. She told me his name was Ooda and… she told me later that he was._" _A bitter scoff. "Left on her doorstep with a _note_ from _Orochimaru_ telling her to take care of him. What a load of… I should have seen _through_ it."

"A… note? How did she know it was from him?" Naruto said.

"We know it's a lie _now_, so why the hell does it even matter?" Sasuke replied, rolling his eyes. "And _anyways_, she told me not to tell anyone about him. Gave me this… _sob _story about how she wanted him to have a _normal_ life, why did I even…!"

"Sasuke, hey, calm down," Naruto said.

"Maybe it's because… she told me he was a clone or something," Sasuke continued, as if he didn't hear, "_I_ don't know, maybe it was to throw me off, maybe he told her to say that, or-"

"She _told _you he was a clone?" Sakura said.

"Yes," Sasuke said, "she did, told me she did tests and everything."

"…so maybe she's telling the truth, Sasuke," Sakura said. "I mean, goodness knows what's really going on, the one you saw could really _have _been her… adopted… clone… son, person..."

He scoffed. "You don't understand. They're the same person. I know. I _know_. That… his hair is the same, and… it's the same person I _saw!"_

"Sasuke, calm _down_…" Sakura said.

"They're the same person! I know!"

"Well we could always _ask_ him about that Ooda thing," Naruto said. "See what he has to say about it. Maybe he _does_ have a clone. They could _both_ exist, for all we know."

"Wouldn't that be _something_," Sasuke said, lowly.

"Well, it would…" Sakura added. "That'd be something we definitely have to ask him about, though."

"Yep. Tomorrow morning. And Sakura, I promise, I'll make sure that medicine is found by then or _sooner_, y'know? 'cos we got a lot to ask her, too," Naruto said. "I wanna make sure that Karin-san's feelin' okay."

"Thanks, Naruto, I seriously appreciate that," Sakura said. "And I'm sure that… she will too."

He nodded, smiling slightly. "In the meantime I'm sure Orochimaru will be a bit more cooperative in the morning. Heck, you think we could ask him about, uh. Yakata-kun? I mean, 'cos of what you told me, Sakura."

"I'm not letting him _near_ that monster," Sasuke cut in.

"Sasuke, why would I even…?" Naruto said.

"I'm just _saying_."

"We should probably ask about Asaoto-kun and Taki Kiine, too," Sakura added, before Sasuke could narrow his eyes any further. "I mean, Kiine especially. She's the one we probably know the least about."

"Ah, yeah, definitely, yeah…" Naruto said. His eyes began to wander.

The silence that followed was uneasy and painful and entirely uninvited. But possibly necessary.

"So, now that we've gotten that all _squared away_," Sasuke said, "was there even a reason for me to_ be_ here?"

"Just thought it'd be fair for you, Sasuke, y'know, that's all," Naruto said. The shift in subject caused his eyes to focus only slightly more. "You want someone to come get you in the morning, when we go in to talk to him?"

"Yes," Sasuke said, "I would."

"Well awesome, I'll be sure to send an ANBU to your house, then."

"Oh, and, um, speaking of _fairness_. Naruto, would you mind sending a summary of what's been going on so far to Kakashi-sensei?"

Sasuke glanced, sharply sideways, at her.

"Kakashi-sensei? Why's that?" Naruto said.

"He… also knows about Yakata. And I promised him that I'd send him more information as I—we found it. But I've…" she added, with a smile-grimace, "…kinda been negligent about that lately."

Sasuke resumed his pacing.

"Oh, sure, that's totally fair, y'know," Naruto said. "I'll have Andou-kun send something to his house."

"Thanks, really."

"How much you want included?"

Sasuke cleared his throat, catching both of their eyes. "Considering that the conversation doesn't seem to be concerning _me_ any more, can I go _home?_"

"Sure, you can-"

"Just—hold on a second, Sasuke, there was something I wanted to talk to you about, actually," Sakura said.

"Well, are you going to tell me before or _after_ you're finished with putting together your little _digest_ for Kakashi-sensei?" He had his arms crossed.

Sakura breathed in, breathed out, frowned, and said, quickly, "Have everything about Juugo-san and Asaoto-kun included, in addition to all this stuff with Orochimaru. You think that's doable?"

"Totally fine, I'll have him get right to it, y'know," Naruto said. "I was gonna make one for Iruka-sensei, too, actually, and_ maybe _Shikamaru. I mean, I should keep my advisors informed an' stuff, too, right?"

Sasuke's eyes were spinning.

"…you guys go on ahead, I'll… be here." Naruto managed to smile.

He had a great stack of paperwork on his desk that had yet to be signed and filed. It was still business as usual for a great amount of Konoha's citizens.

(And news of Orochimaru's arrest had been heavily restricted, circulated only amongst ANBU, the Hokage, and his immediate staff. And a few known exceptions. And, apparently, advisors, now, too, who for some reason had not been included in the immediate staff.)

(Panic, so close to the chuunin finals, so close to the arrival of Kages and dignitaries and so many other visitors, had to be kept to a minimum.)

"Thanks, Naruto," Sakura said. "Sasuke, we can talk on the way out."

"I was planning on it," he replied, and let himself out without a farewell.

Sakura couldn't bring herself to say anything until he asked her, almost a full minute later, "Well, what was it that you wanted to _talk_ to me about?"

"Oh! I just… wanted to see if you were okay."

"Do I _look_ like I'm okay."

"Well… _no_, that's why I'm _asking_." She paused, trying to think of a comfort that wouldn't insult him. "I… with Orochimaru here, and knowing your pasts with each other-"

"_That_ isn't what's bothering me. Orochimaru is a pathetic, white little _worm _that doesn't know when to _die_."

Sasuke's response was just a little too quick.

(There were things that happened to him in the Land of Sound that he never talked about with anyone.)

"Then what is, Sasuke? I mean, we're all a little freaked out, but you-"

"He isn't supposed to be back. He isn't." He quickened his pace, bowing his head, grumbling to himself. "She told me he was her _son._"

"…for all we know he might really have _been_ that, Sasuke," Sakura said. It was becoming an effort to keep up with him, now, charging down the hallway. "We don't know the full story yet."

"Full story, bull _shit_," Sasuke said. "It's just going to be more lies, none of us are going to be right."

Sakura tried to put a hand on his shoulder and he pulled away from the contact, violently.

"Don't _touch_ me," he said. He stopped walking. "Is this really all you wanted to do? To pick me apart? Make me look like a scared little child?"

His eyes were whirling, and even she couldn't look at them for more than a moment.

"…Sasuke, no, I'm just… worried."

"Well _don't_ worry, I can handle _myself!_" He began back down the hallway. "You insult me."

"Sasuke-"

But, by then, he was already far too gone.

Feeling poisonously grateful that his thoughts were confined to his mind.

Since hearing the news, since—seeing _him_, him, wearing that face that already unsettled him so much, Sasuke found awful and untrue and horrible notions beginning to swim around between his ears, behind his eyes, and it was taking every ounce of his effort to keep them from.

Growing too loud.

He was almost too scared to go home.

But that was nonsense, why would he be scared of returning to his own _home?_

Because Yakata was there.

…why would he be scared of Yakata? Yakata was a child, ten years old, harmless-

(He had learned the fireball technique in three days.)

But he was just _Yakata_. He was a quiet boy, an _obedient_ boy, he did what Sasuke told him to-

(And yet he had asked to go back to the flower shop, despite Sasuke's-)

He was _harmless-_

(And yet, what would happen if he came home and, suddenly, it was no longer Yakata he saw there, but-)

Itachi.

…why was Sasuke—why _would_ Sasuke ever be afraid of him?

He was just.

Being.

Delusional.

(Yet, what had happened the last time he had gotten this way?)

(The last delusion was Yakata.)

(And Yakata was-)

Sasuke was home, and he opened the door loudly. "INO!"

There was no answer.

"INO, FOR FUCK'S SAKE."

"I'm coming, I'm coming, I'm—Sasuke, when did you get home?" She ran down the hallway.

"Where's Yakata."

"Sasuke, what-"

"WHERE'S YAKATA."

She paused, drawing back a little, as if she'd been stung. "…he's with Nadeshiko, why?"

"Just…" Sasuke began pulling off his shoes. "Good, just, make sure he doesn't _leave_."

He went down the hallway. She followed.

"Sasuke, did everything go all right with Naruto?"

"What do _you_ think," he replied.

"…badly?"

He opened the door to their bedroom.

"Leave me alone."

And he closed it behind him.

He got into his bed but he couldn't sleep. It wasn't even that late out.

He just.

Didn't want to deal with.

Anything.

(His student, Go'on, left the training ground where he and Sasuke were supposed to meet every day, feeling only minor disappointment. He figured something came up.)

(Sunao and Kyou had been doing D-rank missions, alone, for weeks. Neither of them had a problem with this, Sunao viewing it as the practical thing to do, Kyou seeing it as the good thing to do, both of them believing it right.)

Ino called him for dinner, cautiously, quietly, some indistinct amount of time later.

"I told you to leave me ALONE!" he shouted. "Can you not do ANYTHING right?"

She didn't bother him, after that.

("What's Dad's deal?" Inou asked, at the table. Everyone had heard the outburst.)

("I get the feeling it's something he won't be talking about, little brother," Hajime replied.)

(Takeru said nothing.)

(Just, every now and then, glancing across the table at Yakata, with small, suspicious eyes.)

Sasuke did not often dream of things he had not experienced before.

(Somehow, he had fallen asleep.)

When he did dream, it was always clips of memories, flickering things that jumped from year to year, minute to minute, repeating, muted in color, vivid in color, repeating and flickering. But always memories.

That night, Sasuke dreamed of his brother, as he had done so many other nights before.

But that night, he was wearing Yakata's face.

It was—jarring, because he knew that… yes, they looked the same, they _looked_ the same, just at different ages, that was what had set his mind so on edge originally, but.

Was there really, now, such a difference in their faces?

Had Itachi's eyes ever been so perpetually scared?

(Was that what that expression meant? Fear?)

There had to have been a difference because.

Yakata's wide eyes narrowed and grew very cold, and his mouth tightened into a hateful, thin line.

"Hello," he said, with Yakata's voice.

The corners of his mouth began turning upward, slightly. The brother wearing his boy's face closed his eyes.

And opened them.

And they were red and carried within them a pattern of scythe-like curving black within them.

They were no longer Yakata's eyes, they were-

"I'm here, Sasuke," Itachi said.

His body began dissolving into a storm of black feathers.

And Sasuke.

Woke up.

Screaming.

This rather startled Ino, who had taken up her side of the bed long before.

"Sasuke, goodness, what's the matter?" She herself was breathing heavily.

Sasuke sat up and had his hands covering his temples and forehead, his palms over his eyes.

"Sasuke?" He felt a thin hand on his arm.

"Don't TOUCH me!" he snapped.

She drew back, her hands burnt by words. "…Sasuke, what's the matter…?" Her voice was very quiet.

"It's… nothing, just a… dream, just a." Nightmare, just a nightmare, just a. "Just a dream."

Ino sat in an almost twitching almost-space. He didn't want to be touched.

"You think you'll be all right?" she said.

Sasuke looked at the clock. 1 AM. It was early.

The bed felt uncomfortable, infected with feathers.

He got up and went to the closet.

"Sasuke?"

"I'm gonna go—sleep on the couch. It's too hot in here."

He grabbed blankets, and an extra pillow, from above.

"Are you sure? But, isn't Hajime-"

"I'm sleeping on the couch."

"…well all right." A pause. "Sasuke, really, are you oka-"

"I said I'm _fine_, Ino," he said.

Another pause. He closed the closet door.

"…you were just screaming so loudly, Sasuke, it _scared_ me."

"Well _don't_ be, it was just a _dream_." He went for the door. "Good _night_."

"…goodnight, Sasuke," his wife said.

He closed the door behind him. He turned right, and right again, and once more right into the dark living room.

The couch had been expensive. It was L-shaped, taking up the corner and most of the walls against which it was shoved. Hajime slept on one of the arms, quietly, on his side, his arms pulled into each other and against his face. Looking at him there, Sasuke almost couldn't believe that the boy was almost twenty-two, given that he slept so much like a child. His dark eyebrows were smoothed, his expression soft.

Sasuke tried not to look much further, and tossed the blankets and pillow on the other arm, haphazardly. He sat down next to the pile.

And then stood up. And went up the stairs. To Hajime's room.

Where Yakata was sleeping.

He was on his back, and he had his face turned slightly away; one of his hands was resting, palm-up, on the pillow. His breathing was gentle and his hair was already slightly messy.

…really, was that what he was so afraid of? This little child?

(That face?)

Delusional. There was nothing to be scared of.

It was just a dream, just a nightmare, just his brain processing images and sounds that he had heard and seen before.

Sasuke closed the door behind him, silently.

And Takeru came out of the bathroom, rubbing an eye. "Father…? What are you doing up here?"

"Oh, Takeru, I." Sasuke struggled for words. "I was just checking on Yakata."

"Why?" Takeru's eyes were too narrow to be plainly sleepy. "I agreed to take the _night_ shift, you know. If anything were to happen, you _know_ I'd take care of it, Father."

"Don't doubt it, Takeru. You _are_ the best," Sasuke said, though his words were more muscle memory than true praise. His eyes were elsewhere.

"Well _thank_ you," Takeru said. He yawned. "Though, really. Is this one of those things where… you wake up suddenly, in the middle of the night, and you get this sudden _inexplicable_ urge to check on something?"

"…something like that," Sasuke said.

Takeru put his hands in his pockets. "Well, again. There's no need to worry, I've got everything under control."

A pause.

"…what's the reason for all this protection for him, by the way?" Takeru asked. He tilted his head, slightly. His hair, a deep black-brown and curling around his ears, was combed. "There was very little detail in our mission statement, beyond to keep him in the house."

The only person that knew about Yakata in the house—the only one Sasuke could _trust, _bitterly enough—was his wife.

"…it's a very complicated situation, Takeru, that's all," Sasuke replied. "He needs to be kept safe, though. At all costs."

Takeru blinked very slowly and very thoughtfully. "I understand," he said. "Really, though," he added, like an afterthought, "you were already so protective of him before. The boy's really got a _hold_ on you, doesn't he, Father?"

Sasuke just looked at his son, with tired eyes. "I promised that I would keep him safe, is that really too little to demand my attention?"

Takeru's eyes slid to the ceiling as he shrugged. "I suppose a promise is a fair enough reason."

Sasuke went up to him and clapped him on the back as he began for the stairs. "A promise is a powerful thing. Don't underestimate the power of one. Either broken or kept."

"I will keep that in mind," Takeru said, from the top of the stairs.

"I'm going back to bed," Sasuke said. He began down. "Stay alert, now."

The impromptu lesson—just talking to Takeru for more than a few seconds—eased his heart just enough for him to ration out a smile.

"Goodnight, son."

"Goodnight, Father," Takeru said, with his own smile-imitation.

Ah, yes, of all the things that Sasuke saw of himself reflected in his son, that smile was the one that was easiest to notice.

Though it was still, undeniably, Takeru's smile. For all the ambition and pride within it there was still an injection of his own personality to it.

All of Takeru's mannerisms were that way. Original imitations.

(And of his five children, truly, Takeru was the only one whom Sasuke felt comfortable with calling "son," the only one he really _called_ "son," in his mind, with his mouth. All of the others were just children. Generically his, all Uchihas—yes, undeniably, they carried his blood, and he would never forget the—_disgusting_ things he had to do in order to create them—but not his sons, his daughters. Maybe Ino's.)

(But Takeru was his.)

(They shared a connection, beyond biology and genes, that he felt with none of his other children.)

(Especially the girls.)

Sasuke looked at Takeru and he saw his imprint as a father, and this pleased him.

Takeru, he felt, was the one most worthy of his last name. Him, above all others.

He returned to the living room with a clearer heart.

Hajime, in the time passing, had turned over onto his other side on his arm of the couch. His neck was naked, uncovered by the blankets.

Sasuke made his bed, quickly, and lay down and closed his eyes and pretended to sleep.

And in doing so, he actually did.

He did not dream.

Thank goodness.

It was Hajime who ended up waking him. "Dad…? What are you doing down here…"

His voice was drowsy, and slow. Sasuke's awakening was likewise. He sat up with creaking movements, wiping the blur out from his eyes.

"Slept on the couch," he replied, stretching his back.

"I can… see that," Hajime said. "Did, uh… Mom kick you out of bed or something?"

"…no, why would you think that?" Sasuke replied.

Hajime just shrugged, his expression clearly not speaking from experience, and he got off the couch and left for the hallway.

Sasuke could hear him talking to Takeru a short while later, in the kitchen. Something about shift changes, and Hajime exhaustedly explaining, yes, Takeru, he was going to stay on patrol until Takeru was fully rested, now if he would please go get some _sleep_. His wife chimed in as the harmony to Hajime's chorus.

Sasuke passed through the kitchen and into his own bedroom without much more than a raised hand to indicate that, yes, he was aware of his family's presence in the kitchen, thank you for noticing him as well now if they would please leave him be to conduct his business.

He changed into fresh clothes—he had fallen asleep without putting on any sort of pajamas—and had returned to the kitchen when.

There was suddenly a masked person at the door asking for him.

Oh. That. Orochimaru's interrogation. Thing.

(That was not spoken.)

(Confidential information, after all.)

His heart, once emptied, began to fill with a lead-lined dis-ease that slowly burrowed into his stomach.

That, and he was hungry. And he explained that to the ANBU, with tight eyes.

"Well, I can give you time to pick up something quick, but we really have to get going, Uchiha-san," the ANBU, a stout-beaked bird, said.

"Sasuke, I can make you something," Ino offered, from behind.

"Just… make me a… sandwich or something. Something quick. Go on," Sasuke said.

So she made him a sandwich and handed it to him in a plastic bag. "Take care," she said.

He didn't reply.

And he left, Takeru watching from the top of the stairs.


	64. Fandango Bellicoso

_Chapter 64 - Fandango Bellicoso_

* * *

Orochimaru seemed more exhausted, that morning. The ANBU had not allowed him to sleep much, and his meals had been small, little more than swallows of water, a small bowl of rice, fed to him with a spoon. His hands were still bound, but not his feet, and they had moved him to a proper interrogation room, this time, with a table, and chairs for the incoming interrogators.

He was dressed in the off-white uniform of a prisoner, now. Stripped naked, first. He said nothing during the task, save for a playful tease when told what would be happening: "Oh, boys, _boys_, I don't mind at _all. _Look all you _want_."

They took their time in examining his hairless, cold body, after blasting him with water from a hose to clean him. His arms were unmarked, with nothing to summon.

And the red circle of marks on the back of his neck? "Proof that this body is _mine_. Now may I have my _clothes_ back, please?"

They did not comply, not immediately.

This was not yet torture, no. Just practicality. Sleep deprivation and hunger and humiliation could loosen many tongues.

And yet, he greeted the Hokage and his companions with a flippant, "Good morning! I assume you have more questions of me?"

"Yes," Naruto said, "we do."

"Well, _goody_. I figured there was a reason why you were buttering me up so," Orochimaru replied. He yawned, widely. His teeth were white, and clean. "Well, then, what do you wish to know? Mind, I _do_ have some questions of my own. Should we get those out of the way, first?"

Sasuke, sitting beside Naruto, rolled his eyes, and prepared to speak.

But Naruto leaned forward at the table and said, "Sure, why not. What questions do you have?"

A thin, almost grateful smile folded itself onto Orochimaru's face. "That medicine, has it been found yet?"

"Nope, but we're looking for it."

The smile folded, once again, into a neat little frown. "Dear, dear, we're rather cutting it close, then, aren't we."

"We'll _find_ it. Don't worry," Naruto said again. "We all wanna make sure Karin-san's okay. No matter what."

"Does this somehow have to include_ his_ wellbeing too?" Sasuke said, lowly.

"Well, we do have, like, prison laws and stuff, Sasuke," Naruto replied, almost whispering. "So we kinda have to."

"What other questions do you have, Orochimaru?" Sakura nudged in. "We have a lot to cover, so. If you please."

"Well I can assume that the state of my dear darlings hasn't changed much since yesterday," Orochimaru said. "That is, unless something _has_ happened?"

A pause full of narrowed eyes.

"…gosh, must I spell _everything_ out." He rolled his eyes like a grandmother. "I mean Karin, and all the rest. I'm aware that my dear little _Suigetsu_ and _Juugo_ are in town as well? And those lovely, _lovely_ little boys of theirs."

"They are, and they're all doing well," Sakura said. "Is that all?"

"Well, I _do_ want to see them. Or at least Karin."

"No." Sakura's voice was firm, and so were her fists under the table.

"Sorry, we can't do that," Naruto added, when she glanced sideways, needlessly, at him.

Orochimaru sighed. "Fair enough. So, then. What questions did you have for me?" he asked. "And do keep in mind that I'm _extraordinarily _tired, so I'd appreciate if you kept it fairly short…"

"You don't tell us what to do," Sasuke said.

"Sasuke, hey. We'll try an' keep it short," Naruto said. "But we won't leave 'til we get our answers, y'know? I don't wanna have to use our interrogation guys, an' I'm assuming you don't either."

"Well if things have somehow gotten less _barbaric _since I left then I might not mind so much, actually," Orochimaru replied.

A strange, unfitting silence.

"But I digress. Go ahead. Ask away," he added, almost melodically, shifting a shoulder in substitute of a hand.

Green and blue and red eyes exchanged glances. Naruto spoke first.

"Well, so, we're really kinda curious about this thing we heard," Naruto said.

"And what _have_ you heard?" Orochimaru said.

"Well, Sasuke said he saw you—well, at least someone that looked a_ lot_ like you— at Karin's house, and he says she told him you—or whoever it was—were her _son._ Adopted, y'know." He was almost laughing, though it was a nervous, awkward laugh, bringing such a thought to the man himself. "Can you tell us what's up with that?"

Orochimaru's smile stretched wide across his face, his lips closed.

"So she stuck to the story, did she?" His voice was a deep, dear purr. "What a good girl. Yes, that's the little _charade _we made up, for whenever I'm home. The darling, doting son. No one in the village suspects a thing, naturally. After all, they've watched little '_Ooda_' growing up." He began to chuckle, softly.

"So it was all a lie, wasn't it," Sasuke said.

"Well, only a half a lie," Orochimaru replied.

"…what do you mean," Sasuke said.

"Karin _did_ come adopt a little boy named Ooda, and I _was_ the one that left him there," Orochimaru replied. "Oh, and before you ask, _yes_, he _was_ a clone of me. Hand-grown. I put _such_ effort into him, the little dear. He made for the most perfect vessel, once he was old enough."

"…explain," Sakura said, with a hushed voice.

Orochimaru tilted his head forward, languidly. His bangs fell into his face. "_Ooda_ was my last resort. In case anything ever _happened_ to me. A chance to start over, as it were. I always had a backup plan in mind, in case my research into the immortality jutsu proved too difficult. And, well. Given how things turned out, I am more than grateful for my own forethought."

"And how, exactly, did… Ooda factor in?" Sakura said.

(Behind the one-sided glass, Andou's pen was paused only momentarily. His eyes were focused on ten thing at once.)

"Well, _obviously_, I'd developed mind-transference techniques, you _all_ know that. The problem is mainly in getting the proper _vessel; _a good, clean target. And I'd been researching human cloning for a while but I'd only just started to make headway maybe a year before, well." A yellow glance in Sasuke's direction. "You decided to take things into your own hands, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke didn't look at him.

"Regardless, I had figured out enough to put an experimental failsafe in place. I set up a _highly_ concealed base and left enough of my genetic material behind for both the pure clone and a… well, _lesser_ being for which to deliver it once enough time had passed. Not designed to last long, _just_ enough to pack the poor dear up and bring it to Karin. I had always intended for _her_ to take care of it, so I made sure she could be tracked as well and found without mishap."

"And when was this failsafe designed to trigger?" Sakura said.

"Two years following my death or so. Well. More like _demise_, I _despise_ the word _death_." He shook his head, mouth curling slightly, as if the words tasted rotten. "I improvised a sort of vessel for which to hold my consciousness until the clone was of a more mature age."

"Hold your… consciousness?" Sakura said.

"_Highly_ advanced jutsu, dear," he replied. "Offshoot of my immortality technique. Quite useful, really, but difficult as _anything_ to set up. Very delicate. It was very much a… light at the end of the_ tunnel_ experience, I think. Of course, I don't rightly remember anything between when I lost consciousness and when I woke up in that child's body, but there you have it."

"And when did this… _transfer_ occur," Sakura said. She had to swallow to keep her mouth from getting too dry.

"When the clone was about three years of age. I'd planned it all out _ever_ so carefully. The brain was mature enough to handle my consciousness, I reasoned. Plus," he added, leaning back, smiling, pleased with himself, "it was enough time for Karin to get _attached_ to it. Make it harder for her to reject me when I took up residence in my new body."

He shook his hair out of his eyes, fully. Dark, exhaustion-shadows were blurring into bruises and swelling.

"It took a while, since I played along with the baby-act until I was certain I could use her again, but I think that rather worked out in my favor, in the end. She's _so _devoted to me."

That was where Sasuke reached across the table and smashed Orochimaru's left cheekbone with his fist.

"SASUKE, what are you-!"

Sasuke shoved the metal table aside and grabbed Orochimaru by his shirt.

"SASUKE!"

Naruto had his arms under Sasuke's arms, and was pulling them apart.

The Hokage was involved, so the ANBU weren't.

"Let GO of him, c'mon!"

Sasuke's eyes were spinning in full, hot, red-furious glory, and all of it was focused on Orochimaru's face.

The snake, if he was feeling any fear, was very good at disguising it. Yes, his eyes had widened; yes, he had gasped; but he did not resist at all, not even with his shackled hands.

"You're a monster, you're a _monster_." Sasuke's lower lip curled, baring the teeth he could barely speak through.

"That's just one point of view, Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru replied, coolly, calmly, quietly. "What's keeping me from calling _you_ a monster, hm?"

Naruto finally managed to wrench Sasuke's arms apart and Orochimaru stumbled to the ground, falling, hard, against his elbow and back.

"Sasuke, can you calm down, y'know? Am I gonna have to make you wait outside?" Naruto said. He hadn't let go.

Orochimaru tried, weakly, to sit up. He moaned, slightly, almost child-like.

Sasuke continued to struggle, wanting, more than anything, to hurt and hurt and hurt that horrible.

"SASUKE!"

Face.

"Just get him out of here, Naruto, he can listen from outside!" Sakura said. She was shoving the table back into place.

At that, Sasuke stopped struggling.

(His anger remained. But he could hide that.)

"I'll calm down," he mumbled.

Naruto let go. "Dude, you promise?"

Sakura was, reluctantly, helping Orochimaru back into his chair. Blood was leaking down one side of his face. She didn't touch it.

"…promise," Sasuke said.

"No punching?"

"_Naruto_." Sasuke pulled away and sat back down in his chair, crossing his arms, leaning far back, like a schoolboy.

"No punching," Naruto said again, nodding. "Not even to this guy. Okay?"

"Naruto-kun, you are _truly_ the kindest Hokage this village has _ever_ had," Orochimaru said, with a careful humor in his voice that wasn't clearly sarcasm or sincerity.

"Yeah? Thanks," Naruto said, though without much of a smile. He sat back down, himself. "Sorry about that, y'know, can we continue?"

"…an _apology_, too? Child, I will tell you anything you _want_," Orochimaru said. His smile looked like a wince. "_Goodness_, how times have changed. I haven't been treated this politely in _years_."

Sakura had gotten back in her chair, and she kept her eyes warily on Sasuke.

"Well, awesome, cooperation," Naruto said. "Well… huh, where'd we leave off?"

"How you revived yourself using a clone," Sakura said. She spoke the words quietly, as if regretting each one that passed her lips.

"Oh, yes. Well, I _already_ explained all that, as well as I could," Orochimaru said. "Unless you have further questions?"

"My only question," Sakura said, after a moment of trembling thought, "is what you've been doing _since_. What have you been doing with _Karin?_"

Orochimaru tilted his head backward, slightly, as if recalling a pleasant memory. "Ah, Karin… She and I have been making _wonderful_ progress since I came back. Been such a cooperative little thing in it all."

"Explain," Sakura said again.

Under the table, Naruto put a hand on her fist and held it, tightly.

"Well, let's just say she's been_ integral_ in the success of my… latest project," said Orochimaru.

"Let's not 'just say.'" Sakura's tendons tightened like rubber bands beneath her skin. "What have you been _doing?_"

"Dear, I hardly think you need to ask." Orochimaru's subsequent smile was, of all things, gentle, and not even remotely condescending. "I am well aware of your efforts in uncovering my work. And despite mine and Karin's actions in keeping you from it, you _still_ seem to have uncovered a great _deal_ of the truth. You do have my respect for that, I'll have you know."

Sakura let the compliment pass over her in a hot, prickling wave, before.

Noticing a seed of something she could use in her reply.

"…you and Karin _both?_" she said.

"What, it's not like she isn't _complicit_ in all of this," Orochimaru replied. "We're a… _team_, as it were. Though she needed a little bit of... _encouragement _at the start. I got around that, however. A little... _persuasion _works _wonders_."

Sakura had to swallow again, to wet her mouth. Naruto's hand on hers tightened, almost on instinct.

Sasuke kept himself from touching the table.

"No, but that's—she _can't_."

"Sakura-chan, dear, _really_, why _ever_ did you think otherwise?"

"…those scars," Sakura replied, almost in a whisper. "On her stomach. Those aren't—_nobody_ asks for scars like that."

"Sakura," Naruto said, actually whispering, "_what_ scars…?"

Sasuke said nothing.

And Orochimaru said, "Oh, so you _saw_ those, did you? Nasty bit of business, but I suppose it can't be helped."

"What are they _from_, Orochimaru," Sakura said.

Orochimaru, surprisingly, had to think his reply over. Slightly.

"Well, dear, it's a simple fact of science and the innate, inevitable superiority of the human body over any sort of artificial construct," he said. "I'm so lucky that Karin's such a _resilient_ surrogate. She's really been a wonder."

Sasuke said something under his breath, squeezed between his teeth, and it sounded like "Despicable."

Or "Typical."

"…you've been using her as a _surrogate?"_

"For a few of the clones, yes. Mostly the ones that were too difficult to maintain in an artificial womb. Her blood is _wonderfully_ nurturing."

"A _few_ of them?"

"Not _all _of them, _heavens_ no. I'm not _that_ heartless." Orochimaru looked almost insulted. "Just the more _delicate_ ones. The prototypes."

(Horror like cold and downy feathers snaked down Sakura's arm and into Naruto's hand. He could feel it all the way up to his head. He held tighter, mooring his confusion there.)

"…then the child she's having now…?"

"Oh, _come_ now, you don't have to make _me_ say it," Orochimaru said. "You _do_ know I intended to let her _keep_ it, actually. Let her raise it as her own, instead of _giving it away_ like I did with all the others. A reward for all her _hard_ work. It's only fair. Part of the reason why I'm _so _concerned, you know, she's invested _so_ much in this one."

"So it's a clone," Sakura said.

"Yes. And before you _ask_, dear, it's an _Uzumaki_ she's having, so it might as _well_ be her own. Dear Karin has to continue _her_ bloodline _somehow_. I can't be terribly discriminatory."

"An Uzumaki?" Naruto, suddenly, was speaking. "Y'mean someone from… my family?"

"Not your _immediate _family, I don't think, Naruto-kun," Orochimaru replied. "Almost certainly _not _an acquaintance of yours, though. After all, the Uzumaki _massacre_ happened when I _myself _was still very young. I collected quite a _bit_ of material from it."

"…massacre?" Naruto said, quietly.

"We're getting off the subject," Sakura said. She pulled her hand away from Naruto and his loosened grip, and laced her fingers together on the table. Tightly. "Have you made any _other_ Uzumaki clones?"

"Again, dear, you don't need to _ask_. I'm well aware that you already _know_."

The blood from Orochimaru's face had long since begun to stain the collar of his prison uniform.

"Taki Kiine."

"Exactly that," Orochimaru said. "Such a pretty one, her. I ensured _such _a good life for her. Suigetsu told me she's been acting _quite_ impressively, lately. Something to do with Cloud ninja and negotiations and _hostages_ and such, it sounded _so_ very exciting."

"So _he's_ working for you, too?" Sasuke said. There was something sour, almost self-depreciating, in his tone.

"And has been for quite a time, dear, yes," Orochimaru said, nodding, once. "He's, shall we say… my little darlings' _guardian angel_. Keeps tabs on them for me when I can't."

"And to think he hated you more than I did," Sasuke said.

"I like to think that was just him being a rebellious young _lad_," Orochimaru said, pouting slightly. "After all, I was nothing but _good_ to him. And I'm even better to him _now_, you know, _much_ better."

"Really," Sasuke said.

"We're getting off the _subject_," said Sakura. "Is Taki Kiine another one of those… anonymous Uzumakis? From the—massacre?"

"Wouldn't _you_ like to know," Orochimaru said. "I _hardly_ think it matters, really. She's just an Uzumaki."

"Just answer my question," Sakura said.

Out of the corner of her eye, Naruto wasn't blinking.

"Just an Uzumaki," Orochimaru said, losing his smile, and staring back, "anonymous, and female. Nothing more. Even _I _don't know what her original's name was."

"And why her, exactly?" Sakura continued. "If you didn't know who she was, even."

"Well, dear, considering my _mission_, her blood more or less fulfilled all my requirements by default."

"Your _mission?_" Her nose curled with the word.

"To restore lost bloodlines to the world, naturally," Orochimaru said, as if this were the easiest thing in the world. "I actually began with the _Uchiha_ clan in mind, but you wouldn't _believe_ how difficult it is to _grow_ them, much less find viable material any more. I had to settle for just dear Yakata before moving on. What a lucky thing it was, that I had bothered to take flesh samples from Itachi while he and I were still in Akatsuki together?"

Sasuke sat up in his chair. His eyes were spinning again.

Naruto put a hand on his shoulder.

"So it's all for… bloodlines?" Sakura said, slicing into the thickly-growing anger.

"Of course. Really, you wouldn't believe how many clans have been lost to us, throughout history. I thought it only fair to... make up for that, give them a chance to repopulate. I was _ever_ so surprised to find that the Mizukage had much of the same idea I did, actually."

"Mei-san?" Naruto said.

"Mm, with that little _breeding_ program of hers. She seemed to be taking care of most of the _barely_-living clans. So I decided to focus on the _dead_ ones. Really, it's a wonder I even _considered_ such widespread cloning of the _Uchiha_ clan. I almost thought you wouldn't _reproduce_, Sasuke-kun," he added, with a sparkling titter of a laugh, "but I see you've done well enough. And, again, I am satisfied _enough _with Yakata, so."

Sasuke's glare was a murder of the first degree.

"Wait, so you're talking about that… thing they have going on, for the families with kekkei genkai, right?" Naruto said.

"Exactly that. Really, is what I'm doing any different?"

Naruto just shrugged, uneasily.

"Well _beyond _the Uchiha and the Uzumaki," Sakura said, "what other clans have you… _focused_ on. Asaoto's clan?"

"Ah, yes! The Kaguya," Orochimaru said, cheerfully. "Though I was really more concerned with just one particular _member_ of that clan, because of that beautiful gift of his. The rest of them were all rather worthless."

"So it's just Asaoto?" said Sakura.

"Indeed, and he's safely with _Juugo_, and happily so."

"I wouldn't say _happily_," Sakura said. She noticed that her head was beginning to lower, as her anger rose. "The boy is _suffering._"

"I don't think you have any right to _say_ that, now, Sakura-chan. He is cared for enough, isn't he? And barring his condition, he is comfortable, and loved. I think that's fine enough."

Her teeth pressed firmly against each other. "What other clans did you decide to focus on," she said.

"Hm, well, let's see…" He looked up as he thought. "Hozuki—though that proved _far_ too troublesome to continue, so I stopped after _one _and gave him to Suigetsu to keep him _appeased_—Senju…"

"Senju?" Naruto said.

"Why of course. I'm _ever_ so fascinated by that little clan," Orochimaru said, "almost as much as I am by the _Uchiha_. I suppose that's only fair, isn't it?"

"I don't understand," Sasuke said, suddenly. And all eyes were on him.

"_What_ don't you understand, Sasuke-kun?" Orochimaru said.

"Why you're telling us all this. You're just condemning yourself."

And there, Orochimaru tossed his head back a little, and laughed.

"My dear _Sasuke-kun_, do you _really_ think I'm such a fool?" he said. "I wouldn't be telling you _any _of this if I knew I couldn't get away with it."

Sasuke leaned forward. "So you're saying you _can?"_

"Sasuke, dear," he said, "I already _have_. Twenty years of work hasn't exactly been for _nothing_, you know! There have been results. You've already met but a few of them. Though I doubt you'll ever meet them all. And even if you _kill_ me, there's nothing you can do about _them._"

"Just how many… _clones_ have you made? And of whom?" Sakura said.

Orochimaru shook his head, clicking his tongue. "They are _children, _Sakura-chan. And who they are, where they came from, does not matter much at all, I don't think. As for how many I've _made_, well." A tired, triumphant tilt of the head. "Even if I told you, I doubt you'd be able to find them _all_, there are _ever_ so many of them. So I rather think it doesn't matter."

"Tell us," Sakura said.

"I'm too _tired_," Orochimaru replied. He yawned, for emphasis, leaning further back into his chair. "And my _memory_ isn't what it used to be, anyways, you shouldn't trust _me_."

"Stop _playing_ with us, you _bastard_, this isn't a _joke,_" Sasuke hissed. "You said you would tell us everything."

"Yes, but not that. I _do_ apologize, but even _I _have standards."

"Standards? You, having standards? Bullshit," Sasuke said, toying with a sarcastic smile before tossing it away. "_Tell_ us."

Orochimaru crushed his own smile, and quickly.

"Why do you _think_, Sasuke-kun?" A pause. "No, really, why do you suppose I'm reluctant? Why is it so _essential_ that I tell you where I've placed them? Do you intend to do things to them? Round them up, perform experiments on them because _I've_ chosen _not_ to for once? They are _children_, and aside from my most _careful_ selection of their bloodlines and, well… their _unique_ origins, they are not unlike any other children I have ever encountered. I see no reason to tell you anything. Do you have any _other_ questions?"

Under the table, he crossed one leg over the other.

"Because if you do not, then I am finished here. I am _most_ fatigued by all of this."

Green, blue, red eyes exchanged glances.

"I think," Sakura said, "we should all take a break."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea," said Naruto.

"One more question," Sasuke said, quietly.

A brief silence.

"Oh?" Orochimaru uncrossed his legs. "Well, then, ask _away_, Sasuke-kun, I'd be _more_ than happy to listen."

"You put your mind into your—clone. Ooda," he said. "Was… _he_ the only one you have done this to?"

Finally, a condescending smile, another matronly roll of the eyes. "Sasuke-kun, _do_ listen to yourself. That sort of thing is _nonsense_, why would I even have an _interest_ in that sort of thing?"

"You wanted to use Itachi. Use _me_. As a vessel," Sasuke said.

"Oh, that's all _rather_ in the past," Orochimaru said. "I have no need for a Sharingan now, given how my priorities have changed. I do hope you're not _offended_ or anything, I'm just not _interested_ any more."

Sasuke didn't say anything.

Then, "So the… clones, _any_ of them, their minds haven't been taken over by... who they _used_ to be?"

Orochimaru actually laughed. "Child, _please_, _stop_ it! That is utterly _ridiculous_, you should hear yourself _talk_." He paused, his laughter ceasing to make way for a slight moan. "Goodness, all this laughter is hurting my _ribs_, how _inconsiderate_ of you."

"Sasuke, we should go," Sakura said. She was standing, now, as was Naruto. Her hand was nearing his arm.

Sasuke glared for one second more.

And was then the first to leave.

He didn't bother sticking around to listen to Naruto and Sakura discuss their further plans. "He's just… upset, y'know. We should let him calm down on his own," Naruto said.

"Yeah, I understand…" said Sakura.

There was a very uncomfortable pause. Raw information, fresh and congealing, made attempts at settling.

"The fact that he won't tell us how many he's _made_. That doesn't seem right," she said, finally. She was almost surprised at herself for choosing it as an opener over his sudden concern about _them_ experimenting on children. "I mean—how many could he possibly have…?"

"Heck if I know," Naruto said. "But we gotta find out. I mean… well, I guess he _did_ have a point, but…"

"But it's a secret he's keeping, when he's been so open, otherwise," Sakura said.

(Trying, so, so desperately, to ignore the fact that Naruto had said, "He _did_ have a point.")

(Mostly because she almost had to _agree_.)

"I'll… send T&I down later. I don't think that us talking to him ourselves will get much further with him, y'know," Naruto said. "He started getting, well… _weird."_

"_Disrespectful_, Naruto."

"He looked like he was getting _bored_," Naruto continued. "I don't _get_ that guy."

"Yeah, well… me neither."

"But at least he's not being violent! And Sasuke didn't even try to punch him again!"

Incredible, how Naruto managed to smile, even at times like this.

"I… _guess_ that's a plus," Sakura said.

"Yeah! Total plus."

"Hokage-sama, Chief Medical Officer-sama, if you please."

A small squad of ANBU had suddenly materialized in the hallway. They wore tan cloaks.

"Oh, hi! What's going on?" Naruto said.

"We appear to have found the, ah, _medicine_ that Orochimaru mentioned in his previous interrogation." The ANBU at the head of the squad made a motion with her hand and a leather bag was passed forward.

Sakura was the one who took it, and she opened it with the fervor of a child with a present.

Inside were several plastic bags filled with white, folded triangles of medicine. A few of them had ruptured. Red powder stained their insides. Her heart quickened.

"I'm taking these back to the hospital," she said. "Naruto, I'm sorry, I-"

"Nope! Go ahead, I understand, y'know," he said. "Get that stuff to Karin-san."

"Well, I need to have it _tested_ first, make sure it's… not poison or anything," she said. A smile, reluctant and reactionary, wrinkled her face. "That is, unless it already has?"

"Not yet, ma'am, no."

"Well, then, let's hurry." Sakura slung the bag over her shoulder. "I'll see you later, Naruto."

"Later, Sakura."

Sasuke watched her leave from a neighboring hallway, arms crossed, his mind in combat with itself.

(Just a delusion, see?)

(…but he couldn't be trusted.)

And Naruto, alone, found his brow wrinkling at an uncomfortable thought.

"…was there really a _massacre?_" he said, quietly.


	65. Elegy Lacrimoso

_Chapter 65 - Elegy Lacrimoso_

* * *

"I want this powder flash-tested _immediately!_" Sakura, in the labs, was shouting.

Trying to ignore a nagging, insistent thought at the back of her head that she had no _reason_ to even test the substance, if it was just medicine.

(What reason would Orochimaru have to poison _Karin?_ Especially given…)

_Are you fucking KIDDING? This is OROCHIMARU! You can't be too careful!_

That… was right, Sakura couldn't be too careful.

"Every test we have available, I want done, and I _also_ want material analysis so we know what _else_ is in it, you got that? Gimme an ETA!"

Interns scurried everywhere. "Maybe a half hour, ma'am?" someone said.

"Well it had better not be a minute later than that! Move!"

And they moved.

Sakura struggled with ways to keep herself busy while the analysis was being conducted. She disappeared into the emergency room, briefly, because that was the only place she could think of that would allow her to pace and be productive at the same time.

The initial poison screenings were done within ten minutes. The powder was clean. Thank goodness.

Another twenty passed. And then five more.

Sakura felt like she was going to snap someone's neck in two if she didn't get results, and she felt very bad indeed when she snapped at an intern with a small folder and shaking hands. "WHAT DO YOU WANT."

"M-ma'am, the analysis you requested is ready…" she said.

"Oh. Oh! Oh, gosh, I'm sorry, I don't know what I-" Sakura, running her fingers through a bang, was possessed by her impatience. "Can I have it?"

"W-well yes, ma'am, of course…" The intern's hair, the same color and texture of old silk, was pulled back into an improvised ponytail. She gave the folder to Sakura and shuffled her feet where she stood.

Sakura barely began to read, when, "You don't need to wait around for me, here, I'm fine."

"Oh. Oh, um, sure," the intern said, and was gone by the time Sakura had looked at the paper and back up, just to see if she'd listened.

She had to leave the ward before she could go any further. Her eyes skimmed over text as she made her way down the hallways and back to another ward.

The curse seal ward. Where Karin was being kept.

(The medicine that hadn't been tested remained in the bag around Sakura's shoulder. It was a dirty bag, but she didn't care.)

The things that were in the powder disturbed and yet did not surprise her.

It was full of minerals and hormones, ones with which Sakura was familiar_—pregnancy _hormones, that kept the uterus from contracting, to prevent the onset of labor—and mood triggers, happiness-inducers, pain-reducers. And a worrying amount of what was deemed "unknown material."

Given the consistency and color of the medicine in liquid form, given the loudly-growing echoes of reports and recipes that Karin herself had sent Sakura (in an attempt to throw off the scent, by being so open otherwise?), given the presence of what was clearly marked as "hemoglobin" in the analysis, Sakura had a good, uneasy idea of what that material was.

Oh, _Karin_.

But at least it was her medicine. Sakura knew that and she would certify that if needed. Because she was certain that Karin would.

Sakura couldn't look at the door to Juugo and Asaoto's room. Karin's door was closed.

Sakura didn't even need to knock.

"I know you're there, Sakura. What is it." Karin's voice was very quiet. It almost sounded like she'd been crying.

"…we found the medicine, Karin. Can I come in?"

"…go ahead."

Karin was sitting on the bed, slightly curled over herself. She had the lights turned off. Her hands were in her lap.

Sakura began taking the bag off. "I had some of it tested and it—it's clean. Do you need any right now…?"

"No, I'm… fine," Karin replied. She held a hand out to take the bag, but did not look at Sakura as she did so. "If you could, though."

"Oh, sure, of course." And yet, in passing the medicine over, Sakura found herself holding on just a little too tightly.

Karin held the bag to her chest, with both arms. "Is that all?" she said, quietly. "I'm not feeling very well and I'd appreciate if you'd let me get my rest, okay…?"

"Not feeling well…?"

Karin's chin bent further into her chest. "I've been in near-constant pain since yesterday evening. I've had to ration my medicine."

"Pain? Karin, did you tell anyone?" Karin shook her head. "You know we have medicines of our own available, not all of them would hurt the…"

Sakura was ashamed that she still couldn't say it.

"…it's still a… baby, Sakura, okay…?" Karin's arms tightened around the bag. "I can't risk anything, though. It's okay. I'm… I'm used to it. The pain isn't so bad."

"…at least we have the medicine now, I suppose?" Sakura said. "That's… safe for you, isn't it?"

"I wouldn't be so reliant on it if it wasn't," Karin said. There wasn't even bitterness in her voice. Just exhaustion.

Sakura couldn't remember ever feeling so uncomfortable around a patient.

(Maybe that was what unsettled her most, that her brain had suddenly assigned this role to Karin.)

"…what did he tell you, today?" And suddenly Karin was speaking, and her words startled Sakura.

"Excuse me?"

"Your chakra's agitated. Something's making you uncomfortable." And there, Karin finally, finally looked up, and her eyes were filled with fear and anger and resignation. "It's me, isn't it. He told you more, didn't he."

"No, Karin, of course it's not you-"

A nervous, sympathetic, false smile.

Karin, obviously, saw through it. "Don't lie to me, okay? And don't pretend like I'm not disgusting. _Tell_ me. How much less of a person am I to you now?"

"Karin, I don't-" but Sakura was stammering and the pause in her words as she tried to collect them sliced through her stomach and deep into her conscience. "You're no less of a—he's been _using_ you. All I feel for you is… Karin, I just can't imagine how much you must have—why didn't you tell anyone he was using _you_ as a surrogate?"

"…you honestly are asking me this?" Karin said, after a strange, soft silence. "Don't _pity_ me, okay? I don't deserve pity. All of this is my fault."

"How is it _your_ fault? At all?" Finally, words that felt _right_.

"…for allowing this to even _happen_. I should have been able to… to stop before things even got this far." Karin's head lowered, her arms tightened. "I shouldn't even _be_ in this position."

"Karin, I'm… I'm _sorry_, I don't mean to-"

"Look, just… stop. Okay?" Karin looked up again. "I don't want your apologies, and, again, I don't want your damn _pity_. I'm a fucking _mess_ and I'm pathetic and you can stop pretending like you care. I mean, _look_ at me."

"Karin…"

"A human _breeding_ vessel…"

"Karin, you're not…!"

"It's exactly what I am, and that's exactly what he _told_ you, isn't it?" Karin's voice was starting to fill with tears again, like it had been when Sakura had first come in. "Take a good look! This is what I really am! Just this… this… hunk of _flesh _that's only good for…"

And Sakura, pushing past all her disgust and what she hoped was sympathy and years of medical training, of knowing what was proper conduct and what wasn't, got on the bed with Karin and put her arms around her shoulders in a loose hug.

"Karin, it's okay. Please, stop."

Karin dug her forehead into one of her palms.

"I just went so long without anyone finding _out..._"

"It's _okay_, Karin."

Sakura struggled to actually believe in her words.

Because it was not okay.

Karin had been—_used_, for goodness knows _how_ long—twenty years?—to produce children for Orochimaru. It was inhumane, it was—frankly, it _terrified_ Sakura, and she couldn't imagine how Karin.

Dealt with it? Coped?

Survived?

And even with all of this, at the base of Sakura's mind there buzzed a million other questions.

How many had she been forced to carry?

(_"I can't lose this one…"_)

How many had she _lost_ in the process?

How had she kept it all a secret? How had he threatened her, coerced her, into this?

But even stronger than the force of all these questions was another voice.

_Don't be a heartless BITCH! Forget EVERYTHING and just make sure she's OKAY! And for FUCK'S sake, keep her SAFE!_

"Karin, I… I _promise_, you won't have to do this any more, it's _okay_ that we know now."

Sakura had no idea where these words were coming from. She had no idea how, or even if she'd be able to back them up.

But they were coming, and she almost felt like she believed in them.

"You won't have to go back to him and he won't be allowed to do these things to you any more, Karin."

Karin didn't say anything, just shivering under Sakura's arms, hiding her eyes in her fingers.

"It's _okay_ now. You and your child—he won't be allowed near either of you. You're safe. He won't hurt you any more."

And all Karin could do was shake her head, trying to make herself smaller, trying to wipe tears away.

But at least Sakura could believe the things she was saying now.

Maybe it was because she finally was thinking of Naruto. He wouldn't allow this hurt to continue.

She could handle everything else.

She could give comfort, here.

Or, at least, try.

"I mean… I can't imagine what you must have _gone_ through…"

"You have no idea…"

Karin's voice sounded like it was rattling against bars.

"You have no idea how… how _hard_ it is to… look at something you carried _inside_ you and have to _tell_ yourself that… it isn't _yours_. Over and _over_."

The skin on Karin's back was soft under Sakura's ever-firmer arms.

"I tried… I tried to _never_ get attached, but…"

And Karin began to sob.

"Damn it, Sakura, I… I still remember the days they were _born, _okay? I, I remember _holding_ them and I remember their faces…!"

The anguish in her tears cut heavily into Sakura's heart.

"But I always had to… give them away… I had no _choice_. But I still _remember_ them…! I still do!"

Sakura's mind groped for.

Any form of sympathy.

And she came upon a memory of a young girl with beautiful skin like fondant that had been slowly bleeding out in the emergency room, her voice coming out in hollow, anguished sobs.

"I'm so sorry! I just didn't want anyone to know!"

Her belly was still swollen from a child that had been there only a few days previous. She had carried small.

The girl had been trying to hide it from her parents, and had been entirely successful, having delivered the child without their awareness.

She barely discussed what had happened to the baby.

"It's dead, it's _dead_, I couldn't have kept it anyways!"

Everything had been fine until she had started to hemorrhage. It was a placental issue. It hadn't detached fully.

She managed to survive her ordeal. She had been only fifteen at the time.

No, but that wasn't the memory Sakura was looking for.

It was in her returns to the hospital, her beautiful black-candy eyes perpetually searching for something. She found it in counseling.

Sakura had taken a personal interest in her, perhaps because of her age, or because of the desperation she had seen on her face, with her secret and her life leaking out of her in that ward that day.

Shizune had been Chief Medical Officer in those days. But Sakura's influence was already great, and her hunger to learn every facet of medicine, even at the age of thirty, even with the complexities of the sciences of the mind, was still present.

They didn't talk much. Sakura mostly listened, observing, offering an additional listening ear, if the girl needed.

Her name was Kaoru, and she had regrets.

"He told me that if I got rid of it, I'd never be able to have kids again," she said, about the child's father.

They had managed to preserve her uterus, though there were still worries.

"He said that I could hide it, that there were places I could leave it when it was born."

Where the places were, Kaoru never told.

"He told me he loved me, and then he just… he found someone _else_."

She still seemed to love him enough to not say anything about his identity, despite the warm insistence that actions could have been taken against him, without reprisal to her. But her mouth did not open.

No, but that wasn't the memory Sakura was looking for.

It was something Kaoru had said, once, and only once.

"Why did it have to have such big eyes…?"

The sentence had been almost entirely unprovoked.

"Even in the dark, and with… it was slimy and swollen and… it just had the most beautiful eyes I'd ever _seen_."

Kaoru had grown, some. But some regrets seemed to have stayed with her.

"I just want to forget it. I want to forget that something like that had been _inside_ me, that I'd …"

She had never, once, brought up what she had done to the child. And records had been searched, but no newborns had been found around the time of Kaoru's scare. Alive or dead.

"I just wish I could_ forget_ that little face. It _hurts_ too much. I don't want it to hurt any more."

Kaoru, whose parents had shown more concern than fury and merely wanted their daughter to be happy, and safe.

Yes, this was the memory Sakura was looking for.

And it only made her hurt more, and more disoriented. She could only barely apply this story, of a scared girl and her shattered-candy eyes, to Karin's situation.

Karin, who was leaning against Sakura, now. Her flesh was warm. She was still crying.

All Sakura could do was keep her grip firm. But she had to keep her eyes on the ceiling, at the door, in case someone came in.

"Karin, I'm so sorry…" Sakura said, because even with the memory, that was all she _could_ say.

Not even daring to appease the questions that were burning a hole in her lungs. She couldn't do that, not _now_.

It would only make the _both_ of them hurt more.

Sakura almost didn't _want_ to know, any more. All she wanted was for Karin to not have to suffer. She had done nothing to deserve this. Any of it.

At least Orochimaru was in custody. At least he couldn't touch her any more. Do anything to her any more. At least they had the medicine.

Karin, after calming down, after what could have been five minutes or five hours, asked if she could prepare some. "It'll make me feel better."

"Oh, of course, do you want me to do it for you?" Sakura was on her feet far quicker than Karin was.

"No, let me do it. I know the concentrations that I need."

It was with a great carefulness that Karin got a tumbler full of water from the sink in her room, and mixed one of the packets of red powder with it.

"How much did he… is in there?" Sakura asked.

Karin used a spoon to stir it together. The liquid turned thick, blood-opaque. "Enough for two months. Enough to last me."

And she swallowed it quickly, grimacing, with a hand on her stomach as she did so. She breathed deeply, afterward, for a few seconds, her eyes closed. Calming breaths.

"Oh… yes, that feels better," she said, as if sinking into a bath. She put the glass down, nodding, swallowing again. She took off her glasses and wiped them on her sleeve.

Sakura just remained watching, fingers toying with hem of her white coat.

And suddenly, Karin said, "Sakura, I… have to apologize, I really wasn't myself just then, okay?"

"Karin, you don't need to apologize, I… understand."

Karin's eyes were filled with a gentle harshness, and her mouth was formed into a hard half-smile. "No excuse for me, though."

"Are you—serious, Karin, you-"

"When I said I didn't want pity, I really meant it, okay?" Karin crossed her arms, trying to look angrier. But her expression melted, slightly. "But… thank you for all the other things."

"Hey, it's nothing, it's the least I can do," Sakura said. Her smile was fragile. "I mean, if you need someone to talk to about this…"

And there, with a lowered brow, Karin's expression hardened. "I don't feel like talking about it."

"Well, okay, I was just offering…" Sakura kept her eyes wandering. "I mean, because it just seems like you've been really… _alone_."

"I…" Karin started, loudly, but then her shoulders sunk, and her voice quieted. "I haven't… been alone. But that's not exactly comforting, okay?"

_("He's, shall we say… my little darlings' guardian angel. Keeps tabs on them for me when I can't."_)

(Suigetsu, who had come into the hospital with a great fierceness, a great fear.)

(What threats did _he_ have to live with?)

"…I can imagine," Sakura said. She cleared her throat. "I'm sorry, I'll… stop talking about it. But if you ever want to-"

"Stop _offering_, okay? I know." The snap lessened. Karin adjusted her glasses again. "I'll… come to you if I feel like it."

"That's… fair," Sakura said. She nodded. "I'm sorry for pressing."

Karin sighed. "Just… whatever. Actually, if you want to do something _useful_, can you go get Suigetsu for me? I had him move to Juugo's room so I could get some _sleep_, shouldn't be hard to find him."

"Oh, sure, why?"

"…is that any of your business?" Karin said. She sighed again, and went to attend to the bag of medicine. "Just go get him."

"Well, all right." Sakura's bones felt prickly, especially around her sternum, as she turned to leave.

Wondering.

"Suigetsu-san is… also aware of what's been going on, isn't he?" she said, from the door. "Orochimaru said he… kept tabs on all of, um. Them."

Karin paused. "Let's… just say that he's as tied into it as I am," she said. "But don't bring anything up to him or he'll just get _angry, _okay? He… hates the idea that he's at all… _indentured_, but…"

"It's all right. I understand." Sakura's voice was dry. "I'll go get him for you. What do you want me to say, if he asks why…?"

"…he won't," Karin said.

So Sakura left, to go get him.

Juugo's room was similarly darkened, Sakura found, after being told with a hushed voice to come in. "Suigetsu-san?"

"Shh, keep it _down_. They're taking a nap."

Karin closed the door behind her, as quietly as she could. "Hm?"

"Soon as Karin said she wanted to go for a sleep, next thing I know Shingetsu says he wants one too, and of course that means Asaoto's gonna join in. Then again, that kid's so tired all the time, anyways…" Suigetsu's voice was very soft, and richly rough, like a laugh. "No idea why Juugo fell asleep, too, but then again, that's him for you."

"Oh, I see," Sakura whispered. She could see, in the half-light, a huddled mass of bodies on the bed in the corner. Asaoto seemed to have fallen asleep atop his father's chest, though where Shingetsu had settled was anyone's guess. "And you're just not tired?"

"_Someone's _gotta keep watch," Suigetsu replied. He was leaning on the wall against the window. Gray, noon light was making an effort at getting through the curtains.

"Sure, I understand. Though, when you have a moment…? Karin wants to see you."

"She's awake?"

"Yes, and she said she wants to talk to you."

"About what?"

Sakura sighed. "She just told me she wanted to talk to you, nothing else."

Suigetsu looked around, uneasily, stepping away from the wall. "Well, jeez, that could mean _anything_." There was a squirm in his shoulders. "Can you watch them for a bit?"

"Watch _who?"_

"Who the he—who do you _think?_" Suigetsu shoved his hands under his arms. "I don't feel comfortable leaving 'em alone for more than a while."

"Well that's—that's not my responsibility. And besides, we have ANBU patrolling this entire wing, so if anything happens-"

"We're being _watched?_ Nobody told me we were being _watched._" Suigetsu was very suddenly and very angrily close to Sakura.

"It's just a _security_ measure! Calm _down_," Sakura said. "It's just so that nothing happens to Karin, or those boys!"

Suigetsu made his suspicion plain.

"…well, you and Juugo-san as well, we're worried about _your _well-being, too," she added, quickly.

"Why did you say _boys?_" Suigetsu said. He was a great deal taller than Sakura was.

("_Though that proved far too troublesome to continue, so I stopped after one and gave him to Suigetsu to keep him appeased.")_

Suigetsu was not as familiar as Karin, nor as weak, nor as upset. Maybe Sakura could. Try something.

"That child of yours, Shingetsu. He… isn't really yours, is he?"

Sakura couldn't remember ever seeing anyone so furious, and so quickly.

"That boy," Suigetsu said, "is my _son. _That's the _truth_, no matter what anyone else says."

He bore down over Sakura, his face getting very close to hers.

"He is _mine._ And I got no idea why the _fuck_ you'd think otherwise."

Sakura.

Held her ground.

"I'm just going by what Orochimaru told me. I'm _aware_ that you know what he's been doing to Karin? And his… _project_, with all the clones?"

Suigetsu didn't say anything.

Sakura didn't mention his role.

Instead: "He said he gave you a child for your… services. That's why I spoke."

Suigetsu breathed in, deeply, through his nose. His eyes, for just one moment, darted to the bed, and back.

"He is my _son, _and _no one else's_ child_._ Now if you'll _excuse_ me, I have to check on Karin. She wants to talk to me, right?"

He headed for the door, and opened it.

"You don't need to watch them," he said, as he left. "You're watching _us_, aren't you?" he added, with an acid sneer.

Sakura gave one last, lingering glance to the sleepers, before leaving, herself, in the opposite direction. She had other things to do. Other people to talk to.

Suigetsu went where he was told. Opening the door, and closing it behind him.

As soon as the door was closed, as soon as it was quiet.

(As soon as Karin could sense that Sakura was out of range.)

Karin threw her arms around Suigetsu and clung with her hands on his back, pressing her forehead against his shoulder.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hey, what happened?" he said. His fear increased when he noticed how badly she was trembling, and it made him scowl, in defense.

The child in her belly, the one that did not and would never belong to him, squirmed and tumbled and somersaulted wildly under her skin, and he could feel it against his.

Karin clung tighter.

"Look, just tell me what the matter is, for fuck's-"

"I'm _scared…!_"

Her voice was sewn into her frantic breaths, barely audible.

"Hey, just—_Karin, _just calm down, what's _scaring_ you?" He paused, and bent his head in further, quieting his voice. "Is it him again?"

Karin nodded, her head digging lower and lower, toward his chest. "I, I talked to Sakura, and she… she told me he said… he told her he's been _using_ me to grow. For the. For. He _told_ her that!"

She began sobbing without tears.

"…he _said_ that? What the _hell_ is he thinking?" His voice only barely gained in volume.

"I don't… _know_, but I'm just so—_why? _Why would he _say_ that? Why is he even _doing_ this to us…?"

"…I don't know," Suigetsu said, because he truly didn't.

_But I hope he knows what the hell he's doing_, he thought, but didn't say, for Karin's sake.

"I'm just… Suigetsu, what's going to happen to us…?"

He held her, in return. His arms were the same temperature of the room, and they were very strong.

"Nothing's going to happen to us. We'll… we'll be okay," he said.

"All of us?"

"…yeah, all of us. And if they try do to _anything _to us because of him, I'm sure as hell gonna _fight_. So quit worrying, all right?"

Him, she could almost believe. But she kept holding on, as if he were the only solid thing in the room, as if she would fall and be lost forever otherwise.

And he, thank goodness, did not let go until she did.

It was nothing he wasn't used to.


	66. Allemande Fuoco

_Chapter 66 - Allemande Fuoco_

* * *

The first round of serious interrogations began that afternoon. Standard procedure. Which meant they were going to start gently.

Gently meant that they weren't going to break any skin. Orochimaru was already injured. This was a plus. He had places that were soft and places that were sore. Advantages. They wouldn't have to exert much effort. That was never fun.

Naruto wasn't there to supervise. He was the Hokage, but divisions existed for a reason. He just wanted the reports afterward.

And speaking of reports, Naruto had requested that Andou take a break and go archive-diving, since he didn't need to be there for the torture.

Exciting as it was that Orochimaru was in Konoha, and the unraveling mystery that he had dragged in with him, Andou _loved_ a good archive dive.

"What do you need me to look up?"

"The Uzumaki Massacre. Whatever that was. See if there's anything on it."

Andou didn't even need to ask why. He had been there to hear Orochimaru's words. He had the transcript.

So he got on it.

There were records. Mission summaries, from before and after completion; photographs. Much more than Andou had anticipated. The folders in which they were kept creaked when he opened them, removing them from the dust-covered shelves of the archives.

The things he found scared him. But it wasn't the first time he'd seen such records.

The history of the world was written in blood, he'd read somewhere. It was easier to process as just words on a page, photographs of people he would never know.

There were many records, far too many for him to take as raw information. He made copies of the more important things with the well-used copy machine on that particular floor, and he put them in a folder and left it in Naruto's office. The rest he returned to the shelves, managing to stuff them back in with a little difficulty.

"Thanks, Andou-kun. I'll get to it after I finish with these requests here, y'know," he said. His smile was a true reward. "I'll call you if I need anything else."

Andou took the papers that had been signed thus far. "I'll get these filed for you," he said.

"Thanks, buddy."

Andou stopped to take a nap on the couch in one of the Manor's break rooms, after that. Going home would have taken too long and, frankly, there were people there he'd rather not deal with at such a time.

(Though, certainly, he would not have minded a cup of green tea on the porch with his mother, and a pleasant sleep in a sunny spot.)

(But there was always the possibility that he'd be summoned on an irrational whim. The possibility tightened his hands and kept him from straying too far.)

No one disturbed him, there.

And Naruto, eventually, got to reading. After he finished with his other duties, signing away approvals for a block of abandoned buildings to be refurbished into a residential area, for additional staff in maintaining the greenery of a park, the like. An intern picked up the paperwork as it was done.

He was still reading when someone knocked on the door. He didn't respond, and the door opened anyways.

"Hey, Naruto?" It was Sakura.

He finally looked up. "Wha-? Oh, hi, what's up?"

"Just thought I'd check in with you, let you know how things were going on my end," she said. She closed the door behind her and came closer to his desk.

"Oh, that's good." He thought. "Er, how _are_ things going?"

"Well, I got the medicine to Karin," Sakura said.

"Oh yeah? Did it help?"

A shift of the head that might have been a nod. "She's… doing better. But she's still kind of… upset. I wouldn't talk to her for a while."

(Her hesitance was lukewarm, vomit-green and uncomfortable. Naruto knew not to touch it.)

"Fair enough," he said. "Just as long as she's safe and healthy and stuff, right?"

"Right…" Sakura made her way to his side. "Any word on how the… interrogations with Orochimaru are going?"

"Nothing, yet," Naruto said. His eyes kept straying to the folder on his desk. "Though Moegi-chan told me she'd let me know if anything happened."

"Right, right." She tilted her head. "What's that, then?"

"What's what?"

"That you're reading."

"Oh. Oh!" He shifted the papers around a little, with his fingers. "I had Andou-kun do some research for me on that thing that Orochimaru mentioned. The Uzumaki Massacre, or whatever it was."

(Sakura's discomfort shifted, no longer thick and dreadful, but thin, cautious, and cold.)

"…and what did you find out?"

He had to turn around, look at her, twist his eyebrows into the perfect expression concern-confusion. "What, it's not like I'm super-upset. This happened, like, _years_ before I was born. _Years_ before."

"Oh, I see..." She held onto her elbows with her hands.

"Seriously, I'm okay, y'know?"

"_Okay_, Naruto." A short sigh. "But what happened, anyways? I mean, massacre's a pretty… strong word, so…"

Naruto flipped through the pages, not really reading them. "Something about Mist getting angry at the clan for not playing nice or forming an alliance or something. It's kind of confusing."

"Mist?"

"Well yeah, the Land of Whirlpools was right on the border, y'know?" Naruto said. "You remember, we went there once, that one time."

"That… one time?"

"With the _bridge_, and Tazuna-san and Inari-san, and Haku and Zabuza. The Land of Waves used to be called Whirlpool, y'know?" he said, looking back at her again.

(Thirty years and she could still remember the smell of ice and blood, and the cold heaviness of Sasuke in her arms. When the world seemed so much simpler.)

"Oh. That time," she said.

"Yeah, that time," Naruto said. He went back to the papers. "Mist had been trying to get the Uzumaki clan to join them or integrate or _something_. I guess it went bad, 'cos they sent all these guys out and killed just about everyone, y'know."

It was mostly his tone that astonished her, like he was recalling something he'd seen on television. "What, seriously?"

"Yeah. Um, let's see…" More ruffled papers. "Yeah, uh, our guys managed to intercept the orders to attack and intervene so there were at least a _few_ survivors."

"Well define a _few_," Sakura said.

"Uh…" A moment of thought. "Just not a lot. Though, hey, actually, you'll never guess who one of them _was_."

"Hm? Who?"

Naruto was smiling widely as he slid papers aside, until, finally, "There it is! Here, check this out." He held the paper up for Sakura to take.

It was a mission summary, a follow-up, written in a curved, almost lazy hand, with strokes that blended into each other and made shortcuts out of shortcuts. Sakura's impatience forced her only to skim, and she picked up a story of a girl found near the village's edge with a Mist ninja's headband in her hand, sullen and small and with blood on her feet. She'd been taken back to Konoha for protection and a new home and a new life.

"What is it?" she asked, putting it down.

"Look at her name," Naruto said.

So Sakura did. "Uzumaki Kushina." Her mouth stretched as she ran the name through her mind. "…am I supposed to know who that is?"

Naruto laughed through his teeth. "That's my _mom_, Sakura. Can you believe it?"

She had to read the report again. "Your _mom?_"

"Yeah, isn't that cool? I had absolutely no idea," Naruto said. "It kinda gave me a new respect for her, knowing she'd gone through such tough times, y'know."

"I… guess?" Sakura said. She put the paper back, over Naruto's shoulder, on the desk. "You didn't know much about her to begin with, anyways, right? I mean, you… grew up without any parents."

"Oh. Well, I." And Naruto, curiously, creased his face with thought and didn't answer for a while. He somehow managed to say something before Sakura's increasing awkwardness reached a peak. "Well I knew _some_ stuff about her, I just never bothered to look too far or whatever beyond that, y'know?"

"Sure, I suppose," Sakura said. "Sorry, I guess I can't really relate."

"Hey, no big deal," Naruto said, and reached for the paper himself. "But that's not the best part! You know who wrote this?"

"Uh, who?"

"_Jiraiya-sensei_. I'd know that handwriting _anywhere_." He was grinning again.

"Wow, you serious?" Sakura almost found herself trying to get a better look at the words, even though it wouldn't have changed anything.

"Yeah, him and the other Sannin were posted on the mission an' Jiraiya-sensei was the one that found my mom an' took her back to Konoha, looks like," Naruto said. "It's so weird to think, y'know? That he knew her when she was little."

"I guess," Sakura said again.

"Just something kinda cool, y'know," Naruto said. He nodded, a few times. "_I_ dunno."

"That… _is_ something, Naruto," Sakura said. "Um, what other sorts of information's in there?"

"Huh? Oh. Uh, standard mission reports, who they apprehended or killed or whatever—lots of guys with Yuki in their name, seems like a clan thing—an' there's a list of the victims. It's kinda… small, actually," Naruto said. He found the list. The names, in two, neat columns, barely took up half the page. "It seems that there wasn't much left to get rid of, y'know."

Sakura looked away, nearing the corner of the desk. She bit her lip. "I see."

"Sakura, really, it doesn't bother me _that_ much, y'know?" he said, after a while. "I mean, like I said, this stuff happened when my _mom_ was a kid, y'know? It's not affecting me. Honestly," he added, "the only thing I'm really _thinking_ of is which of these people Karin's baby and… Kiine came from."

That, she turned around at. Naruto was looking at the list, now, thoughtfully. "Hm?"

"Well, I mean, that's what Orochimaru said, right? That he got a buncha stuff from here, an' that's where Kiine and that baby Karin's having came from," he said. "And he _was_ put on a mission here with Jiraiya-sensei and Tsunade-baasan at the time, so…"

"That's… something we could ask him about," Sakura said.

"Yeah, though he said it doesn't matter." A pause. Naruto rested his cheek on one of his hands. "Does it _really_, anyways?"

"Huh?"

"Matter if we know, I mean." His eyes narrowed with contemplation. "Like, uh. Well, I guess I haven't talked to him much _since_, but that Yakata kid didn't seem much at all like Sasuke's brother, even though they looked a lot alike. So it'd be kinda more like he's his _son_ than actually _him_, y'know?"

"…I have no idea," Sakura said.

"Yeah, it's just kinda confusing." Naruto shifted his head to the other hand. "I don't even know any of the people on this list, anyways, y'know. Wouldn't matter anyways. Man. I wonder how many there really _are_, though, y'know? That he used. Or whatever."

"…again, I guess we could always ask him," Sakura said. She looked out the window, crossing her arms again. "I'm sure the interrogation team's on it."

"Yeah, no doubt," Naruto said. "Since, y'know, that was one of the things he _wouldn't_ tell us."

"Uh-huh."

It was a cloudy day, and rain was expected later in the evening.

"So yeah, I guess that's all," Naruto said. "Honestly I'm mostly just waiting to hear back from the T&I guys. Kinda boring. You don't need to stay here, y'know."

"Yeah, I'll… probably go home. It'll be a nice surprise for Lee if _I _come home and start dinner for once." She managed a laugh.

"You should go do that! And say hi to him for me, y'know?" Naruto said. He closed the massacre's folder.

"Yeah, of course," Sakura said. She began for the door.

(Her uneasiness remained, shivering, wine-pink.)

"Don't let this bother you too much," he said, before she could leave. This made her turn around, just a little. "Seriously, it'll all be okay, y'know?"

"Okay, Naruto," she said, and left to return home.

Naruto just thought, for a good part of the afternoon. Imagining and speculating.

Representatives from the Torture and Interrogation unit arrived, eventually, in time for dinner. They had much to report, though of what they had to report, very little of it was actually news.

Orochimaru was resisting their efforts almost too well.

No matter which joints were stretched, bruises pushed, ribs squeezed; no matter how many needles they used or how tightly they bound him, he refused to speak.

Though he did make attempts for negotiation, here, and there.

"A _bargain_, perhaps, dear? Is that in your capacity?" in his own words.

"And what sort of bargain do you have in mind," Moegi, head of Interrogation, said. She wore long gloves that nearly reached her shoulders, and a rubber apron.

(She had come into her job at the age of eighteen as Ibiki's personal assistant, and became head of the department at twenty. Young, for her position. But years of medical training had unlocked a great and terrible love for figuring out how to take people apart and put them back together again.)

(Ibiki enjoyed his retirement, knowing his pet department was in such hands. Though he still relayed messages to the Hokage from his younger brother, whose connections with crime syndicates were _most _useful.)

"I will _gladly _continue cooperating if you promise me not to terribly bother any of my… _accomplices_. Though by _your_ standards," he added, almost sarcastic in his tone of misery, "I suppose you could say I was just _using_ them, so."

Moegi leaned in very closely. "_Which_ accomplices?"

"Hozuki Suigetsu and my Karin. Should you incarcerate me, imprison me, _whatever _you think you'll do to me, please be a little more _lenient _with them. Those two were only doing their _jobs_. They ought not bear any burden of _mine_."

"We'll see."

Orochimaru could feel her breath on his face as she reached for another needle.

There was much he refused to speak on. His clones especially. How many there were. Where they had come from. Where they were now.

And everything else: "Well, dears, you rather already _know_, you can…" A wince, a hiss. "…_read_, can't you?"

There were transcripts. Procedure, after all.

He was naked above the waist and his white skin was turning pink where it was not already purple. They had replaced his shackles with rope, and it chafed.

He had laughed when they suggested using truth serum.

"Why you poor _things,_ you honestly don't _know_, do you?" he said. "I came up with the _formula_ for that serum. Commissioned to create it, actually. Inject all you want, but my resistance to it will only get you a _handful_ of names at _best_. I do apologize, but even _I'm _smart enough to defend against _myself_."

Moegi just smiled, and began going after fingers, instead.

He remained silent, as infuriating as a lock with a lost combination.

Though, at the end of it, when they were packing up their tools and the medic was checking for anything broken, a syringe of antibiotics at the ready—an infection was the _last_ thing they wanted to cause—he made one further request.

"…may I have my shirt back, please?"

His voice was much quieter, there. Almost humbled.

They still denied him this, and threw him back in his cell after exchanging the rope for shackles again. They also denied him a chair, and a meal, leaving him to slither to the corner and wait for the next attempt. They did not give him any schedule, any estimate for their return. Anticipation and surprise were fine and favored tools.

"Though we'll probably go at it again in the early morning," Moegi explained to Naruto. "But not again today. We have algorithms for this sort of thing. Too soon and it won't be as effective."

"Sure, yeah," Naruto said, nodding. "So what's the plan of action for tomorrow, then?"

"Well," Taro, Moegi's assistant said, "we were thinking of foregoing the physical and skipping right to a mind probe. I mean, he's one of the _Sannin_, so goodness _knows _what he can endure. Since he's obviously resistant to all of our efforts thus far."

"Unfortunately," Moegi added, flatly. "Mind readings are usually reserved for incapacitated persons or emergencies, or for particularly _resistant_ persons."

"And this seems as good an emergency as any, ma'am," Taro said, gently, a hand on her forearm. His head was shaved, making his skin appear rough and red, like sandstone, and covered with a handkerchief otherwise. "Besides, _you_ saw how well he resisted. He's not a typical case."

"I _suppose_," Moegi said.

"Just… do what you can," Naruto said, waving his hand. "And report back to me with what you do, or if he says anything else."

"Yes, sir," they replied in tandem.

"Though, sir," Moegi asked, before leaving, "must we tell him the conditions of Hozuki Suigetsu and Karin?"

"How do you mean?" Naruto said.

"He was asking about them, and for a more lenient judgment of them," Moegi said. "I understand this isn't a new request."

"…eh, just don't tell him anything. It'll probably be better for us if he doesn't know." Naruto scowled, thinking it over a little. "I mean, that'll make him nervous, right?"

"Very perceptive, sir," Moegi said, lips curling up slightly.

"Should we actually incarcerate them, then?" Taro said.

"…nah, that wouldn't be fair to them," Naruto said. "I got ANBU looking after them at the hospital right now, I don't see why we gotta move 'em."

"Sounds fair," said Taro.

"I have nothing else, sir," Moegi said. "May we take our leave?"

"Yep. Go ahead," Naruto said.

The pair disappeared.

It began to rain, in the evening, as expected.

This put Sasuke further on edge. He hadn't left the house since returning to it in the afternoon. This was all he could think of, returning. Because he was nervous, he was—rightly so, because if something were to happen then maybe Takeru, _maybe_ Takeru would be able to do something about it. He had doubts about the other help.

Ino got on his case about it, when Sasuke simply wouldn't stop pacing the hallways. Twice, actually.

"What. It's not like I'm actually—I'm _respecting his privacy_, like you _told_ me to, you insufferable—never _mind_," he said, the second time. He pushed past her and began another loop.

The first time, he wouldn't move from the door to the living room, leaning against the wall across from it, but he didn't dare go in. Yakata was with Nadeshiko. They were reading, together, on the couch. Not saying anything.

_She_ hadn't left the house either. But he supposed some sacrifices had to have been made. She wasn't corrupting him. They weren't even talking.

(Besides, how could she, even _she_, corrupt Itachi?)

(…was he really, really, _really_ still thinking this?)

He was.

Yakata was protected, yes, from any sort of danger, yes, but also from Sasuke. His family was in the way. He couldn't just ask him, "Brother, is that you?"

Surely, if Itachi really were present, he wouldn't make himself known in front of anyone _but_ Sasuke.

But, still, something bothered him. Something telling him, _This isn't possible, this isn't possible, this isn't fucking POSSIBLE._

Yakata was Yakata, he wasn't—but maybe he _was_, and—and so much that had seemed impossible, so much that wasn't supposed to exist _did_ exist.

Yakata existed. _Orochimaru_ existed. He was there, with his dry, disgusting words. Sasuke could still feel the coldness of that skin on the surface of his knuckles.

There was something he could do to… _soothe _his mind. Right? Wasn't there? There had to be.

But _what?_ What could he even do? What was he even _afraid _of?

Of the sheer impossibility of everything. Orochimaru wasn't supposed to exist. He wasn't supposed to _exist._

(Because his mind was still trapped.)

The thought occurred to him at dinner. A tight, silent dinner, where the only sounds were cutlery and falling rain.

Orochimaru wasn't supposed to _exist_ because _Itachi._

He got up.

"Sasuke, what's the matter?" Ino said.

He began down the hallway, he had to go outside.

"Sasuke!"

"I need to do something," he said, quickly. He began putting on his shoes.

"What do you need to do?"

"Shut up and let me do it and don't yet Yakata leave the house do you _understand_," Sasuke said. He opened the door. "I'll be back."

And he left. The rain drowned out any reply that Ino might have given him.

Orochimaru wasn't supposed to exist because Itachi had, all those years ago, saved him.

Sealed him into the sword.

And Itachi's eyes were now Sasuke's.

The sword was Sasuke's to own.

All he had to do was look.

His hair was wet and it stuck to his face and made his clothes heavy but he didn't care because he had to check.

_Why_ he had to check he didn't know, what did he expect to _see?_ If he was there, then no surprise, the snake must have—found a way anyways, his mind must have had crevices in which to hide, failsafes—and Kabuto, _Kabuto, _that other body. Sasuke had been young and ignorant in those days, surely the snake had done things he hadn't noticed, because he had no desire to learn, then, and.

If he wasn't, then no surprise. His mind was already in the new, cloned body, doubtlessly slithered out somehow because he worked in certain ways.

No surprises, nowhere.

He just had to _see_.

Nobody would bother him at the old compound. It was raining and he was alone.

It was raining and he was alone.

His eyes did not bleed as blue flames, heatless and hard, began to writhe around him. As arms of black bone grew over his arms and mightily.

There, in that right, blue hand, he saw the sword. White, gourd-like, a sword only in name and use.

Within it, was there really?

He needed to see, he needed to see, he needed to.

He commanded it open.

_See_.

Sasuke wasn't sure what he should have expected, but it was not what emerged from the sword.

Whiteness like blood, like vomit or snot, thick and sticky and stringy, began to drool out of the sword's mouth and onto the ground. It pooled like batter, in uneven, messy drips, but each contributing to the disgusting, growing whole.

For a while, it stayed there, and did not move.

The rain evaporated where it touched the blue light that surrounded him. His skin had long since dried.

Sasuke breathed deeply, from the stomach, waiting for—something—anything—to happen.

And something, eventually, horribly, did.

The white pool, the liquid that the rain rolled off of and did not ripple against, began to rise, higher and higher. Forming itself into something, but slowly, like it had long since forgotten what form even was.

It fell, a few times. Melting back into itself in a stumbling, liquid motion. Something vaguely human began to take shape.

Vaguely.

And even when its features sharpened and smoothed and gained color, when wet slime became wet hair and wet skin, when that face gained its own set of urine-yellow eyes, with irises half-rolled back into their sockets.

It still looked only vaguely human.

Sasuke stood his ground and was thankful that the hands of the Susano'o were far steadier than his. The earth around him had turned dust-dry.

And then.

It spoke.

Slowly, sleepily, clumsily, but. It still spoke.

"…curious. So… so very _curious…" _it said. "I wonder, is…" It lurched forward, nearly falling on its knee, but remaining upright. "Is… this just another dream, mm? Hmhmhmhm." It laughed with a closed mouth. "Another… another _wonderful_ vision… Hmhmhmhm… Ah, yes… Ah… yes…"

Those yellow eyes, half-focused, gained just the barest amount of clarity.

And they rested upon Sasuke. And the mouth beneath those eyes, beneath that dripping nose, twitched itself into a blurry smile.

"_Sasuke-kun. _You… _again… _What _happened_ to you, child…?" It took an attempt at a step forward, but wobbled uneasily where it stood, instead. "You usually… are so much… so much more _handsome_ when I'm… hmhmhmhm… allowed to see you grow _up…_"

What was it Sasuke had been expecting to see?

(What was this pitiful, sexless _thing_ before him? Surely not…)

"So magnificent… those _eyes_…" it continued. Another step-attempt, ending in a stumble. Its knee melted into the puddle of sick on the ground, becoming one with it. "That… _flame_… Truly you… have finally, hm, hmhmhmhm, surpassed your dear brother, here…"

Sasuke, involuntarily, took a step back.

"Oh, _Sasuke-kun_, I'm… hmhmhmhm…! I'm so very _proud _of you…" It stood again, half-bent, hard, white teeth gaining the barest presence between its lips. "Truly _this_ is… the _finest_ dream yet… Grown so… _powerful_ and strong…"

Another step back. Not at the thing's words, but at the sudden, delicate suggestion of sadness that grew upon its face.

"I wonder if, hm… Tsunade is here too, then… Or… hmhmhmhm, _Jiraiya_… Jiraiya, where _are_ you, darling…? Are you in this, hm, this dream too…? Jiraiya…"

Its hair fell into its eyes like an oil slick, like how it had fallen over his eyes in the chair, and its head tilted upward, into the rain.

"…it never hurts this… this badly…"

Once again, it fell to its knees, curling into itself, hands holding shoulders, thighs and calves melting into each other.

"…where are my _beloved…? Why aren't they here…?"_

Sasuke could say nothing, do nothing, but watch.

Was this _really_…?

The creature, the imitation of a man's back convulsed and its hands smacked wetly against the mud-ground as it braced itself.

"…I'm not _awake _yet, am I…?"

It said, before its voice twisted into a wet wail of a thing, its sobs turning into retching coughs.

And from out of that uncertain, half-formed mouth, white snakes began to pour forth, hitting the ground wetly and thickly, like spilled intestines.

They moved.

Sasuke could not have moved fast enough.

Go back, go back, go _back!_ Back into the _sword!_

And the gourd gained a blade and that blade drove itself, deeply, into the back of the thing, and the thing lost its form and began sliding up it, back into the gourd, back where it _belonged_.

Sasuke was breathing quickly, from the chest, his shoulders rising and falling. His stomach was too full of.

It wasn't fear he was feeling it _wasn't_ fear it was just disgust because.

Who _wouldn't_ be disgusted by such a thing? A pathetic white pool of.

Surely he had kept his mind elsewhere, because it was truly gone _here_.

Surely Kabuto had something to do with it.

Surely he had.

Managed something.

The blue flames around Sasuke's body, the bones and the beast, began to decompose. He felt the rain on his face.

What was he expecting to see? What purpose did it serve, bearing witness to that pathetic mass of a thing?

It meant nothing. It meant _nothing._

Failsafes, there had been failsafes, hadn't there?

Sasuke did not understand the sciences, he didn't understand.

(What if he'd managed to put this plan into machination while still within Sasuke's body? If, somehow, it was Sasuke's fault that he still lived?)

He let the rain cover him for several cold seconds.

This wasn't his fault.

None of it was.

This proved nothing. It wasn't even reassurance. It was just.

Another part of a whole. Refuse.

It meant nothing.

The only thing it proved was how.

Irrational he was. When he gave into his delusions.

(But the last delusion was.)

Enough, enough, _enough_.

It was raining and his clothes were becoming heavy. He was cold.

And this had proven nothing, anyways, hadn't it? He had told himself this on the way over.

Why had he even insisted on doing this in the first place?

Because he had to see?

There were days, days like this, (like that one, horrible April), when Sasuke wished he had more strength.

He had to go home.

So he did, arriving, soaking wet, and angry. Ino asked him where he had been.

"Is it any of your _business_," he replied.

Yakata was rightly, wonderfully invisible. Ino told him, when requested, when ordered, that he was upstairs. Upstairs, with-

"Good just keep him there and don't let him leave the house."

She said something weak and hardly comforting. Sasuke began for his room.

Takeru asked him if he was quite all right, catching him in the hallway before he could disappear. "You're _drenched_, Father, did you not even think to bring an umbrella?"

"Nothing worth worrying about, son."

(Oh, but Takeru did worry.)

And Sasuke took off his clothes and hardly bothered with replacing them, and he lay on the bed with far too much of his wretched body exposed.

There were times when he despised his mind.

But he despised the outside circumstances of everything far more. The things he could not control, nor understand.

He managed to get himself covered before his wife came in, however long it took her. Didn't want her getting any ideas.

But he couldn't cover his discomfort.

It was a merciful thing, that she so willingly left him alone.


	67. Ricercar Lusingando

_Chapter 67 - Ricercar Lusingando_

* * *

When Inoichi came back from getting lunch the following afternoon, he found a few members of the Torture and Interrogation unit waiting for him. And all he could do was sigh. "And what can I do for you, kids?"

There were two of them, a red-haired boy and a black-haired girl, standing awkwardly in front of the flower shop, which he had locked in getting his meal. "Inoichi-sama, we need your help," the boy said.

"Well I can _see_ that. What's going on?" he said. He began unlocking the door to his shop.

"We've been having some difficulty with a suspect," the girl said. "We've been working on his mind since early morning with no progress."

"So we thought to get you. You _are_ the best."

"I _was_ the best," Inoichi corrected. "Now I'm _retired_. And I seriously doubt I'm of any help to you."

"Inoichi-sama, _please_. Just as a favor," said the boy.

Inoichi put the plastic bag with his lunch in it on the till. "Aren't there any other superiors you can ask?"

"We already asked them. We got our top guys on it maybe a few hours ago and they're _still_ working on him," said the boy. "And Moegi-sensei was starting to get impatient, so."

Inoichi took out his can of iced tea. "What's the mission classification?"

"_S-_rank."

He paused. "And who, exactly, is the suspect? If this mission is so very high-profile."

"…well, it's kind of confidential, we don't want many people finding out or-"

"It's Orochimaru," the girl replied.

"_Dude!"_

"_What,_ we'd have had to tell him _anyway._" She turned to Inoichi, crossing her arms. "It's a very critical job, Inoichi-sama. We wouldn't have come to you if we didn't truly need your help."

Inoichi ran his fingers over his forehead a few times, thinking. "I thought he was _dead_," he finally said.

"Yeah, well, so did everyone else," said the boy, glaring at the girl with black eyes. "But he's here and there's a _whole_ lotta stuff we gotta get out of him."

"We need to crack him, and as quickly as possible," said the girl. "Like I said, this is a very critical job."

"A critical job, huh."

"Yes, sir."

"As in, how critical?"

"Inoichi-sama, beyond the mission classification, the Hokage _himself _has been working on this in the meantime. It's of incredible importance to the city," the girl said. "I'm not sure about the consequences of waiting too long, but."

Inoichi took out his bento, and shoved the plastic bag into a box beneath the till, where he kept all the others. He sighed, again. "And Moegi-chan's the one who called for me?"

"More or less," the boy said. "We went as far as we could go yesterday, without breaking any laws."

"Moegi-sensei was very earnest," the girl said, smiling a little.

"I mean, she and Taro-senpai thought to go _right_ to a mind-reading and stuff."

"Yes, exactly."

"So, please, Inoichi-sama? It'd really be helping us out."

Inoichi sighed, again. "Look, it's been years since I've done any sort of serious mind-reading. I've doubtlessly gotten rusty."

"But Moegi-sensei _trusts_ you," the boy said. "At least try and look at him?"

And Inoichi considered this. "Just a once-over or what?" he said.

"Well we _kind_ of wanted you to help in retrieving some information. That's kind of what Moegi-sensei was implying."

"She didn't imply, she ordered."

"Though she'd respect you if you didn't wanna _do_ it, I'm sure, I mean you're an _elder_ and everything," the boy said. He added, with an awed whisper, "You, um. You cracked one of the Paths of Pain, though, didn't you? You're a _legend._"

And Inoichi considered this.

He was old and tired, and out of practice.

"Give me an hour," he said, "and I'll come by with my replacement."

"Your replacement? Who?" the girl said.

"Just trust me. And let me finish my lunch first, okay? Go tell Moegi-chan that."

The pair then left, to do exactly that.

(Moegi, when told, crossed her arms and sighed. "Very well, then," she said. "Inoichi-sama is a good man. He knows his limits. I'll trust his judgment.")

Inoichi finished his lunch, quietly, at the till, and he threw away the plastic container and he recycled the aluminum can.

And reaching out with his mind's voice, he found that bright, bold consciousness in the broad network of Yamanaka brains.

_Inou? Inou, are you there? It's your grandfather._

_...what's going on, Grandpa, did something happen?_

_No, actually, I need to ask a favor of you._

_Can it wait? I'm in the middle of training._

(In a park several blocks away, Chouko tilted her head and kindly waited when Inou suddenly stood still.)

_What if I told you that it was a top-secret, S-rank mission that you'd be helping with, and that nobody else could do?_

Inoichi knew his grandson, and his ambition, very, very well.

…_why are you asking me to help with something like that? I'm not even a chuunin, I can barely do B-rank missions…_

_Because I know you're the right man for the job, that's why._

There was a small pause as Inou no doubt considered this.

…_well what do you need me to do, anyways?_

_Mind-reading. You're the best in the clan, Inou, I know this._

_No I'm not._

_Yes, you are, Inou. I've known dozens of mind-readers in my time and you are, by far, the most naturally-talented reader I've ever known. I'm not just saying this 'cos you're my grandson, now._

Inou's silence was one born from a childhood lacking in compliments, and a severe difficulty in processing them.

_The team needs some information from out of a suspect, and quickly. I know you can do it._

…_well how long do you need me for, anyways? I gotta keep at my training today, it's _super _important. 'Cos the chuunin exams._

_I know, I know. Well, knowing you, it shouldn't be more than a few hours. Just enough for a quick look-around._

Another pause.

_You want me to pick you up?_

_I'll meet you at the flower shop, it'll be quicker._

Inoichi smiled.

_I'll see you soon, then._

And in preparing for his grandson's arrival, he reached out into another mind, one soft and very quiet.

_Nadeshiko, dear?_

_Grandfather. What is it?_

_Can you come and mind the shop this afternoon? It'll only be for a few hours. I have an errand to run._

Nadeshiko still came in every morning, very, very early, to do her arrangements. But she'd been staying at home, lately, afterwards.

Yakata was to be protected, she explained. He wasn't allowed to leave the house, for reasons she did not know, even after asking her eldest brother. And she didn't want for him to be lonely.

Inoichi knew this. But no one else could run the shop.

("It, it's okay Nadeshiko-san, um. If you need to help your grandfather with something then, um. You should go do that, I'll, I'll be fine…")

_Yes, I can. I will be there very soon._

She arrived long before Inou did, but didn't say anything to him when he entered, his face pinched.

"So where are we _going,_ anyways?" he said. His hands were folded under his elbows.

"We'll be heading to the underground facilities. Follow me," Inoichi said. "Take care, Nadeshiko."

Her farewell was a wave, and nothing more.

It was only Inou's age and his irrational hunger for perceived maturity that kept him from speaking for as long as he did.

"So who is it?" he finally asked. "This guy I need to read." A pause of excited speculation. "He, like… a murderer? No, if he _was _then I'd have _heard_ of it…"

"Well, he… _has_ killed a lot of people," Inoichi said.

"Oh, man…" Inou, in glancing up and seeing his grandfather's half-smile, cleared his throat and put on a more acceptable frown. "And he's keeping secrets, huh. About his victims? Or what?"

"I wasn't really told the details. But you'll get your information when we get there. I told them you were my replacement."

Inou's shoulders rose. "You didn't _really_."

"I did. Inou, I _trust_ you. You're going to do magnificently. Better than me."

"Yeah, well, we'll see." Inou shoved his hands into his pockets.

Moegi greeted them with raised eyebrows. "Inoichi-sama, this is your replacement?"

"My grandson, Uchiha Inou. Yes, he's my replacement."

Inou's head bowed low, but he managed to maintain eye contact.

"I remember you," Moegi said. "You're one of the chuunin finalists. Your third attempt, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Inou said, clenching his teeth before further disrespect could fall out.

"Are you sure this is who we want?" Moegi continued.

Inou shoved his hands further into his pockets.

"_Positive_, Moegi-chan. Inou is very gifted. He'll be of use to you, I promise."

Moegi, in nodding, closed her eyes. "Very well. Uchiha-san, come with me, I'll debrief you. Do you wish to come with us, Inoichi-san?"

"I'll assist as backup, yes. But I don't think I have the capacity to lead in the reading."

"Fair enough. Both of you, then." She turned around and folded her hands behind her back, holding her fist in her palm. "This way."

The understanding of the situation had expanded greatly among the ANBU and further staff.

To say that it was now common knowledge that Uchiha Sasuke was keeping a genetic duplicate of his late brother in his house would be a slight exaggeration, still. But many more people knew this fact now than Sasuke would have ever been comfortable with, if he were aware of it.

The road in front of the Uchiha household was receiving a few more passers-by than usual, and there was purpose in their steps.

(As of yet, neither Hajime nor Takeru had been debriefed on the subject, kept home and on strange guard.)

Moegi handed a small portfolio of documents and photocopied photographs to Inou, in the hallway just outside of the cell. "Your target today is the missing-nin Orochimaru. I trust that you won't let his celebrity distract you."

Inou just raised his eyebrows slightly. "Of… course not, ma'am. I'll do my best." He flipped briefly through the documents. "And what is this? My debriefing?"

Moegi nodded. "We need you to find information on a large-scale human cloning experiment he's been heading for the past few decades. He's keeping details from us and we want them. What we need, exactly, is outlined in further detail in your portfolio."

"Any… specifics, ma'am?" Inou's hands were beginning to shake from excitement. (Oh, this _was_ an S-rank mission…!)

"We need an exact number of how many clones have been produced, where they are living now, their genetic origins, et cetera. We are aware of three of them already, if it's of any use to you. I included information on them in the portfolio as well."

Inou did not have a Sharingan, but he was a very quick reader, and he had an even quicker mind.

Though it was a photograph and not a word that stopped him. It looked like it had been taken in a government office, and the face within it was apprehensive and _very_ familiar. "Ma'am, what's Yakata-kun doing in here?"

Moegi shifted her expression into one with tighter eyes. "Honbo Yakata is a known product of this cloning project. I understand your father has been acting as his guardian for the time being."

Inou just nodded, eyes tripping over the words in photocopied pen, "Origin: Uchiha Itachi."

(His uncle…? Surely, that didn't mean…)

He tried not to look at his grandfather, fearing his expression would trigger some unprofessional reaction. He couldn't dare chance a slip in conduct here.

But the mission, first. They both knew this.

"You'll be given as much time as you need for your mind-reading. In the meantime, familiarize yourself with your objective."

Inou closed the portfolio. "I already have, ma'am. We can… proceed, if you want." A pause, an observation of presence. "That is, uh, if you're ready too, Grandpa…"

"I'm just here for backup," Inoichi said. He was smiling when Inou chanced a look. "Though I'd appreciate a look at the information, myself."

"Oh, sure, 'course, Grandpa." He handed the portfolio over, and Inoichi took his glasses out of the front pocket of his vest and put them on.

"I'll leave you two to prepare," Moegi said. "When you're ready, just knock on the door, and you'll be led in."

"Thank you, Moegi-san," Inou said. She glanced back at him, once, before leaving.

And, a while after, Inoichi said, "So, Yakata-kun…?"

"Yeah, that's got me confused, too," Inou said. "I mean—well, I don't _know_ him all that well, like, not as well as my sister knows him or anyone, but it's still a little." A pause as a word was searched for. "_Strange. _I'm gonna have to ask my…"

Logic stayed his tongue and made him think things over a bit more.

(Because like hell he could talk to his father about this.)

"…ask _somebody_ what in the world's up with him being at my house, and how my… dad found him. And stuff."

He ran his palm over his bang, trying to push it aside a little, like a cat washing its paw.

"But the… mission, first."

"Good idea," Inoichi said.

Inou moved closer, resting his forearms on his lap. "So you're my backup, right?"

"Naturally."

"Well… if it's... all right with you, I think it might actually be better if you take the lead."

Inoichi took off his glasses. "Inou, it's okay, I _trust_ you."

"No, no, no, no, it's not that, listen, hear me out." Inou sat up, waving his hands. "It's not that I don't… think I can _handle_ it, it's a tactical thing."

Inoichi's smile widened, slowly. "Go on."

"You're a… well, a much bigger mental presence than I am, Grandpa. A heavy-hitter. But even with that, we're still gonna be reading in tandem." He nodded a few times. "I don't… expect for you to do a lot of heavy exploration but if you make like you're gonna be the one doing that, then it means I've got a better chance of going by unnoticed."

Inoichi put his glasses away entirely. "Classic misdirection."

"Yeah, exactly," Inou said. "So is that okay with you, I mean?"

"That sounds like a swell tactic."

"And we'll make up the rest as we go."

"I trust you."

"Okay, cool." Inou was trying to hide his smile, but it shone through his eyes in the most marvelous way. "Do you need to read the papers any more? Because I got what I needed to get."

"I think I'm fine. I mean, I _am_ only acting as backup," Inoichi chuckled.

"Yeah, but you gotta act like you aren't," Inou said. "As much as you can, okay?"

Another chuckle. "O_kay._ Are you ready, then?"

"Yeah, if you are."

"Then let's go." Inoichi rose, and his grandson followed, and he knocked on the door. "Moegi-chan, you may lead us in."

And the door opened, and they were indeed let in.

They had Orochimaru restrained in his cell with one of the facility's reading amplifiers: a collar of chakra-concentrating stone around his neck, and similarly heavy stone shackles around his wrists. Sutras had been written on his white arms and chest with ink, snaking over his bruises and bandages and up to the sharp line of his jaw.

He was, however, not sedated. A sedated mind meant a quiet mind, one from which memories had to be wrestled and pried out, rather than coerced and more-easily persuaded to emerge.

His eyes were tired, and his voice similarly exhausted, when he cracked his mouth open to speak.

"More friends to play with, I see…?"

Moegi didn't respond. The previous readers went to her and whispered things into her ear. They looked almost more exhausted than Orochimaru did.

(They hadn't been using the amplifiers when they had started in the morning, before the sunrise.)

And it was during this muffled talk that Orochimaru shifted his head slightly, his eyes narrowing in an attempt to focus. And, he asked, "Are you one of _Sasuke-kun's_ children? You look _ever_ so much like him…"

Inou lowered his head, covering more of his face with his black hair. He stayed behind his grandfather.

(Of all of his siblings, he was the one that most resembled their father, and he knew this.)

(This didn't help anything.)

_Stay strong. _Inoichi's voice in his mind. _Don't let him intimidate you._

_I am strong_.

Though Inou despised this strength.

(He'd have traded all the minds in the world for one fireball that managed to last for more than a moment.)

(Though, in his growing-up, a rebellious notion began twining over his brain like a weed, and it only grew wilder with each passing week.)

(That he wouldn't have to rely on his father's strengths for praise. That the rings around his neck served more than just a pretty purpose.)

This was an S-rank mission and he was the only one that could do it.

So he'd do it, and he wouldn't fail.

He couldn't.

He could at least turn his shame into an advantage here, and use it to give his grandfather more visual authority by shrinking, making himself less impressive.

(Inoichi knew this, and it gave him no small amount of pride to see him adapting so instinctively, throwing himself into the mission so fully already.)

"We're ready whenever you are, Moegi-chan," Inoichi said.

"Then begin at your leisure, Inoichi-sama."

(Moegi had a talent for intimation and gathering data from whispers.)

And they did.


	68. Mambo Cesura

_Chapter 68 - Mambo Cesura_

* * *

Now, the thing to note about the art of mind-reading is that nearly anyone is capable of learning it, if they have the patience and, hopefully, some innate capacity for it. It is not an easy art, which is why so many prefer using psychology and physical pain to get their information.

The Yamanaka clan was not the first to use it, no, not by any means. But they were the first to prove themselves talented and almost born for its use, the first to expand it and evolve it and make it their own. None but a Yamanaka could switch minds as they did. Their telepathy was theirs alone, likewise.

This is why, within the Torture and Interrogation department of Konoha, there was a hierarchy.

A novice mind-reader, from any clan, was better than none.

Two novices were better than one. Three novices even moreso. The same to four, especially with a more experienced reader leading the effort.

(But never five, because four was already too much for one mind to handle, even when the intent was to confuse and obfuscate, and keep the attention off the lead reader.)

Any more-experienced reader was better than a novice, naturally, and further numbers better.

A single Yamanaka was better than all of this.

And two Yamanakas, especially those directly related to each other, well. Those were the best you could hope for.

(There was a strange, untested, yet universally-known truth that the more closely-related one Yamanaka was to the other, the more efficiently their minds seemed to work in a reading. Nobody knew why, exactly, this was. But it was exploited whenever possible.)

So to receive a half-Yamanaka-half-Uchiha boy and his grandfather, himself a known talent in his day, was better than Moegi had expected, though she knew nothing of the boy's skill level.

Inoichi, however, vouched for him. So he had to have been skilled in some way.

They were entirely silent when approaching Orochimaru, and put their palms on both sides of his head, over the temples. Orochimaru's eyes slid this way, that way, though they closed in time as chakra and foreign consciousnesses began to flow in.

This was an issue of concentration. They had to concentrate to get in. He had to concentrate to keep them as far out as possible.

It truly said something about the both of them that not only had Orochimaru managed to keep out three teams of readers of increasing skill, but that he managed to hold out on Inou and Inoichi for even a moment.

They got in, regardless.

The mental landscape slowly began to form out of the darkness in bleeding daubs of yellow, of red. This happened with every reading, a formation of, a collaboration of images between the reader and the one being read. It was a sort of allowance, a game of give and take. The target set the playing field, and the rules.

But sometimes rules, like minds, were made to be broken.

Orochimaru's world was a stage, brilliant and the color of old paper. The backdrop, painted with green-ancient trees and mountains, stretched up far higher than any real backdrop could. Behind them, there was no exit, nor no other audience. Just the theater of his mind.

"Certainly giving us a lot to work with," Inoichi said. He put his hands on his waist, looking up and around. The ceiling was limitless and wood-brown.

(Nothing was heard on the outside.)

"It's a front," Inou said. "He's trying to impress us. It's too simple. This theater's too roughly-formed around the edges, see?" He gestured with his hand. "If there was something hiding in this room then we'd at _least_ be able to see the ceiling." He began forward. "We should try backstage."

"Well look who knows _everything_," Inoichi said.

(As he was supposed to.)

"Follow me, and don't get lost."

"_Grand_pa." Inou rolled his eyes. "I _can't_ get lost."

"Sure." He climbed onto the stage. It was polished, made of warm, golden-yellow wood, and his feet thumped, rightly, softly, with each step. He put his hand on the backdrop. "Hm, paper. Shouldn't be that hard to get through."

With a fluid motion, he pulled his hand back and then forward, and pressed it through the paper, making a hole. And with both hands he began widening the hole, spreading it apart. The backdrop ripped and folded and crinkled otherwise, succumbing to his influence.

Behind the backdrop, however, there was nothing but another stage. Another invisible audience.

(The audience, of course, was Orochimaru.)

It was almost mocking in its simplicity. Nothing to hide.

"Well this is something," Inoichi said. He scratched his forehead. "This part of the set?"

"It's a double-stage. The audience watches from both sides," Inou said. "That, or it's for… plays about plays."

Inoichi raised a thick eyebrow, looking up and around again. "So which is it, then?"

"I think we're not _supposed_ to know," Inou said. His face twisted into a fine, disappointed scowl. "Either way, it's a dead end."

"Don't give up so easily, Inou," Inoichi said. He clapped a hand on his back in perfectly-false reassurance. "We'll find it."

"Sure."

"We _will_. Come on, you take one side, I'll take the other. Divide and conquer, remember the basics?"

"_Grand_pa."

"Come on, now." Inoichi moved out and into the audience of the second (or was it first?) stage. Its features were just as vague, just as frustratingly undefined. "There's got to be some sort of… door to the back somewhere." He hopped off the stage, paced along its edge, toward the tall, red curtains framing it. "Maybe behind here…"

There was no door behind the curtain.

And when he looked back out onto the stage, its original (or was it staged?) audience behind it, Inou was gone.

Inoichi resisted in calling out to him. There was no need.

He continued searching the curtains, the walls, under the cushions. Making a very visual fuss of things.

That was the old-school method. Making a big show, forcing information from out of the projected space. Finding doors, and hidden hallways, wrenching the entrances to them off of their metaphorical hinges, if need be.

His grandson had a gift for the subtle, however, and it never ceased to amaze him. He was already impressed by the ease in which he slipped into his role as a belligerent sidekick, a novice, surely nobody to pay attention to.

(In other circumstances, however; in free-readings and practice, Inou was a much different boy. There had been a glimpse of it in his observation of the theater, before he caught himself and put the mask back on.)

(That confident boy, so full of energy. Inoichi wished he could see that side of him more.)

For now, he just hoped, telling himself he would soon be taking comfort in his decision.

Surely.

He began trying to pull the curtains down.

While Inou, under the stage, was getting himself oriented with the true space.

He'd figured out the trick as soon as he'd seen that it was a double-stage. With those things—or with theaters in the round—"backstage" was always one of two places: the sides, or the floor. And given that a quick glance had revealed that there was nothing to retreat to, on either side of that shared stage, there had to be something beneath.

And there was. A quick test with his feet revealed a trapdoor to him, and stomping hard enough—combined with his natural willpower, his insistence that he be let _through_—brought him where he needed to go, falling onto what he knew was a feather mattress to catch him.

(The only reason he knew _any_ of this was because of _No_. Volume 24. The heroine had to lead in a play full of tricks and quick-changes on a stage that lacked a backdrop. Naturally, she triumphed, despite the wishes of her petty male rivals for her to fail. As usual.)

(…no, it wasn't going to make Inou any less ashamed of his love for the series, that it had helped him out here.)

(…but it did make him wonder if Orochimaru himself had an interest in traditional theater, or maybe even _No_ itself, for having his projection manifest in this form.)

(He tried not to think about what this meant about Orochimaru.)

(Or himself.)

Regardless, he had made it.

The underneath of the theater was quite a bit different from its top. Barren, concrete hallways. It felt cold.

But, ah, the walls here were far more defined. He was getting close.

Close wasn't good enough. And he looked this way and that for any sign that he was being observed.

After all, a mind could only, naturally, observe one intruding consciousness at a time.

Except in the case of Two-Mind Syndrome, where it was a bit more complicated, but Inou would be _very_ aware of if Orochimaru himself had the condition, since those individuals tended to manifest little, miniature versions of themselves with which to observe further things.

(Of course, he had never actually _encountered_ someone with Two-Mind Syndrome, just read about it, but…)

No, there was no Orochimaru here.

But Inou wasn't going to take any chances.

There were many methods one could use in an effective mind-reading, a gentle and precise one. The trickiest part was mainly in convincing the host mind that you were simply _supposed_ to be there in the first place, which you could attain through several methods.

Classically, the best way to do this was to sincerely declare that you were simply there to look around, not steal or anything. To be gentle and almost accidental in your explorations. Oh, goodness, did I mean to do that? Apologies. And such. Inou didn't much like that technique, it felt too false to him.

Misdirection—what he was using now—was also quite effective.

Inou liked to try new things, however. And one of his favorite methods—one he'd thrown together in a speculative bit of thought, while reading a book on interrogation techniques—was to impersonate the host entirely.

After all, who was more at home in a mind than its owner?

He almost had to laugh at how easy it would be, here. Other projections were far less elaborate, less fancy, less—well, there were words for it. Office buildings, mainly. Endless hallways and entrances. Traditional mansions, mazes full of sliding doors. Just _mazes_.

(That was the thing about most people. They always, always chose mazes when attempting to keep interrogators out. As if that would make information harder to _find, _perhaps.)

(Maze-cracking was one of the first things _covered_ in mind-reading training. And Inou was very, very good at getting out of mazes.)

Other minds made things difficult in obtaining a disguise. He'd have to conjure utility closets, or else cover himself with a door. And beyond _that_, finding some sort of reflective surface, to make sure it looked convincing.

But here, this wonderful place, was a theater.

And theaters always had dressing rooms, didn't they?

Inou thought about that, for a while. Yes, where _would_ the dressing rooms be, in this under-stage?

The pull of his own experience, the focus on his grandfather, the sheer, natural force of his mind soon gave him the answer in the form of a sign on the next wall he laid eyes upon.

Ah. That way.

(He did not dare speak, for fear of being noticed. But that meant little, truly.)

His feet made no sound on the hard floor as he went along. Good.

He noticed, as he went along, rust-red-colored doors every few feet, with shining aluminum handles, the sort of thing one saw in hospitals. For later. Doubtless there were wonderful, horrible things hiding behind them.

Though he had an objective, first, didn't he?

He pulled his hand through the air in front of him, manifesting three images.

A red-haired, regal-looking girl, Taki Kiine. Yakata the scared. And a sickly skin-over-bones boy with white hair, Asaoto.

The rest he had already memorized, but it would be a help to recall the faces, should he encounter them again.

He tucked them away, curling them into his fist. Right.

Dressing room first. He'd surely find more information on them later, once he looked the part.

It was when he saw a variation in the endless red doors that he knew he'd made it.

There was a portrait hanging on it, one of Orochimaru. He looked far healthier, far handsomer than he did in the cell, with a thin, arrogant mouth, and bright yellow eyes. His hair was longer. Silver earrings hung from his ears.

His dressing room. Inou tried the door, but the handle refused to give. He rolled his eyes and observed a keyhole there, and from his pocket, he took the key.

(Half the skill in subtle reading was in acting like impossibilities had always existed. It worked especially well when no one was watching.)

He opened the door and found himself in a room that was far larger than it should have been, given the proximity of the other doors in the hallway. But that was the nature of minds.

It was shaped like a dressing room, truly, with mirrors on either wall and lights above, and surfaces and stools for absent actors. Makeup and discarded props and wigs were littered in replacement.

But between the two walls of mirrors, spaced so-widely apart, were bookshelves, _tall_ bookshelves, and _many_ of them, and a film projector.

Naturally, Inou approached them first. Irregularities were always _wonderfully_ telling. Bookshelves in a dressing room, after all? What a thing.

They were filled to capacity, floor to ceiling, packed with paper folders, and notebooks. Inou looked, but did not dare touch. Not yet.

He had to make his face, first. And he was, indeed, familiar with Orochimaru's face. Anyone that knew anything was.

Mind-spaces made such disguises far too easy. It almost scared Inou when he turned around to look in a mirror and saw a more proper face sneering back. He was taller. Inou took care to toss that long hair over his shoulder and, almost preening, ran a finger from his temple to his chin.

But what scared him more was the sudden, gut-clenching, overwhelming feeling of rejection, _disgust_, _HATRED,_ _SICK AWFUL DIGUSTING UN—_

That he lost control of himself and once again became Inou, and he had to put the face on again.

(Where in the world had _that _come from…?)

It took him a while to clear, to sharpen the features, that second time.

He just told himself that it would help. It would. It _would_.

And he reached out and into the bookshelves after another moment of self-observation, making sure it looked _right_, and flipped randomly through the pages with white hands.

Yet, what he found disappointed him. It was all so… generic, so _self-centered_. Scientific reports that were little more than _diaries,_ written in a beautiful hand, charting personal progress. Inou took care to put them all back where they belonged. Messes brought unneeded attention.

He tried a few other areas of the bookshelves. Similar, selfish results.

The film reel, perhaps? He hesitated in even approaching it. It ran the risk of triggering a memory. Which meant that Inou would experience it, but Orochimaru would, as well, and that might bring attention to him and keep him from further information.

But. His grandfather was still above, wasn't he? Undisguised and making a ruckus.

And here _he_ was, wearing a too-pale face, and being very careful, _very_ careful.

He touched the projector and the room darkened, and filled with the sound of chattering reels and old audio as an image was projected on the far wall.

…self-_centered_. It was a film of a surgery, a sterile white room, with some anonymous female form draped in sheets on a central table. Orochimaru wore a lilac-colored apron and flesh-colored rubber gloves that went to his elbows, leaving the rest of his white skin exposed.

"Kabuto, _dear_, is the anesthesia _ready?_"

A white-haired young man with glasses came into the frame. "Should be."

"Then fetch my _scalpel_, if you would."

"Of course, sir."

Inou watched for only a few minutes more. He could handle blood, he _could, _but he didn't find anything relevant from the footage for further observation. The lights came back on.

He left the dressing room, making up his face with his frustration. Three faces, he needed information on them and their…

It unsettled him how he couldn't find the word.

There were more of them, at any rate. And he needed to know who they were.

And in closing the door to the dressing room, silver jingling below his ears with the motion of his head, he noticed very suddenly that the doors down the hallway had changed. Little lights, triangle-soft and pale yellow, colored the doors, illuminating the floor in front of them like pieces of artwork. The rest of the gently-curving hallway had darkened.

More portraits had appeared, on more doors. Inou couldn't remember if they had been there before, couldn't decide if they'd always been there, or if they had just appeared from his unconscious will spilling out into the space. Either suited him.

There didn't seem to be any particular meaning or order to the portraits. Next to Orochimaru's dressing room was a portrait of another Sannin, Jiraiya, though the third, Tsunade, was nowhere near them, as far as Inou could see.

Beside him was a man Inou did not recognize, with a fierce glare and bandages covering his face. His forehead was bare, eyebrowless.

He continued down the hallway, slowly.

There was a red-haired woman, vaguely familiar, with a challenging smile full of fire.

A girl—no, a boy, perhaps…? A _person, _young, with melted-brown eyes and black hair tied high atop their head, and a beautiful mouth.

The next he recognized.

His uncle.

He paused for a while, tilting his head, eyebrows curling with concerned curiosity. He looked… angry, yet sad.

(It was also the clearest image Inou had ever seen of him, everything else from scarce family photos, from assumed likenesses to his father.)

The resemblance to Yakata was almost undeniable.

…_Yakata...!_

And it was then that Inou stumbled upon the frightening, unsettling notion that perhaps.

He'd gotten what he was looking for.

He began down the hallway much more quickly, taking careful, careful, _careful_ note of the faces going onward.

Following his uncle, there was:

A young man with white hair and very green eyes, and strange red marks around his eyes, above his eyebrows, under his lashes.

Another face he recognized, the First—oh, _no_—the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama.

A very pale, very thin man with red hair, and strange eyes, like ripples in a pool of water.

…and there the portraits ended.

…what?

…there had to have been more. There were only eight, minus the one of Orochimaru, the one that had _caused_ the manifestation in this manner.

Inou went further, further, further down the hallway, mind radiating need, that _couldn't_ have been all.

But.

Orochimaru, he was skilled. _Ancient. _He must have had ways of hiding information.

Inou was certain—even then, even walking down the hallway initially, having gotten below the stage—that he was only seeing a little bit.

This, this, this was just a start. He could find the rest later.

He returned to the earlier part of the hallway, and the portraits had not moved. This was a start.

He would begin with what he knew, and move onto the others.

Hello, Uncle. What did Orochimaru have to do with you?

Inou opened the door much like he had opened the previous one, with a conjured key and a sense of purpose. The room beyond, however, was no dressing room, but a bare, gray chamber, without windows, without any source of light. But it was lit all the same.

Its emptiness was unacceptable.

There had to be more. Inou traced his hands on the walls, feeling their similar coldness. Feeling for hidden compartments.

Nothing.

Come on, come on, come_ on._

He pushed harder and.

Found his hands sinking into the wall. It was the same consistency of cold mud, and he pulled his arms out almost immediately and found it sticking there, dripping off of him and making thick, wet noises where it hit the ground.

Disgusting! Inou's impatience increased with each shake of his arms.

Impatience, and also fear, furthered his frustration. Could he really do this? Of course he couldn't, he couldn't do _anything_ right.

(Anything his _father_ wanted him to do, anyways.)

Even though his grandfather trusted him. But what did his _grandfather_ know, anyways?

(That Inou was good at things like this.)

…yeah, like _hell _he was good enough, he was just an amateur, he knew nothing, he had to work _harder._

He couldn't fail here.

"_Give_ me something!" he pressed through his teeth, with his voice.

He was given something, the grey ooze on his arms gaining an alarming weight, shifting to his hands, forming, molding into.

A baby, naked and male, with black hair and uncomfortably familiar black eyes squirmed there for just a moment, and Inou would have dropped it had it not returned to gray mass in some trick of perspective. It began dripping through his fingers again.

He backed out of the room, shaking muck off his hands as he went. The door closed without his touching it. His skin was clean in the hallway.

His uncle's face burned with derision.

Inou's chest heaved.

(Outside, his breaths likewise increased.)

Maybe he was in over his head. Maybe he should take a break.

…like hell he could, like hell, like _hell_. He couldn't take a break because taking a break would mean having to dive in all _over_ again and have to explain and having to face that shame and admitting that he was giving up it was giving _up_.

He couldn't.

Give up.

Not here.

Not HERE.

NOT HERE.

The door beside his uncle's had a picture of a white-haired boy and Inou glared at it.

He would get information.

With both hands he grabbed the handle of the door and he pulled, not even bothering with a key.

It _would_ open and it _would_ tell him WHAT HE WANTED TO KNOW.

IT WOULD TELL HIM.

WHAT.

HE.

WAS.

HIDING.

_NOW!_

And when he pulled open the door, thick, red strings of some liquid substance fell away from it.

The room inside was covered in it. The floors, likewise.

It smelled like death.

And in the middle of the room there was a woman on the floor, on her side, with one of her arms on her stomach. Her face was pressed on the ground, red hair spread around her and soaked an even darker red. She looked bloated, and her skin was very pale.

And bones were coming out of her stomach, like hard, white fingers; like a ribcage turned inside-out. They were smeared with her blood.

Inou almost couldn't breathe.

And then she moved.

She lifted her hand off of her stomach and it shook, badly, as she reached out to him. Her palm was caked in blood. She was barely able to lift her head, but he could still see one red eye looking back at him out of that bloody face, and it was desperate and terrified.

"_Help_ me…!"

Her voice was little more than a whisper but it cut into Inou's stomach like a thick dagger.

The whole room began to shake, and a low, loudly-growing rumble began overwhelming his ears.

And as he covered his ears and felt his body once more becoming his own felt the wind-rush of his consciousness being whisked through hallways and back to the rapidly-dissolving stage back into the interrogation room he heard a noise, even louder, even louder, yelling.

"STOP! Stop, please, please, stop, let me _out_ of here, please, let me, I have to go, let me _out!"_

Inoichi caught him as he stumbled back, gasping for breath, his mouth watering from shock. His knees had turned to cartilage.

Orochimaru was struggling in his chair, and hard.

He was not yelling, but screaming, he was _begging_.

"PLEASE! Please, _listen_ to me, listen, _listen_, you have to let me go, _you have to let me go_, please, please, let me out of here, _please!"_

His breaths were becoming panicked, heavy and fast. He struggled harder.

"She's, she's in trouble, she's, something's wrong with her, please, you have to let me out or else, or else she'll… damn it, just let me _go, please!"_

Orochimaru was sobbing.

"Inou," Inoichi said, in a fearful, awed whisper, "what did you _do_ to him…?"

"If you don't let me go she'll _die_, she'll _die_, I can't—Mom! Mom, please, Mom, please be okay! MOM! Let me GO, I can't let her DIE! _MOM!_"

Inoichi moved forward to calm him, forgetting his question.

And all Inou could say, falling to his knees, was, "I just wanted to see what he was hiding."

Inoichi put his palm on his forehead, and a rush of chakra flooded Orochimaru's brain. His eyes, wet with tears, fluttered from the strain and the overwhelming, artificial peace.

"Please, my, my mother, she'll… please, just let me go… I'm sorry, I'm not… just let me… please, my mom…"

His head slumped forward and his sobs began to slow. But the tears weren't stopping.

"Now, Orochimaru," Inoichi said, softly, firmly, "we can either do _that_ again, or you can talk to us about what we want to know. Which is easier?"

He shook his head, many, many times. "I'm not Orochimaru, I'm not, I'm _not, _I'm not Orochimaru…"

Inoichi's eyebrows lowered. "You're… not?"

"No, I'm not, I'm not, I'm _sorry_, I just… I just…"

And he looked up at Inoichi, and his face wore an expression that the old man had seen so many times before.

On broken people. The ones that had given up. It was a look of pure pain and desperation and anguish.

"_Please_ don't hurt my mom…!"

It was all he could manage before he started sobbing again, his head falling, chin to collarbone. His naked, ink-polluted shoulders convulsed with his hollow chest.

Inou remained on the floor, watching in disbelief.

(Not only for this strange identity confession, but the fact that _he_ had _caused_ it.)

(Had he really broken Orochimaru that easily?)

(Just by losing his temper?)

"I think," Inoichi said, to the staff behind the glass, "that we all ought to take a break."

They needed to give the man in the chair time to calm down.

Among other things.

So they took a break.


	69. Tarantella Acciaccatura

_Chapter 69 - Tarantella Acciaccatura_

* * *

Inou felt a great deal better after a glass of water and a few, good, deep breaths.

His grandfather wouldn't stop talking. "I mean, I only got a taste of whatever memory you found, but you _really_ grabbed him where it hurt, Inou! That's… definitely a way to get him to talk."

"Didn't find the information we were looking for," Inou grumbled.

"Yes, but it looks like we'll get that all the same. I mean, seriously, after what you did…! I was struggling to stay upright, myself."

"_Grand_pa."

"I'm just saying." He paused, looking over his shoulder. Orochimaru was being tended to by some lesser interrogators, who were removing the equipment from his body. Prolonged exposure to that stuff wasn't good for anyone. "Could you tell me what you _did_ find, at any rate?"

"Yeah, I guess," Inou said. He sat up a little more on the bench they were sharing. "Gimme some paper."

They gave him some paper. And in a star-like scribble he began jotting things down.

When he came to the faces, he drew them, in bare, vague likenesses. "There were eight of them," he said. "I didn't recognize most of them, but one of them was the Sannin Jiraiya, another was… Itachi, an' another was the First Hokage. I figured he was just giving me a handful of faces to confuse me and keep me off the trail 'cos I couldn't find any more."

"Eight is eight more than our other interrogators were able to manage." Moegi had arrived, her arms severely folded behind her back. "That reaction you were able to induce, however. What sort of method did you use?"

Inou did not like bragging. Even though this wasn't, really. "I just… well, the faces—the information, I guess—manifested as dressing room doors, so I forced one of the doors open with the intent of being shown something hidden. I guess."

"You just… _opened the door,_" Moegi said. Her face might have been sour, or perhaps just curious. "With… _intent."_

"Well, yeah." Inou locked his eyes on his notes. "I figure I just… wanted it enough."

"I see," Moegi said.

Behind her, the door opened. "Yamanaka-san, Uchiha-san," a junior interrogator said. "Orochimaru said he's willing to continue, under a few conditions."

"Conditions?"

"He said he'd elaborate further if you came in."

"Might as well go see what he wants, then," Inoichi said. He stood, stiffly, hands on his thighs as he went.

Inou left his notes on the bench, for whomever.

"I'll be watching," Moegi said, when they went in together. She took the notes once the door was closed.

Orochimaru—or _whoever_ it was—sat weakly in the chair, hands restrained with normal cuffs. His skin was smudged slightly gray in some areas, where the ink sutras hadn't come off fully.

Chairs were produced for Inoichi and Inou. Inou sat far less confidently than his grandfather.

"So I heard you're willing to give us information?" Inoichi said.

"…under conditions, you understand," Orochimaru replied. He didn't lift his head, his bangs falling low over his face. There was a bandage on his left cheek, though a deep purple bruise bled out from underneath it.

"Of course. And what are these conditions?" Inoichi said.

"…please never do that to me again."

"Never do _what?"_

"That… what you did with my head. Please, never again, please…"

Inoichi's face creased with something resembling concern or simply sternness. "I can't make any promises."

Orochimaru's shoulders tensed. "Then at least tell me if she's _okay_ or not… I can't… shake the feeling that she isn't."

"'She'?" Inoichi said.

"Karin." He looked up, and his bangs parted slightly to reveal a swollen, terrified right eye. "My… my mother. Please, is she all right? I have to know, _please…! _She's not dying, is she? Is she okay…? Did she get her medicine?"

"I'm… afraid I can't answer that," Inoichi said, looking toward the two-sided glass in a gesture that meant, "I need this information _now_."

(Behind the glass, there was a flurry of movement and a request for a phone call.)

The eye and its battered face filled with irrational fear. "Please, you, you have to tell me…"

"We'll figure that out as soon as we can," Inoichi said. "In the meantime, we have some questions of our own."

"What do you want to know…?" Orochimaru said.

"So this Karin woman is your… mother?" Inoichi said.

A nod, slow and almost regretful.

"Do you call her that because she took care of your body 'til you transferred your mind into it?" Inou, who remembered everything he read, said.

(That aspect had almost excited him, wondering what anomalies existed in a consciousness that had been transferred into another body.)

But Orochimaru just shook his head, his hair falling in his face again. "No, no, no, she's... she's really just my mother, honest..."

The calmness of the statement, as well as the sincerity, brought with it a very long and uncomfortable pause.

"…so you're truly not Orochimaru?" Inoichi said.

"No," Orochimaru replied, "I'm not. I'm just his…" He sighed. "I'm just his copy. My name is Ooda."

"Ooda?"

"Yes. That's… my name. I'm not Orochimaru, and I… I never _have_ been. I'm _sorry_." His chin touched his chest. "I don't want to hurt any of you, I just want to protect her, I'm _sorry_…"

"Protect who?" Inoichi said.

"…do I really need to say…?" Orochimaru said, looking up slightly.

"You told us you would answer our questions," said Inou, stiffly.

He did not answer for a while.

Then, finally: "…please, just tell me if she's okay, that's all I ask…"

It clicked for Inou, first. "You mean Karin."

Orochimaru looked up, further. "_Yes!_ Please, _please…_"

Inoichi glanced at the two-sided glass again. There was nothing.

"We'll tell you when we get that information," he replied. "In the meantime, _whoever_ you are, how is impersonating Orochimaru _helping_ Karin in any way? How do we know you're not just trying to fool us again?"

"I'm not _fooling _you! Honest!" He jerked forward a little in his chair with the force of his desperation. "I'm not _Orochimaru!_ I'm not him…!"

"And what can you do to convince us of this?" Inoichi said.

"I, well, I…" And he breathed very deeply as he tried to think. Useless possibilities flickered in and out of existence, behind the subtle motions of his head. "…you could bring her—bring my mo—_Karin _to me, let me talk to her, she knows who I am."

"I don't see how that's a good idea," Inoichi said. "You've admitted to Karin being complicit with your activities. Who's to say you just want her to cover for you?"

"I would _never!_ She's… she's my _mom_, I would never…!"

"Regardless, we can't allow that," Inoichi said.

"Then what can I _do?_ _Please, _you have to _believe_ me!" His mouth opened wide, lips sliding past white teeth.

"Let me see your memories," Inou said.

"What?" the two old men said.

"Let me into your head and let me look at your memories. If you're _really_ not Orochimaru, I'll be able to tell," he continued.

Inou could not see Orochimaru's eyes, behind his hair, but he knew that fear was creeping into them from his body language alone. "You… you won't, that thing with my head, oh, _please, don't_, don't make me live _through_ that again…!"

"If you have nothing to hide then I won't have to force anything and it won't _hurt._" Inou stood. "I honestly don't think you have a choice."

Orochimaru almost seemed to grow smaller, as he considered this. "…if it means it'll convince you then I'll _do_ it. I'm honestly not Orochimaru, _honestly_, _please_ believe me."

"We'll see." Inou began approaching him, his hand outstretched.

"Inou, maybe I should—"

"Let me _do_ this, Grandpa. _Alone_. I can _do _this."

(Inoichi wished he could hear such confidence in his grandson's voice more often.)

(But it almost scared him, here.)

"…I trust you," Inoichi said.

And Inou put his hand on Orochimaru's lukewarm forehead and began to read.

A stage was not even bothered with. Inou didn't allow it.

He'd get his proof.

And what Orochimaru gave him was a memory of a large, hard, kind woman with red hair (the same woman on the floor with the bones in her belly but Inou wasn't thinking of that now because it made the memory shake at the edges). And she reached forward with a smile on her face, asking, "So how was work today?"

"It was fine."

Ah, so what was this? Inou was experiencing the memory from Orochimaru's perspective.

He was being cooperative.

For now.

The memory continued.

"Well how _so?"_ The woman—_Karin,_ Inou knew, just knew, and also_ Mom_—was writing on a yellow pad of paper at a kitchen table. "You left early, did you make it in time for the performance?"

"_Yeah_. Oh my _goodness_, it was _wonderful_, Mom, you have _no_ idea…"

The woman laughed and Inou felt a suggestion of blushing. "I'm glad you're having so much fun."

"Yeah, well, I'd still _rather_ prefer staying home…" White feet that weren't his shuffled on the wooden floor. "…_anyways_, what do you want for dinner, Mom?"

Inou crossed his arms with impatience, ripping himself out of the perspective.

Too simple.

He shoved the images aside in blurs of blue and yellow and cream-red-black.

"Stop trying to distract me," he said, in words from his mind (and from his mouth). "You told me you'd cooperate."

He stared out into a hesitant blackness.

_You want to prove to me that you aren't Orochimaru. And right now, I don't believe you._

A suggestion of aching resistance.

_Show me what you're hiding._

Images flashed before him, of that woman with the glasses, with the red hair, with the comforting warm mother smile and the absolute and utter need to protect.

_STOP IT with HER_.

With both hands he pulled himself beyond the blackness and he took his incredible will with him.

_Show me what you're hiding._

Inou thought and thought and thought for concrete proof to the humming drone of urgency that was a mind-full of hands groping for memories.

Inou remembered everything he had ever read.

_Show me proof of who you are. Something you would never forget._

_Show me the day you killed your sensei._

Nothing.

_Sarutobi Hiruzen, our honored Third Hokage, you murderer, surely you remember THAT day?_

The nothingness and its cold persistence was _infuriating._

There was nothing.

There was _nothing._

_There was nothing._

_WHY ARE YOU HIDING YOURSELF! SHOW ME!_

Flashes of attempts of appeals of that woman of mother of no I'm not I can't be I'm no I'm not I'm _not I'm not I._

_QUIT FOOLING AROUND AND SHOW ME, OROCHIMARU!_

Because Inou couldn't fail here if he failed here it was all over he had to prove without a doubt that he was or he wasn't or he _was_ because if he couldn't tell then he was a failure and it wasn't a success and it wasn't a real failure either but it was still not a success and that meant it _was _a failure and going home a failure he couldn't deal with that he had to know he had to know he had to KNOW.

He couldn't fail here, _especially_ not here, not.

HERE!

_SHOW ME WHAT YOU'RE HIDING!_

There was a profound feeling of something.

Tearing.

Breaking.

And Inou got the sudden impression that he was in somebody's bed, hiding under the blankets. A door opened somewhere.

"Ooda…" That Karin mother-woman's voice. It was very soft and it made Inou's stomach flip to hear it for reasons he could not articulate.

"Mom, leave me alone…" A voice that was not Inou's. It was very young.

"What happened at school today, Ooda?" There was a weight on the end of the bed

White hands tightened around blanket edges. "I don't want to go back to school."

"_Why_, Ooda?"

"…because I'm a _freak_."

There was an echo of an emotion there, one that Inou had.

Experienced before.

In some projected space.

It was not his own emotion but it was.

"Ooda, you are _not_ a… freak."

"Yes I _am_. You told me it would be okay at school. Because nobody _knows _him. But they still." A gulp, a sniffle. "…they still _hate_ me, Mom..."

A hand on his back, over the blankets.

"I don't want to go back to school, Mom, I don't _want _to."

A long pause. "It'll be okay, Ooda. We'll talk this over when you're feeling better. It'll be _okay,_ okay?"

A longer pause. "I hate this body. I hate _him._"

Something tore.

Something fell.

A film reel rattle-screamed in a darkened room.

Inou knew that film reel.

He knew that feeling and that room and that voice.

"Kabuto, _dear_, is the anesthesia ready?"

His knees—boy's knees—were drawn to his chest, attention fully granted to the celluloid vision of a not-father-man, a despised man.

"Should be."

"Then fetch my _scalpel_, if you would."

Sudden, strange tears.

An opening door. "Ooda…? It's _late_, what are you doing?"

Sudden, lost tears. "Just… watching surgery records. I want to help more with the next little one so I'm reviewing procedure…"

"You should get your sleep, okay? And I _know_ how you get when you throw yourself into this too much…"

"I know, I'll… go to bed soon, Mom."

"You're such a good boy, Ooda."

But he wasn't a good man.

Why did he have to have _his_ face?"

Did that make him a not good person too?

But Inou was a good person, wasn't he?

That face did not belong to a good person.

He hated that face.

He hated that body. Every thing about it.

Looking in the mirror and having to face those awful yellow eyes on that disgusting white skin that he knew belonged to someone else.

Knowing they were his but also _his._

He hated.

Not his mother he would never blame his mother because he loved her so much so so much he hated.

Orochimaru.

For this.

For giving him this face for being so disgusting so reprehensible so awful so brilliant so utterly and completely

Wrong.

And he, Ooda, was wrong as a result.

He hated himself and there was nothing he could do about it.

Except tell himself, every day.

I am myself, and nobody else.

It was what his mother told him to say, when things got bad.

When even she noticed.

I am myself, and nobody else.

I am not _him._

I will never _be_ him.

Even though I look like him, even though I am ugly and vile and disgusting.

I am not him.

I am not Orochimaru.

But he was him here he had to be him to protect her oh Mom _please_ be okay.

I am myself, and nobody else.

I am not Orochimaru.

I am _Ooda._

"I am myself, and nobody else."

Water was leaking out of Inou's face and his hand was off of his forehead and was clamped over his mouth.

"I am myself, and nobody else…!"

"Inou, what's wrong…?" Inoichi was reaching for him.

Inou was shaking. "I am myself and nobody… oh, I'm, I'm sorry, I'm so _sorry…!"_

"Inou…?"

He managed to choke down some composure. "He's telling the truth. He's not Orochimaru. He's… your name is _Ooda._"

Ooda didn't say anything, just tightening further into himself, like a drying worm.

Inoichi had his thin arms securely around Inou's weakening shoulders. He managed to get the boy back into a chair.

"He's not our guy. Oh, man, I'm sorry, I'm so _sorry_."

Behind the glass, Moegi's eyebrows were almost pleasantly raised.

A junior staff member tapped her on the shoulder. "Ma'am, we have Chief Medical Officer Haruno on the phone."

There was a thing in mind-reading called the Rule of Balanced Reactions.

"Ma'am?"

If, following an interrogation, the interrogator had lost more composure than the target, then that meant that a stronger interrogator was needed. In the most extreme reactions, likewise, that the target had booby-trapped their mind with genjutsu.

"Ma'am, we have Haruno-sama on hold."

If the target had lost more composure than the interrogator then that meant progress. It was the most desired effect.

But, ah, if both target and interrogator had been reduced to shivering wrecks…?

"I'm sorry for that. Ooda. I'm _sorry_." Inou's voice, through the speaker on the wall, was full of uncontainable tears.

The strong, highly-empathetic reaction—especially the repeated mantra at the end, that was a _deep _thought, to be so verbally persistent—suggested not a genjutsu trap but a reading gone so deep that memories and consciousnesses had been briefly shared as one.

Especially the so-sudden familiarity of names. A genjutsu used a target's own brain against them, which was a strength in its capacity for creativity, but also a serious weakness. Things like honorifics and unfamiliarity remained, no matter how much a friendship might try to be forged.

(At least, not with something this quick.)

What happened with Inou suggested utter trust, and it was dangerous and very difficult to attain but it was also the most undeniable.

"The phone, please," Moegi said, and it was handed to her. "Hello, Sakura-sensei? Yes, yes, we merely have some requests and an update on our current situation here."

"Well, what is it?" Sakura said.

"I'd like to know the condition of the subject Karin as soon as possible."

"Karin…? She's, well, last time I checked, she was entirely stable and not in very much pain… Why?"

"Meeting a condition. Having said that, have a space prepared as quickly as you can, we'll be transferring an individual to your hospital for treatment very shortly."

"Huh? Who?"

"A young man named Ooda. He has many injuries that were never or have not yet been fully treated. Beyond that, he's exhausted and I doubt he'd be able to answer the questions I have for him in his state."

A pause. "…Ooda? Who?"

"We've been formerly, _falsely_ calling him Orochimaru, I believe," Moegi said.

"…formerly? Moegi-san-"

"It's a strange situation, to say the least. But at any rate, we need him in your hospital. And," she added, glancing sideways through the glass again, "I have a feeling that Karin might want to see him. Let _her_ know he's on his way."

She could hear Sakura opening and closing her mouth as she processed the information. And, finally, she said, "Do you still want a more accurate relay of her condition?"

"I don't think that'll be necessary," Moegi said. "We'll get back to you soon." She hung up without a further word, and opened the door to the interrogation room. "Uchiha-san, are you all right?"

"Fine, fine, m'fine," Inou sputtered. He was rocking in place, slightly, in his chair, holding his peach-pale, naked arms with his hands. "I just need to…"

"Go home and rest, you did an excellent job. I trust you'll be able to escort him properly, Inoichi-sama?"

"I think we'll be fine, Moegi-chan," Inoichi said. His hands tightened their grip in Inou's arms and back. "Think you can stand?"

"What are you going to do to _him?_ He's… he's _hurt,_" Inou said, with a very, very quiet voice, looking up, looking at Ooda.

Ooda, in his chair, had slumped over as far as the restraints could allow him, and he was breathing very shallowly.

"Ooda-san, we still have many questions for you, but we're going to be taking you to the hospital to treat you." Moegi folded her hands behind her back again. "We won't attempt anything further until you've recovered."

There wasn't any response, just a sideways tilt of the head that might have been a drop from sheer exhaustion.

"Likewise," she continued, "if things go as planned we may allow you to see your _mother_ again."

"Karin," Inou said, managing to sit up.

Ooda's white-streaked-gray chest shook and tightened suddenly.

"I've been informed that she's in good condition and is not in any pain."

Another sudden tightening. He tried to swallow.

"Is there anything else you want to know before we move you?"

He couldn't even lift his head to speak to her. A tear, then another, and another fell into his lap, darkening the fabric. He breathed in through his nose, loudly.

"…please, can I… can I have a shirt or a… blanket or _something…_ I'm cold…"

Inou, trying to stand, had to lean against his grandfather as a wave of shared hatred for that body and the shaking terror that everyone was looking at it and all the fear of further judgment targeted his knees.

Moegi noticed.

As soon as they had Ooda unshackled he hid his face in his hands and did not remove them, except to put on a tunic-shirt that had been brought for him and to wrap a blanket around his shoulders.

A staff member left to go inform the Hokage.

Inoichi took his grandson home, walking too close together, for fear that the boy would collapse and melt away.

He had never seen such a strong reaction—and gently probing Inou's mind out of worry filled him with a rippling mental nausea of dysmorphic thoughts, echoes and aftershocks of a once-shared consciousness.

It just confirmed what he already knew.

Inou had more than surpassed him. His youth and his masked confidence made him reckless, but it also made him fearless.

Even Inoichi would never had dared to go that deep. But Inou had.

And it had hurt him, certainly. Inoichi had no idea how long it would take for him to recover—though he undeniably _would_ recover. His mind would sort itself out into "my thoughts" and "other/his/target/not-my thoughts" and whatever had shaken him so would fade.

(Undoubtedly, the target, that Ooda boy, would recover likewise. Though Inoichi doubted that he had the mental resilience that Inou possessed.)

He tried to give his daughter a little forewarning.

_Ino, Ino, are you home?_

Her reply was quick, and baffled. _Daddy? What is it?_

_I'm bringing Inou home. He's not feeling very well, so please don't be upset._

_Inou…? Daddy, what happened?_

_Side-effect of a mind-reading. I'll explain everything when I get to your house, but _please_ don't be alarmed. He's not feeling very well._

_Mind-reading? What exactly was he doing…?_

_I told you I'd explain when I got there. Just be ready for us._

There was a cautious pause.

_Of course, Daddy. I'll be waiting._

They walked on.

"You feeling all right, Inou?" Inoichi asked, after a while.

"…want my mom…" Inou mumbled.

"We'll be home before you know it, champ. Just hang on."

("What are you doing?" Sasuke, the great house-pacer, asked Ino, who was waiting by the stairway with the nail of her thumb in her mouth. "Are you waiting for someone? What are you doing?")

She was not there when Inoichi and Inou arrived.

Sasuke greeted them, attracted by the sound of the opening door. Inoichi was setting Inou down on the foyer step.

"What are _you_ doing back home? Aren't you supposed to be training?"

Inou looked up and over his right shoulder with an uncomfortable mixed expression of hopelessness, anger, and utter fear.

"Inou's been on a mission, I'm just bringing him home," Inoichi said, his expression shifted into the default, neutral worry that came with dealing with his son-in-law.

"I didn't hear about any mission."

"It was recent and it was classified. Where's my daughter?"

"What _sort _of mission?" Sasuke's glare sniper-shot its way between the old man and the boy. "This had better be _justified_."

_Grandpa please don't tell him don't tell him don't tell him he'll hurt me._

"Trust me," Inoichi said, trying not to betray his disturbance, "it's more than justified." He looked beyond Sasuke's shoulder. "Ino! I'm here!"

_Ino, hurry, please, your husband got here before you._

"I'd still like an explanation," Sasuke said.

Ino was coming down the hall. Inou, in hearing her, began to get up. It was a difficulty, his hands slipping off of his knees. He fell forward, and was caught by Inoichi.

"I mean_ really_," Sasuke continued, after scoffing.

"Daddy, what's going on?" Ino said. She pushed her way past Sasuke (receiving her own glare in miniature for the sacrilegious act of touching him) and toward them. "Inou, honey, what's the matter?"

"He's just a little exhausted and needs to rest, nothing more," Inoichi explained.

"Exhausted from _what, _exactly? I don't see any injuries, and your clothes are _spotless_," Sasuke said, crossing his arms. "If this is from some frivolous _Yamanaka_ technique then I _swear_."

"Sasuke, does it even matter?" Ino rolled her eyes over her shoulder before reaching for Inou's back.

"…don't insult that, you don't know anything…" Inou's voice was half-closed, like his eyes.

Sasuke's only movement was a further narrowing of his eyes. "What did you just say."

"…completed an S-rank mission with mind-reading, don't say it's fuh-frivolous, Dad…"

Ino sucked her breath in, quickly.

"You do _not _lie to me," Sasuke said. "You can hardly finish _C_-ranked missions."

"…m'not lying…"

"He is _not_ lying. I assisted him," Inoichi added. "I witnessed it."

"Then _you_ must have done most of the work. Which isn't saying much."

"Sasuke, do _not_ insult my father!" Ino said.

"Ino, let it go, it's all right," Inoichi said, though he was far less used to it than she was.

"Really, what was this mission in the first place? I'm reserving judgment until I hear that," Sasuke said. He was tapping his foot.

(Yakata was in Hajime's room with its original owner, awkwardly learning about ink and shape.)

"…I hurt Ooda, I'm sorry…"

The wrinkles around Sasuke's mouth creased intensely. "…what did you say."

Inou didn't say anything, just trying to slip further out of his grandfather's and his mother's approaching embrace, to hold his knees on the foyer step again.

"Inou, I told you to speak _up_, is that really so _hard?"_

"Sasuke, he's _very_ exhausted right now, be a little more understanding," Inoichi said. Ino was bending down to Inou's level.

"I asked him a _question_, he can _surely_ answer that, can't he?"

Inou, now sitting, had begun to rock back and forth, head bowed forward. "…I'm sorry…" he said.

"Inou, what did you say about someone named _Ooda?_ You will _answer_ me!"

"Sasuke!" Ino snapped, softly.

Inoichi breathed in deeply, considering. And he said, "_Ooda_ is the name of a man that's been impersonating Orochimaru. And _Inou_ was the one to unmask him, which is a very-"

"_Impersonating?_" Sasuke stumbled back, slightly. "What do you _mean_,_ impersonating?_"

"…he's not Orochimaru, he's Ooda…" Inou said. "He's not Orochimaru, he's not, he's not, he's _not_…"

Ino began stroking her son's back.

"It's a complicated situation," Inoichi said.

"Don't _mock_ me," said Sasuke. "What do you mean by _impersonating?_"

"From what we understand, it was for the sake of some woman named Karin. We don't know why, exactly, yet, but-"

Inou curled tighter into himself at the name and moaned, softly.

"Then who the hell _is_ he, exactly? AND STOP _DOING_ THAT!" he added, to the floor, to Inou's curling body. "What the fuck is _wrong _with you?"

"Sasuke, be _quiet!_" Ino said. She held her son just that little bit more tightly, feeling him tense up beneath her arms.

"Sasuke, Inou's honestly worn out from the effort, you shouldn't yell at him," Inoichi said, resisting the urge to clench his fists.

"_You_ do _not_ tell me how to treat my children," Sasuke hissed, before scoffing, again. "So even his little mind-games are wearing him out, now? I should just give up on you."

Inou stood with a surprising quickness and strength, forcing his body out of his mother's arms.

And he faced his father with his feet wide apart, breathing heavily, trying to gather anger in the eyes that looked like his.

Sasuke's face remained thin and condescending.

"M'not gonna give _up_," Inou said.

"Then work harder," Sasuke replied.

Inou's pressed his lips together, tightly, his only defense against a likely-fatal case of tears.

He ran down the hallway and into the kitchen when he knew he was losing.

Ino followed. Sasuke didn't.

"Pathetic," he sighed, shaking his head.

Inoichi said nothing.

"So, really," Sasuke continued, "this impersonator, who is he and where are they keeping him."

"I'm not the one to ask," Inoichi said.

"Bullshit, you just said-"

"What I did was give my _grandson _his proper due. If you want to know more, you can ask Moegi the Head Interrogator or the Hokage," Inoichi said. He crossed his arms.

"You _said_ he was an impersonator and it was for Karin's sake, you can't just say _that_ much," Sasuke said. "Tell me _more_."

"That," Inoichi replied, "was a breach in conduct and it will not happen again. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to return to my shop."

"You won't-"

"If you want to know more there are other people you can ask. But not me. Excuse me."

Sasuke was too frustrated to follow.

(Though Inoichi got a suggestion of dark movement as he rounded the corner and back onto the street that led to his shop.)

(If it hadn't been for that man he would have freely told Ino everything, but.)

In the house, Ino couldn't find her son. Not in the kitchen, anyway.

It was when she heard someone gasping outside that she discovered him, bent over himself on the outdoor walkway, shivering despite the late August heat.

"Inou, honey, are you okay?" She approached him carefully and quietly, stepping down onto the courtyard and moving around to face him.

He almost leaped forward in clinging to her.

This surprised Ino, even with her arms wrapping around his back on instinct.

She hadn't rightly hugged him since he was maybe five or six years old.

It was around that age he started to learn that boys were not allowed to hug their mothers.

(_"It's weakness and it encourages him to depend on others. You can't coddle him."_)

But here he was, depending on her, and very, very weak.

"…Mom, don't go anywhere, please…"

She put her hand on the back of his head, rising barely above her shoulder, and she did not let go of his back. He was the smallest of her sons, smaller than her other two had been, at fourteen.

"It's okay, honey, I'm here."

"…please, can't let anything happen to you… Mom, I'm sorry…"

And she hushed and shushed and ran her hand along the back of his head and his black hair.

"It's okay, Inou. Nothing's going to happen to me."

She held him for as long as he needed to.

It was a very long time.

(Ino was never so grateful for Sasuke to be away.)


	70. Galliard a Battuta

**Author's Note**

I've just found out that In The Blood now has a TV Tropes page! You can find it here: tvtropes(.)org/pmwiki/pmwiki(.)php/Fanfic/InTheBlood  
Feel free to read and edit as you like!

I'd also like to take this opportunity, with a major plotline wrapping up, to thank everyone that's read this fic over the past year or so. A lot of questions will be answered over the next few chapters, and I'd love to hear how I did. Leave me a review with your thoughts, I'll gladly reply!

The best is yet to come, and I hope you enjoy it.

Cheers!  
- Rii

* * *

_Chapter 70 - Galliard a Battuta_

* * *

Across the city, a young man nearly ten years Inou's senior was stumbling down a hallway, flanked by two T&I members. Moegi led them.

As promised, they had brought Ooda to the hospital. Through the back, of course. Ooda's existence was still highly classified, and his transport to the hospital was taken in obscure directions and very much out of sight. He kept his head and his arms covered with the blanket they had given him.

Though, naturally, Sakura was informed of his arrival, and she was one of the first to receive them.

"We have a space prepared," she said, after a terse, bare excuse of a greeting, trying to keep her voice from shaking too much, "in a private wing."

"Excellent. And Karin?" Moegi said.

"I… haven't said anything to her yet," Sakura said.

"Well, bring her here. I have some questions for her."

Ooda's mouth was slightly open, and trembling. His body looked like it was made of paper.

Sakura had to swallow, breathing deeply, in an attempt to handle the dissonance. Even battered and tied up in a chair, he had never looked so weak.

"I'll get her once we get… _him_ stabilized," she said. "Though I… would like a little more information about what's going on."

"Fair enough," said Moegi. "We'll talk as we go. Lead on."

Sakura led them down the hallways to a small, private room on the first floor, on the other side of the hospital. The few nurses, interns that they passed stared, though Sakura glared at them in return, in defense.

"…well, didn't you have questions for me?" Moegi said, when Sakura's silence continued.

"Oh. Well, um. For one, what's the current situation with Orochimaru?" she said. "Is, um. _This_ person an impostor?"

"Yes, I, I am…" Ooda said, talking over whatever response Moegi had prepared. "My real name is… it's Ooda. It's _Ooda_, that's my _name_… I'm not Orochimaru…"

"Oh, I… see," Sakura said. "And… who exactly are you, Ooda… san? If you're not Orochimaru."

"…just a copy…" Ooda said. "I'm just a copy…"

"A copy? As in a… clone…?" Sakura got a nod in return. "So were you made by Orochimaru, then, or…?"

Ooda just kept his head down, his mouth tightened into a precursor of tears.

"…at any rate, Ooda-san. I understand your impersonation was for Karin's sake?" Moegi said.

"…yes, I can't let… she's my _mom_, if anything _happened_ to her…" was all he could manage.

A stone in Sakura's stomach. "She's your mother…?"

Ooda's nods were very quick.

More stone-questions fell into Sakura's stomach. "Well, I'll… I think that's all I need to know for now, but is it okay if I ask you questions later?"

Ooda swallowed. "Just… my mom, first, please, let me see her…"

"For once, I think his needs coincide with ours," Moegi said, with a sideways glance. "Though treatment first, I think. Don't want to break you any further, Ooda-san."

Ooda said nothing.

Sakura said, "Yes, treatment first."

She had a general medic or two stationed at the room for Ooda, once they reached it. "I want you to heal _anything_ you find. I don't care who he is or what he looks like, he is a patient and he will be treated or _I will end you_."

Moegi's eyebrows rose with her curling smile. (_What a marvelous tone of voice, _she thought.)

"I'll… go talk to Karin," Sakura said. "In the meantime, Moegi-chan-"

"I'm staying here until she arrives," Moegi said. "Get her here however you can. I have questions."

"…please don't hurt her…" Ooda said. "You can… you can hurt me more if you want but _please_, not her…"

Moegi's pause surprised even her.

"I doubt I'll need to resort to any of that," she said, and cleared her throat. "Sakura-sensei, if you would."

"…right. I'll try not to take long."

Though she ended up wondering how in the world she was going to get Karin to come with her.

It preoccupied her thoughts the entire way across the hospital, from the private ward to the curse seal ward.

…was this her _son_ or something? Truthfully? Or was it a ruse? No, it couldn't have been a ruse, because Moegi was there and she didn't contradict him.

So he… had to have been. Somehow. _Somehow?_

What in the world was going on?

Focus, Sakura, focus, come on, _focus._

Karin needed to come with her.

It would help _something._

But by the time she made it to Karin's room in the curse seal ward, she had only a bare idea of how to present the situation.

_Think fast, for fuck's sake!_

Karin was mixing another glass of red medicine, and she turned around with plain-written worry on her face. "Sakura? What's wrong?"

_Think FAST._

"Karin, you… you need to come with me."

_Oh, GREAT._

"Why, what's going on?"

"It's… I can't explain. Just come with me, it's an… order."

Karin's face tried to twist itself into a smile. "An _order?_ Am I your subordinate now?"

"No, it's…" One breath, two breaths. "Karin, it's… your son."

The silence was painful.

(Karin was the only person in the room. Suigetsu and Shingetsu's absence was almost blessed.)

"But I don't…_ have_ a son," Karin finally replied. "I… I don't _have_ children, I don't… what are you _talking_ about?"

Sakura couldn't tell if it was worry or fear or genuine confusion on her face.

Or all three.

The facts came far too easily, but that just meant that it was probably the right thing to say.

"There's… a young man in our care, at the moment. He claims his name is… Ooda. He says he's your son. He… wants to see you."

Probably.

The hand that wasn't holding Karin's glass of medicine rose to her mouth.

And she didn't say anything.

Sakura managed to continue. "Please, you have to come with me. We have questions for the both of you and…"

Karin's hand, the fingers on her lips curled into a loose fist, with her thumb pressed against her mouth.

"Karin, _please_."

"_Quiet_, I'll… just—_give_ me a moment, okay?" she said. She took her medicine and gulped it down with a pained expression, swallowing nothing for a few moments afterward, her eyes closed. She put the glass down on the counter by the sink.

And when she opened her eyes, she said, quietly, "Take me to him."

She kept her eyes lowered the entire walk down. Sakura didn't feel like saying anything, the tightness in her chest weighing down any other—necessary?—words. Karin, likewise, was silent.

But in approaching Ooda's room, she was hesitant, her steps slowing near the door.

One of Ooda's arms, smattered with bruises, was presently unwrapped and being healed by one of the medics. He was hunched over himself, otherwise.

Until Karin, eventually, went in.

The very sight of her caused him to sit up straighter; he pulled his arm away from the medic.

"Mom…?"

He tried to stand. His blanket slipped off his shoulders.

"Mom…!"

There was a meager resistance to this.

Clumsily, almost tripping over himself, he began across the room and to Karin's very still body, and he threw his arms around her, awkward though it was, with his full head of height above her.

But he clung to her so tightly that Sakura thought that he would crack her, as if she were hollow inside.

"Mom, Mom I'm, I'm so _sorry_, I'm, Mom I'm so _sorry_ are you okay Mom I'm so… Mom _please _don't go anywhere I'm so… _Mom…!_"

But Karin, she saw, clung back, with open hands on his back.

"Ooda, _Ooda_, darling, it's okay, calm down, calm _down…_"

She dug her head into his chest as he buried his face into her shoulder. Her voice was very soft.

"Mom, I'm so sorry, I ruined everything, I'm, I just… Mom, I'm _sorry_, I just wanted to protect you…"

He was very, very clearly crying.

"It's okay, Ooda. _Ooda." _She pulled herself away from him, trying to speak into his ear, the closest thing to his face she could address. "_Ooda,_ it's _okay_. Just calm down, Ooda, okay? I'm not mad at you, I'm _not._"

His back hiccupped, though his posture began to relax.

"Mom I'm so sorry, I just… I'm _sorry_…" Sniff. "I wanted to _say_ something but I _couldn't_ and… and…" He fell into a wail.

"Ooda, it's _okay_, it really _is_." She was running her hand down his back, now. "Calm down, darling. Calm down. It's okay. Calm down."

He was shaking his head, curling deeper into her shoulder. "No, no, no, no, I, I ruined everything, I, I _tried_ not to tell them anything important but they… they went into my _head_, Mom, and they took things and they made me… they made me… Mom are you okay, Mom, are you, please tell me you're okay…"

"I'm okay, little darling, I'm okay, I'm _okay, shh_, I'm okay…" But as Ooda continued to shrink into her arms, she looked up and at Sakura, who was trying to hide her astonishment.

And there was such an incredible pain in her eyes.

Pain, and rage.

"What have you _done_ to him…?" she seethed.

Karin could be very intimidating if she wanted to be and oh was she _ever_ here.

"We interrogated him for information that we assumed he had," Moegi said, snatching away her gaze. "After all, he _claimed_ to be Orochimaru and he seemed to be hiding a _great_ deal of information about a very pertinent series of human experiments."

"They, they went in my head, Mom… I, I didn't say anything when they hurt me I could _handle _that but they went into my head and… Mom I'm _sorry_, I ruined everything, they, I couldn't stop them, I'm _sorry…"_

"You mean you _tortured_ him?" Karin's voice cut over the mumbles and sniffles and misery with sheer, concentrated anger.

"Not extensively," Moegi replied.

"Mom, I'm _sorry_…" Ooda said. "I tried, I really tried…"

"Ooda, shh, it's not your fault," Karin whispered, bending her head, before snapping it back up to look in Moegi's eyes. She took several, deep breaths. "I'm going to… _try _and be objective about this, since there's." A pause, another deep breath. Her hand ran over Ooda's back again. "Obviously been some misunderstanding and—_misdirection_ going on. But you still tortured an _innocent_."

"Somehow I get the feeling that nobody is entirely innocent, here," Moegi said. "We found some _very_ interesting information in that man's mind. It's raised a lot of questions. You _will_ answer them."

"I refuse to answer _any_ questions," Karin said, "until my _son_ is at least somewhat recovered."

"So he's really…" Sakura breathed.

Karin said nothing, her red, accusing eyes locked on Moegi.

"Fair enough," Moegi said. "We weren't planning on questioning _him_ until he was treated, anyways."

"You will not be told _anything_ until then," Karin said. "Am I understood?"

"You are," Moegi said.

(Her heart had quickened, slightly. Maybe from the prospect of more information, maybe from those hard, red eyes.)

"At any rate, a hospital is no place for a _torturer,_" Karin said, lowly.

(Moegi took this as a slight compliment.)

"Sakura, can you get her _out_ of here?"

When she turned to look at her, Karin had lost all but the silhouette of her anger, the rest of her filled with softness and.

"…Moegi-san, if you would, please. I'll… have your team informed when they're ready to talk," Sakura said.

"Whatever you say, Haruno-sensei. I'll be waiting."

Moegi and her assistants left the room, but a great deal of her presence remained after the fact.

Sakura stayed in the doorway. Watching, silently.

Ooda wasn't crying much, any more, but he was now struggling to stand.

"Let's go, Ooda, let's sit you down…" Karin murmured, turning around, turning the hug into a crutch for him to lean on. She began leading him back to the table, and the medics. "Oh, darling, you must be hurting so badly…"

"Mom, it's… not so bad, really, so long as you're okay…"

Karin sat him down on the table, first, and then sat beside him. "You shouldn't have _had_ to do this, okay? Ooda, really, why did you come here…?"

"…I got worried…"

She sighed. "I left a note for you, I _told_ you when I'd be back."

"Yeah but… but with the little one so close and… and you… you left me _alone_ and I wasn't _there _and Mom, I just… I panicked…"

Karin, in hearing this, frowned and leaned in closer. "Ooda, I'm sorry, okay? I know how you get when I leave you alone in the house, I'm _sorry_, this is my fault, okay?" She wrapped an arm around his back in a hug, resting her temple against his shoulder.

"Mom it's not your fault it's mine I just—aahhhh ahh ah ah ow ow ow ow…"

Karin let go very, very quickly. "Ooda, what's wrong?"

"N-nothing it's." He winced, sucking in his breath. "Mom, it's nothing…"

"No, really. Is it your ribs? Are they damaged?"

"I don't… know…"

"Ma'am, if I may..." One of the medics was speaking with a voice like a mouse. "A few of… his ribs _are_ broken and, um… we're trying to treat him…"

"Well then _someone_ get me a chair!" Karin said. She got off the table but she wrapped a hand around one of Ooda's hands and did not let go. "And for heaven's sake take _care_ of that, okay?"

One of the medics made a squeaking noise and got a chair from a far wall. Karin put it in front of Ooda and sat on it, and rubbed his hand with both of hers.

"Ooda, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you," she said.

"It's okay, Mom, it's okay…" Ooda said.

(Not telling her that the act of hugging her a few moments previous had filled his body with such an excruciating pain that he was almost glad he was crying so much to begin with, so it wouldn't worry her.)

(Because he needed it, he needed her so badly.)

"Um, excuse me, your arm…" The mouse medic had a hand outstretched. "I'd like to continue healing it, I'm sure you would, too."

"Ah, thank you…"

Quietly, she continued her work on his right arm. Karin took his left hand instead, running a thumb over the back of it, her head bent.

"…why did you do this, Ooda…?" she said, quietly, after a time. "I told you, if you ever ran into someone from the old days to just tell them who you really were, that you were my son."

"…I didn't think it through entirely…"

"Well obviously _not_, little one, I just want to know _why_, okay?"

The medic had moved from his forearm to his shoulder in the time it took for him to answer.

Sakura waited, listening.

"…got caught on the way down by… some… some _man_, he recognized me as _him_. And—from the way he treated me—he called me _Master_, Mom, it was... I was terrified by what would happen if I… wasn't him."

"A man…?" Karin said. Ooda nodded. "What kind of man? Who was he?"

"I… I never caught his name, actually…" Ooda said. "That's… well that's why he tried to. To." He swallowed. "Hurt me so badly. The first time. I thought I was going to _die…_"

"Oh, darling…" Karin rubbed his hands further. "He tried to hurt you because of his name?"

"Because I didn't… _know_ it," Ooda said. "He asked me if I remembered his name and I… well, I tried to stall but he got impatient and started freaking out. Started… calling me a false snake, over and over, and I couldn't do anything to get away… He—he must have been some former. _Sound_ ninja or something, except he didn't _act_ right at all, he didn't feel _human_, even…"

"So that's who the attacker was, that night you arrived?" Sakura cut in. She had her hand half-raised. "This, um. Sound ninja whoever?"

(The thought of calling for Moegi to bear witness to this sudden explanation did not even cross her mind.)

Ooda nodded, again. "I only went with him because I was scared of what would happen if I… _denied_ being. Him." He lowered his head. "I guess that wasn't good enough…"

"Well I'm just glad you're all right, Ooda, okay?" Karin said, leaning forward. "Regardless of who that… man was. But… why did you keep up this… whole _act_ here?"

Ooda's smile was a wince that stretched into the bandage on his cheek. "…I had a lot of time to think after he… went away. I didn't really see what happened to him. But I couldn't move. He—he did something to my back. It hurt so much and, and I couldn't move, so I just thought—it—I just—thought, if I was found, if I didn't _die_, then…"

His hand tightened under Karin's and a tear began its way down his cheek.

"…they already knew about Kiine, and about Yakata, and then Asaoto, maybe, and Mom if they found _me…_ well, maybe I could… _convince_ them of something, so they wouldn't… _do_ anything to _you_, at least." A hiccup-gulp. "I'm… I'm sorry, that was… I don't know what I was _thinking_, but the next thing I knew I was _him__, _I was _O__rochimaru_. And I couldn't... I couldn't _stop_. Mom I'm _sorry_, I must have worried you so _much_…"

The medic stopped her work on Ooda's right arm. The other medic had long since put her hands on his back, concentrating on the stressed bones beneath the muscle and skin.

He covered the top of his face, his nose and his eyes, with his hand.

Karin put her hand on his bandaged cheek. "Ooda, I've never been so worried in my _life_, okay? You didn't need to do this…"

"…I just wanted to protect you, to… _I _don't know, get them to stop looking… So they'd leave you _alone_…"

Karin stroked his cheek, gently.

"You didn't need to do this, darling," she said, again. She tilted her head, leaning, slumping forward. "You didn't need to suffer so much for… me, okay?"

"…not just for you," he said softly. He sniffed, and rubbed at one eye with his hand.

"Ooda…" She sighed. "You are too good. You are simply too good, okay…?"

He wince-smiled again, though his shoulders rose from the combination of the smile and Karin's touch.

She pulled her hand away. "Does your face hurt?" she asked. He nodded. "Oh, darling, I'm sorry…"

But it was in remembering an encounter, terrifying and stressing but with an unbruised cheek, that she noticed: "Did they do this to your face too?"

"They…?" Ooda said.

"Those—that _awful_ woman, when they were questioning you. Were they the ones that hurt your face?"

(Sakura suddenly remembered.)

(And wondered if she should speak up about it.)

"I, I don't… it happened while I was here," Ooda said. "I have—a black eye, too. And my jaw hurts a lot."

"Oh, Ooda…" Karin glanced sideways, sharply. "Can one of you take care of that, please?"

"Ma'am, we're trying to go slowly," the mouse-medic said. "Be, um. Careful."

"Oh _screw_ going slowly." Karin breathed in, breathed out, and she reached for her sleeve and pushed it up her forearm. The skin was covered in with faintly-shining rings of flesh.

Old scars.

"Ooda, go ahead," she said. "It'll make things easier."

He shook his head almost violently. "No, no, I, I couldn't…"

"_Ooda_. I want you feeling better, okay? Bite me."

The medics stopped their work to stare in bafflement for a moment.

More shaking. "Mom, the… the little one needs that blood more than me, I can… wait. I can wait."

"You _can't_. Ooda, please don't lie to me, okay…? I know how much you're hurting." She held her arm out further. "This'll make things easier."

"…isn't Shingetsu here…?"

Her arm lowered.

"Mom, it'd be better if I… _we_ got him to help instead, not you, not—Mom, not you."

Karin put her hand back in her lap, covering her arm with her sleeve again.

"…I mean, he… he's here, right? Because I can wait if he isn't, Mom, it's okay…"

"…he… _is_ here. And he keeps _asking_ about you, you know?" She made an effort at a laugh. "I… haven't been able to figure out what to tell him, except that you're far away and that I didn't… know when you'd be coming back. He'd be glad to see you, though…"

"…then can we…? Get him, I mean. Mom, I don't want to worry you but I don't want to _hurt_ you either…"

Karin looked over her shoulder at Sakura, leaning against the doorframe as if it were the only thing keeping her upright.

"Sakura, please. Shingetsu—you know, Suigetsu's… son—he's… a better healer than me, in some ways. He'd help," she said. "I don't want to leave Ooda alone, okay?"

The medics' stares, confused and faintly frightened, only compounded the request.

"I'll…" Sakura collected herself with an inward breath. "What do you want me to tell him?"

"Just… whatever you need," Karin said. "If Suigetsu wants to come with him, let him. It's fine, okay? They should be in Juugo's room."

Sakura nodded. "You two, in the meantime," she told the medics, "keep with the healing measures until I get back. I'll be back soon with… Shingetsu-kun."

"Yes, ma'am."

She saw, heard Karin returning to her comfort as she left for the hallway.

She tried not to let it affect her as she walked.

It really, really was unsettling, how quickly Karin could shift her moods.

Though it was the subject, the situation, the context—and this Sakura knew, she _knew_—that was unsettling her more. That iceberg feeling, the groping in the dark. Horribly out of the loop, at best.

She struggled to define for herself what—who?—Ooda really was.

Self-professed copy—clone? _Got it._

Found by—some Sound ninja—those people still existed?—that mistook him for the real deal. Continued the façade out of desperation? _Sure._

To protect Karin? _Seems like._

…but from what?

A sharp seed of an idea began digging its way into her temple. That Ooda, this face-sharer.

Being used, just like his mother had been.

(Because somehow, with their actions and that heartbreaking rhythm of words and apologies, this felt like the only concrete thing.)

(That boy—whoever or whatever he was—was her son.)

But how?

The nagging ache of the speculation was not allowed to grow much further, because someone was yelling for her, and she knew that voice very well.

"Sakura! Sakura! Sa-ku-ra! Hey! Where are you? I need to talk to you, y'know!"

Naruto, she discovered, was in the lobby. Sasuke was with them. The both of them were slightly out of breath.

Oh, dear. "Naruto, what's going on?" she said.

"You tell _me!_ Sasuke just… ran to my office telling me that we got the wrong guy…?"

Sasuke's face was full of unspoken demands.

"My office. But we can't take long," Sakura said. She began down the hallway, toward the stairs.

"Why, what's got you in such a _hurry_," Sasuke said.

"Well, gee, Sasuke, I don't know. It _could_ be the fact that we've been _questioning the wrong guy_ for the past few days and it's only given us _more_ questions to answer and I've got _Karin_ downstairs with him and I've got to get him treated and." She turned around and stopped, for a second, glaring at him, for emphasis. "I think you get the idea."

The look on Sasuke's face told her that, oh yes, he got the idea. They continued.

"So… if that guy isn't Orochimaru, who _is_ he?" Naruto asked, once he knew it was safe.

"The only thing I know," Sakura said, "is that he's Karin's son. Somehow. _Possibly?_" She exhaled in frustration. "I don't _know_. Nothing's certain."

"That lying _bitch,_" Sasuke muttered.

It took Sakura every effort not to slap him. Instead, she said, "_Can_ it." They reached her office, and she closed the door behind him. "Both of you, sit down." They did, with (unsurprising, considering her tone) obedience. "Sasuke, how did you find out about this in the first place?"

"Apparently," he said, voice rough with disdain, "they drafted my youngest _son_ for an _interrogation_. Came home exhausted from it. My _father-in-law_ assisted him and told me about it, briefly. I went to get Naruto afterward."

"Yeah, he kinda told me when he got to my office," Naruto said. "I went and looked into it afterward to see what was up."

"And what did he tell you, exactly?" Sakura asked him. "About the interrogation."

"That." He shook his head, breathing out harshly, mumbling, "I can't _believe_ this." Louder. "That we had an impostor of Orochimaru on our hands. That his name was really _Ooda_ or something."

"I see," Sakura said.

"And I found out that he was at the hospital, so that's what brings us here," Naruto added. "The interrogation guys were kinda lookin' for me, anyways."

"Said he was covering for Karin," Sasuke said.

"Yeah, this whole thing is… kind of confusing," Naruto said. "Then again I kinda—well, _we_ kinda—don't have the full story." He nodded a few times. "Can you clue us in on anything, Sakura, or…?"

"Frankly, I don't know much more than you guys," Sakura said. "He's still _talking_—mostly to Karin, though he answered a few of my own questions, so obviously he's still _cooperative_. But all we've really learned is that the man he was with before we found him was apparently a former Sound ninja that mistook him for Orochimaru and tried to kill him when he blew his cover. Not a 'prototype' or whatever."

"Wait, those guys are still around?" Naruto said.

Sakura shrugged. "That's just what he assumed, I mean, since he was _recognized_ and all that."

"I suppose that makes sense," Naruto said, crossing his arms and nodding.

(After all, that was how he'd helped in stabilizing the Land of Rain, after the war. Working with the cults, and not against them.)

(Even now, decades after their deaths, Pain and Konan were revered as revolutionary martyrs, even as gods, by many citizens.)

"So we're back where we started, aren't we," Sasuke said. He leaned back in his chair, scowling. "If he's an imposter then who the hell knows what lies we've been fed. By him _and_ Karin."

"Well that's what we're gonna try and find out, Sasuke," Sakura said. "Obviously we've been… misled a little."

"A lot."

"_Sasuke._"

"I'm just _saying_."

"Dude, calm down, okay?" Naruto put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder. Sasuke jerked away and crossed his arms, scowling further. "We'll figure out what's up. I mean, he's being cooperative, right?"

"Yes." Sakura looked up a little. "Actually, I was supposed to go get Shingetsu-kun, Suigetsu-san's son."

"And why is that," Sasuke said.

"Apparently," she replied, "he's a healer? Karin told me to get him, to spur on Ooda's recovery. Doubtless he'll be more willing to talk if we heal his injuries."

"Yeah, I bet," Naruto said. He nodded a few times. "Man. I _really_ wonder what's going on here. I really do. I mean, with this Ooda guy…"

"Honestly," Sakura said, almost hesitantly, "I'm wondering if he's just as helpless as _Karin_ is. I mean, the things that were _done_ to her… Maybe the real Orochimaru's still out there, that he just used Ooda to cover for him or-"

"Stop speculating and actually _do _something," Sasuke said, sharply. "We can get answers, can't we? Let's get answers."

Much as she hated his frankness, sometimes, it was a needed slap in the face here. Her hands had been trembling, but they stilled, now. "Yeah. I'm gonna go get Shingetsu-kun. The sooner we clear things up, the better." She stood.

Sasuke stood as well. "I'm coming with you," he said.

"Sasuke, I don't… think that's the best idea," she said.

"Why."

"Well… you kind of lost your composure last time you came with us."

"That was a different set of circumstances." He shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Dude, you kinda punched him in the face," Naruto said, leaning forward in getting up. "I dunno, _I'd_ probably be kinda scared or whatever if I saw you again."

"That was," Sasuke repeated, "a different set of circumstances. I'll." A groan. "I'll _behave_."

"You'd better," Sakura said. She began on her way out, but she ended up stopping and pointing her finger at his chest. "But if he wants you out—if _any_ of them want you out—you _leave_." Jab. "_Got_ it?"

"…no need to be so _harsh_, I _got_ it," Sasuke said, pushing past her with a pinched expression. "Come on, let's go."

They went. She led, Naruto hanging in the back.

Once again, she entered the curse seal ward, and poked her head into Juugo's room. "Suigetsu-san, are you there?"

Curiously, it was only him and his son in the room. Suigetsu was leaning against the wall, as usual, but Shingetsu was on his stomach on the floor, drawing on a large pad of white paper with markers. His white cape—or whatever it was that he was always wearing—was spread out over the floor.

"Yeah, what," Suigetsu said.

"…where's Juugo-san?" she asked, waving with her hand to keep Naruto and Sasuke from peeking into the doorframe.

"…in therapy or something? Some orderly guys took him and Asaoto somewhere like an hour ago. Why, you looking for him?" Suigetsu said.

"No, actually, I'm looking for your son," Sakura said.

Shingetsu's head whipped up immediately. "You're looking for me?" He had a smile with small, barely-pointed teeth, like pebbles. "What is it? What's going on?"

"And _why_ are you looking for my son?" Suigetsu said. He began toward Sakura.

"Karin's asking for him."

"You mean Mommy? What's Mommy need?" Shingetsu was standing, scattering a few markers in the process. "I wanna help."

Suigetsu's face narrowed, though it was not an angry narrow. "What's going on," he said.

"She needs him to help heal someone, apparently."

"_Who_." He was at the door, now. She could see him breathing.

"Ooda," she replied.

"Ooda-niki?" Shingetsu appeared at his father's legs, magenta eyes wide. "Ooda-niki's here? Where is he? Where?"

Sakura didn't know what to make of his enthusiasm, but she could at least keep it from harming her by taking another, deep breath. "Karin says you can come with him, if you want," she told Suigetsu. "But we… really need Shingetsu-kun's assistance."

Suigetsu stared at the floor for fair long while, his mouth slightly open. "…if she needs him then that's fine. But I'm going with him, I'm not leaving my son alone."

Sakura nodded. "Both of you, then. Come with me."

Shingetsu held onto his father's left arm as they left, though Suigetsu scowled when he saw, "Sasuke, the hell are _you_ doing here."

"I want to know what's going on. That's all," he replied.

Suigetsu said nothing, in return.

They went down the hallway together.

Shingetsu, eventually, tugged on his Suigetsu's arm. "Daddy, is Ooda-niki in trouble…?" he whispered, as if only his father could hear him.

"I don't know," Suigetsu replied.

"Sure _hope_ he isn't…" Shingetsu continued. "If Mommy wants me to heal him then that's prob'ly _bad_, I think…"

"Nobody said you had to heal him," Suigetsu said.

Sakura didn't feel like correcting him.

Eventually, they got to the private ward. The two medics were still working on Ooda. Karin hadn't moved from her chair.

Sakura knocked on the doorframe. "Karin? We brought him."

She turned around as well as she could. Her face looked very tired, but it smoothed with relief. "Oh, thank goodness… Shingetsu, over here, I need your help."

The boy ran without a moment of hesitation and over to the chair and the table, his father trailing behind. "Mommy, Mommy, okay, what can I help wi—_Ooda-niki!_ Ooda-niki, is that you?"

"…hello, Shingetsu," Ooda replied. If he was smiling, it wasn't very visible.

Shingetsu flung his arms over Ooda's lap, looking up with supreme concern. "Why you all beat up, Ooda-niki?"

"I… got into some trouble."

"What _kinda_ trouble? Was it bad people?"

"…yes, Shingetsu, some bad people," Karin said, quietly.

"Well that's _bad_." He looked at her, frowning. "That's _seriously_ bad, Mommy."

"I know it's bad, little brother," Ooda said. "…but you can make it better, can't you?" he added, gently.

"I wanna _help,_" said Shingetsu.

"Can you let Ooda drink some of you, little one?" Karin said. "He's hurting very badly."

The medics had long since left the table, hovering near Sakura, by the door, worried schoolgirl expressions on their faces.

"I'll do my very very best!" Shingetsu replied.

Sakura, at the door, held up a hand. "Be quiet as you're coming in," she told Sasuke and Naruto. "And Sasuke, _remember what I said._"

"I _know_."

They moved in.

Shingetsu, meanwhile, had pulled back the purple sleeve of his shirt. His already-pale skin began turning blue and transparent. "You drink up _as much as you need_, okay, Ooda-niki? I want you to feel better."

"Don't overdo it," Suigetsu said.

"I'll… try not to," Ooda said.

Shingetsu lifted his hand to Ooda's mouth and, very gently, he bit and began to drink.

A few seconds passed, and then a few more.

When Shingetsu's knees began to buckle, his father caught him. "I_ told_ you not to overdo it!" he said.

"I'm sorry…!" Ooda said.

Shingetsu's limbs were floppy and translucent, blending into his clothes and cape. His eyelids fluttered, but he was smiling a little. "You… feeling better… Ooda-niki…?"

Ooda was rubbing his right eye, the bruise over it disappearing. "…a lot better, little brother, _thank_ you."

Sakura cleared her throat. "Is everything all right, here?"

Karin turned around again. "Yes, it's exactly what we nee…" But she stopped, just like the others, when she saw Sasuke. "It's what we needed."

Naruto leaned out from behind Sakura. "Hey, Karin-san? And Ooda-san, you too, I wanna apologize for all this trouble. Really, this is kinda bad, y'know?"

"Don't apologize, it's pretty much _entirely_ my fault…" Ooda said. He kept his face down.

"I… appreciate the gesture," Karin said. "This whole thing's a mess, though. It's not all your fault, okay?"

"I'm sorry…" Ooda mumbled again.

"Ooda, _please_."

Shingetsu was starting to solidify a little, leaning against the wall where Suigetsu had carried him. His eyes were closed, and he kept making little sighing, sleepy noises. His father stayed on the floor with him, crouched on one knee.

"Karin, is there anything else you need?" Sakura said. "For you or… Ooda-san both. Or Shingetsu-kun or-"

"I think we'll be fine for now," Karin said.

Sakura nodded. "I'm willing to allow you—all of you—to stay as long as you need to in my hospital. Anything you need."

"I appreciate it."

The continued, sighing silence was intensely uncomfortable, and Sasuke's presence was doing nothing to help it.

_SAY something, already._

"…I just want to let you know, Karin, Ooda-san. You have our full protection. Naruto," she added, looking over her shoulder, "you won't let anything happen to either of them, won't you?"

"No, of course not! I wouldn't let that happen, y'know." Though as he concluded the sentence, he looked up, face pinched in thought. "I mean. Well, you're kinda _not_ Orochimaru. Right?"

Ooda shook his still-lowered head, miserably.

"Right! So if anyone tries to hurt you 'cos of that or whatever then they're gonna answer directly to _me_, okay? I won't let anything happen to you."

His gaze wandered, for a moment, toward Sasuke.

Sasuke was looking at a wall.

"Thank you very much…" Ooda said.

Another sighing silence.

Sakura, for lack of a better action, waved the two visibly-uncomfortable medics out of the room.

"…now, Karin, I don't… want to rush either of you in this but we do want you to answer some questions for us, soon," Sakura said, trying to shake the words out of her throat with a cough in the middle. "Both of you, if Ooda-san's feeling better."

"I understand," Karin said.

Another.

Sakura took a step forward and put a tentative hand on Karin's shoulder. "I promise, no matter what you tell us, we won't let anything happen to you."

"…are you honestly so sure of that," Karin said.

"Honest. Karin, I understand that none of this was in your control, none of this is your _fault_. You were forced into this. _All_ of you here were… weren't you?"

"Yeah, if it's not your fault then it's okay, y'know? I gotcha," Naruto added, helpfully.

Sasuke said nothing.

"You don't need to worry about reprisal, we'll take _care_ of that," Sakura said. "Orochimaru… won't be able to do a thing to any of you."

And Karin, of all things, laughed. Just once.

Ooda's head lowered, further.

"…you're so willing to call me a victim," she said.

"Karin, I never said-" Sakura began.

"It's not reprisal I'm scared of, okay?" Karin said, not looking at any of them. "Punishment, yes. But not reprisal."

"Then we won't let him punish you."

Karin, for a time, just blinked, slowly, looking at her hands, resting on her stomach.

Sasuke said nothing.

"Karin, _honestly-_"

"It would… be so easy," she said, suddenly. "Honestly, so… easy. You're all being so… accommodating." She looked up. "You want to help me so badly, don't you…?"

"I _do,_ Karin," Sakura said, with her heart in her voice.

"Yeah, you've been through some bad stuff. How could I not wanna help?" Naruto said.

Sasuke said nothing.

And Karin finally looked at them. "…I'm too tired to do that," she said. "I can't… keep lying any more. I've been quiet for far too long and, honestly, all things considered? It'd probably hurt more just trying to perpetuate that, okay? I can't stay silent any longer."

"Mom, what are you talking about?" Ooda reached out with a much-stronger hand. "You aren't…"

"Ooda," she told him, covering his hand with hers, "I won't make you say a thing. This isn't your fault, okay? You don't have to say anything. You don't have to talk."

"Karin…?" Sakura said.

Karin returned to her. "I want you to promise me two things, before I say anything more," she said.

"You mean you're going to answer our questions or-"

"I am going to talk. Whether or not it answers your questions remains to be seen, though I doubt they're the answers you were… looking for," Karin said. "But first, promise me these things, okay?"

"Hey, anything you want," Naruto said, half-eagerly.

Karin almost looked apologetic, as she spoke. "I want you to promise me that you—all three of you—_yes_, Sasuke, I am allowing you to stay because you deserve to hear this as much as _they_ do," she added, with a wire-sharp glare, "that none of you will say _anything_ until I'm done speaking, okay?"

"No questions until the end, you mean?" Sakura said.

"As best as you can," Karin replied. "That is my first condition. The second is that… no matter what I say, no matter what you _think_ of me after all of this, that any punishment I receive is justified by the law _alone_."

"Mom, what are you doing…" Ooda's hand tightened over hers.

"Justified…? Karin, what do you-"

"_Make. Me. This. Promise_," Karin said.

"I promise," Naruto said, because Sakura could not.

She took several breaths in the chair, after that. Collecting herself.

At the wall, by the sleeping half-puddle boy, Suigetsu tensed, not taking his eyes off of her.

"…you'll probably want to close the door. And get some chairs. This might… take a while, okay…?" Karin finally said.

The door was closed. Chairs were gotten.

Sasuke said nothing. None of them did.

And Karin, when she was ready—and it took her far less time than even she had expected, to steel herself—admitted the truth.

"Orochimaru isn't behind this. Any of this. He's been dead for… years, I don't know why you so willingly… believed that he brought himself back, somehow. Whatever you told them, Ooda, it must have been a good story…" she added, quietly, with a bare smirk.

"…I told them that he transferred his mind into my body remotely, after I was born…" Ooda said. "You remember… he had that whole journal about it. He never went through with it but it sorta gave me an idea for an explanation…"

"You smart _boy_," Karin said. Ooda tensed from the compliment.

She smiled at him for only a moment more, before continuing.

"Honestly, you've all been chasing shadows, okay? I've been aware of it from the start, and I just… want to put it to rest, finally. He is not responsible for the creation of these children, and neither is my son. _I_ am."


	71. Cavatina Posato

_Chapter 71 - Cavatina Posato_

* * *

Karin ran her eyes over three faces of both wide and narrow-eyed confusion.

She spoke before Sakura could. "No questions. You promised. Besides, I _am_ going to explain, okay? As best as I can."

Sakura just nodded, solemnly.

And Karin continued.

"This whole project—these children—they're my creations. All of them." She lowered her eyes. "I… cloned each of them from tissue samples, and afterwards used my body as a surrogate to grow them."

This, she said, for Sakura's sake. Because even she could notice the hard glossing-over in Naruto and Sasuke's expressions.

(She tried not to savor the look of badly-disguised awe on Sakura's face, however.)

"Nobody forced me to do this. I began this project knowing full-well what I'd have to do, what it would do to _me_. I've experienced my fair share of pain. I've almost _died_ for this, actually. But I do not regret any of it, okay?"

Her hand tightened around Ooda's as she said this.

"To be completely honest, I began this for Sasuke's sake, at first," she said, quietly, only allowing him the slightest look, averting her eyes before he could change his expression. "I got this idea in my head that if I managed to figure out how to clone a human being, then maybe I could help in reviving the Uchiha clan. I was kind of a different person back then, okay? I had different dreams.

"I got the idea when I was helping gut out the labs, from some of the reports we'd found. They were just… speculations, on his part, but I thought if I worked hard enough that I'd be able to succeed where he didn't. I mean… I always knew I'd be using my own body for this. You can't just… grow a human in a jar, okay? Even _I _know that's impossible. And I _know_ my body. I could custom-tailor medicines, hormones, treatments to fit my _own_ needs. I _would_ be successful where he wasn't, because he relied too heavily on quantity over quality, treating every surrogate the same. When he used them, anyways.

"So I waited a few years for things to quiet down. I got my clinic set up, I made my presence in the village, got the locals to like me, made good with the refugees and runaways. And at night I did research. I had more than enough materials on-hand from the labs, and whatever funding I managed to get from the local government, which I justified as funds for my clinic. Practiced cell-culturing. I took a sample of tissue from my ovaries and grew an extra one outside of me, for egg cases. I remember being so _excited_, back then, because my progress was so quick. Honestly, I was just riding off of Sensei's discoveries. Improving things, here and there. But it wasn't really true progress.

"Eventually, I figured I was ready, so I began preparing myself to carry the first clone. The control, as it were. I began gaining weight, since… well, I was kind of way too skinny to…" She paused. "…nurture a little one, back then. It'd also make the pregnancy easier to conceal, I figured.

"I don't know… why I chose Sensei to clone, first. Again, I was… kind of a different person back then, okay? I wouldn't _change_ my decision, though, even if I wanted to," she added, strongly. "I wouldn't. What's done is done, anyways, okay?"

Ooda kept his head down, though she gave him as comforting a glance as she could.

Suigetsu, from the wall, looked as worried as he could be.

She cleared her throat. Took a moment to gauge her other audience.

Sasuke looked vaguely horrified. Or disgusted. Or both.

Sakura's eyes were still unreadably wide, as easily interpreted as disbelief, amazement, or fear.

Naruto just looked confused.

She continued.

"It took me… three, four tries to finally get it right. The right levels of hormones, to prevent rejection, the right body mass... I… can't even begin to describe how excited I was when I tested my blood and finally got that positive readout, and when two, three months passed and nothing _happened_. Sakura, I… know you have children, so perhaps you can, I don't know... _relate _a little, on that level."

She looked up, a half-smile of recollection on her face.

"Because when I first felt Ooda moving, it really started to hit me, what I was doing. That I was creating something that was… _alive_. It wasn't some hypothetical, it was a real _thing_, okay?"

She gave Ooda another comforting glance, rubbing his hand with her thumb.

"Didn't really affect me until much later, though. Maybe because this was my first. The little one kept growing. The village folks didn't… really say anything about it. They never _have_. Honestly, if _anyone's_ noticed then they probably respect me enough to leave me alone about it.

"I was due in December, with Ooda. And I practically counted down the _days_. I was so… naïve back then, okay. Because the sooner the little one was out of me, I figured, the sooner I'd be able to start with the next one." She sighed. "If only it were so easy.

"Honestly, I almost want to go back in time and slap myself for being such a fool about it. I can remember, when I finally went into labor, I kept… trying to keep a record of everything, in a little journal. Like it was an _experiment_." Another sigh, a shake of the head. "An _experiment, _okay_…_ I learned my lesson that night, I suppose," she added, almost sarcastically. "It's one thing to be an outside observer but another thing entirely to be brought to your knees by contractions and crying because it hurt so bad and you didn't expect it."

Sakura covered her mouth with shaking fingers.

Karin continued, softly, trying to keep her own voice from shaking too badly.

"I can't believe it took that long for me to really realize what I was doing, what I'd _done_, what I really had to _do, _okay. I mean, before then, it was almost like I'd… assumed that Ooda would just spring out of my body fully-formed and he'd be able to take care of himself."

She paused for several deep breaths.

"…I can remember the exact thought that went through my head, when Ooda finally came out, when _that_ was all over. Looking at him there, it just… there, it hit me that this wasn't—an experiment, that this wasn't that simple, okay. This was a person, a _helpless_ little person, and _I _had to take care of him." She scoffed at herself. "I was so shocked by how small he was, how _real_ he was, that it was all I could really think about for the first few minutes, before I finally had the sense to pick him up off the ground and… well, I don't need to elaborate…

"Frankly, I was terrified. All of that just… fell down on top of me. Looking back, I can't believe that it didn't _stop_ me. Sometimes I think that it _should_ have, that I should have just stopped with Ooda and raised him and have that be the end of it. I was only _nineteen…! _ Maybe that has something to do with it, that I was so young. I thought I could do anything.

"I guess I learned that lesson pretty quickly, too."

She tilted her head and her eyebrows slightly sideways.

"Ooda, you were _such_ a cooperative little one, but you were still a baby, okay? And you cried _so_ much I didn't know what to _do, _sometimes. And all the diapers and the feeding… Somehow I managed. A small miracle, that. But then again, I had the village to help. They all bought into the story I cooked up, that you were a foundling. Or maybe they didn't and they were just humoring me and they thought that you were some fatherless child and they pitied me for it. I don't know, okay.

"I had almost no time for research because taking care of him was so… time-consuming. And it frustrated me so _much_, almost as much as it scared me. Since I had to take _care_ of him. I'd have to take care of any _other_ clone I made, wouldn't I? And I'd have to justify having _them_ around, or exposing myself, or…"

Another pause, another breath, another moment of gathered composure.

Ooda put his other hand on top of his mother's, and nodded at her.

She continued, looking at Sakura, and not him.

"Some nights it just got _overwhelming_. But… I'd look at Ooda and how… perfect he was and, even with all the fear and the frustration, he reminded me _why _I was doing this in the first place. Reminded me what I _had_ done. I'd succeeded, once. I'd done perfectly. I could do this, okay?

"I had to keep going, so I did.

"I waited until maybe a half a year after Ooda was born before I tried again, this time with an Uchiha. I'd always intended to… use Itachi's DNA for my first, in that instance. Sensei had a small stockpile of his hair and some flesh samples left in the labs—he had samples from _every_ member of the Akatsuki, and _then_ some, okay. I suppose I thought that, if I managed to find a successful method, I'd be able to go back to Konoha and get more genetic material. Foolish of me, I figure, now.

"I got stopped pretty early on, though. No matter what I tried, I kept… miscarrying. This went on for months. It exhausted me and it made me so—_angry._ I didn't know what I was doing wrong. Was I stressed because of Ooda? Because by then he was eating… solid food, sleeping through the night, he was _fine_… And my work in the village wasn't exactly _taxing_, okay.

"So I tried again, with another subject. I had a fairly large library of genetic samples to choose from. And I made a promise, from the very start, from the _very_ start, to only clone the dead. Never the living. _Never_ the living. I have principles.

"Even then I had a hypothesis that maybe my troubles had to do with the Sharingan—the kekkei genkai. So I chose the most… _normal_ subject I could find."

She found it very hard to look at Naruto, even though it was necessary.

"I chose Jiraiya. And it was a success. Though there _was _a bit of a hiccup halfway through," she added, quickly, snapping her eyes to Suigetsu.

"What, you're talking about me?" he said, though there were pauses in miniature in his words, like he was talking out of line.

"Yes, you," Karin said. "Remember, your arm, okay? I was maybe five months gone with Kurunari when you almost ruined everything."

"I didn't ruin _anything_."

"I… I know you didn't," Karin said, trying not to look at Naruto, what with the name slipping out of her. She knew what it meant to him. "You ended up helping, in the long run." Back to her audience. "_Suigetsu_ discovered me midway through that second pregnancy and, well. I almost decided to stop right there, after that, because he took it so badly."

"You can't _blame_ me."

"I'm _not_," Karin said. "It was a good slap in the face, though. I mean, _you _remember how you acted, right?"

"…yeah, I remember."

"Because before that I was just in this little isolated bubble. I thought everyone would be as excited as I was, that they'd _accept_ it when I finally went public. _You_ showed me otherwise."

(There was an unspoken thank-you-it-was-nothing exchange between them, in the pause.)

"So I had to rethink things. Restructure. I got him to help me—we made a deal, okay? I made a promise to… one day produce a Hozuki for him. And in return he stayed quiet and ran errands for me, here and there."

Suigetsu took a moment to turn his head toward the sleeping boy beside him, though Karin didn't.

"I did want to continue with the project but I figured that I couldn't keep the children with me, because that would… be bad. It would attract attention. And I finally sort of understood that the public probably wouldn't approve. I needed to stay hidden and I needed _them_ to stay hidden and _safe_. So that became Suigetsu's job, delivering the children to other homes after they were born. Though it took a bit of… wrangling."

"You _know_ I've apologized a _ton_ for that, will you ever let it go?"

"No," Karin said. "Not really."

"But we got better at it," Suigetsu was quick to add.

"Yeah. After I started running things," Karin said.

Suigetsu did not object.

"If I'd had it my way, I'd have had Kurunari put into a _far_ more loving home. So he wouldn't have had to… suffer like I know he has. But…"

And she finally brought herself to look at Naruto.

His face was still filled with neutral confusion, though worry was also very apparent there.

"But from what I've gathered, Naruto, you've been very, very good to him, and I can't tell you enough how grateful I am for that, okay?"

He just nodded.

"Kurunari was… likewise fairly complication-free. I kept him for three months so it'd be easier for him to survive any sort of journey. Kept him in a room below the clinic that I repurposed as a nursery and checked on him in-between patients. And… Ooda you were so little, then you probably don't even remember, but you were so _curious_ about him, always trying to poke your head in there and bother him." A half-smile, half-laugh. "You were two years old when he was born. Already talking so much.

"I gave another try at an Uchiha clone, after I'd given myself enough time to recover. A good six months. Again, it was… a failure. Suigetsu, of all people encouraged me to keep going."

"Yeah, 'cos, well, you made a promise to me and I told you to maybe not focus so much on that Uchiha whatever," he said, sitting back a little. He put a hand on Shingetsu's gently rising and falling back.

"Yeah. I know," she said. "You got me on a different path."

(Another silent thank-you.)

"Suigetsu got the idea for me to give a try at other kekkei genkai, since I'd eventually have to learn how to foster them for the sake of my promise to him. And Orochimaru had samples on hand for certain… individuals with _very _rare gifts, but I didn't want to… go too far, okay. So he went and got some… material for me to experiment with. Suigetsu, I mean. Since I was having a bit of a difficult time getting Hozuki cells to stabilize, even in a petri dish.

"That… also ended in a failure at first. It was horrible. So I gave another try at a 'normal' subject, one without any sort of special bloodline, from outside of Orochimaru's library, just to make sure it was the bloodline and not the process that was at fault. Since, well, he didn't have much of an interest in 'normal' people, okay. Suigetsu was _very_ enthusiastic about this one."

"Oh, shut up, so what if I was," Suigetsu said.

"…I never said it was a _bad_ thing," Karin said. "The results were the same as Kurunari and Ooda. Fairly complication-free, though since it was my third I was more experienced, okay? I'd managed to mix my medicines better. I wasn't in as much discomfort, and the delivery was very easy.

"I named him Fuzan." A pause, as she considered, "Oh, I suppose you'll want to know where he came from too, okay… Well, his genetic material came from Momochi Zabuza. Suigetsu dug up his and Haku's graves to get me my material. He thought it was a good idea, okay?"

"Well, it was, I think."

"I never said it _wasn't_," Karin said. She cleared her throat. "I kept him for three months, just like Kurunari. And then Suigetsu brought him to his family, after scouting _extensively _and finding a safe area. I made sure he was more careful this time."

"And I was."

"Yes, you were. And I've had him check in on them as best he could, discretely, okay. Making sure they were being taken care of. Given… where he'd put Kurunari and the—ahem—situation with his relationship to Mist it was difficult to keep tabs on him, but Fuzan was easier."

"Once a month. That's how it's been," Suigetsu said.

Karin nodded. "And for a while after that, things were pretty quiet. Ooda turned five after Fuzan was born so I enrolled him in the local school, but that proved… troublesome." In a sudden, swift murmur, she added, "Darling, I won't say anything further, I promise, okay? I won't say anything further."

"Thanks, Mom…" His voice was barely audible.

"Following… _that,_ I decided to educate Ooda myself. And that was less difficult than I'd imagined, since Ooda's such a… smart boy, he took to things very quickly. I suppose that turned out for the best, teaching him everything I knew, since he became such a help in the later little ones, okay. The best assistant I could ever ask for."

Ooda's smile was badly-fought against.

"I went back to research for a bit, after that. Trying to figure out what had gone wrong with the other little ones. The ones with kekkei genkai. I _really_ did my research, okay. I started figuring that a lot of it had to do with hormonal levels, uterine environment… I thought, surely, I'd get it right the next time.

"But it was around this time that I was contacted by Taki Mikan. She and her husband were having severe difficulties in conceiving a child—this was entirely due to her uterine cancer, which Sensei had treated as a child. That was how she had found me, apparently. She had her husband's men do some digging, and they tracked me down. Surprisingly, she recognized me. But I guess that's to be expected, since I was _there_ at the time of the treatment, okay.

"I told her that there was nothing I could do for her own body, since so much had been done to her already and I didn't want to cause any permanent damage. I mean, I'm an excellent doctor but I'm not a miracle-worker, okay? Mikan was very eager, however, so after a fair bit of discussion we came to an agreement. I wouldn't be able to give her a child that was biologically hers—her ovaries had to be removed in her treatment, which she was somewhat unaware of since she was so young when it happened and Sensei was probably unclear about if she was fertile still—but when I brought up the possibility of raising one of my own she got very excited and asked for me to elaborate.

"I suppose she had gotten it into her head that helping me out in this way was a more proper way of thanking me—and Sensei, I suppose—for saving her life all those years ago. I'll never understand, okay. Maybe she wanted to at least see if it was an option before she and her husband considered adopting, and this seemed like the next best thing. But the decision was made, and I told her that I would keep in contact with her about it.

"The only condition she had, really, was that she wanted a daughter. And Sensei… as _wonderful_ as he was about treating women equally—Sasuke don't _look _at me like that, I'm not trying to excuse anything it's just the _truth, _okay,_" _she added, daring to look directly at him for only a moment, "overall, the world outside of Sound wasn't nearly as accommodating in providing strong females. I didn't have much to choose from. So…"

And she sighed, again, bending her head and massaging her temples with her fingers and thumb. And when she looked up, she said, "Naruto, I'm so sorry that so much of this has to affect you _personally_, compared to everyone else. But I used your mother Kushina's genetic material in making Kiine. Sensei had a fair amount of her hair in his libraries."

Naruto's expression did not change, neutrally, worriedly confused.

Sakura, frankly, seemed more affected than he was.

Karin, after a few breaths, continued once more.

"Kiine gave me very little trouble, overall. Especially with Ooda helping. And I kept in touch with Mikan every step of the way, sending her progress reports and everything. And when Kiine was born she came by herself to collect.

"Naturally, the Taki family paid me very handsomely for my services, though discretely—I mean, really, if it was somehow discovered that I now had _syndicate _ties then my reputation would _suffer_ and it'd be just very bad for me, okay. Though Mikan continued to stay in touch with me, asking how I was. She's been wonderful about everything. The money helped a lot, too, okay. It allowed for me to purchase better equipment for my clinic and my research. And the best part was that Mikan offered to pay for anything further that I needed."

"Also offered to give me work whenever I showed up to see how Kiine was doing, that was a plus," Suigetsu added.

Karin nodded. "I suppose that's why I had more success, after that point. I was finally able to afford equipment, chemicals and medicines for my." She swallowed. "Studies. I certainly needed them, okay. Especially with all the difficulties I had in nurturing an Uchiha embryo. But I pressed on, seeing if I could have success elsewhere. Again.

"After the Hozuki culture failed again I gave the material I had gotten from Haku a try. That… proved difficult. But doable. Yuki clan members have a lower body temperature than others, okay? Sensei had figured that out in his… encounters with them. So I had to lower mine in order to preserve the fetus using drugs and keeping my house chilled. I ended up succeeding when I conceived in the middle of winter. Funny how that works out."

(She said, not mentioning the innumerable, painful miscarriages that came when her body rose just a little too far above the comfort zone.)

(Yuki had given her hell, but he was not the worst.)

"Why I did this, I don't really know. Perhaps to prove to myself that I _could_ succeed with an 'abnormal' clone, with at least one kekkei genkai. And Yuki was the result." A slight laugh. "Clever name, I know… But I couldn't think of anything else.

"We left him with the Taki clan, again, for a number of reasons. Mostly because I wanted him to be with a family that would accept his inevitable gifts and not shun him for it."

"Because that made Haku's life miserable. Even though times are different now," Suigetsu said, quietly.

"Yeah," Karin said. "I wrote to Mikan explaining that if Nobuhiro-san rejected him—and I chose him because Sensei was awful to him in the past and I wanted to see if this would make up for things a little, okay—that I trusted for her to take care of him. And I warned her about his gifts, and she was very wonderfully understanding. So when Yuki was, again, three months old, Suigetsu took him and brought him to the Taki. We were careful about it, though. Left him sort of as a foundling. I had Suigetsu write the note that came with him, since I thought someone might recognize _my_ handwriting."

"Almost got caught," Suigetsu said, almost grumbling. "But it worked out."

"Yes, it worked out. Yuki was adopted and well-taken care of, Mikan was very eager to tell me. And that was that, okay."

She nodded, a few times, with an unaware smile.

"As… usual, I went back to work on trying to get an Uchiha to grow. Yuki gave me a lot of courage, I suppose, since he gave me so much trouble. But I had succeeded, okay. I did a lot of research trying to… pick apart what made Uchihas _different_. Came up with a lot of hypotheses.

"It was all in the hormones, I found. The release of chemicals during the pregnancy at abnormal intervals, compared to a normal gestation. I figured it had something to do with the fact that I was a non-Uchiha trying to grow a full-blooded Uchiha, okay. Since I'd heard about _your _successes in reproducing, Sasuke. Half-Uchiha probably don't have the same problems."

Sasuke, his arms crossed, tightened his hands.

"I tried for maybe two and a half years before getting it right. It was a challenge. And then, finally, I had Yakata."

She had to stop, stare at the ceiling, bite her lip.

"I almost didn't want to give him away. But I knew I had to. I… I couldn't have kept him. And we _found_ a good family for him, okay? There was a village in the Land of Rice that Suigetsu had found where a lot of former… test subjects had come to settle. Tamina. Good people, but fearful. Satoko and Gishi especially, because…" She considered her words. "Largely because I had their files on hand and I knew what they'd gone through, in the past."

"Plus it was pretty obvious they really wanted a kid, at least to me," Suigetsu said, though stiffly.

"Yeah. I thought it was only fair to them. And I knew that Yakata would be in good hands, with them. And there was… one other factor."

And she looked at Sasuke, there, with very, very narrowed eyes.

"I did not want for you to meet him. Ever. This is why I chose the Land of Rice, okay? Why? Because I know you. You wouldn't want to go back. And because of that, you would probably never meet him. Do you have any _idea_ how nervous I was when you came to me, saying you'd seen him? What I thought you would do because of it?" Her voice grew louder, louder. "You were _not_ meant to meet, okay?"

Suigetsu, in an instant, was by her side, with a hand on her back. "Karin, hey. Calm down."

Though he gave Sasuke an unkind look of his own.

Sasuke tried not to look shaken.

Karin managed to slow her breath. Ooda patted her held hands.

"Mom, it's okay…"

"I know. I… I know."

Suigetsu did not leave her. Though he kept an eye on his son, sleeping by the wall.

"Really, I… never meant for any of these children to encounter people who knew where they had come from, okay? I can't even imagine how much trouble that would have caused. And believe me, Sasuke, I have _questions_ for you after this about what you've been _doing_ to that boy, okay?"

"Mom, hey…"

Karin flung another nasty glance in Sasuke's direction before going on. "After Yakata, I took a break. He'd left me very... fatigued. I tried to work on facilitating a Hozuki embryo. No success. Suigetsu got annoyed, some things happened, it's not worth talking about."

Suigetsu did not object.

"Point is, Shingetsu came afterward. Call him the result of compromise." Her face calmed itself quite suddenly as she regarded the boy by the wall with soft eyes. "He really caused me to rethink some things. Him and Suigetsu both. Interesting how you two seem to do that."

"Not like I'm trying, hey," Suigetsu said. He flashed his teeth in a slight parody of a condescending smile.

Karin smirked, looking up at him in return, and then back.

"After that I decided to change my goals entirely. It was no longer an issue of Uchiha or 'normal.' I didn't care about just Uchihas any more. It was giving dead bloodlines a… slight chance at reviving. I wasn't looking at bringing entire clans back, goodness, no. I'm only one person. But I wanted there to be at least that… _tiny_ chance, okay? Kind of short-sighted, I suppose. Especially given how… limited I am. But I wanted to make a difference. Even a small one, okay.

"So I went through and chose my further subjects. Kimimaro, I decided, was next. He was already a rarity, when he was alive, and what happened to him was unfortunate. I was very hopeful."

Her pause went on for far too long.

"…the interesting thing about the process of cloning is that… not everything is exactly the same as it was in the original. Cells can still mutate and change in the process of growing. Phenotypes won't be the exact same, either, okay."

Another far-too-long pause.

Ooda was starting to shiver, and let go of his mother's hands to hold his fists close to his chest.

Karin put her hand on his shoulder, patting him a few times.

"Darling, it's okay. It's okay," she said, softly, before returning. "When I finally… managed to get Asaoto to take, I could not have anticipated that there was something… _wrong_ with him, okay. None of us could have. _None of us could have_, Ooda," she added, now stroking his arm and some of his back. "It's okay. It's nobody's fault."

"I'm sorry, Mom…" Ooda said.

"No need to apologize, shh…" She continued on, not taking her hand off of him. "When I was seven months pregnant, Asaoto's ability manifested unexpectedly in utero and… I was very badly hurt. Lots of damage done to my internal organs. Ooda managed to save the both of us with emergency surgery, and later… organ transplants, but I was out of commission for _months_…"

Sakura broke her promise.

"Karin, oh… oh, no, so you mean that-"

Karin held up her other hand. Her eyes were very tired, but also understanding. "No speaking. Until I'm done."

"Sorry," Sakura whispered, the excess shock still entirely present in her eyes.

Naruto reached over and held her hand, tightly.

Karin tried to ignore this.

"Asaoto himself was very premature, but he managed to hang on. Poor thing… He needed a lot of attention. And since the growth-attacks continued well after he was born, I made the decision, even before I was fully recovered, to not give him away.

"Though… obviously, you know Juugo is now his father. Those two are… a special case, okay? For starters, I didn't allow for Asaoto to live with him until Asaoto was much older. Juugo'd been living by himself, sort of wandering and coming to me whenever he was having difficulties. He knew he could always come to me.

"I took a risk and let him see Asaoto, the next time he showed up, after he was born. I explained the situation as delicately as I could, telling him that Asaoto was… _not_ Kimimaro, but more like… a child of his, or a relative, but not him exactly. And Juugo said that he understood but I still worried, okay?

"The improvement in his condition was incredible. Even on that first day—and Asaoto was so small, then, he could fit into Juugo's palm no problem—he just lost so much of his worry. He started coming back more, after that, not because he was stressed, but because he wanted to see Asaoto so much. Ooda, you remember how it was, don't you?"

"Yeah," Ooda said, quietly, "I do."

"And he started helping out in taking care of him. Feeding him, changing him, playing with him. Sometimes just being in the nursery while he was sleeping, in case he had an attack or woke up for any other reason. It was like he was meant to do it, stupid as that sounds. I started to sort of… feel I could trust Asaoto with him. Even considering his past with Kimimaro. Maybe _because_ of this. I had to be sure that Asaoto was healthy enough to live away from me, though. First and foremost. So I waited and let Juugo continue to… 'practice' before then.

"I let him go on his second birthday, after setting up a checkpoint between my lab and a house that Juugo had put together in Hakyo, as an emergency measure, since I didn't doubt that Juugo could bring Asaoto to me himself in the instance of a mild attack. But there were always… bad days. Juugo knew not to bring up my connection to Asaoto to anyone that asked, though, beyond my 'assistance' in taking care of him. Another foundling story. Suigetsu stayed with them for a while to make sure things went well, okay."

"Yeah, and that _did _go well. Juugo's been doing a good job."

"And by then I'd already gotten started on the next one. Almost if only to see if I could still do it, even with the transplant. I had doubts, but… it went surprisingly well. I barely had to do anything. But I was… very emotionally exhausted. It was hard to endure, okay? Mostly, too, because I _knew_ who I had to leave the next one with, and I couldn't deviate from that plan, no matter how much I wanted to.

"Sensei had always had a fascination with Senju Hashirama. His Wood Release, a mutation of the Senju line, was something he wanted to recreate, and badly. Hence the… preoccupation with modifying infants and, eventually, Shimura Danzo, to recreate the trait, since he had no luck with prenatal experiments. I know there was only one living success, the man named Yamato; I had read about what had happened to the children that couldn't control the release. I was still scared of what could go wrong, because of Asaoto.

"But I knew Yamato could probably suppress those abilities, regardless of how wrong or right things went. So I went forward with it and I got the Senju embryo to take. Suigetsu, in the meantime, tailed Yamato for a while, and got enough information to make up an alibi, something that would convince him, when we left Kotoji with him, that the child was his. Because I couldn't think of anything else to explain Kotoji's abilities, okay?

"It was very, very hard letting Kotoji go. I insisted on bringing him to Konoha myself, even though Suigetsu said he could take care of it. I had to, for my own sake. I was _tired_, I could hardly _take_ any more, okay…"

She had to take her hand off of Ooda's back and cover her mouth as she collected herself, swallowing her emotions.

Ooda, in return, put a hand on her shoulder. "Mom, it's okay…"

"I know, I know…" She sniffed, she gulped. "I suppressed my chakra and disguised myself otherwise and… well, I managed to get him into Yamato's care without bringing much attention to myself, without getting caught. Suigetsu followed up and confirmed it for me, and I was so _relieved_ to hear it, okay… I just wanted him to be taken care of…"

Karin didn't say anything for a while, taking off her glasses and wiping at her defiantly dry eyes.

Ooda ran his hand over the back of her arm, gently.

She put her glasses back on.

"I honestly don't know why I continued. But I knew, as soon as I started, after thinking it over for… _months_, that Osato would be my last. I've done this for far too long, okay. I'm not young any more. I'm tired. I'm sick. I just… I want it to be over, okay? Osato is my last and he was always going be my last, from the very start.

"Why I chose… who I chose, for my last… Hmph." Another self-depreciating scoff. "Thought, maybe, I'd go out with a bang. Try the impossible. Satisfy… a nagging… thing of curiosity that had been with me since I began thinking about other bloodlines.

"Sensei had… genetic samples from every member of the Akatsuki, before his departure. Hair, blood, skin… And I'd found reports, _very_ interesting reports, where one of the members, Konan, had asked him to attend to the health of another member, whom I now understand was the… leader, for all intents and purposes: Uzumaki Nagato."

Naruto sat up very, very slightly.

"And when I learned that Nagato was a confirmed Rinnegan-bearer, I… couldn't really stop thinking about it, okay. I suppose, even now, I can't help myself when it comes to these things. So I took what little material was left over from Sensei's treatments and tests on him, and Osato, eventually, resulted. Well. He _will_ result when he's born, okay.

"Of course… there's always the possibility that the Rinnegan won't manifest in him. I don't know if it activates, like a Sharingan, or if it's a born trait, like a Byakugan. Or if it's even a complete outlier and it won't manifest at _all_. That's one of the reasons why I wanted to _have_ Osato, so I could see, okay? And one of the reasons why I wanted to raise him _myself_, to protect him from harm if he did turn out to be… different, okay…"

Karin lowered her eyes, for a while, looking at her lap. She seemed far calmer.

"And that," she said, "is the end of it. Not counting Shingetsu, there are nine of them. No more, and no less. All of them are healthy and cared for by competent guardians and parents. Mine and Suigetsu's actions over the past twenty-odd years have ensured that, okay? And… while I understand what I have done is... morally questionable, I have broken no existing laws and endangered only my own life in the process."

Once again, she looked her audience in the eyes.

(And tried to appear far less terrified than she truly felt.)

"I'm not covering for anyone. I'm not even going to try and cover for myself any more. This is the truth, as well as I can tell it. I didn't do this for anyone but myself. And, well… whatever idealistic motivations I might have had when I was younger, okay… But I'm finished, now. What's done is done, and I have no regrets, nor do I regret finally telling… someone, much less _you_ three and… whoever else you'll _doubtlessly_ tell. I had to do this."

And she sighed, bracing herself.

"So, any questions?"


	72. Seguidilla Sospirando

_Chapter 72 - Seguidilla Sospirando_

* * *

It surprised absolutely nobody that Sakura was the first to speak up, her voice diluted by her breath and disbelief.

"Karin, you… so you mean to tell me that this… is all your doing?"

"Every last bit of it. Or was I not clear enough?" Karin replied. She seemed suddenly much more solid with her vague sarcasm, and her voice was clearer.

"Well, no, _no_, you were… _clear_, just… Karin how did you…?"

"If you want me to give you _specifics_ then I'd be more than happy. I have full records on every cloning attempt, successes and failures both, in my labs back at home, besides. If you want to read them later then you have my permission, okay?"

"Karin…"

"I'm trying to be completely open, okay?" Karin said. "I'm not going to hide anything any more. Besides…" And she shrugged, slightly. "I've made a _lot_ of advancements in obstetrics, as you can probably guess, and the medical world is probably much better off for it if I publish my findings in _full_ there, okay… Though. I'm not very keen on letting out my… cloning process to anyone I can't trust, okay. I mean… Sakura, I can trust you, but not… people like Terumi Mei."

"Why's—wait, why _her_ exactly?" Sakura said.

"Her breeding programs. I don't want her getting any further _ideas_, okay." She narrowed her eyes.

An echo of Ooda's explanation passed over Sakura's face.

"I'm already disgusted _enough_ by her efforts," Karin continued. "If her… _scientists_ were to do what I've done with… further surrogates to perpetuate this _obsession_ she has then I don't think I'd be able to _live_ with myself, okay."

"So you're really _that_ much better than that, are you," Sasuke said.

"I won't pretend that what I've done is… completely justifiable," she replied, with a critical eye. "But I, at least, have some sort of moral compass. I have a code, lines I won't cross. I know my limits. And I know where and when to _stop_."

"Somehow I find this hard to believe," Sasuke said, his eyes resting on her hands for a moment.

(Hands that rested on her stomach. On her last little one.)

"I told you," she said. "I am going no further with this project and I do not intend for anyone _else_ to any time _soon_. You all have my word."

"Oh, I don't doubt _that_," Sasuke said. "It's the moral compass I'm skeptical of."

"_Fuck_ you," Suigetsu said, clenching a fist. "You're one to _talk,_ I'm still-"

Sasuke leaned forward to get out of his chair.

"Suigetsu." Karin pulled on the waist of his blue-violet pants. "Don't."

He didn't.

Sasuke leaned back.

"I know what I've done is… questionable," Karin said. "You don't have to tell me. I know, okay? But what's done is… done… And I can't take that back. But I can at least… keep it from being misused. I don't… want to enable another Orochimaru or another Kabuto to exist and cause people pain because of my discoveries, okay."

She ran her eyes over their reactions again. "Sasuke, you of all people should want that the most."

"…I have nothing more to say to you," he said, lowly.

"Really. Well. Fine, then. Because I have a few things to say to _you_." She pulled back her voice. "…that is, after Naruto and Sakura get their fair say, okay."

Sakura's face had only barely lessened in its shock. "Honestly… Karin, I don't… know _what_ to say…" she said. "This is just—it's a little _overwhelming_."

"I… I know it is, okay," Karin said, sighing. "It's a lot to process in a very short amount of time."

"I should say…" Sakura said. "Well, first I, just…" She paused, sifting through the mountain of words still being processed in her mind, and the first thing she grabbed was, "So you mean you're Yakata's… _mother…?_"

"No, no, no, I am not his mother," she said, very, very, very quickly back. "I am not his mother. _His_ mother is Honbo Satoko. The same to the others, and their parents. I just created them. I'm." She sighed again. "I'm no more their mother than a… canvas-maker is the owner of a painting. I am not their mother, okay…?"

"…I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…" Sakura said.

(Hordes of tear-flooded memories suddenly burrowing into her ears.)

(_"You have no idea how… how _hard_ it is to… look at something you carried inside you and have to tell yourself that… it isn't _yours._ Over and _over._"_)

"…it's all right, okay," Karin replied.

"…well you're _my_ mom, at least," Ooda said, weakly, after a far-too-long pause, with an attempt at a reassuring pat on the back.

This made her smile, though it was almost a shameful one. "That's true," she said, quietly. "That is true."

"And you did a _very_ good job at that, I think," he continued.

"Ooda, _stop_ it," she said, pushing toward his hand.

Sakura found that she was raising her hand, almost asking for permission. "But, really… Taki Kiine, and Asaoto-kun too?"

"Yes, both of them," Karin replied. "Do you need me to tell you again? I understand I kind of… said a lot, okay…"

"Well, there's… nine of them, right? Or ten?"

"Nine," Karin said. "Ooda, Kurunari, Fuzan, Kiine, Yuki, Yakata, Asaoto, Kotoji, and… Osato."

"And do any of them… know?" Sakura said.

"Know?"

"Where they… came from. Genetically, at least. Or are their… guardians aware?"

"…goodness, no," Karin said. "I mean… Ooda was raised knowing the truth, and if Asaoto asks then I may have to explain _some_ of it, okay. But I had no intention of telling Osato unless I really had to, and passing him off as my own. None of the other children know, and the only guardians that have any awareness are Mikan and Juugo, and even _then_, they haven't said a word to the children. I think… well, from my experience with Ooda, it's probably far better for their mental health if they don't have to reconcile two identities like that, okay…"

Ooda lowered his head further. Karin patted his hand, a call-and-response.

"So… Yamato isn't really Kotoji-kun's dad, then?" Naruto finally spoke, his eyes closed from thinking.

"No, no, he's… Yamato's _definitely_ his father," Karin said. "I gave Kotoji to him to raise and-"

"No, no, hey, I meant…" Naruto opened his eyes, interrupting. "Like, he's not his _real_ dad, like… I _know_ he's his _dad_, y'know. But not generically?"

"…you mean genetically?" Sakura said.

"Yeah! Yeah, that's what I meant," Naruto said. "I mean they're not related by blood, right?"

"No, unless Yamato's genes were modified entirely in the… experiments that were done to him as a child, okay," Karin said. "Which is a possibility, all things considered…"

"Okay! Glad we got that cleared up."

And Naruto sort of smiled.

"…wait, you mean that's it?" Sakura said, when nothing else was said.

"What do you mean, 'that's it?'"

"I mean, that's all you want to _know_ about this?"

"Well yeah, I mean, I don't really care _where_ the heck Kotoji-kun came from. He's Yamato's kid to me, y'know? And that's all that matters, I think," Naruto said.

"But he's…" And suddenly, the realization, "…wait, Karin, where did… Kotoji-kun come from, anyways?"

"…didn't I say…? Senju Hashirama."

"…you mean you _cloned the First Hokage?"_

"I did."

"…oh. Um." Sakura had to fall back into her chair, a hand on her forehead as she thought this over. "That's… How?"

"I could go into full detail to you if you wanted, later, since I doubt that Sasuke would want to hear and Naruto would understand." A thought. "No offense to you at all, Naruto, this is just some advanced science and-"

"Nah, it's cool, I'm just only sorta understanding this anyways," he replied, with a tilt of his head. "Like, I get that these kids you made all came from other people—like Yakata and Itachi and stuff?—but I don't really get _how_ you did it. But you _did_ it so I guess I don't really _need_ to know, right?"

"That's… definitely a way to think about it," Karin said, with a curious suggestion of a laugh in her words.

(Feeling immensely grateful that he seemed to be taking it so well.)

"So who else did you make kids out of or whatever?" he asked. "Like, okay, so… you said something about the First Hokage and Kotoji-kun, I _know_ about Yakata-kun and Ooda-san, so who else?"

"Well… honestly, I doubt you've even _met_ half of them," Karin said. "Though… I do know you know Kurunari. He came from Jiraiya, like I said."

"…oh. Well _that_ makes sense," Naruto said.

"…it does?" Karin and Sakura, in perfect chorus.

Suigetsu, sensing he was no longer needed as a comfort, returned to the wall, where Shingetsu had turned over in his sleep. He kept an eye on Sasuke.

"Well, yeah. 'Cos, like, for years I tried to figure out why he looked so much like Jiraiya-sensei, and I just figured he was his grandson or a relative or something. Because I _know_ Jiraiya-sensei got around a fair bit." Naruto nodded a few times, his arms crossed. "This makes a bunch more sense, y'know. Glad I found out!"

"You're not… upset by this at all?" Karin said.

"Nah, not really. Why, did you think I would be…?"

"I just… figured you'd be a little confused, at least, since I know how close you were to Jiraiya," Karin said. "I mean… my assumptions thus far and my… experience with people finding things out about them sort of told me to expect worse, okay?"

She tried not to look at Sasuke as she said this.

"Well, sure, I'm a _little_ confused, but mostly I'm just relieved, I guess," Naruto replied. "I mean, what was the deal with everyone else who found out? Just wondering, y'know."

"Understanding that these children are not their originals," Karin said, somewhat monotonously. "That's been the biggest issue."

"Oh, is that what it was? Because I _know_ that Kurunari-kun is _not_ Jiraiya-sensei. Like kind of not at _all_," Naruto said. "Dude, have you ever met him? …well, okay, so maybe that's a dumb question, but still. He's kind of _terrified_ of women, y'know. I mean that _alone_ is proof to me that he's not the same."

"So this doesn't change anything about how you… think of him?" Karin said, cautiously.

"No, not really," Naruto said. "He's still the same person to me, y'know, no matter where he came from. Why _would_ it change things?"

"I can… think of _several_ reasons why, but I suppose that doesn't matter with _you_, okay." Karin smirked.

His smile spread into an excited grin. "So, uh, who else, again? Oh, what about Kiine? You said something about her being my… mom or something?"

"…yeah, that's about right," Karin said. "Your mother, Uzumaki Kushina. That's where she came from, okay?"

"…neat," Naruto said. "I guess that's what caused all that, uh—confusion about her blood, then, huh, Sakura?"

"Huh? Oh! You mean all the way back when?" Sakura's head jerked from the sudden address.

"Yeah, yeah. That explains things pretty well, y'know."

"Certainly…" Sakura nodded a little, herself.

(Like Karin, not even bothering to ask if this revelation bothered him, also. If what he had said about Kurunari hadn't been enough, it was how he had reassured her just a few hours previous about the Massacre.)

(He didn't really know her, after all. So what was there to compare Kiine to?)

"So who else? That's…" Naruto counted on his fingers. "Six, right? So who are those last few?"

"Oh, um. Well aside from Osato…" A quick recollection. "That leaves Fuzan and Yuki. They came from Momochi Zabuza and Haku."

"Get _out_ of here! Really!" Naruto said. "Oh, man, those guys… I almost wanna meet them!"

"Well, Yuki you've maybe already met, since-"

Sasuke cleared his throat and every pair of eyes was drawn to him.

"Hope you don't mind my _interrupting_ this little nostalgia-fest," he said, eyes condescendingly fixed on Karin, "but as excited as I am to finally learn that it's not," a flick to Ooda, and back, "_him,_ but _you_ that's responsible for… _this_, up to and including the… _thing_ you have yet to-"

He swallowed whatever words he had left from the sheer hatred behind Karin's glare back at him.

"…I'd like to go _home_, now," Sasuke said. "Since none of this is particularly of interest to me, now that it's been _established_ that this isn't some huge… conspiracy for us to worry over."

"…no, you're not going home," Karin said, with a very even, very forceful voice. "I said I had questions for you and I'm going to have them _answered_, okay? Of all the things I've wanted to say, the things I _couldn't_ say, not if I didn't want to reveal _everything_, I wanted to ask you."

From the wall, Suigetsu leaned forward in preparation for. Something.

"Sasuke, you're staying here," Naruto said.

And Sasuke stayed.

"Ask your questions," he said.

And Karin asked, "What have you done with Yakata?"

"…what do you mean," Sasuke said, "'What have I done with him?' I've done _nothing _to him. I've been keeping him _safe_."

"Safe? _Safe?"_ Karin leaned forward in her chair. "I saw him, Sasuke. When I was brought here. I'm not blind, I _know_ what he looks like." Her breathing increased. "He had _burns all_ over his face and bandages on his arms _besides_. Those are _not_ minor injuries. What have you been _doing_ to him?"

Sasuke's face tightened in defense. "I've been training him," he said.

"_Training_ him. What the _hell _kind of training causes those sorts of injuries? Much less such _serious_ ones?"

"_Uchiha_ training. Because he's an Uchiha and I know his potential and-"

"Stop. Shut up. Shut _up._ Do not say another _word, okay?_" Karin's finger was a spear, impaling Sasuke to his chair. "First off, did he even _ask_ to be trained by you?"

"…well, yes, I asked him and he said wanted to, so-"

"That isn't the same thing. You might have forced him."

His eyebrows lowered. "I didn't force him to do _anything_, I-"

"No. No, no, no, I _know_ you, Sasuke. If you want something you'll do anything to _get_ it. And this _includes_ making people do things they don't want to."

"…I didn't force him to do anything, this is what he _wants._"

Karin began waving her hand, growing increasingly agitated. "No, no, no, no, you know what? I don't think you have any _right_ to say what Yakata wants, okay? I'm already _this_ close to… to doing _something_ to you because I do not want you spending another _minute_ with that boy. Not another MINUTE. I can't even _begin _to imagine how you've been treating him. I'm _scared_ and I'm _furious_ that I've allowed this to happen, okay?"

"…I've been treating him perfectly _well_. Why would I mistreat him? He's… my brother," Sasuke said, though the hesitance in his voice suggested far more care in his words than he had intended.

"No. No, he is—see, this is exactly it!" And Karin stood, far more quickly than she was comfortable with. "Yakata is NOT your BROTHER. He is NOT, okay? And the fact that you're insisting this is—I can't even begin to imagine how harmful this is for him!"

Ooda began to rise from his chair with a very worried expression.

Sasuke, despite himself, shrunk back in his chair. "…I—I haven't _told_ him who he is. All right? It's not like I've done that."

"The only person he is," Karin said, "is _himself. _What _have_ you told him, anyways?"

"About _what_."

"About Itachi!"

"Just… what he was like. His personality. I only ever answered his questions, I didn't tell him much..."

"…and _why_ was he even asking _in the first place?"_

It wasn't just Karin that was looking at him, now, but also Naruto, also Sakura, also _everyone_.

"I… told him that Itachi was his father."

Karin, to his surprise, just sighed and shook her head, almost smiling. "Figures," she said. "That's how I thought of explaining it to Ooda, when he was little. For when he started asking. Comparing Orochimaru to a father, before I decided on the truth, for better or for worse. Looks like you managed to do something _somewhat_ right, okay."

Sasuke glowered.

"Frankly, though," she continued, losing the spice-sweetness her voice had temporarily gained, "the less he knows about Itachi, the better."

"Mom, please calm down…" Ooda said, not really trying.

(Except to not look at Sasuke.)

"And." Sasuke swallowed, fidgeting. "And what makes you so sure of that."

"…you're _honestly_ asking me this?" Karin said. "You are _honestly_ asking me this? I am _living_ with the consequence of a child growing up and knowing the truth about this, okay? And I didn't even have a choice!"

Ooda straightened himself, abandoning his comfort.

"You being around him is, quite possibly, one of the worst things I could _imagine_ for Yakata, okay? I know. I _know_ how obsessed you were about your brother. You can_not_ be around him, okay!"

"You can't." Sasuke sat up, his face moving closer to hers. "You can't tell me what to _do_. You have no authority."

Suigetsu was now standing.

"Forget _authority." _Karin leaned forward, further. Sasuke tried not to lean back. "Unlike you? I actually _care_ about the well-being of this boy. Physical _and_ mental, okay? And you, as far as I've seen? Have been harming, or _will_ harm, both. And I cannot. Let. That _stand._ You can't be around him any more."

Sasuke looked to his left, at Naruto, at Sakura, but neither of them seemed to be doing anything but looking on with concern, with worry.

"…don't tell me I don't _care_ about his well-being," Sasuke said, with severe discomfort. "You don't know that."

"Really," Karin said. She pulled herself back, slightly, to adjust her glasses. "Well, then, Sasuke. If you really care about his well-being then you'll do the right thing and send him home as soon as you can, okay? To his _real_ family."

"What the—no! You can't make me _do_ that!" Sasuke said. "Besides, what purpose would that serve? He's perfectly fine _here!"_

"No," Karin said, "he is not. Not with you around."

Sasuke finally stood. "I'm doing _nothing_ to harm him."

"Then explain those burns. Those injuries."

"Those are from _training, _I _told_ you!"

"Training he might not have wanted. Probably _didn't _want."

"_Stop_ it," Sasuke said. "Besides, how do _you_ know what he wants?"

"Because I've watched that kid grow up," Suigetsu joined in, suddenly so very, very close. "And you know what I've noticed? That kid takes to fighting and conflict like a fish takes to flying. He's not meant for it, and if _you've_ been forcing him into that sorta stuff then I'm _more_ than agreeing with Karin, here. You're not good for him."

"…what, you too?" Sasuke said. "_Karin_, I think, at least has an excuse. Making sure her… _creations_ stay healthy, just like _Sensei_."

Suigetsu grabbed the cloth of Sasuke's shoulder, and he pulled hard. "Okay, first off? You insult the work she's done? I hurt you. Secondly, Yakata may not be _my_ kid, but I still have some concern over whether or not he's _happy_. And _trust_ me, Sasuke. That kid's been through a _lot _of pain, and I don't wanna imagine how much _worse_ you've been making it. I don't want that for him."

Sasuke tried to pull away. Suigetsu held on.

And Naruto finally did something. "Suigetsu-san, I'd appreciate it if you didn't hurt Sasuke."

"Won't hurt him if he doesn't make me," Suigetsu replied.

"Then, Sasuke? Maybe you should… cooperate. And… apologize, y'know? That was kind of mean, what you said."

Ooda had hesitant hands on Karin's shoulders. She was trying to control her breathing.

"And besides, Sasuke, is what she said true? That Yakata-kun's got burns from training with you?" he continued, when Sasuke didn't say anything.

"Those are from—from the Uchiha fireball technique. He _had_ to learn it, he's… he's an Uchiha," Sasuke said, through pressed teeth.

"No, he's not," Karin said. "Genetically, yes. But he's not an Uchiha. He's a Honbo. You can't _force_ him to be someone he's not."

"And just… _waste_ this potential he has? That I _know_ he has?"

"Shut _up_ about his 'potential'! You saying that is just… comparing him to Itachi, and that's wrong and it's _harmful_ to him, okay?" Karin said. "He is _not_ Itachi and he never _will_ be!"

Naruto was standing, now. Sakura, the only one left sitting (besides Shingetsu, naturally), began massaging one of her temples, her lips tightly, concernedly pursed.

And he put a hand each on Sasuke's and on Karin's backs, standing between them. "Both of you, can you calm down a little about this?" he said.

And without much explanation, feeling irrationally and suddenly soothed, they did, relaxing where they stood. Suigetsu let go after receiving a nod from Naruto as well, seeing that Sasuke was no longer fighting against him.

"Sasuke… I don't doubt you've been taking good care of Yakata-kun. I mean, you're a good guy, y'know," Naruto said.

(A slight, barely-concealed scoff from Suigetsu.)

"But if the only reason you're keeping him here in Konoha is to _train_ him, and if the only reason you're training him is cos of this whole thing with your brother and all that Uchiha stuff… well, I dunno." He shrugged. "I think I agree with Karin-san, here. Maybe it _is_ best if you take him home."

"But I… can't," Sasuke said.

"Yeah, you can," Naruto replied. "I could always get an escort or two to bring him back to wherever he came from."

"No, I don't—I can't trust anyone else with him," Sasuke said.

"I can't trust him with _you_," Karin said.

"Don't say things like-"

"Then we'll find someone good enough," Naruto interrupted. "Okay? I mean, if that's what it comes to."

"I don't want him near that boy one minute _longer,_" Karin said. "I want Yakata _home_. If you do only _one_ thing for me, I want him _home_, okay?"

Sasuke's anger was undesirably lukewarm. "He doesn't need to go home," he said. "Not _now_. He hasn't been here long enough."

"Sasuke." Finally, Sakura was standing, taking her place beside Naruto, but closer to him. "Maybe you ought to just… think about it a little more. See if this is… really what's best for Yakata-kun, you keeping him here."

Sasuke began shaking his head. "All of you. Just. All of you. Siding against me! Is that it?"

"Sasuke, no, we're just trying think about what's best for Yakata-kun," Naruto said.

Sasuke's face narrowed dangerously into a smile that was more like a weapon than anything, though he at least had the good sense to direct it at Naruto and not any other target. "Look at you, making this out like I have a choice."

"Well, Sasuke…"

"Just go ahead and _tell_ me. After all, you're the _Hokage_." His voice was a salt-spun sneer. "You could force _me_ out of the damn village with one _word_, if you wanted to."

"Sasuke, hey, I wouldn't-"

"It's clear. You're not going to let Yakata stay with me, with the only family he _has_. Fine. I understand. I'll _cooperate._"

"You are _not_ his only family." Karin's voice was almost a whisper.

"Yeah, Sasuke, stop… saying that, okay?" Naruto said. "Yakata-kun _isn't_ your brother. I mean, well, he _is, _but he _isn't,_ y'know? Like, uh. Like Ooda-san, he's not Orochimaru, right? Kind of definitely very _not._ It's the same thing."

(From Ooda, a glass blue-purple ripple of incredible gratitude, though there was no smile, no sigh to match it.)

"So you can't keep talking about him an' treating him like he _is_, y'know? Like," he continued, "you won't punch Ooda-san in the face again 'cos we know he's not Orochimaru now, right? So you wouldn't-"

"He did _what_."

Karin's face had hardened.

"So _you_ hurt _him _too? When?"

"Mom, please, don't—don't get angry, it was only because-"

Even if she had let Ooda finish, it wouldn't have helped.

Because in a moment Karin was swinging forward with her arm, and her fist collided with Sasuke's face. Sasuke stumbled back from the blow, knocking over a chair in the process.

"_Mom!_"

Sasuke covered his face with his hand. His nose was starting to bleed.

(It hurt more that he hadn't been able to anticipate the strike than the strike itself.)

Suigetsu made no attempt at trying to keep Karin away from him, but Naruto did.

"Karin-san, hey-"

"Interrogation units, those I can fucking excuse, but you—_you_…!" She bent over, gasping from effort, for a moment, before _shouting,_ "WHEN DID YOU HURT MY _SON? _WAS IT BECAUSE OF WHO HE LOOKS LIKE? WAS THAT WHAT IT WAS?"

"Mom, please, it was… it was under bad circumstances, he didn't know it was me…" Ooda hadn't moved forward, however, his hands clasped over his clavicle.

"THIS IS WHY I WAS SO CAREFUL. BECAUSE OF PEOPLE LIKE YOU, OKAY?" She had to pause, gulping air. "Horrible… people like… you…!"

"Mom, please, stop…" Ooda's voice was shaking.

"Why were you… even let… _near_ him…" she continued, almost wheezing in her overheated anger.

"Karin-san." Naruto had two hands on her arms, palms out, the intent to calm flowing out of every finger. "Please."

Under his hand, increasingly wet with blood, Sasuke bared his teeth.

"Won't let you… hurt anyone else…" Karin managed to start catching her breath. "Not Ooda, not Yakata, not… anyone else… okay…"

"Karin-san, I'm really sorry," Naruto said. "Sasuke just… lost his temper during an interrogation he was sitting in on, y'know. It _was_ some bad circumstances. I'm sure," he added, looking back at Sasuke, "he's sorry."

Sasuke was still glaring at them.

"I doubt it," Karin said.

(She was right. And she knew it.)

Sasuke tried to wipe his face off on the black sleeve of his shirt. It only served to smudge the blood further.

"Well it won't happen again, _honest_," Naruto said, with a careful, compassionate bend of the head.

"…I can't be sure of that, okay," Karin said. She swallowed, trying to moisten her throat. "All this—talk about Yakata, Itachi… If he can't even differentiate between those two, then I don't even want to... _imagine_ what else he could do to Ooda again. To Yakata _too_, okay…"

"I won't touch your fucking _experiment_ again," Sasuke groaned, wiping off his face and covering his nose with his hand again. "And I'm not hurting _Yakata, _how many times do I have to fucking _say_ it?"

Even Sakura, who had been gingerly approaching him out of automatic concern—an injury was an injury—was stopped in her tracks by the hate in his voice.

"…Sasuke, that's enough," Naruto said, over his shoulder. "After we're done here, I want us to get to work on getting Yakata-kun home. I'll help you if you want, y'know. But I think this has to be done. It's going too far."

Sasuke wiped his face again, bitterly. Sakura came closer, and he seized up at her approach.

"I'm just checking to see if anything's _broken_, calm _down_," she hissed.

He allowed her only the slightest bit of contact. Nothing was broken.

"You feeling a little better, Karin-san?" Naruto asked, quietly.

"…a little," Karin said.

"Bet _that_ felt good, though, at least," Suigetsu finally said, smirking.

"_What_ felt good."

"Finally getting a blow in."

"…oh, you have no _idea_." Karin smiled like a pigtail-puller, though only for a moment.

"I hate you all," Sasuke said, from under Sakura's hands. He received no reply.

"Ooda-san, again, I'm super-sorry about everything," Naruto said. "Honest, I won't allow anyone to hurt you on account of your looks again, y'know? If anyone's gonna know you're here they're also gonna know who you _really_ are."

"Thanks, again…" Ooda said, in a tone of voice that clearly indicated how little of a comfort the promise was.

Sasuke's nose had stopped bleeding. Sakura now rendered useless to him, he stepped forward.

The blood on his face lent a very delicate air to his expression that made it either intensely frightening or intensely foolish.

"If Yakata _has_ to go… _home,_" he said, "then I'll take him myself."

"Not a chance," Karin said, immediately, shaking her head. "Absolutely not."

His frustration was palpable. "…but I'm doing _what you want me to do_."

"I don't want you near him. Not any more. _You_ can't take him. Have someone else do it, okay?"

One could have crushed a stone into dust with the tightness of Sasuke's fists.

"Sasuke, is there anyone you _trust_ that you can have take him?" Naruto said, already two steps ahead. "I mean, I'd do it if I wasn't so busy right now, definitely, y'know?"

"…I'll have one of my sons do it," Sasuke said. "Takeru can take him. But let him have one more night with me, at least."

"Karin-san, is that okay with you?" Naruto said. "I mean, I guess it'd give him enough time to pack and say goodbye…"

"…one night, no more. I can… tolerate him being in your _house_ but you had better not-"

"I'll _try_ not to _break_ him," Sasuke said, with brittle sarcasm.

Karin sighed a very deep, very grateful, very bitter sigh. "Well, _thank_ you for this, okay?"

"I'll go meet with my advisors about this, then. And if they agree that Yakata-kun should be sent home I'll have it filed as a mission, y'know. Takeru, you said you wanted to do it?"

A slight roll of the eyes, not even a nod. Did he _have_ to repeat himself?

"Right. I think he'd do a good job, I know how likes that high-profile stuff, I know," Naruto continued. "I'll let you know by the evening."

Sasuke didn't say anything, turning to exit the room. He wasn't stopped.

"…um, Sakura, can you handle everything else here?" Naruto said. "I got, uh. Stuff to do, y'know."

"Yeah! I'll be… fine, sure," Sakura said. "You go do what you need."

Naruto nodded, managing a smile. "Karin-san, you know I'm going to have to tell my advisors—and a bunch of other people too, probably—about all these clones and all the stuff you've done, so just a little forewarning, y'know? And I got a whole lotta questions for you, besides, so I'll probably be back later."

"I… understand," she said. "I've been preparing for this for years, okay."

Her expression and the sickening dread pouring out from behind her stopped him, and he returned from the door and to her, and he rested a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, nothing's gonna happen to you, okay? Even if it makes a few people mad, I'll make sure you and all the kids—Ooda-san and your baby and everyone else—are safe no matter _what_ happens, y'know. This is a _promise_. Hokage promise." He leaned over a little to get a better look at Ooda, who instinctively shrunk back at the eye contact; Naruto gave him a warm smile, regardless.

Karin's laugh almost sounded painful. "I'm… thank you. Thank you, Naruto."

"Yeah, it's nothing! I'll see you later about that, okay?" he said. "I'm super-curious about how you pulled off that Orochimaru-act, though, Ooda-san. You must be a _really_ good actor, y'know."

"…oh, gosh." Ooda's white face turned very visibly pink. "Um, thank you…"

"Yeah, you're welcome!"

"Just." Karin spoke, as Naruto was leaving. "If you can help it, I'd rather talk to… you than whomever you had Ooda… _speak_ to, okay? Is that all right?"

"Dude, _more_ than all right. Honestly, I don't wanna use the T and I guys if I don't have to, y'know?" Naruto replied. "If anyone's gonna be asking you or Ooda-san questions any more, it's gonna be me. Or Sakura. Okay?"

"That sounds… much nicer, thank you," Karin said.

"Good to hear it. I'm off, then," Naruto said.

And he left.

"…Karin, you gonna be okay?" Sakura asked, in the resulting silence.

"I get the feeling I'll be… more than fine, okay," Karin replied. She took off her glasses to wipe at her eyes again. "Jeez, I can't believe how… _relieved_ I feel. Finally telling someone."

"I… suppose it had to happen eventually?" Sakura said, for lack of a better response.

"If I'd had it my way," Karin replied, putting her glasses back on, "I'd have had _nobody_ find out. But… I suppose it's better that _you_ all were the ones I spilled the beans to. I mean, since Naruto took it so well…"

"Yeah, he's… kinda like that," Sakura said. "Frankly I'm… _still_ reeling a little, but…"

"I don't blame you. But..." Karin's shoulders rose and fell in a grand movement. "Well, I think I've changed my mind about a few things. I've decided to stay in Konoha for a while longer. At least until these… exams are over. So that'll give us _plenty_ of time to talk things over in full, okay? I'm sure _you_ have some more… _technical_ questions."

"Oh, yeah, absolutely. You can stay here as long as you need," Sakura said. "Though, ah, with… you being so close?"

"So close? What do you-" Her head shifted slightly with the realization. "Oh. You mean Osato?"

Sakura nodded.

"…well, if it decides to come while I'm here in Konoha then I suppose it can't be helped. But if I manage to make it another month without upset—and I sincerely hope this will be the case—then I trust I'll be able to make it home safe in time, okay?" she said. "I'm not… due until October, anyways, okay…"

"Sure… I mean, regardless of, ah. Who he is, I want to make sure he's born healthy too," Sakura said, trying not to cough.

"Mom, did you get the medicine, by the way…?" Ooda said, softly, cutting in between her and Sakura. "I was going to ask, I just wanted to make sure…"

"Yes, darling, yes, I got my medicine. And the little one is just fine, okay?" she replied. "I haven't had any further difficulty since then."

"Thank goodness…" Ooda said.

"Ooda-san," Sakura said, finally clearing her throat. "If you'd like I'd be glad to allow you a room with your… mother, in the hospital. Though, you understand, it might be best for you if you don't… travel around terribly much until we smooth things over."

"I wasn't… really planning to," Ooda replied. "I'm not much of a welcome sight 'outside,' after all…"

Sakura never would have thought that such a voice would have tugged at her heart so much. She had to cough again.

"Naruto should be able to… find a way for us to get home without drawing much attention, I'm assuming?" Karin said. "I mean, I don't doubt that there'll be as many… people that would _misidentify_ Ooda in the city after the exams are over." She patted Ooda's nearby arm as she spoke. "But precautions would still be nice, okay?"

"Well they gave me a blanket when they were taking me to the hospital," Ooda said. "I'm sure there's other things too…"

"Absolutely," Sakura said. "Don't worry. If…" She shook her head. "No, _when_ you're allowed to return home—whenever that is—I'm sure he'll find the best way possible to do it. I know Naruto. He's a good person, I really think he wants to help you guys out."

"_That,_ I think I'm able to believe," Karin said. "Naruto's… a very unique individual, okay."

Sakura just shook her head, slightly laughing. "Yeah, he certainly is."

"Hey, uh, doctor," Suigetsu said. He nudged Sakura, gently.

"Huh? Oh, um, yes?"

"It okay if I stay here with her as long as she's here? Since she's staying longer." He didn't look at her as he spoke.

"…well of course, I have no objections," Sakura said. "I mean, I understand you two are-"

"Good, that's all I needed to know," Suigetsu said. He left, quickly, to attend to his son again. Shingetsu had made no attempts at stirring.

"Don't… mind him," Karin said, with an apologetic shrug.

(Suigetsu whipped his head over his shoulder to scoff, again, though it was a far kinder one than any he had given to Sasuke.)

"As for where we're staying at the hospital…" Karin continued. "I really _do_ want to stay as near to Juugo as I can, so it is possible for Ooda to share my room? Or will he have to stay down here?"

"He… I don't see why he can't stay with you," Sakura replied. "And… if anyone says anything about Ooda then they'll deal with me. _And_ with Naruto. Okay?"

"I have no idea what I'd do without you," Karin said.

"Hey, it's… my duty, all right?" Sakura said. "I'm happy to serve."

It was nice, when Karin actually smiled with meaning. "How soon can we move?"

"Oh, uh, now's fine, if you want. Since it… looks like you've recovered a fair bit," Sakura said, to Ooda. "I mean, are you feeling all right?"

"Still a little sore, but it doesn't hurt nearly as much as it used to…" Ooda replied.

"Well, if you need anything further, we're here to help," Sakura said. "Karin, would you like for me to lead you back…?"

"We can find our way back just fine, I think. But I'll know where to find you, okay?" Karin said. "Don't… let me keep you from your duties."

"I won't," Sakura replied. "I'll be in my office for a bit, though, I think I need to… rest up a little."

"I think we all do, okay…" Karin replied. "Go… recharge. You deserve it."

Though as she was leaving, another thought occurred to Sakura. "Karin?"

"Yeah?"

"Um, if you want, would you like for me to have Yakata-kun brought to the hospital, so you can see him? I mean, I'm sure Naruto would-"

But Karin was shaking her head, many times. "No, no, no, I couldn't, I can't, I… I appreciate it but I don't think I could _handle_ that, okay?" she said. "I was upset enough when I… caught a glimpse of him at the transport station. It's better if he doesn't know I exist, anyways…"

It would have almost been an act of treason to press further. "I'm sorry, I… understand," Sakura said. "But… still, I could examine him for you, make sure he's _really_ okay. And pass that on to you. Would you want that?"

"…I just want him out of Sasuke's house. Then I'll… sleep a little better, at least. I know he's in better hands with Satoko and Gishi," Karin replied. "Really, you don't have to do this for me, okay?"

"…well all right," Sakura said, knowing that she'd probably at least call Ino about it. For many reasons. "Again, I'll… be in my office."

"Thanks," Karin said.

Though Sakura lingered in the hallway for a fair bit after she left, her head peeking around the corner.

And, eventually, Karin and the rest left. She had her arm around Ooda's tall back. He'd put the blanket back on.

"…sure Asaoto will be happy to see you too, okay? It won't be so bad. Besides, you're feeling better, right?" Sakura managed to catch.

"…yeah…" Ooda's voice was very quiet.

"Oy, Karin." Suigetsu was holding Shingetsu in his arms. His cape was dripping over his arms in a milk-blue glob.

"Yeah?"

"You want me to check on Kotoji again, s'long as we're here?"

"…I'll let you know," Karin replied.

There was more to the conversation, but they were moving too far out of earshot for Sakura to hear.

She had to get back to work, anyways. She had a hospital to run.

Returning to her office, she had a staff-wide memo sent out about the people in room 145, that they were not to be disturbed, and that she would be handling their care personally. She couldn't think of anything further, figuring that mentioning Orochimaru in any way—even in a "if you see a guy that looks like Orochimaru don't panic 'cos it's not him" way—would only make things worse.

If anyone had an issue with Ooda, she'd deal with it herself.

…hoping she wouldn't have to.

She sent out another memo to Moegi, reporting that Karin and Ooda had already spoken with Naruto and that he would be overseeing all future interrogations. She wasn't sure how necessary it was, but it couldn't have hurt.

She skipped over the details, figuring that Naruto had more authority than her in who was told about Karin's true involvement with the clones, likewise.

Given that Sakura had very little idea about who now knew about the clones to _begin_ with—she could only think of Sasuke and Kakashi—it was probably the best idea.

Afterward, she returned to her usual duties. Paperwork. Overseeing surgeries and procedures. It had been a busy day to begin with, but the time she had spent in dealing with Ooda, dealing with Karin had set her back a fair amount.

She would not return home, much less find the time to call Ino, for quite a while.

Given how things were going at the Uchiha house, it was unlikely she would have been able to pick up the phone, anyways.


	73. Gigue Calando

_Chapter 73 - Gigue Calando_

* * *

Sasuke hadn't managed to get all off the blood of his face, in arriving home. And he arrived, silently, and furiously.

All three of his sons were sitting at the kitchen table, his wife nearby, listening with her elbows nestled in her hands. She noticed him first, and she gasped. "Sasuke what—happened to your _face?_"

"None of your business, where's Yakata."

"He's… upstairs with Nadeshiko—_really_, Sasuke, what _happened?"_

"I TOLD you it was none of your BUSINESS, Ino!" She jumped a little at his outburst. "Now go and GET him for me!"

"…of course, I'll… go get him," she said, and scurried down the hall. Her feet made light sounds on the stairs.

"…hey, Dad, about Yakata-kun." Hajime was speaking, sitting beside Inou. Takeru sat at the head of the table. "Can you… tell us what's going on with him? I mean-"

"We'd like to know what he has to do with Uncle Itachi," Takeru cut in, with surprising flatness.

Inou said nothing. He had his hands firmly clamped to his arms, and was leaning against the table surface, but his eyes were locked on Sasuke.

"Inou's been telling us some… weird stuff about him having to do with Orochimaru and… clones?" Hajime continued. "I mean, after Mom calmed him down, I caught a few things…"

"We sat down and _discussed_ it because we figured it was essential to our _mission_," Takeru continued, still flatly. "To_ protect _Yakata-kun."

Inou said nothing, though his eyes slid to the table surface.

(Takeru didn't have as much of a talent for getting information out of people mentally, but verbally…)

"Really, Father. What's going on with that boy?" Takeru said.

And Sasuke's body seized up, every tendon tightening, every muscle turning to wood.

There was a series of footsteps down the stairs. His wife, his—no—and Yakata.

Yakata was coming down the stairs and.

"FAMILY MEETING. Everyone, just—shut up and get in the damn living room. EXCEPT YOU, NADESHIKO." He turned around and pointed at her, his breathing suddenly increased. "You. You stay upstairs. With Yakata."

Yakata looked far more afraid than she was.

And Sasuke, for a horrible moment, wondered why it was so painful to even _look_ at him now.

(Because he knew who his—not his mother was, he knew where he came from, now.)

(Because someone had hurt him, _touched_ him, for saying the boy was his brother.)

(For the bandages and burns that were still fading from the boy's cheeks.)

(…but how he could he deny that with that _face?)_

He focused on Nadeshiko. That hurt less. She wasn't normal. She didn't think like normal people. She was wrong.

"Sasuke, but I just-" Ino began.

"ForGET what I said and just GET IN THE LIVING ROOM. KARAI, YOU TOO! Wherever the HELL you are."

"Sasuke, calm down," Ino attempted.

"I'm TRYING to," Sasuke replied. "AND GET _UPSTAIRS_ ALREADY!"

"I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm sorry, Sasuke-san! I'm really sorry!" Yakata was hyperventilating, sobbing without tears. "I'll, I'll, I'll get up, I'll get upstairs right away, I'm sorry!"

"IT'S NOT YOUR." Sasuke stopped. _Calmed_ himself. Like Ino wanted. "It's not your _fault_, Yakata. Just—go upstairs and wait. I'm—going to have a talk with my family about your father. All right?"

"M-m-m-my father…?"

"His father?" Takeru was standing behind Sasuke. "What _about_ his father?"

"I'll explain IN THE LIVING ROOM!" Sasuke shouted.

Takeru stepped back, raising both hands in defense, before entering the room as commanded. Hajime was helping Inou across the kitchen.

"Just—go upstairs, Yakata. I'll get you when we're done."

And Yakata nodded and, with Nadeshiko's unholy, unnecessary hand on his back, returned to wherever. (At least _she _didn't look at him, or speak to him, as she went.)

Karai came down, shortly afterward. And with her present, Sasuke shut the door behind him in the living room.

His family had arranged themselves very carefully: Takeru on the arm of the couch nearest to him, Inou sandwiched between his mother and Hajime on the other arm, and Karai sitting on the floor, by the table.

Every pair of eyes were on him. Even Inou's, shaky as his gaze was.

"Right. All right. So you have questions. Obviously. About Yakata. Right."

Sasuke had washed his face in the kitchen sink, in waiting for Karai to come downstairs, but he could still smell the blood under his nose.

"The situation with Yakata is… complicated. It's very complicated. But I'll try to spell it out as simply as possible."

"Just tell us what in the _world_ he has to do with Uncle Itachi," Takeru said.

In any other situation, Sasuke would have felt proud of his frankness. That strength.

Here, it just made him angry. "I'll _get_ to that," he said. "Just… right. The situation with Yakata is that my brother, your… _uncle_, Itachi, is his… father. In a sense."

"What do you _mean_, 'in a sense'?" Takeru said. "Is he his father or isn't he? I'm assuming not, since-"

"Takeru, let me _explain_," Sasuke said. "Yes, I… _know_ it's impossible for Itachi to have been his _real_ father. What happened was that someone—took Itachi's blood and made Yakata with it. He's an offshoot, a copy. In _essence_, his child."

"This… doesn't have anything to do with our recent mission to… protect him, does it?" Hajime said. "I mean, because of Orochimaru-"

"That—yes. Yes, Hajime, yes, it does, now let me _continue_." Sasuke was shamefully, obviously anxious, he could even hear it in his own voice. "The point is. That's who Yakata is. He's Itachi but he's… not."

_There, Karin,_ he thought to himself, bitterly, _are you satisfied? I'm not thinking of him that way any more. _

_Fucking bitch._

"He's more like Itachi's _son_ than anything," he continued. "Which is how he thinks of things, he thinks Itachi is his father. That's what he's been told and that's what he believes." Though he couldn't bring himself to say he'd been treating the boy the same way.

(Sasuke was a bad liar.)

"So he's been lied to?" Takeru said.

His voice was high and poisonously like his mother's.

"It's not a lie, it's just easier to explain than the truth," Sasuke spat. "Besides, my brother is—he's dead, and Yakata never knew him. Obviously. He has other parents. His." The words turned sour. "…real… parents. He has no attachment to Itachi beyond knowing where his blood came from. That's all."

"So… how did this happen, anyways?" said Hajime. "Again, does this have anything to do with Orochimaru?"

"I don't think I'm exactly allowed to discuss that, yet," Sasuke said.

(His nose still felt like it was burning, slightly, and his temples ached with the prospect of Naruto's sweet, rare anger.)

"Then what in the world have we been protecting Yakata-kun _from_, exactly?" Takeru said. "Hajime and I had both _assumed_ that it was because of him. I mean, he _is_ in custody, isn't he?"

Karai, listening from the table, had her head tilted with intense concentration.

"…we caught an impostor," Sasuke replied. "He wasn't the real thing. It was a false alarm."

"Oh, so like Inou said," said Hajime.

Inou made some sort of mumbling noise, and leaned against his mother's arm.

"Well, that's underwhelming," Takeru said.

"But it was still a real threat, right?" Hajime said.

"Stop asking questions," Sasuke said. Hajime, with his typical, dull surprise, quieted himself. "At any rate, regardless of the… threats or whatever, in the past, Yakata probably won't be staying with us for much longer."

"Aw, why?" Karai said.

"Well, you did say he was only staying 'til the end of the summer, and it's almost September…" Hajime added, almost in response to her.

"Naruto's… deciding whether or not he's going to be taken home. They—he thinks that Yakata belongs there. Not with us."

"Ah…" said Karai.

Nobody else said anything.

(All of them having their own theories as to why this might be.)

"If he has to go soon, Takeru, you'll be the one escorting him."

"Me? Why _me?_" Takeru said.

"Because I _trust_ you," Sasuke replied. "Besides, you're the best, and I can count on you to not mess up, unlike _some_ people. I don't want to get in further trouble because of this, anyways."

"Get in trouble with _whom_," Hajime said.

(Distancing himself from the stitched-in insult. As usual.)

Sasuke tried to hide the fact that he was floundering, trying to avoid any mention of her. "With—with Naruto, Hajime, didn't I _tell_ you to stop asking _questions?_"

"All right," Hajime said.

(Not believing a word.)

"Your… mission should come in soon, anyways, Naruto said he'd get on that," Sasuke continued. "Yakata's from a village in the Land of Rice. It's a day's journey up. It should be easy. I trust you."

"…shouldn't be too hard," Takeru agreed. "Fine, then."

"…so, what are we gonna do, then?" Karai said. "Like, does Yakata-kun know about where he really came from?"

"…I explained _already_, Karai," Sasuke said. "No, he doesn't. He's been told that Itachi was his father. He's not to be told otherwise."

"Says who," said Takeru.

First Hajime and now _him?_ "Sakura said so. You know, the _chief medical officer? _It's for his own _good_," he added. "Something about his… mental health."

"…probably a good idea," Inou said, quietly, keeping his head down.

"So is it okay if I call him 'cousin,' then?" Karai said, brightly. "I mean, since if Uncle Itachi's supposed to be his dad, then that makes him your nephew and our cousin, right?"

"…whatever you want, Karai," Sasuke said.

"Gee! This is exciting. I'm just sad he'll be leaving so soon," Karai said. "Will he come back, Father?"

"…I don't know," Sasuke replied.

The way things were going, he'd probably never see Yakata again, after this. After all, that was what _they_ wanted, wasn't it?

That was what was _best_ for him, wasn't it?

"Then has our mission to protect him been called off, then?" Hajime said. "I mean, since there's no longer a threat. Is that why we were protecting him in the first place, because of him being Uncle Itachi's kid or-"

"Hajime, for pity's sake, I told you to stop asking _questions_," Sasuke said. "_Yes_, he doesn't need to be protected any more. There's no more Orochimaru, we know what's going on, and he's going home soon, that's it. Any _other_ questions? Less _meaningless_ ones?"

Hajime looked at the ceiling. (Wondering why he had even tried.)

"Good, then. Any of you need to know anything else, about Yakata, about—whatever, you go to me. Understand?" There was a mumble of assent. "Fine. Meeting… over. Everyone out of the room. _Now._"

Karai was the first to leave, and Hajime after her, and Takeru, with his narrow, sliding eyes. Though Inou lingered, taking a while to get off the couch, and Sasuke's eyes lingered on him, likewise.

Ino, however, spoke before he could. "Don't. Even. Start," she said, quietly, holding her son's hand. Inou was still leaning against her, slightly, keeping his eyes as distant as possible.

"…I wasn't going to," Sasuke replied.

She began past him.

Then, quietly, "What should I tell Nadeshiko?"

"…use your own judgment, I don't _care_," Sasuke said. "I'm not telling her."

"All right, Sasuke…"

Ino nodded, and left, to provide her son further comfort.

Sasuke went upstairs to get Yakata himself. Nadeshiko had left her door open. He couldn't decide if it was a kind or a cruel gesture.

"Yakata."

From the bed, where he was sitting, the boy snapped around to look at him. "Y-yes?"

He looked startled, looked terrified.

Nadeshiko stayed at the window, her back turned to him.

"What's wrong, is, is, is everything okay?" he continued.

"Everything's… fine, Yakata. Just, you might be heading home sooner than expected."

Nadeshiko turned her head, slightly. Sasuke tried not to look at her, tried to look at the boy, even though, even though.

"What? Wh-why, did, did something happen, did I, did I do something wrong?"

"No, you've… done nothing wrong. Just… some things have come up and it just—might be best for you to go home sooner. That's all."

"Oh. Oh, I, um, I, I see…" Yakata wove his fingers together. "Um, then, when, when would I, um, be going home…?"

"Possibly tomorrow. I don't know. But I'll be sure by tonight," Sasuke said.

"But tomorrow's-!" And Yakata stopped, eyes falling, resting on his hands. "Tomorrow's Sa-Saturday…"

Oh _surely_ he didn't mean that meaningless _ritual_. "Yes, and?" he said, just to be sure.

"Yakata-kun, I can go in your place, it's all right," Nadeshiko said.

"Quiet."

What vague sliver of her face had been visible before disappeared into her hair.

"You wouldn't have been able to go, anyways," Sasuke said. "Remember? I didn't want you to leave the house."

"Oh, oh, um, I, I, I re-remember now…" Yakata said. "Sorry, Sasuke-san, I'm, I'm sorry…"

"…no need to apologize," Sasuke said. "Takeru will be taking you home, when it's time. So I suggest you… pack your things, tonight. Just in case."

"Okay…"

Sasuke turned to leave.

"Um!"

His little voice was a very sharp hook.

"Wha-what were you, um. Ta-talking about down, downstairs…? About my father…?"

How to explain to _him…?_

"…I just explained the situation about your father in more detail with my family. It… helped explain some of the… things we've had to do lately."

"Things…?"

"Why we have to protect you, why I can't let you leave the house. That's all." Sasuke's feet ached with a desire to leave.

"But why, why do… but what does my, my _father_ have to do with that…?" Yakata said.

"…there are some people who didn't like him, when he was alive. We were protecting you from them. That's all," Sasuke said. He took a step. "I'll be downstairs."

He'd reached the bottom step without finding himself skewered by another little hook. Thank goodness.

(Nadeshiko did not ask questions. She only hugged Yakata back when he said he was scared, that he was confused.)

("Wha-what did my father do…? Why would, but, why would they want to hurt _me…?_")

Yakata was embraced again, though he received it far more reluctantly, by Karai, who was excited as anything to finally have something resembling a cousin. Though she made no further mention of his father as they set the places for a very quiet dinner.

(Ino, after dinner, asked to be alone in the kitchen with Nadeshiko, so they could take care of the cleaning. Nobody argued against it, and Nadeshiko told Yakata to wait for her upstairs, Ino compounding the request by saying she needed no other help.)

(She took the opportunity to explain who Yakata was to her daughter, in that time.)

("It's why your father's been so protective of him, you understand. Because of where he came from. I'm sorry it's caused you so much trouble, with any other boy he… might not have been so cruel to you.")

(And all Nadeshiko did was blink slowly, and nod, and say that she understood.)

(It barely changed anything to her.)

It was decided later in the evening, and conveyed to Sasuke via messenger bird, that Yakata was to go home on Saturday morning. Naruto had reached the decision after talking it over with Kakashi and Iruka and Shikamaru, who had all been called to his office, told it was very important.

Shikamaru, naturally, was not pleased, but he couldn't disobey his Hokage. And his interest piqued significantly once the bit about the clones was mentioned.

"So none of this has anything to do with Orochimaru?" he said, cutting right to it, as usual. "What about that guy we captured? You sent me information on him."

"Me too," Iruka said. Kakashi nodded.

"Not him," Naruto said. "He's a clone too, actually, a clone of Orochimaru. But he was just covering for Karin-san. He didn't want us to hurt her. She's his mom, y'know. And he's _such_ a nice guy, too, I feel seriously bad for what happened."

Iruka had to make him slow down and explain this more cleanly, after that.

Naruto tried his best, and managed to explain the situation fairly well: including Yakata and Kiine, there were eight confirmed clones, with one yet to be born—numbers were easier to handle than names; that the nine clones were all living with carefully-chosen foster families; that the man caught two days previous was a clone as well and a mere impersonator of Orochimaru; and that Karin was the creator of the clones.

Naturally, that last fact caused a great amount of discussion. "Just that one person?" Shikamaru said, his narrow eyes even narrower from his incredulous expression. "She's taking responsibility?"

"Yep! She told me and Sakura that she'd be able to get us records about everything if we wanted, later," Naruto replied.

"Well that's… something," said Iruka.

"What are you going to do about her, Naruto?" said Kakashi. "Has she been arrested?"

"Nooo no no no, no, she's staying at the hospital for now," Naruto said. "She's kind of sick from this baby she's expecting, Sakura told me, so she's gotta stay there. And besides, why would I arrest her? It's not like she's done anything really wrong."

The three glances exchanged by his advisors made Naruto grab for more words.

"Okay, yeah, I mean, she's gone and made copies of people, and that's weird, I_ get_ it, y'know. But she told me that she's not making any more, and guys, she was _serious_ about it. That was a lot of sincerity I felt from her, when she talked. She's tired out, y'know. She's done."

He leaned forward in his chair with this, lowering his eyebrows with his mood. "Besides, I made a promise to her that she'd only be punished under the law, and I got Andou-kun on this and so far he hasn't found anything about what she's done. Experiments and stuff, yes, but not clones."

"I'd argue that it _does_ count as human experimentation," said Shikamaru, crossing his arms.

"Even if the only one gettin' experimented on was her?" Naruto replied. "I mean, she only used her own body to grow the babies, y'know. But she didn't do anything to 'em afterward."

"Goodness," said Iruka. Kakashi said nothing, just processing the information.

Shikamaru's face pinched forward, and he lowered his hands to his lap. "This is unprecedented… _Man_, what a pain. At this rate we're either going to have to redefine laws or make new ones."

"Though there is the issue of whether or not we're even qualified to prosecute her," Iruka said, thoughtfully. "She's not a citizen of the Land of Fire, even, isn't she?"

"Regardless," said Shikamaru, sighing. "We shouldn't take responsibility if we don't have to, but if we _do_, we should act _quickly._"

"Well, I think," Naruto said, "we shouldn't do anything for now. I mean… she hasn't been _hurting_ anyone, y'know? An' she's made sure they've all been taken care of, all nine of 'em. I wanna _help_ her, guys."

"I think we should think about this a bit more," said Iruka. "Like Shikamaru said, this is… well, this hasn't really _happened_ before."

"And unlike with people like Orochimaru," Shikamaru said, "it's unclear how much of this counts as human experimentation. We ought to interview her more."

"And this isn't even covering the issue of… well, _children's_ rights, I guess," Iruka said. "I mean, you said she gave them away to foster families?"

"Yeah, and she said she scouted out all the locations in advance an' made sure they were all safe," Naruto said. "I mean, heck, Kotoji-kun's one of them, y'know? And Yamato's taking _really_ good care of him."

"…you mean Kotoji-kun is…?" Kakashi's voice was far quieter than he would have preferred.

"Yeah! I mean, a lot of the others beyond Yakata-kun and Kiine-chan I didn't really recognize, but Kotoji-kun is one of the nine. Never would have guessed, huh?"

"No," Kakashi said, his words coming with even greater hesitance, "I never would have."

"She's said she'd be willing to talk to us and give us more information whenever," Naruto continued. "Y'know, about each of the kids, that sort of stuff. She really wants to help us out, here. I don't think she's our enemy."

"Well… let's just take it slow and take advantage of whatever we have at the moment," said Iruka, with a patient, older smile.

"Yep." Naruto nodded a few times. "But related to all this—Honbo Yakata, he's the clone of Uchiha Itachi that's living with Sasuke right now, y'know? Karin-san said she'd prefer for him to be back home in the Land of Rice, since it sounds like Sasuke's been training him _way_ too hard and she doesn't want him near him besides, cos it sounds like Sasuke's kinda treating him like he _is _Itachi and I don't think that's at all good for him."

"…considering Sasuke? Yeah, I think it's a good idea to get that kid away from him," said Shikamaru. He moved his hands back to the table again. "Clone or not or whatever, anything involving Itachi tends to set him off."

"A lot," Kakashi added.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I know," Naruto said. "I mean, I haven't heard much about how Sasuke's been treating him—he's been kinda keeping to himself about it, I guess—but from the whole training thing and the way he and Karin-san yelled at each other, I really think it'd only be a bad thing to keep Yakata-kun here."

"Do you suppose it might be better to keep him in a foster home in Konoha, or with you, though, while we investigate?" Iruka suggested.

Naruto shrugged. "Karin-san said she wanted him back with his real parents, and I can't see anything better," Naruto said. "B'sides, if we made Yakata-kun stay with other people, they'd _still_ have to deal with Sasuke, y'know? Because he'd probably… _I _dunno, sneak around all the time and try to check on him."

There was a series of very uncomfortably knowing nods across the table.

"I can have an escort arranged for him no problem, though, if you guys think that's a good idea?" Naruto said. "I mean, unless you want me to send some guys over to see what's up at the Uchiha house. I'm sure Sakura would be willing to do it."

"I think the sooner that boy is removed from him," Kakashi said, "the better it is for all of us. Go ahead and arrange for the escort."

"Agreed," said Shikamaru.

"Myself as well," said Iruka.

So Naruto nodded and had the order sent out. Yakata was to leave with Takeru on foot on Saturday morning.

It was an expected result, but Sasuke still felt far too angry at its arrival.

Naturally, Karin and Sakura were told as well. Their relief was only a bare comfort.

"At least he's not going to have to be… near him any more," Karin confided to Suigetsu, after Sakura left, resting on her bed with Ooda leaning against her chest. She was gently stroking his arm, his face, and had been doing so since he nearly collapsed upon the arrival in their hospital room.

(The stress of his interrogation and his self-hatred and every little insecurity pried to the front of his thoughts by Inou had finally crumpled the mask of composure he'd barely been able to slip on for his mother's sake, earlier that day. Keeping it together so he could answer her questions, Sakura's questions, so he wouldn't worry her.)

(Ooda was a very good actor, but even he had his limits. And ashamed as he was to have lapsed into this near-vegetative state, he was never more grateful for his mother's sweet-smelling presence, and her warm-water murmurs that his face did not define him, that he was nobody but himself, that she was here and she wouldn't let anyone hurt him again.)

"I just hope he hasn't… been scarred too badly, okay," she continued, sighing, not expecting much. "I just hope he's okay."

(And worrying so, so much more for that little boy with the big, black eyes.)

(Trying not to call him her boy.)

* * *

There was very little sound sleep that night for much of anyone. Anger gathered in far too much of a concentration for Sasuke to close his eyes, to barely rest. And worry plagued Sakura and Ino both, worry about Sasuke, about Yakata, about what in the world was even going on.

(But Sakura, at least, had Lee to cling to and gather comfort from. Had Ino done the same, she'd likely have been blasted halfway across the house. But she knew better, and had trained herself over the years to no longer need such superfluous things as embraces.)

Yakata himself shivered, slipping out of bed every few minutes to check and see if everything had been properly packed, his clothes, his book, the books Nadeshiko was giving him, trying not to feel bad for already missing her so much, and feeling even less comfort in the new questions he had about his father. Questions he was too scared to ask, even if he had the time to gather the courage and confront Sasuke about it.

Kakashi, even with Naruto's assurance after their meeting that Kotoji was still the same little boy he had always known, even with his Hokage's blood, wrestled with his thoughts all evening, revisiting memories, flashes of negatives, wondering if, knowing this, those instances of sudden pain were more connected than he'd thought.

And Naruto lay awake with his hands under his head, just thinking.

About everything.

But least-sound of all was Karin, whose initial relief had become infected with a fear like a fungus, and it creeped into her mind in the worst ways.

Midway through the night, she found herself witness to a white snake crawling over Ooda's face where he was sleeping on a cot beside her, Shingetsu on his belly in a sprawl that balanced out Ooda's tight curl, so worried about his brother's ceaseless shivering that he demanded to share a bed and remove whatever fear he could. Ooda had been too kind and too lacking in words to refuse.

The sight of it sent her arm shooting out on instinct to get it away from him, from them. The snake recoiled before she could touch it, snapping back as if on a string, hissing at her slightly.

And then, it spoke, and she knew even more clearly that she was in a dream.

"Kaaarinnn…?" it said. The voice was sleepy, drunkenly familiar. "I thhhought I wasss… fooollowing the rrright traaail…"

Yes, she knew that voice. "Go away, you're out of my life now," she whispered, propping herself up, uncomfortably, on an elbow.

The little white snake was resting on Ooda's pillow, now, above his head like a halo. And it had very bright little yellow eyes that gleamed like new gold in the darkness, even without her glasses on. "But Kaaarinnn, _deaaar_, I will aaaalwaaaysss be with youuu. Did I not prrrromissse? Whyyy are you sssuch an unfaaaithful daaaughter to me, Kaaaarinnn…?"

She struggled on the bed to get off of her elbows, to sit up. "I told you, leave me alone, okay? I left you behind, I don't _need_ you any more."

"Sssooo crrruelll…" The snake tilted its head, slightly. It seemed to be looking at Ooda, now. "Teeell me, Kaaarinnn… whyyy is there annnother meee heeere..?"

Karin was sitting up now, and with on hand she reached out and grabbed the thing by the neck. It had very little substance to it, almost slipping through her fingers. "He _isn't_ you. And he will never _be _you. _Stop_ it, okay!"

She squeezed, harder. And the little snake's head fell limp over her fingers, and its body fell out of her grip and onto the floor, making a sound like dribbled milk as it did so.

She heard its voice, again. "Sssooo disssappooointinnng…"

"Get _out_ of here!" Her voice was gaining volume, no longer remotely a whisper.

"But youuu've beennn ssso… loooyal to me, Kaaarinnn…"

"Not any _more_, get _out!_ I'm not going to turn into you!"

"Youuu made me ssso prouuud, Kaaarinnn…"

"_Stop_ it!" She was starting to cover her ears.

"Sssuch a disssapoiiintment… Thouuught I could… couuunt on youuu, myyy… ooonly chiiild…"

"No, no, no, no, no!"

The voice began lessening. "Nooo maaatterrr… Theeere aaare ooothers… Keen, gooolden ooothers… Nooo diiisssappoiiintmentsss…"

She'd closed her eyes, tightly.

"Betterrr… chiiildren…"

It was a pain in her ribs that forced her eyes open, a kick from her little one, her precious Osato, and it caused her to cry out, and loudly.

And Suigetsu, who had been sleeping beside her, woke with a start and had his hands on her back, his head near hers. "Karin, what's wrong, are you okay? What's the matter?"

She gasped for air, not bothering to reach for her glasses.

"Are you okay?" he said again. She was still catching her breath. "Karin, come on, _answer_ me. It's not the kid, is it?"

She managed to shake her head. "Just a… just a dream, Suigetsu, just a… just a dream, I'm fine…"

"Well if it was just a dream then you should calm _down_ already," he said, gruffly. But he paired his words a few moments later with a lukewarm face against her cheek, and strong arms on her arms and back, and it was as great a comfort as he had intended.

Folded into him and his swaying movements and wave-like whispers, she managed to convince herself into a sleep, and he laid her back down on her bed once she had.

But for a few minutes afterward, he watched her breathing, curled over onto her left side, hands nestled into fists by her face.

"Kid, it had better not have been you," he spoke to, but not daring to touch, the work in progress.

(He was far too painfully aware of how much trouble the thing had given its mother already.)

He managed to lay himself down again, but he bent his body against Karin's, keeping his eyes on the red-covered back of her neck for as long as he could, until sleep took him.

Neither Ooda nor Shingetsu, thank goodness, thank goodness, had been awakened by any of this.

And, quietly, the dream-snake faded into darkness.


	74. Aventurine Ox

**INTERMISSION**

**HER BOYS**

* * *

_Chapter 74 - Aventurine Ox_

* * *

Suigetsu's arm was broken. His whole body was, really. He didn't know how the fuck it had happened, but the fact was that it had started with his damn arm refusing to solidify and dripping all over the damn place and now it was spreading and he was constantly exhausted and he was starting to panic.

He'd gone to other doctors, yes. But they had no idea what was wrong with him. And in the meantime, yeah, it was getting worse. His skin hadn't been opaque in days. It was becoming harder and harder each time he tried to reform his body from a liquid state. He was getting scared.

He considered going back to the Mist. But then he remembered why he had left in the _first_ place and besides what good would they do for him anyways.

Even the rural doctors, the ones he thought could help most, the ones with the least corruption, had no idea how to treat a Hozuki.

That was the problem, really. His was a disease that was unique to his family, to his blood. _Normal_ people didn't involuntarily begin melting from the arm inward all of a sudden.

Nobody else knew what the hell.

…which was the _only_ reason _why _he was going to talk to that fucking knuckle-bitch, _Karin_.

She had experimented on him with Orochimaru. Maybe she'd learned something in the process.

He sure as fuck _hoped_ so. It was becoming difficult to travel and not attract stares, much less get anywhere without having to stop and rest every few minutes. Before, he'd been able to wrap his arm in a cloak when it was the only thing that was messed up, but no longer.

It had been easy enough to find her. Certain folks—folks with bloodlines, runaways, people like _him_—pointed him in the right direction. If you were sick, and you did not want _them_ to find you, you could always count on _her. _

What hadn't been easy was figuring out how to approach her. He didn't want to cause a ruckus or make her panic or nothing because that would lessen his chances of getting her to cooperate. And he _really_ wanted for her to cooperate.

He ended up waiting. A bit. Watching and seeing who was going in and coming out of her clinic. Even though he was assured that she wouldn't turn him away because she hardly turned _anyone_ away but still, she _knew_ him. They had, well. A _past_ with each other.

But when a few hours went by in the evening with no visitors, he lurched across the street from his hiding place and dared open her door.

The house felt empty. So he wandered further in, with wet footprints. "Karin! Karin, where… where are you?"

She appeared around the corner of a hallway. "I sensed you were here hours ago. What did-" And she finally saw him. "…holy _shit_, what's the matter with you?"

And he finally saw her. She'd gained weight, and in any other instance he would have both ridiculed her for it and privately admired how it had… enhanced certain assets of hers, but now was very much not the time.

"I'm sick, I don't know what's wrong, _help_ me," he said.

"Well that's—apparent, what _happened_, though?" she continued, leaning back on one foot. She was wearing pants, now, and not stockings. It was autumn.

"I was—fighting some guy, he did something to my arm, it's spreading and it's an effort to even keep myself _this_ solid now. I know you can help, so _help_."

"What makes you think I can help?" she said. Her arms were crossed, but her voice was more concerned than mocking.

"I just—I was told you can help and I know it's more than just talk so just fucking _do_ something!" He was halfway to his knees, supporting his weight with a cloak turned half to water that draped itself onto her floor.

And Karin said nothing more but "Fine, come with me."

(Wanting to complain about the water he was tracking on the floor, but knowing it was very much not the time.)

She led him down the hallway to an examination room, and gestured to the table beyond. "Go ahead and sit down, okay. Are you in pain?"

"_No._"

"Well, all right. No need to be so rude…" She sighed. "Let me get a look at you."

It didn't help much. "I can't decide if this is physical or psychological, okay," she said, in conclusion. "You said this started with your arm, after a battle?"

"_Yes_."

"Was there anything particularly different about this battle? The way you fought?"

"Fucker had some sorta thing with his fingers, _I_ don't know, he hit my arm and it couldn't reform after that. Had to run off."

She sighed, again. "Might be psychological."

"There's nothing wrong with my _head_, it's my _body_."

She looked over her glasses at him. "Well, we'll see." She turned to leave.

He tried to reach out to her, but his reach was too short. His arm threw water across the floor. "_Please_ tell me you can _fix_ this. _Please._"

"…I'll try," she said. "Just… rest up, okay. I'm going to get whatever notes were made on you and see if I can figure something out."

Ah, and there it was. He took his arm back. "Hope it's worth it."

Halfway through the door, she turned around. "Excuse me?"

"All that—shit you did to me in the past. Guess it might be worth something now."

"…well I assure you, I won't do more than is necessary, okay," Karin said, and left.

Suigetsu flopped down on the table, his hair making a small puddle beneath his face.

Well, it was better than nothing.

Karin came back later with broth and water on a tray. "I remember you didn't like solid food much. You must be hungry, okay."

He'd fallen asleep without much realizing it. He felt far more half-formed than usual. "Huh."

"Well you didn't _say_ anything but I figured you're going to be here for a while, okay," she said. "You gonna eat it or what?"

"Here a while…?" He managed to sit up using his one good arm. "Y'mean you haven't figured out what's wrong with me?"

She rolled her eyes. "Well of _course_ I haven't. I've got an _idea_ but I can't be sure until I do more research, okay?"

"_Fine_. Gimme that… soup or whatever, then, I'm _hungry_."

"_Finally_ you say it." She put the tray down next to him. "Here. Sorry, it's not much."

He grumbled, even though he didn't care what the hell it was. He went for the broth first.

"…so what have you been up to, anyways?" she asked. "Obviously, you've been getting into some fights."

Suigetsu finished swallowing and put the bowl down to wipe his mouth off. "None of your business. I've been here and there. Why do you care, anyways?"

"Just… curious, okay."

"Sure." He picked up the soup and took another, long swig. The bowl was almost empty when he was done. "Nice clinic. Heard a lot of good things about it."

"From _whom?_"

"From people. You know. People like _me. _You have to know everything?" He reached for the water.

"It's just nice to know things, okay."

"Sure." He drained the water in one go. "How long can you keep me?"

"Long as it takes," she replied. "I can get you a nicer room if you want, you know. I guess I should have thought of it sooner."

"Whatever," Suigetsu said. "Just as long as you fix me."

"I will."

She crossed her arms over her stomach, and he tried not to stare at the emphasis it lent to her breasts and hips, taking the rest of the soup and gulping it down.

"C'mon, this way." She took the tray for him, and didn't look back over her shoulder as she led him, though he walked slowly. "Upstairs. If you're going to stay for long then you're going to have to promise me you won't go _snooping around_, okay? If you move anything, I'll know. Plus I have patients, you can't go bothering them."

"Calm _down,_ I'm not gonna mess with your _shit_," Suigetsu replied. They began up the stairs. "Anything _else_ I can't do?"

"Well try not to _drip_ everywhere if you can't help it, okay," she said. "I mean, I understand that you're kind of not _capable_ right now, but once you're recovered?"

"Sure, whatever."

She brought him to a plain room with tatami flooring, and got a futon out of a sliding-door closet on one wall. "You think you're gonna get the blankets wet?" she asked, laying it down, with some difficulty in bending over.

"…I might," Suigetsu said. "I mean, you could probably get me like a washtub or something."

A half-serious twitch of the eyebrows. "A _washtub?"_

"Well yeah, like… well I can just dissolve and sleep in it or _something_. Dunno how good of an idea it'd be, though, since I have no idea how well I'll reform later…"

And Karin said, "I'll… put some plastic down, I don't want you dripping everywhere, okay?" There was something like impatience, or gentleness in her voice.

Two days' worth of lethargic hours passed under those sheets, on the plastic, with Karin examining him in the morning and evening, after bringing him his meals.

Suigetsu did not like being in her house. The stretches of time in between her examinations were boring and uncomfortable, the nights especially, though he was too tired to leave and explore, find something to preoccupy himself. During the day he at least had the quiet chatter of her interactions with her patients to listen to, but all that existed at night was the wind, and the occasional, strange wail in the distance, like a child crying.

He'd have left if he could, but he had other things to consider.

She did manage to pinpoint the cause of the incontinence by the end of the second day. "It's an issue with your nervous system, okay," she explained.

"But I'm not nervous about anything. Just if this is gonna be _permanent_ or not," Suigetsu replied.

She adjusted her glasses, smirking instead of laughing. "What probably happened in that skirmish of yours was that some pressure points got hit that messed with your ability to re-form. I'll work at finding the ones I need to press in order to restore control, okay?"

"Fine, whatever, awesome," Suigetsu replied. "Just _fix_ me."

"I will," she replied.

And on the third day, she did. Through charts made when he was younger—and she told him this—she poked and prodded him in areas on his neck with her fingers, and gently clicked her tongue with each flinch.

"I'm honestly not hurting you _that_ badly, am I?" she said. "Besides, Sensei used _needles_ when he was originally charting your nerves and chakra points, so I'm being _gentle_ in comparison."

And Suigetsu remembered those days, oh, _those_ days, when his most merciful captor laid him on his stomach and held him there with leather straps, and dug into his skin with chakra-infused needles.

"If you melt into water, dear, it'll only take _longer_," he had purred.

…ugh, those days. Karin _was_ being gentle.

And successful, evidently. By the end of it, his skin had regained its color, and he could feel more than just the phantom of his left arm; if he concentrated, he could form the outline of a shoulder, but very little further.

"Shit, there's not enough of me left," he concluded. "Can I, like, take a bath or something? Just get some water in me to help."

"Whatever you need," Karin said. "You know where it is. Just don't _drip_ if you can, okay?"

"I _won't_."

The bath, hours-long and eventually quite cold, helped. A lot. And in the evening, when Karin brought him his soup and water, there was a discussion of payment.

"You _will_ owe me, okay," she said. "I get that you don't keep much money on you but I _will_ expect for you to come back."

"That's… fair," Suigetsu replied.

"I don't charge much anyways, okay," she added. "All you got from me was my time and a room in my house. That's not much."

"Not _much?"_

"Why are you acting like you're surprised?"

Suigetsu shrugged. "Seems generous for _you_. All of this."

She rolled her eyes. "Well _some_ of us have actually _matured_ over the years, Suigetsu," she replied. "I know now that it's not exactly a _bad_ thing to look out for others, okay."

"Like Sasuke?"

Her expression turned very, very cold. "Why I helped him is not the same as why I'm helping you."

"Good to know you don't just want to get into my pants, then," Suigetsu said, dryly, not even quarter-meaning it.

Karin, blessedly, seemed to have gotten the sarcasm. Mostly. "I can make you leave any damn time I want, you know, okay?"

Why the _hell_ was she so intimidating sometimes? "Okay, okay! I'm just sayin'! That guy wasn't worth helping anyways, I think." He shrugged again. "I mean, he did set me free and all, but all that shit afterward was way too much trouble."

"Yes," Karin said, "it was a fair bit of trouble."

He reached for his soup in the prickly silence that resulted. "Y'know," he said, after another gulp, "I hear he's married with a kid now."

"Oh, really," Karin said.

A third shrug. "I 'unno, just what I've heard."

"Well," Karin said, with a very slight smile, "good for him."

…_fuck_ uncomfortable silences. Suigetsu put down his soup bowl far too loudly. "Look, I'll stay here another night or two to make sure I'm fixed for good, and then I'll go out and I'll get you your money, okay?"

"Sounds good." Karin picked up the tray and got up, stiffly, moving from the knees. "This doesn't work, there's always more we could try."

"Sure as fuck hope not," Suigetsu replied.

Getting the money would have been easy, anyways. He did mercenary work where he could. He could rely on his sword—though he'd left it behind in a safe place before seeking out Karin. Guaranteed way to attract attention, that sword. Wonderful as it was. He didn't need it here.

Point was, there was always a way to get money. And he comforted himself with this thought as he was falling asleep beneath blankets that were, for the first damn time in ages, warm and _dry_, as opposed to warm and wet. It was September or so. Things were starting to get cold, and he appreciated a good bit of warmth where he could find it.

And then he woke up with little fingers on his cheeks, and he found a very small, white face staring back at his, with great, golden, familiar eyes.

It caused him to spring back a fair bit in his bed, liquefying slightly in defense, and his eyes adjusted to the rest of the darkness.

The small, white thing was human-shaped and knock-kneed, wearing pants and a t-shirt that seemed just a bit too large. A child, with black hair and oh _shit_ what was with that face?

Suigetsu didn't know whether to run or attack. Instinct told him to attack, so he did, springing forward to tackle the thing.

The child, however, was fast. And loud. "MAAA!" it cried, stumble-running, arms thrust out in front of it as it scrambled for the hallway.

Suigetsu, of course, followed.

"Maa, Maa!" the child continued, heading for the stairs, descending them by heading backward and climbing down them one at a time. Far too slowly.

Suigetsu would have grabbed it had Karin not appeared and scooped it up immediately into her arms. The child clung to her neck, babbling into her shoulder.

"Karin, what the _hell!" _Suigetsu said.

Karin, however, said nothing to him, mumbling things to the child instead. Her glasses were slightly askew.

"Be _quiet_," she said. "Oh, no, you scared him…"

"Quiet? How the hell can I—Karin, who the hell is that _kid?"_

The kid was still crying, and Karin finally put some effort into comforting it. "Shh, Ooda, Ooda, darling, be quiet…"

"Ooda? Is that its name?"

"Yes," Karin said, looking back at him again. "Go to the kitchen, I'm going to put him back to bed and _then _talk to you. Okay?"

"Okay. Okay, okay."

Suigetsu tried not to notice when the child in her arms, wiping its face with young clumsiness, glanced back at him again with golden fear in its eyes.

That kid looked _way_ too familiar.

The wait in that kitchen was worse than all the nights spent alone, either in her house or outside. And when she finally resurfaced, he wasted no time in getting right to it. "So, Karin, the fuck is up with that kid? Where'd it come from?"

"He probably… was wandering around in the house, I told him _not_ to, okay," Karin said. She was wearing a long sleeved shirt, a baggy one, and it hung over her body and made her look far smaller than she really was.

"No, no, who _is_ he, Karin? Come on, I don't care what the fuck about your house or—come _on._"

"His name is Ooda," Karin said, evenly, "and he is my son."

"Your son. Right. Who the hell did you have to fuck to make a kid like _that?"_

She sighed, shaking her head. "I didn't _fuck_ anyone, okay? He's a clone."

"…a what."

"A _clone_, you dimwit. I took a sample of Orochimaru-sama's tissue and cultured it into a biological copy of him. A _clone. _And Ooda," she added, proudly, "is the result. My son, okay."

"…why the _fuck_ would you do something like that?"

"Well I needed _someone's _cells to act as the control, and I didn't feel like cloning myself," she replied, as if any other answer would be foolish.

"No no no, why the _fuck_ would you bring back—_that_ guy?" A greater issue shoved this out of the way shortly afterward. "Actually, WHY in the ACTUAL FUCK would you do this clone thing in the FIRST place?"

Karin sighed again, shaking her head. "Well you're taking this about as well as I figured you would."

"You've been experimenting on people, haven't you, you sick bitch?" Suigetsu lurched forward with an accusing finger. "Oh I should have fucking known you'd just continue on where _he_ left off."

Karin pushed it aside. "_Please_. I have _standards_, okay? I've only been using _myself_ in experiments. No outside test subjects."

Suigetsu paused, his face twisted in perplexed disgust. "…wait, what do you mean."

"When I said that Ooda's my son I kind of mean it _literally_, okay. I've actually got another one in the works right now, though that's kind of a secret."

He could only stare at her slightly-swollen belly, and her hand on it, for a flash-moment, before taking one step back, and then another, an uncomfortable horrible feeling creeping into his stomach.

(The sort of feeling that always came when Kabuto would approach the tank, adjust his glasses, and say they needed to make some observations that day.)

"Oh. Ew. That's just. That's. EW. What the fuck is WRONG with you?"

"Nothing, I'm just being practical, okay," Karin said.

He was pressed against the counter, now, as far away from her as he could manage. "Why would you make TWO of them! ONE WAS FUCKING ENOUGH!"

"What do you—oh, _oh_, no, Ooda is one-of-a-kind. I used someone _else_ as a donor for _this_ one, okay." She was rubbing her stomach in very subtle movements, now, and it only served to increase the squirming in Suigetsu's own guts.

"What the fuck is _wrong_ with you," he said again, softly. "Bringing people back or—making clones or _whatever. _You fucking brought _Orochimaru_ back!"

"Only _genetically, _okay. _Goodness_, will you settle down for a moment?"

He shook his head. "No-o, no, no, I'm, fuck, you're sick, do you realize what you've DONE?"

"Well, of course."

"I can't—what the _fuck?"_

She rolled her eyes, moving toward him. "You know, you're _really_ not doing anyone _any_ favors with this behavior, okay," she said. "Honestly, there's nothing to be freaked out about."

He tried not to let his laughter sound as disturbed as he felt. "You're—you're joking, right? You're bringing people back from the dead as your—demonic clone children! I have every fucking _right_ to be freaked out!"

"I'm _not_ bringing people back from the-"

"No! No, you just. Stop." He had his finger raised again. "I'm not gonna listen to another word, I'm getting the _fuck_ out of here, thank you."

Yet another sigh. "Oh for pity's sake."

"No, seriously! I'm not gonna let that little—snake freak get his hands on me again! And that _includes_ you!" He began forward.

"Suigetsu, Ooda's not even _two_. He's _harmless_, okay." Karin was almost laughing. "He's just a little curious, is all. He likes to wander at night."

Suigetsu stopped, sneering at her. "How the _fuck_ can you say things like that?"

"Because there's nothing _wrong_ with him, okay?"

He shook his head. "No, no, you—fuck. I'm getting out of here. I am seriously getting out of here." He left the kitchen. "AND DON'T BE FUCKING SURPRISED IF THEY COME TO TAKE YOU AWAY AFTER THIS, YOU KNOW!"

"The hell are you talking about?" she called back.

"Like I'm going to stay _silent_ about this! You're just another Kabuto!" He reached for the door. "I hope they put you away and kill your little freak experiments too, you madwoman!"

It was shocking how quickly she caught up with him, with a hand on his shoulder swarming with paralyzing chakra, fingers in _very_ specific areas. It felt like his back had turned to ice. "Stop. Who in the world would you _tell_, first off?"

Fucking _bitch! _"Well I'm sure that our friends back in _Konoha_ would _love_ to hear about this little _operation_ of yours," he replied, unable to even squirm.

"Well I _do _plan on going to them eventually, to go public with my research," she said. "That is, once I manage to produce a viable Uchiha clone. So good luck going to _them_, okay, it wouldn't do you much good."

Suigetsu's eyebrows couldn't possibly have pressed together further, his mouth gaping. "…are you fucking serious?"

"Well, yeah."

"But you _brought Orochimaru back from the fucking dead!_ I mean first and foremost!"

"Ooda is _not_ Orochimaru. He's just a clone of him, okay?"

"Like that's going to make a fucking difference. Same face, same body, same person. That _thing_ should be destroyed, and they _will_ destroy it! And your little freak in the making, too, whatever it is!"

Karin's grip intensified. "And what makes you so sure?"

"What, you're honestly asking me?" he replied. "Fine, let me go and talk to them, _then_ you'll see how well they'll take it. I swear, I honestly swear, they're gonna agree with me, you're just following in your dear _Sensei's_ footsteps. And that'll get in the way of making your little _Uchiha_ clone, won't it?"

Karin, he had noticed, had lost her veneer of confidence and was now very visibly upset. The hand that wasn't clamped to his shoulder was wrapped over her belly. "You _wouldn't_."

"Oh, I would. And y'know what? There's nothing you can do to stop me." She couldn't keep her hand on him _forever_, after all.

"You _wouldn't…!" _Her voice was shaking, now. "They wouldn't—I'm not hurting anyone, okay? I'm only using myself!"

"Like that makes a _difference_."

"I've made a _breakthrough!"_

"Yeah? And so did he. A lot of times. But those weren't always the _best_ discoveries, were they?"

She was almost gasping for breath, now, her shoulders heaving up and down. "But I've done nothing _wrong_, okay…? And Ooda, he's—but he's only a _child!"_

"Freak of nature, if you ask me. He shouldn't exist."

With that, Karin adjusted her hand only slightly, in order to shove him into the wall. And no, she did not let him liquefy to soften the blow. "I won't let that happen."

The pain mixed with his disturbance and frustration and sublimated into sarcastic confidence. It was almost like he was leeching it out of her, the more she held him. "Oh, please. What can _you_ do? You're just a sensor nin and wannabe scientist, _and_ you're knocked-up to boot. You're dead."

And Karin shoved harder. And he noticed there were tears in the corner of her eyes. "I won't let them hurt my _son_. I won't let _you_."

"What, so you're going to kill _me?" _he said. "Keep me from spreading the word? Delaying the inevitable? Because if you're _really_ going to go public with this, it's _not_ going to be that much better. Trust me on this, _sweetheart_."

It took her a terrifyingly long time to respond.

(She knew how to put him back together, so there were doubtlessly countless ways for her to take him apart.)

(One touch from her hand had turned his back into stiff ice and there was nothing he could do about it.)

"…anything you want, I'll do," she finally said. "Just don't _tell_ anyone."

"…what did you say?"

"You want me to augment your body, make you stronger? I can do that, okay." There was a frenzied passion in her voice, now. "Or I can… I can clone someone for you. Bring someone back. Anyone you want. I have the means, okay? _Anything_."

And that.

Something in that request.

Tripped his mind.

"Anyone, huh?"

"Anything within my _means_, obviously." She spoke very quickly. "Come on, _surely _there's something I can do for you? Please, you just—I can't let this happen."

And he narrowed his eyes and smiled, slightly. "This clone thing of yours can really bring _anyone_ back?"

"…sure. I mean, given that I have a viable genetic sample, okay. Hypothetically I—just, okay, who do you want me to clone?"

It did not take him long to answer. At all.

"I want my brother Mangetsu back."

She blinked a few times. "Your… brother?"

"Yeah. My brother. You said _anyone_, right? I want my brother. I mean, if you're _up _for it."

"I _am_ up for it, okay? Fine. I'll secure the samples, and after… _this_ one's born, I can get to work on it."

"What, and that's it?"

"That's it."

"No questions?"

"I don't think I'm in much of a position to ask_ why_ you want a clone of your brother, so yeah, no questions, okay?"

(Why did he feel so excited?)

"Well… _awesome._ Now can you let go of me?"

She leaned forward. And she was _very_ heavy. "I want your _word_ that you aren't going to say a _thing_ about this."

"Fine, you have my word."

She leaned forward _further_. "Don't screw around with me, okay? You aren't gonna say _anything_."

She was very heavy and her eyes were very hard.

"…fine, I _promise_."

"Good."

And she leaned forward and pressed her mouth against his, and bit him on the tongue.

It hurt.

Luckily, she had let go of his shoulder in time for him to jerk away and clap his hand over his mouth. "OW! The FUCK was that for?"

"A seal. To make sure." Karin was wiping off her mouth, getting her balance back.

"A WHAT?"

"A seal. You are now incapable of saying my name, Orochimaru's name, Ooda's name, or any other word related to the creation of my clones." A thin smile had returned to her face. "That is, if you don't want to suffer from _excruciating_ pain, okay."

"You little _bitch!_" He managed to remove himself from the wall. His back felt mercifully fluid.

"What, you honestly think I can trust your word alone?" she said. "I'm not going to take any chances."

He ran his tongue against the sharp edges of his teeth, as if he could scrape the seal off, but it was a useless motion. "You really _are_ just as bad as _he_ was. Him and his curse seals and everything..."

"No, I'm not," Karin said. "Didn't I offer you something before doing this? You're getting a clone of your brother out of this, okay."

(Though, truthfully, it was also a stalling tactic. While she was stammering and pleading with him with genuine fear, her brain was tumbling around with keywords and mental blocks, and her mouth was burning with preparatory chakra.)

(She wouldn't have let the little shit go unmarked. This was a new fear and Karin was a quick thinker.)

(And she would rather die than let anything happen to her precious child. Either of them.)

"Besides," she added, almost in consolation, "I'll take the seal _off_ when this is all over. Or I feel I can trust you. Whichever comes first, okay."

"Fine. Whatever," Suigetsu said.

Karin shook her head. "Listen, you should go back to sleep. We can… talk this over in the morning. When we're both more level-headed. Make a _contract_ or something, okay?"

"Fine, whatever the fuck you want," he replied. He slouched down the hallway and around the corner, toward the stairs. "But you made me a promise."

And Karin sighed, returning to her own bedroom. She didn't get much sleep.

(Wondering just what sort of bullet she had dodged, here, exactly.)

(And seriously, _seriously_ wondering if he was right about how people would receive her work.)

(…was she really only kidding herself when she thought that people would shower her with praise for these discoveries?)

(Would they really want to… kill her dear Ooda just on account of his origin…?)

(…was she really no better than Orochimaru?)

Suigetsu's thoughts were fairly clear as he nestled back in for sleep.

He tried not to think about the specifics of Karin's work. Doubtless it was twisted and messed up and an affront to nature. Apples never fell far from the trees, as they said.

Besides, like he wanted to know how she had impregnated herself with little copies of Orochimaru. Ugh.

He didn't try to think of the seal, either.

(He had tried to say her name, experimentally, and found himself nursing an awful headache a moment later. It was like she was punching him in the face in spirit, and he couldn't even liquefy his head in defense. Fucking fist-bitch.)

What he _tried_ to think about was the promise she'd made him.

That she'd bring Mangetsu back.

…what would _that_ be like?

It was a question he couldn't answer with words, only with an anxious and indefinable lightness in his chest, and ended up falling asleep as he thought it over.

They discussed things further over breakfast the next morning. Karin shared that she'd fed Ooda first, and had set him aside in his room in the basement.

"It's not a secret that he's my son in the village here, okay," she said. "You were just ill and I figured it'd be better if he didn't bother you. I mean, he loves poking around and watching me with other patients, but your case was pretty severe."

"Sure," Suigetsu said, with a hand-wave that called for a change in subject.

So she got right to the specifics. "Orochimaru had your brother's corpse in his possession, and as such, I have many samples from him in my library that I can use to form cultures from. It should be simple, in application."

"And you're just gonna jump to it after… this one?" Suigetsu said.

"Well… no, I waited a half a year after Ooda before starting on the next one and I don't think I'll make an exception for your clone."

"Sure." He crossed his arms. "What the hell are you gonna _do_ with that second one, anyways? Whatever the hell it is."

"Well, I _was_ planning on keeping it…" Karin said.

"What, and it's not gonna be a distraction?" Suigetsu said, roughly. "I dunno about you, but juggling two kids is _hard_ fucking work."

"And you're speaking from experience?" Karin said.

He looked away from her. "I'm just _saying_. I don't want you distracted by babies when you could be working on bringing my _brother_ back. Besides, the village people know you're expecting at all?"

"…well, no, I mean I'm barely showing but-"

"Well you don't want people _saying_ shit about you and figuring out what's really going on, do you? I mean, come on, someone's gonna notice all these kids."

She didn't answer, lowering her head and tightening her expression.

"For fuck's sake, you didn't think this through much, did you?" Suigetsu said.

"Shut up," she replied.

"I'm just _sayin'_." He raised his arms and shrugged. "Y'know, honestly, I'm beginning to think that comparing you to Orochimaru was giving you too much cred—OWWWW SHIT. SHIT. OW."

Karin didn't even try to cover up her smile as he clawed at his temples. "Well if you have any suggestions I'm _more_ than receptive to them," she said. "Maybe _you _ can be the one to keep all these babies out of my way."

"No fucking chance," Suigetsu said, with one eye still closed. "I'm not good with kids."

"Then what were you expecting to do with your brother's clone?" she said. "You _know_ he's not going to be born fully-formed or anything, okay. He'll be an infant."

"I'll… figure that out when we get there," Suigetsu said. "Hey, you can take care of him 'til he's grown up, can't you?"

"Not a chance," she laughed, in echo. "Your clone, your responsibility."

"Well I'm not gonna take care of the others! Maybe you should just give that second one to someone in town to raise, I don't know."

"I couldn't do that to someone in town," Karin said, shaking her head, a hand over her navel. She was sitting cross-legged. "Too close to home. Besides, if… having all these children will really attract attention as much as you say it will then it wouldn't help much at all, okay."

"Then what the hell? I'm thinking maybe you should just drop the damn kid on a doorstep in some _other_ town, then."

"But then how would I know if it was okay…?"

The genuine concern in her voice snagged him. "…well, shit, _I _could always check in on it," Suigetsu said, with a thoughtfulness in his tone that surprised even him. "That'd be, like, no effort. Give it to someone else, I check in every now and then, just whatever."

"…you know, it really makes me think there's something wrong with me when _you_ start making sense, okay," she said, and sighed. "I'll… keep it in mind, but for now, I plan on keeping this one until further notice."

"Well don't say I didn't _warn_ you. You should be more careful with that—_other_ kid of yours," Suigetsu continued, quietly, carefully, remembering the taboo of the name. "I mean, if someone else saw him."

"…this is a small town, a _good_ town. Nobody knows anything. It's why I _chose_ it. But… okay." Karin cleared her throat. "At any rate. You can _leave_ from here but I expect you to come back in at least a half a year. All right? Maybe I _will_ need someone to… drop this second one off. Somewhere. I have to think about it, okay?"

"Wait, so you're just gonna let me go?" He narrowed his face suspiciously.

"…well, yeah, I mean how _else_ are you going to pay me?"

His face narrowed further. "But you're doing this—thing for me."

"Separate accounts," she replied, almost sweetly. "But yes, you're about as much a hindrance to me as these toddling infants you speak of. You're better off out of my hair, okay?"

"…you are _such_ a bitch," Suigetsu said.

She just smiled back at him. "Come back with my money or you're not getting your clone, okay?"

"Fuck off."

Suigetsu left shortly afterward.

He didn't return for a half a year.


	75. Aquamarine Fish

_Chapter 75 - Aquamarine Fish_

* * *

Having his body returned to its old excellence was a huge jumpstart in Suigetsu's mercenary work. He dove in, head-first, taking jobs left and right, fighting whoever came his way and reaping whatever rewards came with them. Eating well, sleeping well. Happy, mostly.

But as busy as these days and these nights were, there were still quiet moments, when he'd remember the loose contract he'd entered into.

Remembered that he'd be getting Mangetsu back, some soon someday.

It was a comfort to him, sleeping alone. Even with the echo of Karin's words.

He'd be an infant. That it'd be Suigetsu taking care of him, now.

…so long as he had Mangetsu back, he'd be fine. Nothing else mattered.

Truly, Karin hadn't asked much of him, monetarily. But Suigetsu didn't much want to return to her clinic if he didn't have to, so he pushed and pushed it away until he could no longer escape from her words.

In at least six months. He was pushing it. And he did _not_ want to find out if she had or hadn't added something _else _to the seal on his tongue. After all, if she could turn speaking into pain (and yes, he tested it to see if it was still active every week or so) to keep him from talking, who was to say that she'd added something to get him to come back?

He'd be a… good boy and show his face again. Without his sword, he returned to Ryokyo, to visit her.

She had _definitely_ gained weight in the time between meetings. But she didn't look pregnant at all, just thicker and wider. "So you really did decide to come back," she said, with her arms crossed.

"Well yeah, you _told _me to," Suigetsu said. He was slipping his shoes off with his toes. "I got your payment."

"Oh, you remembered?"

"Come _on_. Yeah, of _course_ I did." He reached into his back pocket and took out a roll of bills in a plastic baggie. "Here, should this be enough?"

She caught it when he tossed it at her, and she took it out of the baggie and ran her fingers over the bills. "That's fine, okay. Thanks. Come on in, we have lots to talk about."

There was a light pattering of feet that joined them on their way to her kitchen, and a very small boy with white skin ran up to Karin and tugged on the bottom of her shirt. He only came up to her hip or so, and his black hair was fine and cut to just below his ears.

"Oh, Ooda, what is it?" She bent over a little in speaking to him.

The boy, Ooda, didn't say anything back, just looking back at her shyly. This made Karin laugh a little, and she put her hand on his back.

"Ooda, you remember Suigetsu, don't you?"

He shook his head, after glancing at Suigetsu with his yellow snake-eyes and then back.

"Well he and I need to talk in the kitchen. Can you be a good boy and stay in your room until lunchtime? And no going downstairs, the little one's asleep, remember?"

"Okay," Ooda replied. He went down the hallway with a strong, though wobbling, run, and opened a sliding door with both hands before disappearing.

"_Who's_ asleep?" Suigetsu asked, once the quiet returned.

"Oh, the… other one. I had him while you were gone, okay," Karin said, almost uncomfortably. "I'm keeping him in the nursery downstairs."

"Oh." Suigetsu fidgeted. "So you decided to keep it?"

"Well… no, that's actually something I wanted to talk to you about," she said. "We can discuss in the kitchen, okay? Bet you'd like to get something to drink first, though."

"Yeah, kinda," Suigetsu replied. Two of the three water bottles at his waist were woefully empty. "That'd be great, if you could."

"Well I have a sink for a reason, okay," Karin replied. "C'mon, this way."

She elaborated once he'd quenched his thirst to his satisfaction. "The only reason I'm keeping the second one is because travel would be far too hard on him if it happens within his first three months. So I'm nurturing him until then. Figured you'd come back in time, okay."

"So you're serious about me dropping it off somewhere and checking on it for you every now and then?" She nodded. "Well… okay, your choice." He shrugged. "You got any ideas where it should go?"

"I'm going to… have to trust your judgment on this one, because, frankly, I have no idea," Karin replied.

"Really? I can just put it wherever?" Suigetsu said. He had his arms crossed.

"Why the mistrust?" Karin said, over her glasses.

"You're givin' me an awful lot of freedom with this," Suigetsu replied. "I mean, considering you put that thing on my tongue."

"Consider this a trust exercise," Karin replied. She crossed her arms in echo. "You do a good job with this one, and I'll trust you a little more."

"Fair enough," Suigetsu grumbled. "When do you want me to head out?"

"I'll give you a week to find a location. After that, he's gone, okay?"

Suigetsu nodded noncommittally.

He didn't do very much scouting with the week he was given, drinking and sleeping it away and generally trying to avoid Karin. But he returned, out of fear, out of obligation, out of the desire to get her to stop scowling at him and fucking trust him.

The sudden realization that she _really, really _wanted for him to do well was about as heavy as the child she placed in his arms.

It was a pudgy baby, with a mottled red face and near-perpetually closed eyes. She'd wrapped it up in a dark green blanket. "Hold him in your arms, I don't trust you to strap him to your back, okay?" she said. "And be _gentle_ with him."

"I _will_ be gentle," he said, for the third time. It was late at night, and she'd already put Ooda to bed.

"And I want you to come _right_ back and tell me where you put him, okay?" she said. "I want to know."

"_Okay_," Suigetsu said, thinking to himself that if she kept asking like this then he wouldn't be able to leave. Come _on_.

"I _will_ be able to tell if you screwed up, you know," she added.

He paused. This was new. "What do you mean?"

"I put a seal on the back of his neck, so I can track him, check his vitals remotely," she said. "I came up with it while you were away. Ooda has one too."

"…well I guess that makes sense," he admitted, a prickly feeling in his joints telling him that he _really_ couldn't screw this one up. "Listen, if I don't leave now then I won't ever make it to… where I'm going. All right?"

Karin pursed her lips, her eyes downcast for a good long while. "Just one more thing, okay?"

"_What._"

"Kurunari. Whoever you give him to, tell them his name. His name is Kurunari."

Weird request, but whatever. "Fine, Kurunari. Kurunari, I'll remember that. Can I get going, now?"

"Be _careful_," was Karin's farewell.

And Suigetsu _was_ careful. As careful as he _could_ be, anyways.

Kurunari started crying shortly after their journey began. And Suigetsu, having very little experience with children, tried to bounce him and rock him a little to calm him down, which reduced him to snotty sniffles but very little else. And after several hours of aimless walking on the surface of the ocean—he figured he'd have a lesser chance of being spotted, regardless of where he eventually ended up—a supremely foul smell and a fresh bout of crying made Suigetsu lose his patience.

He had not been asked to change diapers or anything, he just had to drop the kid somewhere safe, right?

It was late at night, almost the dawn. And Suigetsu saw an island in the distance, visible by the feeble gray light of the sunrise and the miserable light of a lighthouse. A larger island. He'd take his chances.

There was an orphanage on the island, thank goodness. The regulation-paint sign on the front said it was Federal Orphanage No. 90. It would do.

Suigetsu knocked on the door and hoped that the kid wouldn't make much noise.

A tired, annoyed-looking woman with dark hair answered the door in her bathrobe. "What is it," she said.

Suigetsu found himself unusually tongue-tied. "Yeah, uh, I got this kid, it needs a home, I can't keep it," he said.

"Is it yours?" the woman said.

"Is it any of your business?" Suigetsu replied.

The woman sighed. "Look, if you're looking for something temporary then there's a halfway house on the other side of the island."

"I'm not looking for a fucking _halfway_ house, I just need a home for this kid, all right?" Suigetsu said. "It needs to be taken care of."

A robed shrug. "Fine. If you come back to collect, though, there are fines and fees and-"

"I don't intend on coming back," Suigetsu said. He pushed the child towards her. "You gonna take it or what?"

"Gladly," the woman replied, and took the baby from him. The shift of weight was surprisingly noticeable.

"You take care of him. Okay?" Suigetsu said. "His name's, uh. Kurunari, by the way."

"Kurunari?" The robed woman wrinkled her nose. "Strange name."

"Yeah, well, it's the kid's name, so, whatever," Suigetsu said. He began down the steps. "I really won't be back, you know. So stop acting like I will be."

The woman didn't say anything more, just shifting the baby to one arm and shutting the door behind her.

It was only in telling Karin what he'd done that it occurred to him just how badly he had probably screwed the poor kid over.

"A MIST orphanage? Are you _kidding_ me?"

"I didn't know where else to put it!"

"I GAVE YOU A WEEK TO PREPARE!"

"Yeah, well—well I'm sorry, okay? I messed up!"

"You aren't _sorry_, you didn't even _care!"_

"I was just doing my job!"

"But you don't _care!_ I can TELL, okay?"

"Well it's somewhere _safe!_"

"SAFE? He'll be miserable for the rest of his life, at this rate! Oh you _idiot_, why did I even try…"

Once again, it was very late. He had returned in the wee hours of the morning, to be safe. But her drowsiness had not helped her mood.

"Well—well what do you want me to do, you want me to go back and get him and try again? Because the lady at the house said there'd be fees if I tried to come back and I kind of said I wasn't going to and-"

"It doesn't matter," Karin said, sharply, "we can't go back and get him. The damage has been done."

She was quiet for a long time, her eyes closed. She had her left hand wrapped around her right index finger.

"…at least he's healthy," she said, after a while. "You at least made the journey over well."

"Well, _duh_," Suigetsu replied. "I'm sure he'll be fine, anyways, I mean _I _sorta grew up in the foster care system or whatever and I turned out okay, so…"

(Though that was halfway a lie, since the government of his childhood was not the same government of that day, and he had always had Mangetsu to look out for him.)

"Just shut up," Karin said, like she didn't mean it. There was a weakness in her voice that severely unsettled him.

"So, uh, I still get that clone of my—OW OH FOR FUCK'S SAKE YOU DIDN'T PUT A BAN ON _THAT_ WORD TOO, DID YOU?"

Karin waited until he was done writhing before telling him, "Get out of my house, come back in the morning, then we'll talk."

And in the morning, her face smoothed from an obvious calm, she told him that she was willing to give him a second chance. "I'm going to give another try at an Uchiha clone first, though. Then I'll give a try at making a culture with your brother's cells, okay?"

"And if the Uchiha—_thing_ works?" he said, slowly, remembering the pain from the night before.

"I don't think it'll be safe to keep the first one, so you'll be leaving the child in—someone's care. Possibly Sasuke's."

"You want me to leave the kid with _Sasuke?_" Suigetsu curled his lip in a disbelieving sneer.

"Well it _will_ be an Uchiha. So I figured it might be in good hands with Sasuke, and others with the same bloodline."

Suigetsu shrugged. "Also so I don't fuck up in putting it somewhere, I take it?"

"Yes, that's part of it, I suppose," Karin said, lightly.

He scoffed. "Fine."

"In the meantime, I still want you checking by wherever you left Kurunari. Just enough to make sure he's well cared-for, okay?"

"And how often you want me to do this?" he said, impatiently.

"Once a month is fine. Then you report back to me."

"And what can I do in between that?"

"Whatever you want, I don't care. Just as long as you do your job and keep quiet about it, okay?"

He shrugged. "Fine," he said.

And he did his job.

Once a month—filling the space in between with mercenary work and whatever else he pleased—he made his way over to the miserable little island where he'd left Kurunari and managed to peek into the orphanage, hidden in condensation or whatever other water sources he could find. And he seemed to be doing well, for a baby. The orphanage was clean, anyways, which was more than you could say for a lot of Mist's other government-run facilities.

And each month, he would report back to Karin and inform her that her weird seal-assurance wasn't just a feeling, that he really _was_ okay, that she could stop worrying.

But the curious thing was, with each month that he returned to her, she seemed far more irritated, and far less healthy. There were near-permanent shadows under her eyes, and her glasses only barely hid them.

When he finally asked her what was going on, she snapped. "The Uchiha culture still isn't working, okay! I'm fucking frustrated."

It had been a little over a year since Kurunari's birth. And Ooda, now three, almost four, was far more talkative and less fearful around Suigetsu. He was a polite as hell little kid, Suigetsu found, and very helpful. He followed Karin around like a baby dolphin, darting here and there.

(His face still creeped Suigetsu out, though, but he didn't dare say a thing to Karin about this, lest she do something about it.)

(There was something almost awe-inspiring, in how genuinely and obviously she loved that kid. It impressed even Suigetsu, who, in years past, thought Karin incapable of anything but lust or anger, or some dizzying combination of the two.)

"Not working?"

"None of the embryos are taking. It's wearing me out." Karin's voice was very hard, squeezing through her teeth.

"Oh. Uh." His mouth tangled with the proper thing to say in response. "Well, what have you, uh, tried or whatever?"

"_Everything_," she said, in a punishing tone.

Further, uncomfortable searching. "Well, uh, no big deal, right? This happened before, right?"

She looked like she could have set fire to him, with her glare. Which was saying something.

"…I mean, you just made Kurunari when it—didn't work last time," he said, avoiding Ooda's name, picking through memories. "Maybe you should try—making someone else?"

"If you're trying to get me to work on a culture of your brother you've got another fucking thing coming, okay?" Karin said.

Suigetsu backed off, and not just physically. "Look, I'm just sayin'. You got a whole ton of… whatever the hell it is you use to make your samples, right? In your labs, right?"

"Yes?" Her response was more of a creak than a word.

"So maybe it's a problem with the ones you're usin', is all. I could, uh. Go out and get you more material if y'want."

"Are you saying you can get your hands on another Uchiha corpse for me?" Karin said.

"Well—no. And it's not like I'm gonna _kill_ someone for you," he continued. "_I _dunno, it's just a thought. I mean, if you don't wanna work on my brother or anyone else or whatever."

Karin thought for a while, her arms folded into themselves, taking deep breaths. "Maybe I _do_ need to try other bloodlines. I'll need to for _your_ clone, at any rate," she added, almost in a grumble. "Fine, if you want to get me samples, get them for me. I could use some fresh material to experiment on. But don't let this get in the way of checking in on Kurunari, okay?"

"I _won't_," he said, wondering why his heart was fluttering a little. Was it because she'd actually listened to him or whatever?

Or was it because he knew exactly what sort of samples to get for Karin?

After all, she said she could bring anyone back, if she had the materials or the means or whatever. And she wanted to try out new bloodlines, so…

So Suigetsu made a short trip north, to the Great Naruto Bridge, and he dug up some graves.

Sorry, Zabuza-senpai. Same to you, Haku-senpai. But he couldn't resist.

The graves, he had found, were jumbled up to begin with, all the bones in the wrong places. But the ground above them had been undisturbed for a long time, a rich covering of flowers surrounding both markers.

The war had been over for almost eight years. But some things, even things he had only heard, he couldn't forget.

He took a few small bones from each grave, taking care to keep them separate, and returned to Karin with them after re-filling the graves and bowing deeply to both of them.

She received them with crooked eyebrows. "Momochi Zabuza and Haku?" she said.

"Well yeah. I mean, Haku-senpai had a pretty rare bloodline, the Ice Release, so I thought maybe you'd be interested," he said. "And Zabuza-senpai, well, he was pretty normal, but I figured you could use more normal people."

For some reason, she smirked at that.

(Though, it was true. Orochimaru hadn't bothered to keep samples from many "normal" people.)

"Not bad," she said. "I'll see what I can do with them, since I didn't make much progress with my existing materials while you were away. Since you went through the trouble, okay."

"Okay," Suigetsu said, wondering why he was smiling back.

Fuzan, eventually, resulted. Karin announced him to Suigetsu a few months after his grave-digging expedition. "Nothing I tried with Haku seemed to work, but Zabuza's cells took nicely. I suppose I'll go through with it, keep careful record. It'll be good for my research, okay."

"What… ever you want to do!" Suigetsu said, throwing his hands up. "You gonna keep this one, though?"

"Hell no. You're gonna find a home for it. And I'm gonna give you more time, this time, okay?" Karin said. And, when he was about to open his mouth to speak, "Second chances, remember?"

His lost words became a smirk, laced with surprise. "So you're serious about this?"

"Don't see why not," she replied. "But seriously, you mess up with this one, and I swear."

"I won't."

And he didn't. Suigetsu took great care to spend the months waiting for Fuzan's arrival to scout out a proper home for him. This was harder than expected, because right when he thought he'd found a nice couple, another one would show up a few miles away, so he'd stalk _them_ for a while to see if they were better, and on and on.

(Some part of him wondered why he suddenly cared so much. Was it because this was Zabuza-senpai he was finding a home for? Or…)

(His thoughts were definitely preoccupied with small wonders, thoughts on how, with a better upbringing, Zabuza—no, _Fuzan_, Karin had already chosen the name—would turn out. He didn't want to fuck up.)

But time crawled on, with visits to Kurunari, with reports to Karin, with the only suggestion of the growing child within her being the increased difficulty with which she began to walk.

And then, one day, Fuzan existed. He was kept in the basement nursery, where Kurunari had once lived.

Suigetsu marveled at him. "_Man_, he's tiny."

"Well _yeah_, he's a _baby_," Karin replied, from beside him, with her hands on her hips.

"And he's." Suigetsu tilted his head. "He's kinda _ugly_ too."

"Well _yeah_," Karin said again, "he's only a few days old."

"But Kurunari didn't look like that." Kurunari was plump and vaguely adorable. He wasn't this scrawny, wrinkled, brown thing.

"Kurunari was three months old when you first met him. He had some time to get cute, okay?"

"_Cute?"_

Karin adjusted her glasses, to disguise whatever lapse in professionalism had occurred there. Fuzan, below them, squirmed under his blanket, kicking his sock-covered feet a little, experimentally.

(A far cry from the tall, grand idol of Suigetsu's childhood.)

"He, uh, give you much trouble? Cry a lot?" Suigetsu asked, for lack of better questions.

"He cries. But it's not so bad, I've come to expect it, by now." Karin yawned.

"You tired?"

"Of _course_ I'm _tired_," Karin said, snappishly. "I just had a baby and I have to take care of him myself, okay? You think I'm not?"

"Well _sorry_, just…" And Suigetsu just shook his head, instead of letting himself complete the…

Whatever it was.

"So how long are you keeping him?" he continued.

"Three months. Just like Kurunari, okay?"

"Okay. That should give me enough time."

"Enough time for _what_, exactly?" Karin said. "Don't tell me you haven't found a home for him yet."

"No, I… I have too _many _options. I gotta narrow 'em down. That's all."

Her smile was very small, but it felt almost warm. "I trust you'll make the right choice."

"Oh, I will."

And, eventually, he did. Since he couldn't narrow it down to one couple, he chose the town with the most couples living nearby that seemed good enough, and left it to them to decide by leaving Fuzan by the town hall and watching, waiting to see who'd take up the task. It was a quaint, middle-of-nowhere town, in the Land of Lightning. A good day or two away from Karin's village.

Fuzan took the journey well. And Suigetsu remembered to bring formula and an extra couple of diapers with him, this time, in a bag slung over his shoulder. Karin taught him how to use both, and he practiced on Fuzan himself. She complimented him by saying that she expected him to have taken longer.

"Then again, the sooner you learn this stuff, the better. For your brother's clone's sake. I am _not_ taking care of it, okay?" she said.

Suigetsu didn't reply, just grumbling and saying he wasn't an idiot, of course he'd figure it out eventually.

(Trying not to imagine having to do Mangetsu's diapers. That would be...)

(…weird.)

He also wrote a note to go with Fuzan, in a gesture that Karin found "cheesy, but strangely effective."

"Your handwriting's a lot like Sensei's, you know that?" she told him, with a laugh.

"Shut up," he replied.

(Though it couldn't be denied: the reason why his handwriting was so—_girly_ was because Orochimaru had taught him how to read and write. It had taken him years, but despite Suigetsu's squirming and understandable sullenness, he remained very, _very_ patient, and _most_ supportive of every minor step forward in literacy.)

(Suigetsu supposed that it evened out. This patient semi-kindness, smoothing over the times in between his needle-and-electrodes experiments, and his wire-smile.)

Overall, he'd done well. And he knew he'd done well when Karin told him, "When I get the chance, I'll see if I can get your brother's cells to cooperate, okay?"

It was the best news he'd heard in years. And he waited, for months, doing his job, doing his other jobs, as Karin did her job and her research on the side.

It was pretty great.

And then Taki Mikan showed up. Well, he hadn't been around to actually meet her, but Karin told him, with a great deal of excitement, about their agreement, and all the funding it would allow them, and all the options it opened up to her. Her excitement was almost humorous, and it made Suigetsu smirk.

And then she apologized. "I'm gonna hold off on research on your brother for a while but I _promise_, after this is over, I'll get back to work on him, okay?"

"…you really mean it?" he said. "What about that—Uchiha thing?"

"Oh that can _wait_, I think it might be fun to try and work out another puzzle before tackling a bigger project, okay?" she said, with a wild grin.

Suigetsu couldn't help but smile back. "Well, hey, whatever works!"

He laughed when she ran to scoop up Ooda for the third or the seventh or the twentieth time and twirl him around in the air before clinging to him tightly in a hug.

Ooda, he had noticed, had been at home more frequently, even though he was almost seven, well past school age. And he was growing out his hair, too. His bangs now covered his eyes, and whenever he talked to Suigetsu he kept his face to the floor.

And it wasn't like Suigetsu cared much about the kid, but he asked Karin about it during a rare shared dinner one night, from before Taki Mikan's arrival, after Ooda cleaned his plate and retreated to his now-upstairs room.

"Ooda had a tough time at school. It was very stressful for him, so I opted to educate him at home myself." Her tone was very clipped.

"Why, what was the problem? Was the work too hard for him?"

A neon glare. "No, the schoolwork was nothing. It was the bullying that he couldn't…" And her glare dissolved. She returned to her food. "You understand, Ooda's not… typical in appearance, okay. I thought it would be manageable but… children are cruel."

(And suddenly Suigetsu was so very, very grateful that he really _hadn't_ said anything about Ooda's appearance to Karin.)

(She looked almost as miserable as Ooda sometimes was.)

"…bet that was really hard for him," he found himself saying. "I mean, kids'll tease each other for the smallest stuff, so for him to be smart _and…" _Come on, what would be _least-_offensive? "…different? Well, I honestly don't blame either of you, I can't imagine how much it hurt."

Karin looked up, her eyebrows tilted in curious confusion. "It _has_ been hard. But we can get through this, okay?"

"Hey, never said you couldn't," Suigetsu said, shrugging.

The dinner resumed with a thick silence.

(And both sides wondering why in the world Suigetsu suddenly seemed to care so much.)

The miracles continued the following morning. Karin had, like many mornings before, opted to sleep in, and Ooda was making breakfast. And Suigetsu, coming back for a free meal, found himself alone with the boy, after an awkward greeting.

"Hey, uh—kid?"

He never called Ooda by his name—not that he could, anyways. But "kid" had sufficed for years.

"Yes, Suigetsu-san?" Ooda didn't look up from the stove, from the omelet he was making.

"Your, uh. Your mom told me you had some trouble in school."

Ooda's shoulders rose. He shoved his spatula at the pan. "Ah…"

Suigetsu tried to wonder what the hell he was doing, but the words just kept coming. "Look, and I understand if y'don't wanna talk about it, all right? That kinda stuff is tough and sometimes it feels better to just… y'know, shut up and deal with it on your own. I _get_ that, okay?"

"All right…" Ooda said. He lowered his head further, his hair falling over more of his face.

Suigetsu frowned, not at the boy, but at himself.

"Listen, kid, I just want you to know that none if it's… _your_ fault. Okay? Some kids are dicks and that's _their_ problem if they take fault with you. But there's nothin' wrong with _you_, all right? You're… well, you're a pretty good kid, I gotta say. So don't blame yourself."

Ooda didn't smile. Suigetsu didn't really expect him to, with that half-assed whatever it was.

Though when he returned, the following month, Karin, curiously, seemed occupied with something other than the well-being of Kurunari, of Fuzan.

"Ooda told me what you said to him, when you last visited. What brought that on?" she said, in the foyer, after looking over her shoulder once, twice.

(Ooda, as usual, had followed her to greet Suigetsu, and bobbed off elsewhere with his half-covered face. Though he seemed to have a warmer smile that day.)

"…wait, what are you talking about?" he said, though his confusion was half-feigned.

"The—the _pep_ talk, or whatever it was, okay? It… it really helped, Suigetsu."

A smile managed to slide out of one side of his mouth, though he tried to cover it up. "Hey, it wasn't like I was _tryin' _to pep him up or whatever, he just looked kinda miserable and I wanted to do somethin' about it. I dunno."

Karin tilted her head girlishly, but kindly, with her smile. "Well _thank_ you, okay? It kind of makes up for the fact that you're so _late_."

He sighed. Of _course_. "Look, I have a good reason."

"And what would that be?"

"Kurunari went missing."

Something went out of her eyes. "What do you mean, he went missing…?"

"He was gone from the orphanage when I went to go check. And believe me, I _checked_. He wasn't _anywhere_ in that place. So I searched around. I looked on the other island. I spent a damn _week_ trying to find him before I figured I could just… see if you knew where he was. 'Cos you have that seal whatever."

Suigetsu still couldn't read her face, but she wrapped her hand tightly, almost desperately around her right index finger, and she closed her eyes tightly.

Suigetsu's heart pounded in his ears while he waited.

Finally, she spoke. "He. Oh, no. His chakra's so weak… I can barely sense him. He's. He's in Kirigakure, oh _no_. There's something _wrong_ with him, oh, no, no, what have they done to him…?"

Karin leaned against the nearest wall, almost falling against it, pulling her hands closer to her face, as if doing so would help.

And Suigetsu followed her, crouching down, arms half-bent, in case he had to catch her. He struggled for words and found only defense. "Look, I'm—I'm sorry, but this happened while I was away and-"

"I'm not blaming you, okay?" she said, almost sounding like she was being choked. "You couldn't have done anything. We can't intervene. Even if you _had, _we… Oh, Kurunari, I'm so sorry…"

And Suigetsu found himself putting a hand on her shoulder. And it stayed there for a while as he struggled for further ways to speak, while Karin cradled her hand, visibly trying not to cry, sucking in her breath very carefully.

"I could… try to sneak into the city. Find out where they've taken him. Would that calm you down? I mean, that's my _job_, isn't it…" he added, too softly to be sarcastic.

She finally looked away from her hand, and at him. For a moment, there was shock, and then anger. "What, are you—crazy? That's suicide, I can't let you do that! If something were to happen to you then what the hell would I do, okay?" And she whapped him across the head with the flat of her hand, and the splash that resulted from his reflex-liquefaction got little droplets of water on her glasses.

"Okay, fine, fine, fine, so I _won't_ go, I was just fucking _offering!_" he said, far too loudly, getting away from her. "Jeez!"

Karin had taken her glasses off and was wiping them off the hem of her tunic. Even though it was August, she still wore long sleeves. She had for years. "Just _think_ for a moment before saying things like that, okay?" she said. "I don't want you _killed_, for fuck's sake."

"Yeah, well, me neither."

The silence that resulted was cold and just a little damp.

"…so, uh, did you still wanna hear about Fuzan?" he said, reluctantly, when he couldn't stand it any more.

And her expression softened. "I would _love_ to hear about Fuzan," she said, with more breath than voice. "He doing well?"

"Oh yeah. His parents got him a hobby-horse for his birthday. Y'know, one of those little stick things with the horse head on the end? He loves the hell out of it."

"Oh, I _bet_. I'm glad he's doing well."

Suigetsu didn't say it, but he was glad as well.


	76. Kyanite Balance

_Chapter 76 - Kyanite Balance_

* * *

They wouldn't find out what had become of Kurunari for many years. But Karin had theories about what they had done, from checking on his chakra every chance she could and sensing how strange and unsettled and mixed it felt, and they were later confirmed when news began to trickle in from her refugee patients that the Land of Mist had a new six-tail jinchuuriki.

The news didn't exactly devastate her, but Suigetsu could see how upset it made her, regardless, and tried to ease her mind by saying that, hey, even though the government was crooked, they had seriously better living conditions up at the top. But her mood remained dour, and she walked more slowly, and sighed a lot more.

Though this, of course, could have been due to the fact that Karin had another kid in the works, and it was a delicate one. Karin had her house abnormally chilled—thanks to a climate system paid for by the Taki syndicate, who were delighting in the addition of Kiine to their numbers (and Suigetsu was certainly delighting in the high-paying work they now gave him whenever he went to check on her)—due to a painful revelation she had made about Haku's clan that required her to keep her body temperature at dangerously low levels in order to prevent a miscarriage. Suigetsu couldn't complain about it, at any rate. That was her deal, and he didn't want to cause extra trouble.

But Ooda was suffering quite a bit, because cold weather made him sluggish and unresponsive, and it really was pitiful, the way he tried to carry on when he was obviously barely able to stand.

(And the things that Suigetsu didn't see, like Karin, in the middle of a miscarriage, screaming at Ooda to take her temperature.)

(Even though she always went to him and held him tightly and apologized, when she was recovered, saying that things would be better next time.)

(Ooda always believed her.)

Suigetsu, feeling sorry for him or something, bought him the thickest sweater that he could find on what he called a whim with the earnings from some mercenary work. Ooda had been almost entirely without words in receiving it, even though the sleeves extended well past his hands and the hem went almost to his knees.

"It's… it's so warm, though, _thank_ you," he said.

"Eh, don't mention it," Suigetsu replied, with a casual shrug. "You just take care of your mom, so she stays off my back."

And Ooda nodded, smiling that angular smile of his. "I will, Suigetsu-san."

Nine, almost ten years old, Ooda took _very_ good care of his mother. He was nearly as skilled as she was in caring for patients, and Suigetsu frequently found him manning the clinic and treating the minor stuff himself, so Karin could rest when she wasn't feeling well.

(He was also, finally, comfortable at looking Suigetsu in the face. Though he would never remove his bangs from his eyes.)

(Suigetsu was weirdly pleased with this, regardless. He was finally comfortable with looking the kid in the face, too.)

(No way in hell could a kid as nice as Ooda turn out to be like… Well, it didn't even need to be mentioned. So there was no need for discomfort.)

But the fact was that this latest kid was giving Karin a _lot_ of trouble, especially compared to the ease—well, as far as Suigetsu could tell—that Fuzan and Kiine had given her. Suigetsu told himself that he was only staying at her place because it seemed to smooth her mood, when he offered to do things around the house for her. It was easier than mercenary work, anyways, and he got Ooda's cooking to go with it. Still too cold to sleep there, though.

Yuki was also the first one he had almost seen enter the world. Suigetsu let himself in, with his usual reports (and a smuggled-in letter from Mikan—jeez, was that woman friendly) but he found the house to be cold as well as empty.

Eventually, he attempted, "HEY, ANYONE HOME? Hello!"

Ooda rushed up to him shortly afterward. He had his sleeves rolled up and he was gasping for air; his pale cheeks were shining slightly from sweat, despite the cold. "Suigetsu-san… please come back tomorrow…"

"Why, what's up?" Suigetsu's eyebrows lowered in worry.

"My mom… she can't be bothered right now, I'm sorry."

"Is she sick?" Suigetsu stooped a little lower, his teeth on his lower lip.

"It's, um. The little one. I'm sorry, I can't be long, she just sent me up to tell you to come back tomorrow." His shoulders moved awkwardly with the dismissal. "She's _fine_, she just can't be bothered. You can tell us about everything tomorrow. Okay?"

Suigetsu found himself biting his lip. "Well, uh. Then—then tell her I said good luck, and I'll come back later—but the reports are good overall, okay? At least tell her that."

"I will, Suigetsu-san, thank you," Ooda said, with a very quick nod, before disappearing.

Suigetsu, to his surprise, found himself actually _worrying_ about her in his cheap hotel room that night. Which really made him wonder. Yeah, of course she'd probably be _okay_, she knew what the hell she was _doing_, she'd done this _before_, and she had Ooda so whatever.

…but her health had really been looking like shit, lately, and the house had been so cold that even Suigetsu thought he'd have turned to ice if he wasn't careful. And if something were to happen to her…

…well the seal on his tongue would go away if she died, but Ooda would be all alone and.

And he wouldn't ever get Mangetsu back.

And it had already taken so damn long. She'd started on the new one—she said she was going to name him Yuki, and he'd given her shit for it because what the hell kind of name is that, and she'd pushed back in her own way—because she couldn't make any headway on his brother's clone, so she figured she'd try something else.

Well who was to say she wouldn't just try "something else" when she got better?

…not that he'd say that to her when she was still recovering. When she was better. She had _priorities_. After all, she chose Haku over the Uchihas, right?

…he still hoped that nothing would happen to her.

And nothing did. She was in her bed when he went to meet her the next day, with the baby on the pillow next to her. "I'm letting myself enjoy my hard work for once, okay?" she explained, weakly. She looked like she was having a difficult time keeping her eyes open, and she had taken her glasses off. "How are the other ones, are they all right…?"

And Suigetsu, trying hard not to get distracted by the miniature angel-thing squirming on the pillow there, said, "Yeah, they're all doing just fine. Oh, and Mikan-san sends a letter. You, uh, want me to read it to you?"

And Karin, sleepily, replied, "I'd love that…"

He took out the letter, unable to really smile—he could barely hear her!—and had unfolded it when she said: "When the hell did you get so nice, Suigetsu…?"

Was this being _nice?_ "I'm just… doing my job," he replied, and began to read.

She'd long since decided what to do with Yuki, having negotiated with Mikan through letters while she was still pregnant with him. And while she discussed with Suigetsu what they were going to do, what sort of note they were going to leave with him ("I liked your approach last time, with Fuzan, it seemed to help a lot."), there was a great hesitance in her actions as the three months trickled away, and the going-away date arrived.

And when she finally put Yuki—already beautiful as a newborn, but even moreso as an infant—in Suigetsu's arms, for the final trip out, she kissed the baby on his forehead and swallowed before speaking. "Good luck in getting him there, okay?" Her voice sounded squeezed.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine," Suigetsu replied. And wrapping his cloak around him, he left.

He had to stay anonymous, he always had to stay anonymous, so he took care to keep his face covered as he approached the gate of the Taki compound in the early morning. And things went well.

Until Yuki started crying. That got their attention.

Suigetsu had to melt into a puddle and scoot for his own safety, because they were tossing arrows at him. Though he took care to run away from the bundled-up screaming thing that was Yuki, to make sure that, if they hit anything, they hit _him _and _not_ the baby. Because Suigetsu could handle it, but certainly not Yuki.

He stuck around to make sure that they had taken him in before leaving, and coming back a few days later as himself.

"No work for you today, Hozuki, unless you're up for diaper duty," Tensho replied, with a bristling smile. "Nobuhiro's family has expanded a little bit and we're all kinda trying to adjust."

"Boss, c'mon…" Nobuhiro's face seemed to be fixed into an angry, plastic position.

"Oh, _really_," Suigetsu replied, and asked about it, with crossed arms and a smile. "What happened?"

Mikan, holding the kid in her arms as he left, winked at him, and sent Karin a letter shortly afterward giving detail to everything Suigetsu had to tell her upon his own return.

Karin was relieved, but she took her time in recovering.

Suigetsu eventually got around to asking her about Mangetsu. Again. "Seriously, you _promised_ me."

"I'm _working_ on it," she replied.

Suigetsu had to trust that she was, given that he didn't stick around terribly much, nor observe any of her research. All he could notice was when she started looking sicker, started acting more irritated, when Ooda got more apologetic. That usually meant she was trying to get something to work, and it wasn't working.

And there was a time, maybe two years after Yuki had been born, where she had been irritated for months. Sometimes Ooda had to turn him away at the door.

"She's not seeing anyone, not even patients. I'm _sorry_, Suigetsu-san, I'm very sorry."

"…well just tell her get well soon from me," Suigetsu replied, trying to deny the uncomfortable squirming in his back, and the prickly worry that always came afterward. This was happening far too often for him to be comfortable with.

He discovered, later, that she was on the verge of a breakthrough with the Uchiha cells. And she honestly looked so elated when she told him, "I'M FINALLY OUT OF THE FIRST TRIMESTER! I CAN'T FUCKING BELIEVE IT, OKAY!" that he couldn't bring himself to be terribly angry.

Though he could bring himself to be disappointed. Some part of him had hoped that, maybe, it was his brother making her this sick.

And his disappointment was impressive.

"Remember, you made a promise-" he attempted.

"I _remember_ your promise, and I'll get _on_ it when I can! This is kind of more important, though, okay?"

He couldn't decide if he wanted to laugh or sigh in his reply. "Fine! Just… whatever."

Karin was ridiculously careful with this one, however. Resting far too much. "I don't… know if this will persist. I have to be careful, okay?"

She didn't want him to scout out a home for the Uchiha baby just yet.

"And why _is_ that," Suigetsu replied.

"I… don't know if I should… keep him or not."

"What happened to leaving it with Sasuke?"

And she considered this for a while.

"…leaving a clone of an Uchiha, much less Itachi, with Sasuke might work out for the first few months, but it'd get so difficult for him, as he grew up and started to resemble his original more, I don't think I could bear it," she replied. "Besides, it'd attract far too much attention, and we can't have that, okay?"

Suigetsu, who had known of and shared information about Sasuke and his now five children and his steel expression, just nodded.

(Figuring, rightly, that Ooda had something to do with this. Even though he was incapable of saying Ooda's "father's" name, and he made this point most sarcastically to her when she brought it up, Karin had very suddenly put a moratorium on Orochimaru-talk one year, around the time that Ooda stopped going to school.)

(Frankly, Suigetsu couldn't blame either of them. But he left the pep talks to Karin where he could help it.)

(Which meant to say that his advice definitely made its way to Ooda on more than one occasion.)

"But think about it," Suigetsu continued, "do you _honestly_ think you could handle a baby now? I mean, your—other kid's grown up a little and maybe he could help, but at the same time, attracting attention."

The sheer amount of time that it took for Karin to answer was enough to speak for her, her painful expression besides.

"I don't know," she replied, finally. "But I'll know when the time comes."

Unsurprisingly, she didn't. But Suigetsu didn't find himself looking for homes for the kid. And it wasn't because he figured she'd keep it. In any other instance, he'd do it anyways, to keep her from yelling at him for being unprepared when the time came.

But not here. He just didn't _feel_ like it. He wasn't in the mood.

He had very little excitement for the thing when it was born, finally, too. Even though Karin was so overjoyed, but in a melancholy way.

"Suigetsu," she told him, on a November day, maybe a week after it was over, "did you find somewhere for him to live…?"

She sounded so weak, so depressed. For fuck's sake. "I'll _find_ somewhere," he said, almost growling.

"The Land of Rice," she said.

"'scuze me?"

"Look for somewhere in the Land of Rice. Somewhere Sasuke won't find him, okay…?"

This was a recent development. Suigetsu scowled. "He won't fucking find the thing, don't _worry_," he replied.

And he found a town, eventually. Full of scared people. Lots of towns full of scared people, though he recognized this one, especially when he passed the grown-over secret entrances to the nearby, underground labs.

Town full of lab rats, and the children of lab rats. Great.

Fine, okay, found a town, and he found a family, two people, they were of the right age but they didn't have kids but they _wanted_ kids, that was good enough, fine, whatever, that would be good enough for her.

And he returned to Karin and said he had his location picked out and he could move out at any time.

Karin's reluctance annoyed him. And it took him a very great amount of effort not to snipe at her for it, when she handed the thing to him and kept him for far too long so she could "say goodbye."

Because if he had, she'd have gotten angry at him. Like he wanted that. Her mood was already awful enough.

He moved quickly. Sooner he got this over with the better. When the thing cried, he bounced it back to sleep with well-practiced motions, but there was no care in his actions.

He descended upon Tamina like a terror, with a great, black fury. And he entered the home of Satoko and Gishi Honbo in the dead of night, without knocking, nor asking for trespass, keeping his face in shadow. It was snowing, hard. Fucking figured.

"I need you to take care of this child," he said.

"Wh-who are you? What are you doing in my house?" Gishi, rightfully, replied.

"I have a child, and you're going to take care of it for me," Suigetsu said, "or when I return, you're going to seriously regret it."

"Where did you come from?" said Gishi, his stance like a hissing cat.

"Same place you two came from," Suigetsu replied. "Now listen to me and take the kid, or _else_."

It was Satoko that moved forward to take it from him. She looked fearful, and her eyes were trembling. "Gishi, we, we should do as he says…"

"Who are you?" Gishi said again. His courage was pathetically shallow.

"Nobody you should be messing with," Suigetsu replied. He practically shoved the thing into Satoko's arms. "_Remember_. I come back, you haven't taken care of it? You don't want to know."

He turned to leave, when he remembered.

"Yakata, his name is Yakata, you have to tell them this…" Karin had instructed, almost desperately.

"Why the hell is it so important that it has _that_ name?" Suigetsu replied.

"So I know who he _is_, if I ever hear about him again," Karin said. "So I can always remember where he came from. His... name, it's made up of the kanji for Itachi, after all... Just like all the others."

Just one more condition. "The kid's named Yakata, by the way. You change his name, or if you hurt this kid in _any_ way, and I'll know, and I'll come back and I'll hurt you. So listen to me and don't mess up."

Suigetsu was clearly terrifying them, by now. But he didn't care. He was feeling mean.

And he left, his cape fluttering in the bullet-wind as he went, making solid, steel steps. He didn't bother sticking around to see if they'd actually take care of it. That wasn't his business.

He told Karin that everything had gone well. His further reports, one, three, five months after the fact, were similar, despite his reluctance in even going near Tamina. She'd put that seal on its neck, hadn't she? That was good enough for her.

And he waited. He knew, by then, that Karin always took it easy for six months after each birth, before starting on anything serious.

He asked in August, after a brief, clipped, uncomfortable status report. "So yeah, enough about the fucking Uchiha. When are you gonna get to work on my brother? I've waited fucking long enough."

"…Suigetsu, what's with the attitude?" Karin said.

"_What_ attitude."

Karin sighed, shaking her head. "You know, you've been _extremely_ rude to me these past few months, okay. What's bothering you?"

"What's _bothering_ me? Oh, gee, I don't know. Maybe I'm just… a _little_ miffed that your precious _Sasuke_ got _his_ brother back before me. When you promised me fucking _years_ ago."

"Suigetsu, I don't-"

His temper boiled over. "It's been over TEN FUCKING YEARS! You fucking PROMISED me! This is why I'm doing all this shit for you, and y'know what? I'm pissed! Where's my payment?"

He was starting to move forward, shoving his face closer to hers. He could feel his anger over his back, like steam.

"Suigetsu, I've—I've _tried_, okay? Honestly!"

"BULLSHIT." They moved, together, a little further down the hallway.

"HONESTLY."

"Where's your fucking PROOF."

"If you could _read_ my reports you'd know that I made a fresh attempt with Mangetsu's cells in between each of the ones that _stuck_, okay?" she said, sourly.

"Don't fuck with me, don't insult me, don't—fuck you." He pointed a finger, continuing before she could. "Then why hasn't it worked, huh? If you've tried so fucking much."

"Because it's HARD, Suigetsu, okay? It's HARD." And suddenly she was standing up straighter, her eyes locked with his. "Your family's cells are ridiculously unstable and I haven't been able to do a damn thing to get a viable embryo going. I've tried EVERYTHING. NOTHING works!"

"Then try HARDER!"

"YOU THINK THIS IS _EASY?_"

The volume of her voice caused him to balk a little, and she took the opening mercilessly.

"Don't you fucking DARE devalue my work, okay? I have worked my ASS off for your sake, and I deserve MORE fucking RESPECT, OKAY!"

"Well what should I know, if I'm such an illiterate, huh?" Suigetsu replied, in a sneer.

"You don't have to be literate to show respect," she shot back. "I work _hard, _okay? And you're lucky I'm even _trying_ to do this for you."

"Then what's keeping you from just dropping everything and _trying_ to make it work, hmm? Like your beloved little Uchiha?"

"I came up with that breakthrough while working on _your_ clone, you know," she said, through pressed teeth. "And I only continued because _that's the fucking reason I started this project in the first place_. I _had_ to, okay?"

"No, you didn't."

She went for the shoulder, and had his back frozen into a painful crescent arch. It was worse than in his memories.

"Don't. You. Dare. Do you _want_ me to give up on it, because of you?"

His fingers curled, all brittle joints. "NO…!" he groaned. "No, no, no, STOP."

She pinched harder. "Why do you _want_ this so badly, anyways? I told you before, and I'll tell you again and again that you won't _really_ be getting your brother back, okay? Just a genetic copy."

"I DON'T CARE, I JUST WANT HIM BACK…!" Suigetsu said, from the back of his throat.

Karin shoved. "_Why?_"

"BECAUSE WE WERE THE ONLY ONES LEFT!"

Her grip lessened a feather's amount. "What do you mean…?"

"Back… when we were kids… they killed everyone… and we were the only ones left… with him back, I at least have… a clan…!"

She let go of him. Suigetsu lunged forward, to try and get some sort of retaliation, but he was too exhausted and disoriented, and ended up falling to the floor, barely able to brace for impact with his arms.

But Karin, to his surprise, joined him there, crouching to his level. "Having a clan is that important to you…?" Her voice was curiously soft.

"When there's only two of you left, you kinda… have to take what you can get," Suigetsu replied, with a crackling bitterness. "I don't want the Hozuki clan to fucking… _die_ out with _me_."

Karin didn't say anything as he regained his bearings a little, though she spoke right as his anger was beginning to gather again as well.

"Why didn't you just… settle down with someone and have a kid, if you're concerned about… your clan dying out? That's what everyone _else_ seems to do, okay…"

The strange shame that began to condensate within him made his words come slowly. He sat against the wall, limbs uselessly splayed out.

(She didn't even mention the now-compulsory repopulation program running in Mist. Even the men that entered into those programs rarely returned intact, and Suigetsu had left the country for a reason. And she figured, rightly, that that was one of those reasons, because so many other people had left because of it.)

(Her clientele had increased severely in recent years.)

"…it wasn't like I _couldn't_ settle down with someone, even if you'd fuckin' _let_ me," he replied.

Which was partially a lie. Though Suigetsu couldn't exactly say he was a man whose sexual experiences had ever been terribly meaningful, and his relationships even less so.

"I'm just not sure if… if I _had_ kids that they'd turn out _right_, okay?" he continued. "Like they'd be able to… turn to water, like I do. Be real Hozukis. That's all. If I had Mangetsu back… well, I'd have a sure thing…"

The shame collected in his face and made it feel hot.

Karin was now sitting across from him in the hallway, a thoughtful look on his face. "Why didn't you tell me this?"

"Well first off, you never even _asked_," he replied. "Secondly, I didn't figure it was… worth talking about."

"I think it's worth talking about, okay," she said.

…when did _she_ suddenly get so nice?

Whatever kindness left her voice shortly afterward, however, replaced with her usual, no-nonsense tone.

"Listen, here's something I can do for you. Let me draw some of _your_ blood, I'll do gene analysis on it, see if your clan's traits would be passed onto a biological child of yours. Because that's a _hell_ of a lot easier for the both of us than making a clone of your brother, okay?"

"What, you can do that?"

She sighed. "Of _course_ I can do that. Ugh, seriously, why didn't you tell me this sooner…?" She stood up, and quickly. "Come on, we're going to my lab, let's get this over with, okay?"

Suigetsu had previously been breathing quickly on account of his lost temper, the expulsion of months, years of frustration.

But now his breath was quickened from excitement, though he wasn't quite sure if he had any reason to really be excited.

Karin was very swift in taking his blood, a few vials worth. "Give me a week, and I'll have your results, okay?" she said.

"Just a week?"

"Just a week. I promise."

He sighed, shaking his head, almost in disbelief. "And what if this doesn't work out, huh?"

"Then I promise, if cloning your brother is the only way to keep your clan alive, then I'll throw _everything_ into it, okay?" she said. "I made my Uchiha, and I don't need any more. Suigetsu, I'm honestly sorry it's taken me so long. You've got every right to be angry."

If his temper had already cooled by then it was frozen at that. "…you don't need to apologize, all right? I don't… think I have any right to criticize how hard you work or whatever, since I'm pretty clueless in that department."

Her mouth had slightly opened, at that. "Well I won't apologize if you won't," she said, managing to twist her lips into a smile. "One week. We'll decide what to do after that, okay?"

"Sounds… fine," he said. "I'll be back."

He ran into Ooda in the hallway, returning from the part time job he'd managed to acquire in the wake of Yuki's birth, but Suigetsu couldn't manage anything but a stammered "Uh, hi there," before leaving.

Words failed him, otherwise.


	77. Chrysoprase Pair

_Chapter 77 - Chrysoprase Pair_

* * *

The week was a horrible wait, but Suigetsu managed to fill it.

He made another trip to Tamina, suddenly feeling almost guilty. His anger—well Karin had said that it was understandable, but it didn't excuse the fact that he'd directed so much of it at the baby as well, just because of who he was or why Karin wanted to make him so badly.

It wasn't like he could apologize to him, nor to Satoko and Gishi—what, did he _want_ to blow his cover?—but the least he could do was make a genuine assessment at Yakata's condition. At how well he was being treated.

And he was being treated well. A crawling, quiet baby with a penchant for sitting in the front entrance of his parents' house, with the most enormous, black eyes that Suigetsu had ever seen on a child. They were familiar eyes, too, but he reflexively kept them from bothering him.

And those scared, scared people were so gentle and kind with him, and he found himself smiling at this, mostly out of relief.

Well, at least he hadn't been _lying_ to Karin.

(Not bothering to consider that she'd have been able to tell if he _had_ been lying. She had checked, in the past, without telling him.)

He filled the time otherwise thinking of her—and the project. And the genes and blood and—could he really handle having a kid?

Well he figured he could handle a _kid_, he was good at dealing with them, by then. At many different ages. He could _handle_ a kid.

…shit, though, could he settle _down?_ He was old enough, just a bit past thirty, and _responsible _enough, and he made good money, but…

Karin, after all, would doubtless have him continue his errands—unless she'd call it off after this, whatever _this_ would be—and that would severely put a damper on any chance of him settling down with a… decent woman and starting a family with her.

He could always take the wild oats approach, he figured. But something in that just felt… wrong, and far too careless to him. He could never. Any kid of his, he'd insist on taking care of. Otherwise he wouldn't be able to live with himself, and that was the truth.

And then there was always the possibility that his genes really were fucked-up, and that he'd really be the last Hozuki.

…well, Karin said she'd bring Mangetsu back for that, guaranteed—and she _sounded_ like she meant it, that time. He _knew_ she meant it.

…either that, or he could just settle for… having "normal" kids. Maybe.

Whatever happened, he figured, as a way of getting himself to stop fucking worrying at the end of each of these tangents, he'd be fine.

Probably.

(Karin, as it happened, was having similar thoughts, though hers were far softer, and full of a strange, light sadness.)

(If Suigetsu was really the last of his kind, and so hung up about it—she had _felt _the painful swirl of his chakra with those words—then why hadn't he said something about it earlier?)

(For him to shoulder that burden so silently and so—relatively—patiently, for so many years…)

(Especially considering Sasuke. Sasuke, and his five children, and his plain ambition from the very beginning that he had to get his clan back.)

(She _had_ to help him. This… was a far nobler purpose than her… worthless—_now-_worthless, anyways, and deluded from the start—Uchiha dreams.)

(Even though she still loved Yakata so very, very much. But she loved all of her…)

(Creations.)

(…besides, she'd made a promise, hadn't she…?)

The week, somehow, managed to come to an end.

Suigetsu returned to Karin's house.

And Karin had good news. She wore it on her face, even before speaking it.

"The situation is that, if you have a son, there's a one-hundred percent chance of him inheriting your water body trait, okay?" she explained at the kitchen table, with papers he couldn't even begin to comprehend spread out below him. "If you have a daughter, then, she'll just be a carrier, meaning her sons will probably have the trait, but not her daughters. That make any sense?"

"…so no matter what, there's a chance it'll work?" He could feel his smile widening.

"A very _good_ chance," Karin replied. "Honestly, I'd totally give it a go with this method! I mean, yeah, there'll be nothing but male Hozukis for… quite a while, okay, but if you're fine with it then…"

"Well, heck, I don't ever remember ever seeing any _girls_ like me and my brother…" Suigetsu said, his voice hushed with a light excitement. "So that's, like, no problem at all!"

(Things that Suigetsu didn't know, due to his youth: because of their drifting nature and the sheer rarity of women with the water body trait, the norm was for Hozuki men to more or less have kids with whatever women could put up with them long enough, and take the sons that resulted, regarding the daughters as useless.)

(The women that _did_ have the trait were rarely ever sent out to battle, due to the fact that their children, both male and female, were guaranteed to have the trait. They tended to be hoarded up and passed around amongst larger groups.)

(When the Hozuki clan was killed off, a great deal of barbarism died with it, unable to manifest in its only remaining heir.)

"So, are you for it, then?" Karin said.

"Well _yeah_ I'm for it! I mean, it'll take a hell of a lot less time to wait for a kid of my own than to… bank on you making a clone of my brother..."

"Though that… sort of rests on you finding a woman to _have_ your kids, Suigetsu," Karin said, haltingly.

There was a tense silence between them. Suigetsu swallowed.

"…well, I'll figure that out on my own, it's no big deal," he finally said.

"Oh, really."

"Yeah, seriously! I mean, come on, do you honestly think I'm incapable of… something like that?" He frowned, deeply.

"I don't think you're _incapable_, I just think it might _take_ you a while, that's all, okay?" she replied. "I mean, given how much you move around."

"Yeah, and… yeah, I know," was all he could say.

"I mean, unless you're keeping some secret girlfriend from me," Karin continued, with a pink-red smirk. "And if that's true I would _love_ to meet her, okay."

He crossed his arms. "I'll _figure something out_, all right? All I needed to know was that it… that it was possible, all right?"

"Mm. I understand," Karin said.

And she thought, for a while.

And then, she said, "You know, I could… probably save you a lot of time…"

He looked up. "Save me time?"

"Well, I made a promise to you to clone your brother, and that would have involved me carrying his clone in surrogate," she said. "Since we've figured out this, I don't see why I can't do the same for a biological child of yours…"

It took him a moment to process.

And once he did, well. "Are you saying you want to have my _kid?_"

"Well I don't _want_ to, but I think it's only fair to offer, okay?" she replied.

"But that means I'd—I'd have to have…"

"You don't _have_ to have sex with me, Suigetsu," she replied, flatly.

"I—but how the hell else-?"

"I could have you provide a sperm sample and artificially inseminate myself with it, so you don't have to _touch_ me."

His face was making almost dangerous contortions "But how the hell do I-?"

"You ejaculate into a cup, it's not that hard."

"I'm not gonna—do that! That'd disgusting!"

"Then are you saying you'd rather sleep with me directly, then? I mean, there's a higher chance of success with that method, too…" Her voice was suddenly, strangely thoughtful.

"Well, _no_, I'd—higher chance of success?"

She nodded. "There's a better chance of a successful fertilization if the conception is natural, instead of… done in a petri dish and implanted after the fact. It's just how things are."

He thought on this for a while, with severely lowered eyebrows.

"…you just want to fuck me, don't you."

Karin laughed for a very long time. "Why the hell would I _want_ to fuck you?"

The question, surprisingly, stung.

(And she noticed.)

"I mean, we're just associates," she added, quickly, "I don't really have any _romantic_ interest in you. No offense, okay?"

Suigetsu didn't respond, though the unexpected weakness in his eyes remained.

"Again, I'm only offering because there's a higher chance of success with this method, okay…" she said, softly. "If you'd rather not, it's fine, I have the means to-"

"I am _not_ jizzing in a cup for you," Suigetsu growled.

"Then what are you _going_ to do?" she said, another laugh in her voice.

He took a while to respond, lowering his eyes as he did so.

"…how soon can you do it."

"Excuse me? Do what?" Karin replied.

"The—the sex. When would you be for it." He refused to look at her.

"Well, I could… probably induce an ovulation by the end of the week…" She blinked several times.

"_Another_ week?"

She had her head tilted. "You really want to do it this soon?"

"I've _waited_ long enough," he replied. "So come on."

The amusement in her expression disappeared. "Suigetsu… I'm just concerned, you _really _want to jump into this so quickly?"

"I can handle it. Besides. You made a promise." His discomfort was increasingly evident. "I don't care."

She sucked in her lips. "One week, then. We'll work out something when you get back, okay?"

"Okay. Can I… can I _leave?_"

"…go ahead, I won't keep you."

He left.

The week of waiting was agonizing.

Suigetsu couldn't stop moving. Thinking.

Way too much to think about.

He couldn't let what she'd said _bother_ him. He had to focus on the task at hand.

That he'd have a kid.

…with her.

…he really had to prepare.

(Karin's thoughts, as well, were numerous and troubling.)

(The anger in his voice, the fear in his eyes, and the absolute hurt on his face when she'd said those things to him.)

(She found herself looking forward to it, almost. But not because it would feel good.)

(This wouldn't be her child. The fact that it wouldn't be a clone, that it would share half of her genes made no difference.)

(…she really had to prepare.)

Eventually, he turned back up, still unable to look her in the eye.

Karin sent Ooda away somewhere. They needed their privacy.

…to discuss first, of course. There were a _lot_ of things that needed to be made clear.

"Lights off, clothes on, no talking, no kissing, no licking, no biting, okay?"

"…why would I _lick_ you?" Suigetsu said, face tightening in disgust.

(Trying not to imagine that she'd _experienced_ it enough to not want it.)

"You never know," Karin replied, matter-of-factly. "Also, once we're done, I want you _out_ of my room. Right away. Okay? You can… sleep in one of the downstairs rooms."

"That's… fine," Suigetsu said.

"We'll also have to do this a least two more times this week. I want to guarantee conception, and I do _not_ want to have to do this more than I have to, okay?"

"Sure," Suigetsu said, the feeling fairly mutual.

It was a dizzying feeling, how much and how little he was looking forward to this, at the same time.

They just had to get this over with.

He waited outside of Karin's bedroom after that, while she got ready. He was in his underwear and a shirt, as per her request. His stomach felt like it was made of string.

After a while, he began wondering to himself just what the _hell_ was taking her so long, and he voiced this wonder.

"I'm getting _ready_, okay? Be patient!" she said behind her door.

He tried, and failed, and uncomfortably continued to wait.

Eventually he gave up, and he got up and opened the door to Karin's bedroom. It was not locked.

What he saw made his heart race. And not in the good way.

Karin was naked from the waist-up, getting dressed into some sort of pajamas. And at Suigetsu's entrance she grabbed a nearby sheet to cover herself, on reflex, but she gave up the effort halfway and glared at him in a resigned sort of way.

"Well, go ahead and look," she told him.

He looked. He didn't want to, but he looked.

And he stammered. "I, I, I, I'll, uh, I'll let you, uh. Finish. Yeah."

And he got out of there, gasping for breath as he closed the door behind him and slid with his back to the wall to the floor.

The first thing he felt, after he got over the initial shock, was a profound, almost crushing wave of awe for the woman.

If a person's body was a temple, then Karin's body was made of ruins.

The six children she had given birth to previously had certainly done a number to her figure, in addition to the weight she had deliberately gained in order to increase the chances of a successful gestation, or so she'd told him. Somehow the flesh seemed far less clean than the smooth shapes her clothes suggested, her skin especially. Silver-white and red streaks ripped their way across her stomach, like a wreath over her hips.

And this was saying absolutely nothing about the chainmail scars of bite marks all over her chest, her neck, her arms, and a thick, star-like scar between her breasts. He knew the stories behind those scars, or at least echoes of stories.

Hers was the body of a woman who had suffered for her work. A body that demanded respect, but garnered pity from weaker, or kinder hearts.

And all Suigetsu could think of was something she had screamed at him two weeks previous.

"_You think this is fucking EASY?"_

There had been a slowly-building onslaught of respect, but seeing her body, seeing how ruined it was, was the keystone.

…all of this, and she still wanted to help him? And his stupid, selfish little request for another Hozuki? A kid?

When he finally returned to her bedroom, _allowed_ in by her words, his feet were hesitant, as if he no longer felt worthy of being near her and her sacrifices.

Her eyes did nothing to help this. She'd taken off her glasses, and—well, maybe it was just him—she was looking at him with just that much more wariness. Or maybe it was derision. She'd covered her body and her scars completely, by then.

Much was he wanted to apologize, he felt like she wouldn't have accepted it, even if he'd tried.

The best he could do was be… respectful. Careful. And hope that was enough.

It took them a while to get started. And once they had, Suigetsu kept his face away from hers, keeping his body from touching hers too extensively with his arms; he kept his movements slow, and very, very gentle.

It was strange, though, how immediately different it was from every other encounter in Suigetsu's life. Karin's body was soft, and warm; she wasn't writhing beneath him, murmuring practiced, acrylic lines about how impressive he was, how he was _amazing_. She moved with him, not for pleasure, but for ease. Things would only be more uncomfortable if she were inert.

There were no words, just two sets of breathing, and the rustling of skin and cloth.

In any other circumstance, Suigetsu might have thought he was enjoying himself, even with all the care and the thoughts keeping him from losing himself, like he would with any other woman. But he wasn't enjoying this, he _couldn't_. This was just an obligation, a fulfillment of a favor.

He was only doing this for a kid.

He tried not to take long. But it took long, to his frustration. To make up for it, he got off the bed as soon as he could, keeping his eyes to the floor.

"I'll, uh. See you in the morning, then," he said, from the door.

Karin, regaining her breath, replied, "See you in the morning."

All he could think of, trying to sleep in his borrowed room afterward, was if he had been courteous enough.

They saw each other again in the morning, and the encounter was about as pleasant as he could expect. She drank her breakfast tea with her eyes on the rim of the mug; he spent several minutes trying to think of something to say, but couldn't.

Ooda, serving up the meal—rice porridge, mostly for Suigetsu, since he knew that Suigetsu liked more liquid foods—had his shoulders raised in sympathetic, fourteen-year-old discomfort.

Karin, eventually, said something. "We'll try again tomorrow night, and once more on Friday, okay?" She still wasn't looking at him.

"Sure, that's—fine, whatever works for you," Suigetsu replied. "You, uh, want me out of the house 'til then?"

"I don't care," she replied.

He removed himself anyways. Didn't want to make her any more uncomfortable than she must have been.

This did nothing to improve his mood. All he could think about was how selfish he was being. Even with the rational, angry retort in his mind telling him that he was just being foolish, that he'd waited long enough, that if he didn't do anything he'd be _alone, forever_.

He still felt _grateful_, and was ashamed that there wasn't more he could do, that there wasn't an easier way to show this, to apologize. Was that really so bad?

Apparently, it was.

He returned on that Wednesday later in the evening. And when Karin told him to wait outside her door while she got ready, he _waited_.

Being with her that second time was different. It wasn't like he had an urge to suddenly kiss her, or stroke her face with his hand, since she'd probably toss him out for that. And he still couldn't talk.

Showing affection—_no,_ no, no, _fuck_ no, not affection, _gratitude_—was difficult under such limiting circumstances. When the act was just an act, a duty, like this.

All he could do was go with it, and hope he wasn't making her any more uncomfortable than she likely already was.

After all, what was it she'd said? _"Why the hell would I _want_ to fuck you?"_

They were just associates—though that made them sound like they were equals, when it was far more apparent to Suigetsu that she was in charge. She was just doing this because she'd promised him.

She didn't really _want_ to be with him, and frankly, he didn't blame her.

This wasn't affection, this was gratitude, because affection meant something mutual, something… _real_.

(…only, Suigetsu had long since given up on finding out what "real" was. Long ago.)

Once again, the sex took far longer than he would have liked. But this time, as he was sitting up to leave, Karin grabbed him by the wrist.

"You don't _have_ to leave so… suddenly, okay…?" she said. He could barely see her face in the dark, now, but her voice sounded almost genuinely concerned through her breath. "Last time, you ran out so fast you almost made me feel _bad_… At least catch your breath, okay…?"

Eyes away, eyes away. "Don't… feel bad, all right? Just figured you… wanted your privacy or something. That's all," he said.

"I'm not exactly concerned with privacy much, right now, okay?" she replied. He saw the outline of her body leaning against the pillows. "Besides, I get the feeling this isn't about that. Are you okay?"

Just when his heart was slowing down, there it was, speeding back up again. "I'm—I'm fine, jeez, what makes you think otherwise?"

"You're lying."

And Karin _knew_ when people were lying. "I'm just." Careful, _careful_. "I just don't wanna make things worse for you, all right? Since you've… been through so much already. That'd be real shitty of me."

For a while, there was nothing but the sound of her breathing. Naturally, he'd fucked up.

"I should go," he said.

And when he was at the door, she said, "You're doing a good job, okay? You're honestly not doing anything wrong_._"

…surely she was just patronizing him. He didn't say anything in return, closing the door behind him, and going to get his things.

He refused to sleep in her house that night. Even though she'd said it would be okay.

There was more inner wrestling, that night; more hate, and a perverted little idea telling him that maybe he _should_ have just jizzed in a cup for her. Since she wouldn't have had to deal with him so directly with that method.

Thursday he barely managed to pass with drink and a spot of gambling, because he had no idea what else to do. And, as the night fell, the same old insecurities did also.

Then, Friday.

Like Wednesday, it was different. But not _this_ different.

In those rebellious, unwanted moments when he caught a flicker of Karin's face out of the corner of his eye, he saw something… _off_ in the pained concentration that she had worn previously. He had never noticed that she, like him, had been trying to avoid his face—it was only apparent here because she _was_ trying to look at him, now, whenever her eyes cracked open.

And he only noticed _this_ because one of her hands managed to make its way to his jaw, fingers cradling the back of his neck. Like she _wanted_ him to look _back_.

And then, another hand, on his back, over his shoulder. Pulling him closer.

He wasn't exactly sure what to do. The only clear action to take was to go with it, because resisting carried far too many risks.

So much closer to her, her breath so much louder, it was that much harder not to lose himself. He wasn't supposed to enjoy this. She was only doing this to feel more comfortable. It wasn't for his sake, it wasn't for…

And suddenly she had both of her hands on the sides of his face, and she was pulling his face toward hers.

And she was kissing him on the mouth. _More_ than kissing.

Well, if she'd broken one rule, he could chance breaking another, and he spoke as they pulled apart. "I thought… you said… no kissing…!"

"That… wasn't a kiss…" He tried not to imagine that she was suddenly smiling, she _couldn't_ be. "I just… removed your seal… that's all… okay…?"

The realization hit him with a strange, hot prickliness, and it came to settle in his stomach, on his tongue and around his eyes. "You… you didn't…"

Either his imagination was _sickeningly_ persistent, or she really _was_ smiling, now. "Figured… it wasn't necessary… any more… aren't you _finished_ yet?"

The sharpness of her last few words fit her far better than the strange wandering touches of before.

He _wanted_ to feel ashamed, because he _hadn't _finished, because she didn't _really _want this, but, but…

Had she _really…?_

He was already so close to her, closer than on Wednesday, than on Monday. His back arched and rippled, his fingers pressing into his palms from where they had curled near her head, his own head almost touching that beautiful, horrible scar constellation beneath her shirt.

And with a voice that came from the very top of his fast-beating heart, he said her name.

"Oh, _Karin_…_!_"

What came with it was not that old, familiar rush of pain to his temples, but a sun-warm, incredible sensation of _thankfulness_, overwhelming him so much that it almost began leaking out of his eyes, his nose.

He disappeared inside of it.

And he thoroughly soaked her bed as a result.

Karin was very suddenly herself again. "Suigetsu, what the hell?"

Oh, this was _embarrassing_. "Look, I, I can explain…"

"I just _cleaned_ these sheets, okay?"

Suigetsu, currently a puddle spread across a good three-quarters of her bed and saturating her duvet, tried to pull himself together. "I'm _sorry_, I can clean it up, I swear!"

"Well you'd _better! _Seriously, what the hell was that?"

What the hell _was_ that? It'd only barely ever happened before, in his skin turning glassy-clear and wet sometimes near the end, but not to this extent.

And in removing his elbow from the far corner of the duvet, a most shameful thought occurred to Suigetsu.

Oh _hell_, he did _not_ just…

"I, uh, I'm sorry. Sorry. _Really_ sorry," he said. "I'll, uh, get out of here, yeah, sorry."

Karin leaned forward, propping herself up on her hands. "Why are you apologizing…?"

"Got your… sheets wet. Sorry." He'd removed his leg and was stumbling for the floor, at least. "Stupid of me, embarrassing, sorry."

He finally made it to the floor, but his heart was racing, and something seemed to have happened to his limbs. His position was a pitiful one indeed, legs bent at strange angles beneath him, barely sitting upright.

"…seriously, are you okay?" Karin said.

"_Fine_, fine, fine, I'm fine, I'm sorry."

He couldn't see where she was sitting, which was probably for the best.

He waited for her to call him a liar. She didn't.

What she did say was, "You _really_ don't _have_ to leave that quickly. Honest."

He tried his legs again. Still not cooperating. "I don't… want to be a bother."

"You _aren't_ being a bother, okay? I _agreed _to this, remember?"

Not to this. Not to _this_.

He was not supposed to enjoy this, and especially not like _that, _because that would be unfair to her, it would be disrespectful, it would be…

"…just don't wanna make it uncomfortable for you. And I'm sorry about your sheets," he said, again.

It took her a while to respond. All the while he kept trying his legs, wanting so badly to leave.

"…the only thing making me feel bad, Suigetsu, is the fact that I'm obviously not making _you_ feel comfortable, okay?" she said, softly. "I can tell, I know you don't like it, and I can't… force you to like it. But I tried to make it less… painful for you. I know… what I look like, and I know how disgusted you feel."

…disgusted? She _honestly_ thought that he…?

"It's okay, this is the last time. We won't have to do this again if I can help it, okay? I'm sorry," she continued. "I wish I'd done better."

A sour, unwanted smirk pinched his mouth sideways. "Hey, that's my line…" he replied. "It's… fine. It's fine. Besides, I don't… think you're disgusting, all right? I…" He swallowed his smirk. "I… respect you too much to even _think_ that way. I didn't want _you_ to feel uncomfortable, since you're already doing so much for me, and…"

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, _fuck. _Where the _hell_ was this coming from?

"…listen, again, I'm sorry. I guess I just ended up making things worse. I didn't want you trying harder than you needed to. I'm not fucking worth it."

There was silence, then a rustle, and a creak of a mattress.

And Karin's hand was on his face again, pulling his chin sideways, and with it, the rest of his face. She was leaning towards him, on her stomach, over the mattress.

He kept his eyes sideways. No, no, no, he couldn't look at her, not like this.

"Suigetsu," she said. He tried to push his chin downward, to resist her further, but couldn't. "You _are_ worth it, okay? You've done a hell of a lot for me, and you've been through so much _alone _that it's only _fair_ for me to do this."

No, no, no, he did _not_ deserve _these_ words. "…because it's _fair," _he grumbled. "Sure…"

"Suigetsu, please. With your clan and everything taken into account…"

"You only made me a promise. If you _really_ had a choice, you wouldn't even consider it, would you."

There was a very, very gentle yank on his chin. "_Suigetsu_," she said again. "For fuck's sake, look at me, okay?"

And he had to look at her.

She was scowling, almost, though there wasn't anger in her expression—there was determination. Her face so close to his, he could painfully, plainly see that.

"I _want_ to do this. I _really, _truly want to have this kid for you, okay? And don't you _dare_ say you're forcing me into this, because this is _my_ choice. If I didn't want to do this, I wouldn't be doing it."

He managed to get his arm to cooperate, so he could push her hand off of his chin. "Just… forget it. Forget I said anything. I'm sorry."

Somehow, he stood.

Somehow, he left.

He didn't sleep in her house that night. Again. Like _hell_ he could. Not after _that_.

She thought, she honestly thought that she _disgusted_ him? And she was trying to make _him_ less uncomfortable?

And after what he had done, after what he had _done_, trying not to like it, obviously making her feel _worse_, and…

And then just fucking _exploding all over her_, oh, Suigetsu would honestly be surprised if _she_ wasn't disgusted by _him_ in the end.

He was only obviously the worst person ever. No fucking contest. A miserable fucking cuss.

The only thing making him feel worse was the fact that it was so _obvious_ now what she had been trying to do. A last, desperate attempt to make him feel more comfortable with their last union, though she had no logical reason to do so. She was just trying to be _nice_.

He could barely remember his actions but he had absolutely no doubts, no fucking doubts that he had just resisted and made her feel even worse and oh holy shit he was just _hopeless_.

She had even taken the _seal_ off of his tongue.

…she had taken the _seal_ off of his tongue.

He had said her _name_.

And what had happened with the sheets. Why had that even happened-

Oh.

_Oh._

…no way, no _fucking_ way, no no no no.

That had only happened because, because she…

Not because the sex had been _great_, it was just _okay_, well not _really_, but, and not because he _loved_ her or anything, fuck no, but…

(Because she finally trusted him.)

(After twelve years, she finally trusted him.)

(Trust, always a truly abstract concept to Suigetsu, had never been so heavy, and so precious than in that miraculous instance.)

…she had been angry at him afterwards, but it wasn't like she could have known that he…

…fucking _shit_. If he wasn't the greatest fuck-up in the world, an insensitive, awful son of a bitch that couldn't control his own body. Karin didn't deserve that.

At least she didn't want to do him again. Yeah, sure, if he were to be given another chance then he'd take care to show that he _wasn't _uncomfortable with her, that he _wasn't_ disgusted by her, but that wasn't what she wanted, and besides, he'd probably come off as creepy or even _eager,_ so…

Sleeping helped his mood, a little, as well. But he still had to take several deep breaths before entering her house again, in the morning.

Ooda was making breakfast, but his mother was absent. He looked up from the stove at Suigetsu, in reflex, but quickly returned to the pan. "Ah, good morning, Suigetsu-san. Are you hungry?"

"Yeah, uh. I'm hungry. But, uh. Don't worry about me, you can… make something for me later, all right?"

"Well, all right, Suigetsu-san. Though I don't want you to be hungry…"

"…I'll be fine," Suigetsu said.

He sat down at the table. He waited.

And Karin, eventually, entered. She was already dressed. "Good morning, darling," she said.

…to Ooda, of course. She didn't say those things to Suigetsu. Duh.

"Good morning, Mom," Ooda replied, receiving a kiss from her on his cheek. "Bacon and fried eggs for breakfast, is that okay?"

"Wonderful," Karin replied. "And, uh, good morning to you too, Suigetsu."

"…hey," Suigetsu replied, with a meager wave.

And for some reason, after sucking on her bottom lip, she asked, "Are you feeling better today?"

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" he replied.

She sighed. "Last night was… a disaster, okay. I apologize for that. I just wanted to know if you were doing better, since I could tell how uncomfortable you were when you left."

The words fell into him like a bucket into a well. He tried to drag some of his own words out. "I'm… I'm fine. And I was fine last _night_ too, all right? You did nothing wrong and I wasn't uncomfortable about _anything_."

Her face was still pensive as she sat down at the table with him. Across from him. He stared at the floor instead of her.

"…I'll know by the end of the month if it was a success," she said, suddenly. "Just so you know. I don't need you back before then. You can… do your rounds, do whatever it is you do out there, I don't care. You don't have to hang around here for anything else, okay?"

He would have felt far better if she'd intended for her words to shoo him. But he knew better, and the tone was undeniable.

What she meant was, _"Look, I get that this is painful for you, so it's okay if you want to get away from me, I understand."_

Somehow, the translation produced a stronger reply within him. "If you need me to stick around I _will_, you know," he said. "Besides, I _will_ come back, no matter what. Not like I _wouldn't._ I got a job to do, and…"

And he had to see if it was a success.

"…I'll just shut up now. Sorry."

Karin just sighed. Of course. She didn't want to put up with his shit, and neither did he.

…speaking of putting up with shit.

…well he'd have to ask _eventually_. "Uh, if it ends up working," he said, very reluctantly. "If you want, I'll… take it off your hands right away. I mean, since this... thing is already asking so much of you."

She reached across the table and lightly slapped his arm with the back of her fingers. "Like _hell_ I'm letting you do that. Your kid stays with me for at least three months, end of story. I don't want you killing your own kid because you decided to go traveling with it too early, okay?"

It hadn't been a strong blow, but Suigetsu still rubbed his hand over the skin she'd touched. "Well, jeez, just thought I'd offer…"

He saw the red, spiked blossom of her head tilt slightly, and he chanced a true look at her face. "I appreciate the sentiment but I think it's better for the both of us if I keep it at my place for the first few months, okay? I'll keep it longer if you need me to, actually. I mean, you're _very_ busy, and I don't even want to know where you get all your money from."

He felt his jaw grow slacker, and tightened it as soon as he was aware. "No kidding?"

"Nope, no kidding. Come on, Suigetsu, if this works then this is as close as I'm gonna get to actually _knowing_ something I've… _made_, okay? Other than you, Ooda, darling," she tossed over her shoulder.

Ooda, scraping at the bacon, gave a self-conscious shrug.

"…well, thanks. That's… way too generous of you," Suigetsu said, to the table.

"Hey, it's only fair, again. You take care of _my_ little ones, I take care of yours, okay?"

He hated the fact that his smile was so wide.

But he hated, even more, that he told her, "Thank you, Karin."

Saying her name was a rare thing.

…like hell it was a pleasure.

(But her knowing smile in return maybe was.)


	78. Onyx Lion

_Chapter 78 - Onyx Lion_

* * *

The memory of her cheerfulness on that morning made the month that followed just that much more bearable.

Well, that and Suigetsu's chores. Though he went about them with an anxious cheerfulness that was entirely new to him.

He wanted to slap himself when he found himself counting down the days to his return.

Well, why _shouldn't_ he count down? If he showed up too early it'd give off the wrong impression. And showing up late was a fucking no-brainer as to why that was bad. Jeez.

He allowed it to continue. Fourteen days, ten days, six days, three days…

Oh, fuck it, he could return a little early. He had reports in hand, anyways. Lots to say about Yakata, too. Karin would love that, since his reports about him were usually so vague, and her eyes always filled with such joy when he packed a lot of detail in.

Not that he felt the kid was her _favorite_, she didn't really play favorites.

…well, maybe not. Her favorite was kind of certifiably Ooda.

(Ooda, who had only noticed after an hour or two that Suigetsu had actually called him by his name for the first time in his _life_ during that breakfast, that morning.)

(He wondered if maybe he had taken so long because he was so nervous for his mother, who kept him fully-informed about what she and Suigetsu were doing in her bedroom.)

(Luckily, they were so quiet that he wasn't really disturbed or worried. Though he was still a little uncomfortable, thinking about it, and even more uncomfortable seeing their strained conversations with each other in the mornings after.)

(He'd been his mother's medical assistant since he was five, and had helped deliver more than his fair share of little ones—both Karin's and other women's.)

(But this was, um.)

(This was new.)

Still, Karin would probably be happy to hear about him. And the others.

Therefore, her squirming, lip-biting impatience in receiving his reports to her surprised him. "Something bothering you? I mean, nothing's happened to them," he began.

"Don't you want to know if it _worked_ or not?" she blurted. She was grinning, holding her arms together in front of her like a giddy child.

It had been taking him _everything_ _not_ to just flat-out ask her if he'd knocked her up or not.

"Well, I—of course I do, I just wanted to get that out of the way first!" he replied. "I mean, I have a job to do, right?"

She started laughing. "Sure, Suigetsu, whatever."

He tried to look cross. "Well don't drag it out, did it work or not?"

It had to have worked, with that smile.

And then she nodded. "It worked."

Oh, he could show _some_ excitement here, and Suigetsu did not hold back, balling his fists and making some sort of undignified, happy noise.

This made her laugh again. "Don't get too excited. It's only been a few weeks, and the first trimester's generally when things go wrong, if they _do_ go wrong, okay?" She rested a hand on her lower stomach as her expression fell.

Suigetsu, in response, grew quiet, and then scowled. "Well, come on, don't get my hopes up and then bring me back _down _again…" he said.

(He said it with far too much pain to not have _really_ meant it.)

"Nothing's gonna happen, not if I can help it," he concluded.

Ah, there was a smirk, at least. "What, really? I don't think you have much of an influence on my body, Suigetsu."

A deeper scowl. "…well I can at least tell you to rest up or whatever so nothing _happens_," he replied. "That's enough, right?"

"I suppose it is," Karin said. "At any rate, two or three more months and we'll be more or less fine. It won't be that long, okay?"

He shrugged. "Time flies like that, I guess."

And then his eyes widened, as he realized, "You know if it's a boy or a girl yet?"

More laughter. "I'm sorry, but I won't know for several weeks, at least. I'm sorry. But I promise I'll let you know once I know, okay?"

"Okay, okay, okay," he replied. A pause. "…honestly, this is really happening?"

"Really happening," she replied. "I suppose this is where I tell you you're pretty much officially going to be a father, Suigetsu. Congratulations."

Despite his knowing that a smile was _more_ than fine here, Suigetsu still tried to fight against one. "Shut up. And hey, can I get some lunch or something?"

Karin just laughed more.

Still, that fact, that new, amazing fact, though tarnished with the uncertainty of earliness and androgyny, kept Suigetsu grinning all night.

Holy shit, holy shit, this was working, he was going to be a _dad_.

…but then he'd all of a sudden be thinking about Karin again. She had seemed healthy enough, when they had met, but it was so early, and he knew how sick she had gotten with others.

_Kid, I haven't met you yet and you're probably tiny as hell right now, but don't give that woman any trouble, all right? _He thought to himself, to his child. _She kinda doesn't deserve it. She's too good for that._

It probably wouldn't help, but thinking that made him feel a little better, at least.

He managed to get over the initial dizziness of the news, enough to get back to work. Sometimes he'd even forget that this was even going on, that she was having this kid for him.

The thoughts would come back to him in strange ways. Like wondering if he'd have a little boy like him, or a... little girl, probably a little less like him, but no doubt she'd be cute as hell, and he'd do a fucking _great_ job at raising her.

Man, what would he _name_ it?

…was he even ready?

That last thought was the most fucking persistent, and much as Suigetsu pushed it out of the way with "Of _course_ I'm fucking ready," and "I'll know when it's born," he found himself thinking it, over and over and over.

Time, as he had rightly guessed, flew.

Mysteriously, his visits to Karin seemed to occur closer and closer to each other. Of course, she called him out on it.

Yeah, so what if he was checking back more often? He had to see how his _kid_ was doing.

"The little one is _fine_," Karin would reply, as soothingly as she could muster, with stories of progress and milestones to match.

Suigetsu noticed that she never seemed to mention the things that the other kids had made her suffer with. And Karin didn't complain much, but when something was really making her suffer, she made it known.

So, of course, because he was just _worried_, naturally, he called her out on it.

"Actually," she replied, with raised eyebrows and a smile, "I haven't had _any_ of that. I haven't needed any medicine to keep from feeling sick, either. It's kind of freaking great, okay."

"Well, hey, glad to hear it!"

He said, wondering, almost amusedly, to himself if that kid of his was linked to him with mind waves or something. At least it wasn't hurting Karin.

And then, one day, on a very cold February, Karin was practically bursting at the seams with some secret sentence, and it annoyed Suigetsu that she wasn't letting him in on it. "Okay, seriously, what's going on."

And she restrained herself for only another moment more before saying, "I felt him moving the other day."

"… felt _who?"_ She didn't answer. "Hey, come the fuck on, what are you talking about."

"Who do you _think_ I'm talking about, dumbass?" she replied. She patted the top of her stomach.

She had felt him moving.

_Him_.

"You mean it's a boy?"

"Yeah! I confirmed it just a few days ago and—Suigetsu I couldn't wait for you to get home, okay, I _knew_ how happy you'd be."

"Well fuck yeah, I'm happy!"

Holy shit, holy shit, a _son._

"You know what this means, right?" she continued. Her glasses were slightly askew from all her bouncing around.

"Do I—of course I know what it means! The kid's gonna be like—like me, right?"

And she nodded, once, twice, three times. "A viable Hozuki with the water body trait and everything. We _did_ it."

Suigetsu found that he was having a hard time catching his breath, he was smiling so hard, though those last few words did something to prick at him.

"Hey, hey, hey," he said. "_You're_ doing all the hard work. _You_ did it. Don't sell yourself short."

Her expression softened as well, at that. "…well, hey, it's your kid, okay? You had something to do with it, too."

"Mm…"

The thoughtful quiet that settled in after that was far too distasteful for either of them.

"So, well, it's been sort of a little quiet today, but if it starts kicking I'll yell for you," she said, clearing her throat, tossing a blanket of laughter onto her voice. "Gosh, you have no idea, it's a _wild_ little thing at night, always when I'm trying to sleep."

"What, you mean my—my son?"

"What _else_ would I be talking about, Suigetsu?"

"Well _I_ dunno! Just clarifying, all right? Jeez, c'mon…"

The words still felt stiffly new on his tongue. Not just his kid, his _son. His son._

(Though Karin, for all the months afterward, would still call him "it," would still call him "little one," out of force of habit.)

(It was far easier to bear the loss of an object, a little, singular object, than a baby, with a sex, with a possible identity.)

His _son_ was due in late June, Karin informed him. June. That was enough time to prepare.

Every free thought from that day forward was with that watery little boy and his imminent arrival, and preparing for him.

Suigetsu's visits back to Karin's place grew closer and closer together. And as the time passed, Karin's body and words grew softer and softer. In his returns back to her, he always addressed her first, first and foremost, before greeting his son, as if the child could hear.

Which, after a while, he probably could, which Karin told him after she noticed his little, twittering attempts at conversation seemed to sputter out into "Oh never mind, I'm just being stupid," after a while.

"In all likelihood, it'll probably respond to your voice quite a bit once it's born," she elaborated. "I mean, you're what it hears most consistently, beyond me and Ooda."

"…no _kidding_," said Suigetsu. "He'll know I'm his dad?"

"Something like that."

(Karin tried not to laugh at the shine this revelation had given to his eyes. It was adorable, which would only have made him angry.)

(Karin kept many more things to herself those days than she had in the past, for Suigetsu's sake. To anger or upset him only upset herself, especially now, with his past and her reasons and his unerring faithfulness.)

(Even though the baby was worryingly quiet, where entire stretches of daylight would go by without so much as a twinge within her.)

(Even though, when she checked her belly with a sonogram jutsu, her uterus would appear upsettingly full of nothing.)

(But then, right when she would least expect it, there it would be, stretching out and swimming around like any normal little one.)

(…only to stop whenever she made any sort of sudden movement.)

(But she was growing, and there was a new chakra system forming within her, she could _feel_ this, it was undeniable.)

(She calmed herself when she got too worried by saying that it probably only had to do with the watery traits of Suigetsu's family.)

(…probably.)

(None of this reached Suigetsu. She didn't want to worry _him_. She could handle it.)

The things that Karin did say, spontaneously, were surprising.

"So what are you going to name him?" she asked, sealing off a dwindling conversation one afternoon.

"'scuze me?"

"Your kid. I mean, surely you have _something_ in mind, okay."

Suigetsu's eyes wandered upwards, and his teeth zippered together behind his lips.

"…oh don't _tell_ me you haven't thought of anything," she continued.

"I've thought of a _ton_ of names, none of 'em have just sounded _right_, okay?" he replied, rolling his eyes.

"Oh? Well throw a few at me."

The pause and the way his eyebrows were dancing made it far too clear that he'd been caught off guard. He tried to lessen this.

"You don't have anything in mind, do you," Karin said.

"Shut up," he replied. "These things take time."

"I know they do," Karin said. "Well, here, let me at least offer some help?"

There was both curiosity and distrust in the way he tilted his head. "Help how?"

"Give you some ideas, so you aren't totally stuck when it's born. I mean, three months can pass surprisingly quickly, okay?"

He blinked a few times. Yes, time _could_ pass quickly.

"Okay, well, what were you gonna do?" he said.

"Well, I was gonna ask you what you'd have named it if it had been a clone of your brother and not your kid."

Suigetsu thought for a while.

"…well, I _was_ gonna call him Mangetsu…"

"What, like his _original?_"

"Yeah, so? Because he _would_ be Mangetsu."

Karin scoffed, laying her palm against her cheek with her shaking head. "Thank goodness you didn't do that, okay."

"Now what is _that_ supposed to mean." The defensiveness in his voice surprised even him.

"Well, would you have _told_ him who the _original_ Mangetsu was? Would you have treated him like a brother, or a son?"

…how _would_ he have…?

(He started thinking, of all people, of Ooda, who flinched at strange things. Of the prohibition of words that Karin put up, even when his tongue had been tied.)

(Mangetsu had been a far… _better_ person than Orochimaru, but…)

"…not like it matters now, since I'm having _this_ kid instead," he replied, crossing his arms, like that was that. "So what does it matter?"

Karin just sighed, shaking her head further. "I suppose not," she said. "And it's not like you're going to use this name with _your_ kid, right?"

Suigetsu thought.

"…Suigetsu, you aren't going to name your _son_ Mangetsu, are you?" she said.

"No! No, that's… that's my brother's name, I wouldn't even think of doing that, come on," he said, swatting a hand in the air.

Karin was sighing far too much that afternoon, and this bothered him.

"I'll figure out the right name when it comes to me, all right?" he continued. "But I'm not gonna fall back on Mangetsu."

"Sure, sure," Karin said.

"Anyways." Suigetsu cleared his throat, but tried not to show it. "I gotta use the bathroom."

"Go ahead, you know where it is," she said.

Though when he was midway down the hall, he heard her voice again.

"Shingetsu."

He turned around. "Eh?"

"How does Shingetsu sound? You know, like 'new moon,'" she said.

He thought about it, a hand on his chin, a finger on his lower lip. "What makes you suggest that?" he said.

"Well, you and your brother both have 'getsu' in your names, okay, and this kid of yours would be… well, sort of a new beginning for your clan. So, Shingetsu. New moon. You like it?"

…it had a _fantastic_ ring to it.

"I'll… well I'll keep it in mind. I'm not sure of anything yet," Suigetsu said. "All right?"

She adjusted her glasses, smirking. "Sure, it's just a suggestion, okay."

He thought for a good long while after that, long after he'd done his business.

He _liked_ that name.

…the trouble was that Karin had come up with it. He kind of wanted to have come up with the name himself.

But then again, the kid was… kind of hers, too, even though she strongly gave off the impression that she wasn't at all interested in raising him after those first few months.

Still, he was, in a way, her son too.

…well, if that was the name he eventually decided on, it wouldn't be unfair to give her that credit.

The three months passed quickly and he didn't come up with anything better. But he didn't tell Karin that, figuring if he _did_ figure something out, he'd just look like an idiot and she'd make fun of him for it with that firecracker laugh of hers.

Shingetsu, for now, was fine.

Funnily enough, the final trimester was far more stressful for Suigetsu than it could have ever been for Karin.

(Uncomfortably heavy and irritable as she inevitably became from the sizable weight of the child, his now-weekly returns—sometimes twice a week—amused her in how obviously and increasingly anxious he was with each one.)

It got to the point where she had to tell him, "Look, just stay in town already, you can manage it, okay? I know you don't want to miss this."

"What? Miss what? What are you talking about?" he replied, with shifting eyes.

"You want to be here when it's born, don't you."

"Well—well _yeah_ I fucking want to, it's my son, I don't wanna miss-"

"Then stay in town," she said, raising a finger to his lips. "Or in my house. Just don't get too stressed out. You _won't_ miss it, okay?" Her voice was full of astonishingly harsh comfort.

"…I'll find a hotel," he said.

(The redness of his face made her giggle terribly once he was gone. It was a rare pleasure.)

(Karin had to reassure herself far more often, this late. The quietness—and this was _strange_, in a bad way, this quietness—had persisted all the way to this ninth month. All of her others had been uncomfortably pressed for space within her at this stage, and made it quite evident. But not this one.)

(And there was still the worrying, evident emptiness of her still-growing belly. Though she had managed, on strange, haphazard occasions, to get a look at the little one with sonogram jutsu, which tided her over for a few days after each look.)

(She was almost grateful that Suigetsu never touched her, or her stomach, or even tried to, always staying quite a distance away from her, even when talking to her, oftentimes folding his arms into themselves.)

(…she tried not to tell herself that this was because he was still shocked and disgusted by her scars, and instead felt as sorry for him as she could, that he hadn't yet felt his own son kicking.)

(Oh well. There would be time enough for that _after_ the little one was born.)

(…and it would be born healthy. It would, it would, it would. Okay. There was nothing wrong with it.)

(…she hoped.)


	79. Moonstone Crab

_Chapter 79 - Moonstone Crab_

* * *

Suigetsu arrived at her house on the morning of June 20th to find Ooda scurrying around with a great, gasping smile on his face. "Oh, Suigetsu-san! My mom's in the kitchen!"

"What the hell's got _you_ in such a hurry?" Suigetsu said, as Ooda reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Supplies!" he replied, and zoomed down the hall again to a storage closet. "Go talk to my _mom!"_

Suigetsu's heart was starting to race almost as quickly as Ooda had been running. No, it couldn't be…

Karin was indeed in the kitchen, with a tightened expression on her face. "Oh, _there_ you are. Right on time."

"What's going on?" he asked.

She was leaning against the counter, still in her loose pajamas. Her forehead was shining slightly with sweat. "What do you _think_, okay?"

He couldn't ask, he couldn't ask, because he was probably wrong, just too excited. "Is your air conditioning broken?"

She reached out and slapped him slightly on the arm, before leaning against the counter again with both arms. "No, you _moron_. I started having contractions last night, okay? Your… kid's on the way."

Suigetsu couldn't even defend himself by saying he'd already thought of that. "No way."

"_Yes_ way," Karin replied.

"Well, when is—when is he gonna be here? Is it soon?" His feet couldn't stop moving, and neither could his hands, his fingers.

"I'm not even remotely dilated," Karin replied, "but at this rate of progression it'll probably be a few more hours, okay? Oof…" She winced, and her hands tightened over the edges of the counter. She leaned forward, further, stretching her back and her legs, moaning softly. She bent her head, and her hair fell over her shoulders.

"…hey, uh, are you okay?" Suigetsu said, leaning sideways, when this persisted for longer than a few moments.

"Dooon't talk to me unless you want me to huuurt you," she groaned, words barely discernible through the low vowels.

Suigetsu raised his hands and backed away a little. "Well hey, sorry, it's just-"

Karin exhaled, deeply, coming out of her lean, but keeping her eyes to the floor. She then looked at a watch on her left wrist. "Six minutes. That was six minutes. Okay." She finally looked at him. "Sorry. Contraction."

His upper lip curled with discomfort, and an inability to soothe it. "You okay, though?" he repeated.

Karin sighed, shaking her head. "I'm in _labor_, Suigetsu, it's not exactly a cakewalk here, okay?" she replied. "It hurts, but I'll be fine. I know what I'm doing."

"Well I'm _sure_ you know what you're _doing_," Suigetsu said, shoulders rising from sudden defensiveness, "I was just. Um." He folded his hands together near his stomach, and looked at them, and back. "Is there anything I can do to _help_, I mean?"

She considered this for a fair amount of time, eyes narrowed in (what was possibly) curiosity. "Well I suppose the best you can do is just stay out of my way," she eventually said. "I have Ooda to help me; he's far more experienced than you, anyways, okay?"

"But, I." He paused, almost waiting for her to interrupt. "But what if something _happens?_"

"Suigetsu, nothing's going to go wrong."

"No, no, I mean." He shook his head, his hands waving like companions. "I wanna be there when my son is _born_, I don't wanna _miss_ it, okay?"

Her narrowed eyes softened. "You won't miss it," she said. "I'll make sure of it. I mean, when I'm in transition I'll be hollering up a storm, so you'll _know_ when it's time, okay?" She managed a smirk that was both condescending and assuring.

His breath left him in half-felt relief, though his lips pursed and stretched sideways. "Well, okay. I'll just… hang around somewhere and stay outta your way, I guess. I mean, if that'll help."

"It should be fine," Karin replied. "Though, when it gets down to it, do you want to catch it?"

He blinked a few times. "'scuze me?"

"The—your baby. Do you want to catch it when it comes out?"

He blinked a few more times. "Well, uh. Um. I. Do you _want_ me to? Because if you want me to then, hell, sure, I'll do it, I mean, if you _want_ me to."

Karin laughed, a peppery laugh that went through her nose. "Suigetsu, if you're too uncomfortable then I'll just have Ooda do it, okay?"

"Uncomfortable? No, I'm not uncomfortable, fuck, I'm totally fine with this," he replied. He scowled. "I am _more_ than fine with this."

She laughed again. "Yeah, okay, I'll have Ooda do it. Seriously, you don't have to if you don't want to. It's not a pretty business, okay? I get it."

Suigetsu just fidget-stepped, looking shamefully sideways. "Still wanna help somewhere, I mean, if you need me."

"Well," Karin said, almost coyly, stepping away from the counter just a little, "I _do_ appreciate a good backrub, okay?"

"…I suck at massages," Suigetsu replied, in a quiet grumble.

"Well, if that's too much for you, I could settle for you… holding my hand or something if I need something to grab onto."

(She hadn't meant for that sincerity to sneak in there, and tried to disguise it.)

"I mean, it's good for pain relief, though if you'll turn to water on me or something from me squeezing too hard or whatever then I won't force it, okay?"

But Suigetsu was already considering this.

And he said, with a very certain nod, "Yeah, I'll hold your hand or whatever. I can do that."

"It okay if I grab onto your shoulders too?"

"What d'you mean?"

"Because," Karin said, an edge sneaking into her words, "I feel another one coming on and I need to _grab_ something, okay?"

"Wait, hold on-!"

But her hands were already rising, and she'd flung her arms around his shoulders, clinging to his neck and the black fabric of his shirt, digging her forehead into his chest.

"The hell are you _doing?"_ Suigetsu said, his own arms raised in reflex.

"Don't _drop _me…!" she replied, before falling into an almost-crying moan, like a feverish child.

His arms, eventually, came to settle, reluctantly, on her wide back, one of them even traveling up and down in a pantomime of comfort.

They remained this way for a while.

Until there was a sudden noise, a wet noise, and there was a growing puddle of water between them.

Karin noticed it first. "Ah… well. I guess my water finally broke," she said, pulling away from him and pinching her soaked pants with her fingers. "That'll move things along considerably, okay. Ooda!"

"Yeah, Mom?" The reply was very quiet, but somehow Suigetsu didn't doubt that her voice must have been clear as day to that kid.

"You got the plastic on the bed yet?"

"Working on it!"

"Good job, darling!" Karin sighed again, at the end of the compliment. "Ugh, now I'll have to change and clean _up_ this mess…"

Suigetsu had distanced himself from the admittedly large puddle as soon as it had become apparent, and was sort of shrinking into himself by the table. "You, uh, want me to take care of that for you…?" he said, with a very tiny voice.

"Oh, don't bother, Ooda will probably mop it up soon, okay?" she said.

"Sure, just… just offering…"

Karin shrugged, lightly, before checking her watch, putting her other hand on her stomach.

And in doing so, something changed in her expression.

This, Suigetsu noticed. "Hey, what's wrong now? It's not another contraction-thing, is it?"

"No, this… can't be right," she said.

"_What_ can't be right?"

(And it was in this wonderful, terrible moment that Karin was faced with a decision.)

(But her panic forced her tongue.)

"…the little one's gone," she said.

He managed to draw a little closer. "What?"

"It—it's gone. It's not inside me any more." Her eyes widened, her eyebrows rising.

Whatever it was she meant, her tone said that it couldn't have been anything good, and it worried Suigetsu with a dizzying quickness. "Karin, what are you talking about?"

"This can't be happening, no, no, I should have noticed, I should have _noticed, _oh no, no, no, not this, not this, no…!" She began clutching at her temples.

Suigetsu, stepping over the puddle, stepping past his stirring discomfort, put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, calm _down_, what's going on?"

"This is all my fault, oh, no, I should have known this _sooner_, no, no, why…"

He put his other hand on her shoulder, but he did not shake her. "_Karin_," he said. "Look at me. Calm down and look at me."

And she finally looked up.

"What _happened?_ Are you okay…?" he asked.

There were great shining tears collecting at the corners of her eyes as she lowered her hands to just below her chin. She tried to close her mouth to swallow but her lips only met in the center.

"Suigetsu, I can't—I can't feel the little one. It's, it's, it's _gone." _She shuddered. "I'm so sorry, I don't—I don't know what _happened_, okay?"

There was a sudden, cold hollowness in his knees.

He had never, ever wanted to be more wrong before.

"Well maybe—maybe with all that water out of you y'don't feel so. So, uh. Heavy?"

She shook her head. "No, no, no, you don't understand, it's _gone_, it's not _there_ any more, okay?" Her voice was getting higher. "I thought—it hadn't moved in a long time, I hadn't felt anything for—for _days_, and I thought everything would be okay, Suigetsu, I'm so _sorry_…!"

Oh, no, no, no, please, no, let them be wrong.

He held onto her shoulders more firmly. "_Karin_. Hey. Maybe… maybe my kid just. Just came out _as_ water? I mean, that's—he's supposed to be like me, right?"

Because his kid was still alive, he was, he was _supposed _to be alive.

"Does _that_ look like a _baby_ to you?" Karin said, flinging a hand at the puddle, before taking her glasses off and practically smashing them onto the counter, so she could cover her face. "I _considered_ that, but—but for days, Suigetsu, I. Oh, I'm. I'm so fucking _careless_, I'm so _stupid, I'm so sorry…!_"

And Suigetsu managed to wrench his eyes away from her, to the shining, now almost thick-looking pool on the wooden floor. He could smell it, now; yes, it had a smell, not sharp, not faint, like ammonia.

His eyes were watering—from it. It was hard to breathe—because of it.

He searched for a sign—_any_ sign of movement within those waters. He knew what to look for.

But there was nothing there, nothing but the ripple of his feet and Karin's on the edge, giving maybe an illusion of substance.

(Hozukis always returned to the water when they died.)

No moon in that water.

He wasn't getting a son, was he.

Karin was sobbing, apologizing, over, and over, and over.

"This is my fault, this is my fault, Suigetsu, I'm so sorry, I tried, I really _tried_, okay, I should have _known…!"_

She had her face hidden from him, but everything in that voice—truth, and sorrow, and grief—told him more than enough.

He put his arms around her, not for his sake, but hers, and he did not drop her.

Now, of all times, words finally came.

"Hey. Hey, calm… calm down, all right…?" He kept his voice soft, as if it were too loud he would break her. "It's not your fault."

"No, it _is_ my fault, I did something wrong, I should have noticed that it died, I should have known better—I should have _told_ you, this is my fault, okay…?" she said, her mouth by his heart.

"It's not your _fault_," he said again, holding her tighter. "Sometimes, these… these things happen. And they're unfair and they hurt a lot and."

He breathed in deeply, and his breath shook. His face felt wet. He didn't wipe any of it away. She needed his arms more.

"… sometimes these things just… happen…"

Karin made a very quiet noise, halfway between a choke and a hiccup. "Suigetsu, I'm so sorry… I'm so sorry, okay…"

"Hey, it's… okay." He swallowed. "It's fine. I'll be fine. It's okay."

He knew how to… handle himself here. He was tough. No stranger to loss.

(But he had never lost a son before.)

Another choke-hiccup. "I, I promise, I'll try again, I don't care, I, you, you _need _this, we'll try again, okay, I'll be more careful, I promise…"

But he pressed his head against hers, keeping his eyes closed, keeping his arms where they rested, over the star-companion of a scar he knew that she possessed there.

"…no," he said. "We don't… need to try again. Not yet, not right now. You've already done enough."

He held her tighter, as if the strength in his arms would keep the tears out of his eyes.

(They couldn't.)

"Thank you, Karin. Thank you, _thank _you, for everything. For even _trying_. I will… never, _ever_ be more grateful…"

She removed her face from his chest, there, and looked at him with aching eyes.

(She could barely see his face, from the tears, from her lack of glasses, but his expression, magnified by his voice, was painfully clear.)

"You're. You're _welcome_, okay…?" she managed.

Before the two of them collapsed into themselves, but still barely standing, keeping the other from falling to their knees in shared grief.

Ooda, entering the kitchen, hearing all the noise, wasn't quite sure what to make of it.

"Mom…? You okay? Is it another contraction?"

(For him, she managed to knit together some composure.)

"…it's nothing, Ooda, don't worry…"

(Of course, he worried.)

He came closer. "Uh… Mom, what's this on the floor, though?"

Karin bowed her head deeper into Suigetsu's chest, closing her eyes.

"Is, uh—did something just happen? I…" He paused. There was a slight noise as he crouched down. "_Huh. _Mom? Seriously, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, darling, I'm fine…" Karin said. "Just a little… I'm fine…"

"Ah, well, I—I just, the, uh. Mom?"

Karin raised her head and tried wiping her eyes in a vain effort to look presentable, now that he was so near. "Yes?"

"What's _this?_"

Neither of them wanted to look.

"Ooda, the… the little one didn't…"

But Suigetsu, in looking at Ooda, saw it before her, and patted her on the shoulder urgently. He handed his glasses to her.

There, congealing in the puddle, was a slimy, translucent sort of lump. And it was moving.

"Mom, what-?"

Karin hushed him.

The squirming little blob budded limbs, turning over a little. There were four of them, and they quickly gained hands, feet, toes, fingers.

It gained color, and eyes, large, swollen eyes, that tried to shut as soon as they opened, and a mouth.

And it made several burbling little noises, like pebbles dropping into a creek, before ripping into a weak, almost half-hearted wail.

"Oh my goodness," Karin said, her hands over her mouth. "It can't—it can't be. Oh goodness, it's."

"He's okay." Suigetsu's mouth was an open, growing smile.

Karin was starting to cry again. "He's okay…!"

"Well, uh, _that_ was interesting," Ooda said. "Um, Mom, are you just going to leave him there or…?"

"Oh! Look at me, what am I doing. Suigetsu, go pick him up, he's _yours_, after all, okay." Karin sniffled as nobly as she could.

But Suigetsu shook his head. "No, _you_ get him. He's sorta… yours too, after all."

(She had to rebound with something sharp, because otherwise she'd have started crying even harder.)

"Be more _considerate_, I'm still in a fair bit of pain, here! You pick him up, _then_ you give him to me, okay?" she said.

"Well, fine!" Suigetsu said. And he got on his knees and, with very careful hands, he went to pick his son up, one hand under the head, one under the body.

Of course, the baby had other ideas, half-melting into jelly as soon as Suigetsu's fingers touched him, but still crying. Though his cries grew considerably mushier as he lost his form.

(Something that none of them knew, due to age and isolation and countless other factors: young Hozuki children took a while to learn how to control their bodies, beginning in-utero. Any mild amount of jostling could cause instant liquefaction. A holdover of a defense mechanism, possibly, but a modern nuisance for many Hozuki parents.)

(Mothers were encouraged—but more often forced—to lay around and rest as much as possible, not to prevent miscarriage, but to give their children-to-be more time to practice forming their bodies. It made things easier down the road.)

(Given how busy his mother was, the baby didn't have much experience. But the cold stillness of her kitchen floor sure forced a lesson out of him.)

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, _hey_, little guy, don't do that! C'mon, lemme hold you," Suigetsu said.

Almost as if in response to his voice, the translucent glob-thing in his hands quivered for a moment, before solidifying a little more. The mushy cries quieted a little, as well.

"That's my boy…! Aw, man, look at _you, _you're so_ tiny…!_" Suigetsu didn't even try to mask his smile as he resituated the baby from his hands to the crook of his arm. "Jeez, Karin, look at him…!"

"Oh, I'm… looking," Karin said, almost stumbling from the sudden address.

Almost stumbling even further when Suigetsu brought him up to her, so she could get a better view.

"He's perfect, he's freaking perfect. Jeez, little guy, why'd you have to scare us like that," Suigetsu continued. "That was some move."

The baby, naked and cold and fussy and very, very solid, just squirmed in his father's arms, waving his own little arms desperately into the air.

"Ooda, get a blanket," Karin said, in a hiss-whisper. "And—and plastic to go with it! Just in case!"

"On it!" Ooda practically skipped down the hallway.

"You wanna hold him once he gets back?" Suigetsu said.

"What?"

"I mean, come on, it's only fair," Suigetsu said. "I mean, unless you'd rather rest—jeez, speaking of which, you wanna sit down or something? You still in pain?"

She laughed, though it looked like she was wincing at the same time. "I'm _fine, _okay? I'm gonna go sit down, though." And she moved, with far less stiffness than before, to the kitchen table, and she got a seat.

(She laughed more, though more gently, when Suigetsu got a chair beside her. And she watched as he bounced and cooed and shushed the little one to calmness, and she listened as the cries disappeared and became the familiar, light fusses that still made her smile uncontrollably.)

Ooda returned with a blanket and a trash bag and a wild smile. "Here you go, Mom!"

He lingered by the counter, watching with clear eagerness in his mouth as Karin held the blanket in place for Suigetsu to wrap the baby up in, with the trash bag added over it, like an afterthought.

"Guess we won't be needing the plastic on the bed, huh," Ooda said. "You want me to go take it off and put it away, Mom?"

"Not now, you don't need to, Ooda," she said. "Uh, Suigetsu, is it—okay if Ooda gets a chance to hold him after I do…?"

"What, are you stupid? Of course," Suigetsu said. "Might as well, right?"

Ooda's grin only made Suigetsu's larger.

"Here, your turn." Gently, Suigetsu passed the child to her, and she held him, sighing every now and then, shaking her head, but smiling.

The baby yawned, and his slightly-swollen eyes opened, and stayed open. He blinked very slowly.

"Whoa—haha, man, look at that. He's got your freaking eyes," Suigetsu said.

"What?"

"Look at 'em, they don't got any black in 'em," Suigetsu continued, pointing. "See, look, I told you. He's your kid too. No denyin' it now."

And Karin looked. Babies' eyes were usually dark gray or dark blue when born, but this baby's eyes—and she could see, clearly, their color—were a dark reddish purple… with no pupils.

Like her.

"…well, he's still primarily your son, okay…" she said, softly, and gently stroked the baby's forehead, which made him close his eyes again. What little hairs he had were wispy and colorless. "Oh, you little darling… I'm putting you down in the records as easiest birth _ever_, okay? Goodness…"

"I _told_ him not to give you too much trouble," Suigetsu said, chuckling.

She looked at him with twisted eyebrows. "What?"

…ah, shit.

"…well, whenever I talked to him, before he was born, I… told him not to give you too much trouble. S'all."

"Maybe you should have tried telling him not to _worry_ me too, okay," Karin replied.

"…yeah, well, shut up," Suigetsu replied. He crossed his arms. "Now give Ooda a try already, he looks like he's gonna explode or somethin' if he doesn't."

"Oh! I can wait! I swear! I'm fine!" Ooda replied, far too quickly. "You and Mom should get your time in first, Suigetsu-san, it's only fair."

"Hey. I get a whole lifetime with him, you'll only see him every now an' then. You should take advantage of my generosity," Suigetsu said.

"Every now and then, huh," Karin said.

"…well, and he _is_ gonna live with you for a bit, isn't he?" Suigetsu replied. "You said you were keepin' him for the first three months, right? Or longer?" He moved forward without an answer. "B'sides, no matter when we finally set out, I'm always gonna come back at _least_ once a month. For reports. And, well… I think it'd be nice to sorta… have a home base like that, for him. With people he'll know. Like a mom and a brother. Those are nice things to have."

Karin laughed a little again. "A little brother for Ooda, huh? What do you think about that, Ooda?"

"Oh my gosh, I can't even _imagine_ that…!" Ooda replied. "Um, it'd definitely be more than wonderful, I think!"

"Then I officially declare you brothers, so long as he's here in this house," Suigetsu said, with a royal grin. "Though _outside_… I dunno."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Karin said, her face narrowing into a needle that punctured Ooda's own smile.

"…well I don't want people linkin' me back to _you_ because of _him_, now," he replied, carefully. "I don't want my kid to screw you and _your_ kid over by accidentally mentioning either of you to people. So whenever we're out of the area, I won't say nothin', and I'll make sure he won't either, okay?"

(…oh, she _knew _she'd made the right decision all those months ago.)

"Well, good, I'd have asked you to do that anyways," she said. "You saved me the trouble."

"Yeah, well… whatever," Suigetsu said, doing a poor job of masking his satisfaction. "Hand the kid over already, jeez."

"To you?"

"No, to _your_ kid! Jeez, what did you _think_ I meant?"

Karin just shook her head, sighing, smirking, and then stretching her arms out to transfer the baby to Ooda's arms.

(Ooda had held many babies before, but this was a little brother, and he required much care.)

"He's _really_ cute, Suigetsu-san," he eventually said, after several silent, rocking moments. "Did you decide on a name at all?"

"Yeah," Suigetsu said. "Shingetsu. Your mom came up with it. I think it's a good one."

"I like it," Ooda said.

Karin just smiled.

(When she finally settled down to put Shingetsu's birth in her records, she noted, with a small amount of amusement, that her only biological child also shared a birthday with her.)

(Funny how things like that worked out.)

There weren't many adjustments that needed to be made, after everything was cleaned up and put away, though it took a fair amount of effort for Suigetsu to bring himself to leave the house, to do his duties. He stayed in the guest room for a week, and got up to feed his son from the bottles of formula in the kitchen when he heard crying at night, without Karin's permission.

But there still_ were _duties, and the fact that he had a kid now didn't change anything. So he had to leave, though he came back with his usual reports very quickly.

Though what _did _change were his thoughts, and his honest wonderings at if Shingetsu could handle such long, often-rough journeys.

(These thoughts were always loudest on the stormy and the cold nights.)

This was especially because Shingetsu still had troubles staying solid, to Karin's consternation. And Suigetsu _tried_ to help where he could—what, he honestly did—but as much as he hated to admit it, he was as clueless as she was at getting him to behave.

Somehow, they managed. And by the time the three months were up, Shingetsu managed to stay mostly solid, except when he was recently-awakened. The trick was to keep him in near-constant motion when he was awake and baby-shaped, so he could get used to the form. This was not much of an issue when Ooda was so willing to watch him when his mother was on duty, and Karin being so attentive besides, and Suigetsu being, well, his father, and pretty much refusing to leave him alone when he was home.

Still, for the first trip out, Suigetsu arrived with a large kettle attached to his pack. "In case he liquefies on me an' doesn't wanna change back. I 'unno."

Once Karin stopped giggling, she said, "Hey, if it works for you."

And it did work.

…mostly.

That first trip out resulted in Suigetsu's return not an hour after he'd set out. Shingetsu was sleeping in the pouch on his back, though it was now folded up in his arms; he wasn't using the kettle.

"What's the matter, did you forget something?" Karin said.

"…no, Shingetsu just missed you too much and I thought _he_ wasn't ready. 'Cos _I_ am but he, well." He handed the baby over to Karin. "Hold him already, he was cryin' up a whole bunch like a half hour ago."

(Karin didn't even ask him how he knew that Shingetsu missed her, half because she knew how simple of an excuse it was, and half because she was almost touched by the idea.)

(But she didn't worry about the child's well-being. She'd put a seal on the back of his neck, just like all of her other ones, with Suigetsu's permission.)

("If I ever need you, I can let you know through him by making the seal tingle," she added, as a justification. "I mean, just in case…")

(But Suigetsu just shook his head, with a wry smile. "I know you just wanna keep an eye on him. It's fine with me.")

It took several months for Shingetsu to finally seem ready for a long-term trip out with his dad. But it wouldn't be until he was older, walking and talking and able to take care of himself to some extent, that he would leave and not return until his father did, a month later.

Before then—and sometimes, for a week or two at a time afterward—he lived with Karin. And she took very good care of him, as did Ooda, and what few patients and neighbors of hers that came to know him grew delighted with the "son of a friend" that she was caring for while he was away.

(And she took even greater pleasure in seeing how Suigetsu would light up upon coming home with his news and his reports, taking that boy into his arms and not letting go for a very long time. Which was even funnier when Shingetsu, arms around his shoulders, kept interrupting him to tell him things.)

With each return, Suigetsu had more news about the other children, how they were growing up, the skills they were learning, the friends they were making. And each time Suigetsu came back there seemed to be a new discovery about Shingetsu to be shared.

Karin, for example, discovered during a checkup when Shingetsu was about two years old that his cells—even in their more watery form—were like hers.

Though she abstained from doing much research with his blood.

(He was Suigetsu's kid, and she didn't want to hurt him, or push any boundaries.)

Though when she told Suigetsu of her discovery, after barely mentioning her further theories, Suigetsu was strangely all right with it, even _encouraging_ her to poke and prod around a little.

"Hey, I trust you not to hurt him," he explained. "I mean, not like you _would_. Besides, this could be a good thing. Go ahead."

(They both tried not to smile too hard at each other.)

Another discovery was Shingetsu's unusual aptitude for sensing things. Karin found this out when the boy suddenly perked up one afternoon and informed her "DADDY'S comin'!"

Even though Suigetsu would not arrive for a good half hour. She told him this the third time it happened, since it couldn't have been coincidence by then, and Suigetsu seemed strangely pleased.

"Well look at _you,_ smart guy. Work hard and listen to your mom. She's good at that stuff too," he told the boy.

"Okay!" Shingetsu replied.

"What, you want me to train him…?" Karin said.

"…well _duh_. You're an expert. I want him to be an expert too," Suigetsu replied.

(Funny, how these skills of his all seemed to come from _her_.)

"I'll do my best," she said, with her body tilted in a happy challenge.

Shingetsu, in time, became almost as good as her, when it came to tracking people. And his blood, through what experiments she felt comfortable with doing, seemed like something utterly revolutionary, if used in the right way.

(But she refused to stockpile it, or even use it. There were some lines she didn't want to cross, especially not now.)

Though there were other, earlier discoveries.

Not necessarily having to do with Shingetsu.

Of course, it was Karin who took the first step in testing that line. And she did so by telling Suigetsu that she wanted to speak with him in private.

"Ooda, can you keep your little brother out of our way?" she asked, after Suigetsu cautiously said that he would (though only after getting a confirmation that he wasn't in trouble).

"Sure, Mom," Ooda replied. "Come on, now, little brother."

Shingetsu squealed and shifted his weight like an animated sack of potatoes when Ooda bent over to pick him up. He was a little more than a year old, at that point. Not yet his father's constant companion.

Suigetsu was taken, to his surprise, to Karin's bedroom. And she patted the space beside her as she sat down at the edge of her bed.

She frowned at him when he didn't immediately sit. "Come on, it's not a trap or anything, okay? It's more comfortable than the floor."

His shoulders and back were tense as he took his place. "So what's this about, then?" he said. "You said I'm not in trouble, so… what is it?"

"You just look a little stressed, so I was wondering if you'd like to… relax for a bit with me."

"…relax."

"I'm pretty good at giving massages, okay. And… other things."

Karin looked at the ceiling with melting innocence.

Suigetsu scooted a few centimeters away. "What the… _hell_ are you getting at. I'm not stressed."

"You _say_ that, but I think otherwise," Karin said. "Look, I'm just offering, it's the least I can do for you."

"Do _what?"_

"You."

Suigetsu's face creased further.

"Okay, so _maybe_ I'm being too forward," Karin said, with a laugh. "Still, I could always just give you a massage and leave it at that."

Suigetsu's thoughts wrinkled as well.

Finally, he said, "…do you _really_ want to give me a massage, or are you just saying this because you want to… sleep with me?"

And afterwards trying very hard not to slap himself because of-fucking-_course_ she didn't want that.

But Karin didn't say anything, just smiling a little mouse-smile.

Suigetsu gulped.

Though, because of-fucking-course she had to, she spoke _right_ as he was going to.

"If that's what you want then I'm not opposed to it," she said.

The best he could come up with in retort was, "…but I don't _want_ another kid yet."

She started laughing. "Don't _tell_ me you don't think people have sex just for _fun._"

"Well—well _no_, of _course_ I fucking know _that_, I just didn't think—oh come _on,_ stop laughing!" He crossed his arms and waited for her. "Seriously, you aren't just… messing with me, are you?"

"I'm _not_ messing with you. I'm just offering. Seeing what you want to do. Because, frankly, _I'd_ like to relieve some stress too, if I can, okay?"

He tilted his head in looking at her. "Huh?"

"I've got needs too, Suigetsu. And, hey, you're convenient and you're… reliable, okay."

"…what _am_ I, a kitchen utensil or something?"

…the _fuck_ was it with him and stupid comebacks? She started laughing again.

"No, you're just a… friend, okay," she replied, losing her laughter, but not her smile. She leaned back on one of her arms. "It'd be too much effort to try and find someone else like you, though."

Somehow, maybe from the melody in her voice, or the sharp smile she was wearing, he got the feeling that "friend" meant far more than just that, to her.

"Glad I'm so valuable," Suigetsu replied. He cleared his throat. "So, uh. Massage? You first. Only fair."

Her smile, in return, was twisted and tight, but pleased. She rolled onto her stomach and said, over her shoulder, "Be gentle with me."

"Oh shut up," he replied.

But he was. He had to be.

Even after they'd turned the lights off and started messing around with the sheets.

But they kept their clothes on, and never kissed, and barely talked.

Even in all the encounters afterward, in their little bursts of stress relief and passionless words and discussion afterward, he was always gentle with her.

(And she with him. She constructed her propositions carefully, knowing he would never ask first.)

(She'd never been treated with such care or respect, not by a man.)

Even—no, _especially_ after it almost became a routine, with his returns and their sharing of news and dinner, and waiting until the night had settled in—or sometimes sooner, if she was feeling irritated or sore or excited (or if she could see the same things in him).

Where she would dismiss the children (and Ooda seemed to have a remarkable, though awkward, understanding as to why) and they would just lay on her bed and talk and do other, gentle things, where she could tell him things she didn't want Ooda to hear, where he could slingshot back with his own advice, his own worries.

Routine was the best way to describe it. There was no love in their actions, they were just necessary things, needs to be filled.

(If there was any love, it was for the fact that the other merely existed, and was able to fill these needs.)

Neither of them wanted love, anyways.

Love hurt, and it never lasted long.

This was better.


	80. Tiger's Eye Overture

_Chapter 80 - Tiger's Eye Overture_

* * *

Ooda is eleven years old. His mother has just informed him that she has a job for him—though not a usual job. It is a job outside the house. This confuses him, so, she explains.

They are in the kitchen of their house, sitting at the table together. It is nighttime, after-hours. The smell of the dinner that Ooda cooked a short while earlier still lingers.

"Ooda, I talked to a friend of mine in town about part-time work for you, and he said that he has a job for you sweeping the stage at the theater downtown. Isn't that wonderful?"

"It's… that's nice, Mom, but… why do I need a job _there…?_ I want to stay home and help _you_."

His mother sighs.

"Ooda, I'm starting to get a little concerned about how _much_ you're staying home, okay?"

"Mom, I go out and get groceries and deliver prescriptions, I get out enough..."

He pauses, judging her expression.

"That's enough, right…?"

She shakes her head.

"Ooda, darling, when we were expecting Yuki I had the temperature so low that you were almost _constantly_ sick, okay. Even Suigetsu noticed. But you stayed inside anyways. That worried me."

Ooda knits his fingers together.

"I want you to get _out, _Ooda. It's not healthy."

There is no room for negotiation in her voice. She continues, however, far more softly.

"Besides, you'll be paid. A little spending money might be nice! You can buy whatever books or movies you want, okay? Since it'll be your money, not mine."

"…I guess that would be nice."

Ooda figures that agreeing with her will make it less uncomfortable to think about.

"If you want me out of the house, Mom, then I'll… _go_, I'm just…"

He seals his pause with his lips.

"You're just _what_, darling…?"

Ooda is mumbling, but manages to clear his words near the end of his sentence.

"…that the people at the theater won't like me."

All he can think about is school, and his mother knows.

She blinks, thinking this over. She puts a hand on his shoulder.

"Ooda, you're perfectly all right running my errands for me. And my clients like you _very_ much, okay? So I'm sure the theater people will too."

He lowers his head, trying to believe her.

"There's nothing to worry about. Besides, most cleaning is done after hours, so you won't have to _talk_ to many people, okay? You'll just have to sweep."

His mother knows him very well, and this comforts him some.

"…okay... When do I have to start…?"

"I told him I'd bring you Sunday afternoon, okay?"

"Okay…"

Sunday arrives. Ooda doesn't feel any better.

The owner of the theater is a broad man named Yaku. He has a very, very brown beard and a beery laugh, and he stands with his hands on his hips.

Ooda's mother is with him, for support.

"So this is your little boy, eh, Karin-sensei? You're a lot bigger since I saw you last."

Ooda nods nervously, somewhat intimidated, if not terrified, avoiding eye contact.

"Just the guy we need. Want me to show you around?"

Ooda stands still, hands clasped together at his stomach. His mother pushes him forward, gently.

"Go ahead, Ooda, let him show you around. I'll go with you."

Yaku seems to spend more time describing the history of the theater than Ooda's actual duties.

In all honesty, it's fascinating. Ooda hangs onto every word, vastly preferring it to the prospect of work.

The theater—constructed in the wake of the second war, and rebuilt after the Mist raids of the third—is a delicately-balanced building of bold modesty, glowing with wood and paper. The set backdrops are hand-painted for each production and stored in the basement, rolled up into scrolls, re-used if needed. Currently, the stage is naked, with no backdrops nor sets upon it.

The details help to soothe Ooda's heart once his mother coaxes Yaku back to business.

"Broom closet's over here. I need you to sweep backstage and onstage before and after rehearsals and performances. Not much on stage now, 'course, but once we get this performance rollin' you'll have props and things to get around."

Yaku speaks with booming words, grand hand gestures.

"I don't doubt you'll be able to figure it out, though. You seem like a smart kid."

"He is a _very_ smart kid. He'll do just fine, okay."

Ooda's mother speaks both to Yaku and to him.

"I'll… try my best, sir…"

Yaku catches onto Ooda's discomfort. He is an actor, after all, and well-trained to read everything from body language to vocal tone.

"Tell you what, as an added bonus, I'll let you sit in on rehearsals _and _performances if you want. We don't let just anyone do that."

His mother smiles.

"Ooda, you hear that? It's like going to the movies for free, okay? Won't that be nice?"

Ooda tenses, though only a little.

"…that sounds nice."

Yaku's smile is also very broad.

"Why don't we get you started, then? Just a little… practice, haha. Get a broom and sweep the stage to get a feel for it. We'll get you back for real next week."

Ooda's mother moves away from him, slightly. Ooda clings to her sleeve in return.

"Darling, I'm going to go home. You know your way back."

Saving her the embarrassment, he lets go of her sleeve and watches her leave. She stays in the lobby and watches him for a while as he goes to the broom closet and begins to work, before leaving for real.

Ooda begins to sweep, gingerly. Yaku watches him with his arms crossed, though his expression is not disproving. The entire time, Ooda speaks only once:

"Sir, um, you're making me nervous, am I doing something wrong…?"

Yaku laughs. It almost sounds like applause.

"Sorry, I'll leave you alone."

Ooda's day proceeds just as uncomfortably with Yaku gone.

Yaku returns to pay Ooda in cash, unexpectedly, after a time. Ooda nearly drops the broom in receiving the money.

"E-excuse me?"

"Your pay for today. Oh, and here's our rehearsal and performance schedule. I need you at least an hour before and an hour after each blocking. You did good today."

Yaku hands Ooda another piece of paper from out of his pocket. Like the bills, it is slightly wrinkled.

"Um, sir, though… what do you want me to do in between…?"

"Didn't you hear me? You can sit in on rehearsals and watch the performances for free. I heard from your mom that you're a bit of a budding theater buff."

Ooda's face turns a very pale shade of pink. In his room at home he has a significant VHS tape collection of both purchased and recorded-from-television films and theater performances, which he watches on the small set that a grateful client tried to give his mother as payment one year. One bookshelf is also filled with every volume of _No_ to date, the other shelves crammed with medical textbooks and cookbooks and anything else capable of giving him something useful to learn.

Of course, Yaku doesn't know much of this, but Ooda's mother has said _some_ things.

Yaku continues.

"If you wanna go home in between, though, I understand, just as long as you're back to sweep up after us. Though if you're not comfortable with staying after our night performances then I can just have you come in the morning after to clean."

Ooda shakes his head.

"I'm not scared of staying out late or going home in the dark or anything… But I dunno just yet…"

Yaku just nods.

"I think we're gonna have a fine time together, no matter what. You head on home to your mom, now. Send her my best."

Ooda nods and leaves very quickly.

The kitchen again. At dinner that night, he discusses the situation with his mother. He hasn't touched much of his meal.

"Did it not go well?"

"No, it was… fine, I guess… I just kept thinking about if you were _okay_ or not without me."

His mother sighs, shakes her head, smiles.

"Well, I'm still in one piece, aren't I?"

"Well… _yeah,_ Mom, but…"

"But _what_, Ooda."

Ooda cannot answer. He lets his hair fall further into his face. His mother continues.

"You _need_ to get out more, darling. I told you. Okay? It's not healthy for you. You don't _need_ to be home all the time. There's no need."

Ooda's mouth tightens as he thinks of a rebuttal.

"But the little ones, Mom, and the patients, and Juugo-san…"

His mother's face sharpens as she interrupts.

"They need _me, _Ooda. Not you. You're a help, but honestly, darling, that's all you _are_."

Ooda looks like he's trying to make himself as small as possible.

"But what about when you're _sick_, Mom…"

His mother pauses in her reply.

"I'm not sick _now_, and goodness knows when I'll get to work on the next one…"

Her son's miserable expression stops her again.

"…Ooda, if I ever _need_ you here then I'll _keep_ you here and explain to Yaku-san if you're working at the time. He'll understand. Okay? I won't keep you from me if I need your help at _all._"

The decision is only a bare comfort for Ooda. He gets out of his chair and gives his mother a tight, awkward hug.

"Oh, darling, shh, it'll be okay."

She strokes the back of his head.

"You're still the best help I could _ever_ ask for, and an even _better_ son. And I love you _very_ much, okay?"

His response is soft, muffled by her shoulder.

"I love you too, Mom…"

A few weeks pass.

Ooda, for a few hours every weekday, sweeps the stage floor at the theater. Though, at first, he always walks home right away instead of staying to watch the rehearsals that have recently started.

His mother notices, and gets annoyed. And, despite his protestations and apologies, convinces him to watch at least one rehearsal before making his mind up about needing to be home so much still.

Ooda does.

One rehearsal is enough to keep him from going home early for a good long while, the theater and its golden-light magic very much getting its hold on him.

The production in rehearsal in question is an older, traditional piece titled _The Thousand-Swordsman_. It concerns a samurai utterly devoted to the craft of the blade, to the point where his best friend turns on him and steals his lover from him as well. Naturally, the samurai rescues said lover and they live happily ever after, though not before a dramatic, pantomimed swordfight between the two former friends.

By his third day watching the rehearsals, Ooda finds himself mouthing the lines along with the actors and continuing on with whole words where they stumble and still read from scripts. But he doesn't dare speak up from where he sits, at the far left of the stage, by the wall, waiting for them to clear out. He considers it blasphemy and tends to hold his mouth together tightly whenever he catches himself about to speak.

By the time they're in dress rehearsal, Ooda finds moments where he cannot stay quiet, perhaps because they're so far into production that it's utterly _shameful_ for such things to still be occurring. But his voice is never louder than a mutter.

The actors largely leave him alone, anyways. He is recognized as "the doctor's boy," his position already explained to them by Yaku, who pays him at the end of each week with his wrinkled bills and broad smile, and unwanted claps on the back.

Ooda tells his mother that it's not so bad, each time he returns. This pleases her and, in private, she shares her joy with Suigetsu, who is less than vocal in his opinions.

"So he's enjoying his job, that's fine, I guess."

And then the performances start.

And Ooda starts to adore going to work, leaving far too early and coming back far too late.

His mother is incredibly pleased, however; not only by this, but by the warm smiles she finds growing out of him, and the clearer speaking trailing along behind the smiles.

Even though, physically, there is nothing terribly much to differentiate the dress rehearsals from the actual performances, there is a tangible sense of _realness_ that comes from the presence of an audience, something that brings out the very best or worst in performers.

Ooda is no exception.

Swept up in the energy and new reality injected within him by the performances—he always has a chair in the back of the theater, and a doorway to hang out in when the play is sold out—he finds himself reliving the scenes to entertain himself while sweeping, trying to recreate, perfectly, the cadence of one actor's voice, or the delicate way in which one actress holds her arm.

Mostly, Ooda tries to recreate Dokudami Ryusuke's work.

Ryusuke is the star, the actor who plays the samurai. And for good reason. Ryusuke has a strange, incredible ability to give off the air of quiet intensity that the samurai's role demands, and somehow manages to sound very soft and thoughtful while projecting his voice halfway across the theater.

Reenacting his work, even in his mind, is an incredible challenge for Ooda, and severely entertaining. Especially in how he seems to notice subtle nuances appearing in each performance that he hasn't seen before—the slight shifting of weight back to indicate surprise, the curling of fingers around his sword's handle for suppressed anger. It is incredible.

Though acting it out with his _own_ body makes these things so much easier to imagine. Likewise speaking.

Though Ooda always shuts himself up and forces himself back to sweeping when he catches himself doing this.

At first. Until he realizes that he's almost entirely alone on the stage, with nothing but his broom. Yaku, lately, has started trusting him to turn the lights off and lock the theater before he leaves, having a penchant for joining his actors for drinks after performances. He has given Ooda a key, which Ooda keeps on a string around his neck beneath his shirt.

So Ooda begins to take risks, speaking louder, making bigger gestures, using his broom as a prop sword. The stage is his own.

The thrill is fantastic, and the play never feels more alive than when Ooda is letting it out through his mouth and fingers.

In this particular evening, it is the finale of Act 1 that takes residence within Ooda's mind. And, as usual, the urge to let it out begins with a hum in his ears, dialogue rippling across his lips.

Ooda looks left. He looks right. The theater is empty.

He clears his throat.

He begins. Curtains up.

Arms spread wide, his broom-sword clutched tightly in his right hand, the thousand-swordsman declares his love.

He is no longer Ooda, not for several minutes.

His voice booms.

"And so! This, I _swear_ upon my sword!"

He pauses thoughtfully, balancing the blade of his sword on his hand. His most precious possession.

"My… _beloved._"

He raises the sword high above his head, holding it with both hands.

"I shall _not_ rest until my blade has known the skill of a thousand ages!"

And, suddenly, there is applause.

But it is not in Ooda's mind.

Ooda's back seizes up and he clutches the broom tightly, whipping his head around to see where the audience has come from.

The audience, as it turns out, is one person, emerging from backstage. He has sharp, angular features—high cheekbones, a thin nose, and sharp, glassy eyes, making him look rather like some sort of lizard, or snake; his dark brown hair is tied into a high ponytail with an elastic band.

It is Ryusuke, the lead actor.

"Bravo, bravo!"

Ooda can't stop shaking.

"Very interesting performance there, I must say. I was rather impressed."

Ryusuke comes closer. He is dressed-down, in a sweatshirt, and his makeup has been wiped off.

"I'd never thought to have interpreted the lines in _that_ way. Very interesting…"

He has his hands in his pockets, thoughtfully.

Ooda grips the broom tightly, fearing that he'll fall to pieces if he lets go.

"I, I, I, I'm sorry, sir, I'll be leaving now…"

Ooda turns to leave.

"No, wait. I want to ask you something."

Ryusuke is the lead actor, the _lead actor_, and his words cannot be denied. Though Ooda does not speak in reply, Ryusuke reads the shift in his head as a go-ahead.

"When I perform the finale I usually have it go something like this:"

And suddenly, Ryusuke is the samurai. Swordless, but still utterly recognizable.

"And so, this I _swear_ upon my sword, my beloved... I shall not rest until… my blade has known the skill of a _thousand_ ages!"

And is just as suddenly himself again. Ooda is in awe of the change.

"When _I_ say it, I'm talking to the samurai's lover. Making a promise to _her, _sort of apologizing. What made you so focused on the sword instead?"

Ooda almost doesn't catch the full question, he's so dazed. But he manages to pull himself together a little.

"Well, I… in the play, the samurai is almost… _obsessed_ with his sword, see… And it's not until his friend steals his lover that he realizes that _she_ means a lot to him _too_, and he has to choose between devoting himself to his sword or having to balance his life between the sword and her…"

His fingers run up and down the broom handle as he speaks, his head bowed slightly, eyes to the floor in thought.

"But that hasn't_ happened_ yet, so… I just thought that, at that point, the _sword_ would be more _important_ to him… That the sword is a more fitting 'beloved' to him than _she_ is."

Ooda looks up, nervously, one of his eyes visible through his bangs. He tries to shake his hair back into his face as he answers, his voice growing far less confident.

"…but I see now that I got it _totally _wrong, I was trying to have it be like your performance…"

Ryusuke, however, shakes his head.

"There's no such thing as a wrong interpretation. I actually think yours is far more accurate to the spirit of the story that the play is based on, in my opinion. Yaku-sama's a bit of a romantic, though, and of course I have to listen to his directions."

There's a small, curious smile on Ryusuke's face, angular and pretty.

"Did you come up with this interpretation on your own?"

"W-well yeah, I guess… I mean, I haven't… read the original story or the script or anything, I mean I sorta knew it _already_, I've only been sitting in on rehearsals, that's how I know the lines…"

Ryusuke's eyes widen slightly.

"You know the lines by hearing them?"

"I… sorta had them memorized a few weeks ago…"

Ooda naturally memorizes things _very_ quickly, half out of necessity and half out of innate genius. The majority of his education as a child, when he was not learning history and excavating the literature his mother brought home, was in making himself an expert in medicine and medical jutsu. Memorizing recipes for some prescriptions (and especially the medicines that kept the little ones alive), learning surgical procedures perfectly through old reports and film reels.

All of it, of course, is for his mother's sake. Though he is reluctant in imagining himself as a doctor like her, someday.

He is afraid it would make him too much like _him._

Ryusuke considers Ooda's words for a while. He speaks after Ooda gulps loudly, growing far more nervous with his thoughts.

"I think I've seen you around. You're Karin-sensei's little boy, aren't you?"

Ooda nods.

"Ah, I thought so. I've seen you at your mom's clinic, and she talks about you a little too. She's a fantastic woman, you know, I owe her a lot."

"Ah…? Were you sick recently…?"

Ooda focuses on his mother to keep the attention well away from him.

Ryusuke shakes his head.

"Not recently, but I had a very hard time settling in once I managed to get out of the Land of Water. But she helped me out."

"Oh, so you're a refugee…"

Ryusuke nods.

Ooda taps the broom handle for lack of a better action.

"…well I shouldn't pry, I'm sorry for bothering you…"

"You weren't bothering me. I really enjoyed watching that performance of yours. Do you like acting?"

Ooda takes a while to think of his answer.

Even though, whenever watching a movie, or a show, or even thinking scenes over again in his mind, he gets a wonderful, warm fluttering in his stomach that very few other things can cause in him.

"…I like watching shows, but I don't know about acting, I'm just imitating people…"

"What you did just now wasn't imitation. That was your _own_ Thousand-Swordsman. _I_ couldn't have portrayed him like that. Only you."

A fluttering variation nestles into his chest. Ooda gulps again.

"…well, um, Ryusuke-sama, I'm going to… go home now, you should too, I'm going to lock the door behind me…"

"Oh, of course. Your name's… Ooda, isn't it?"

Ooda nods, again, uneasily.

"Well I'll see you later, Ooda-kun."

The two of them leave, after Ooda turns off the lights and locks the theater door.

He is extremely jumpy upon his return home. His mother more than notices.

"Are you okay? What's wrong, darling?"

"Oh, nothing, Mom, nothing, I'm fine, just a little excited from… the performance! It was really something…"

His words are laced with a fidgeting laughter. His mother crosses her arms, but does not press further.

Ooda has a hard time falling asleep that night, replaying his encounter with Ryusuke over in his head, even after trying to distract himself with a book. He awakens late.

When he returns to the theater the following afternoon, Ryusuke is waiting for him on the stage, and greets him loudly.

"Afternoon, Ooda-kun!"

Ooda, trying to get to the broom closet, freezes and waves his hand nervously.

"G-Good afternoon, Ryusuke-sama."

Ryusuke is wearing a very good-natured smile. He is holding a thin paperback book in one hand.

"Can I ask a favor of you?"

"S-sure, I guess, what do you need me to do…?"

Ryusuke holds the book out in front of him.

"Take this, read it over a little, and pick one to memorize. Doesn't matter which one, just so long as you enjoy it. And once you've memorized it, I want you find me and act it out for me. Okay?"

Ooda's eyes quiver from the book's cover—it says _25 Classic Monologues_ on the cover—to Ryusuke's smiling face.

"What…? Oh, no, I couldn't do this…"

"Come on, Ooda-kun. At least read the book for me, it's interesting even if you don't feel up to performing any of them. At least that?"

Ooda bites his lip.

"I just… may I ask why?"

"I'm curious about something, that's all."

Thoroughly confused and very unsure, Ooda reluctantly takes the book and goes to stick it in the broom closet to retrieve later, once he's done with work.

"All right, then, Ryusuke-sama…"

Ryusuke smiles, putting his hands back in his pockets, and leaves for the dressing rooms.

Ooda can barely concentrate on the performance that afternoon, thinking only of the book, and why Ryusuke would possibly want to give him such a thing, much less ask him to _perform_.

When he gets home, after dinner, he cracks the book open.

Ooda doesn't sleep that night, the twenty-five characters and their monologues utterly absorbing him into their being.

To Ryusuke's great surprise, Ooda is the first to seek him out the next day.

"It's, um, about that book you gave me yesterday…"

Ryusuke's eyes light up some.

"Ah, yes, did you like it?"

"I did, I really did… I just… well, I couldn't _pick_ one to perform, so…"

"You couldn't pick one?"

"Well, they were all so _interesting_, so I couldn't, really… I've kinda memorized most of them, though, so if there's one _you_ want to see then I suppose I could do that if you really wanted me to…"

Ryusuke pauses.

"You mean to tell me you've memorized all twenty-five?"

"…well, _mostly_…"

Ooda is shuffling his feet, clearly embarrassed. Then again, this is Ryusuke he's talking to, subject matter put aside.

Ryusuke considers this.

"Do the first one, then. About the boy and his younger brother. Have it ready for me after the performance, I'll listen to you then."

Ooda nods far too eagerly.

"Right away, I'll, uh, I'll do my best…!"

Ryusuke grins.

"I'm sure you will."

The performance goes ahead as planned, and the theater, as it always is, is emptied of its audience and cast and crew. Only Ooda and Ryusuke, now alone on the bare, harshly-lit stage, are left.

Ooda is shivering, badly, and keeps sneaking glances at Ryusuke. Ryusuke only smiles.

"Breathe out, like this. Hoo…"

Ryusuke breathes in deeply and exhales even more deeply.

Ooda does the same, but half-heartedly so.

"Get all that nervousness out of you. There's nobody here but me."

Ooda tries again. This time, breathing in deeply, exhaling even more deeply.

He closes his eyes and swallows.

"Now, begin."

Ooda stares at the floor, then out at the empty audience. Nobody there but him.

"I'm the older brother. Technically. We're twins, but _I_ was born _first, _so I'm _older_. Yet, somehow, so many people seem to _forget_ that, what with this _heart_ of mine."

The first few words are nervous, but as Ooda continues, an angry, snotty sneer begins to leak in.

Ryusuke simply watches, and listens.

"Because if I strain myself even a _little_, if I run too fast or if I get too upset, I might _die_. It's _scary_, yeah, so everyone treats me real carefully."

Ooda's mouth twists itself with his pause.

"But not my little brother. Kosuke. He was born _second_, but you'd never know it. He looks exactly _like_ me, but he's stronger, and more popular, and everyone _likes_ him. Well."

There is a tiny, inappropriate laugh to break off the growing annoyance in Ooda's voice.

"_Except_ my mother, though, she _always _criticized him and told him not to be so _reckless_. But he can't help how he is."

The giggling cadence fades, replaced by an unfitting solemnity.

"He only does it 'cos he _worries_ about me so much. Says he wants to be able to _protect_ me."

The older brother, shamed of his weakness, lowers his head, grumbling.

"Which kind of makes it my fault, that he ran away. To get _stronger_. I wish he _hadn't_. I…"

Even quieter.

"…need him here."

A laugh through the nose, a needed one. Biting sarcasm, much louder.

"Besides, if he's not here, then who's going to protect me, huh? Not my family, they're not here any _more_."

Anger begins growing in his voice, like a cloud.

"And nobody in town cares enough to look after a… useless kid with a weak heart. And there's nothing I can do about _that_."

The tone shifts slightly. The anger is transmuting.

"But I _can…_ _try_ and get stronger. Maybe not like _he_ was, but… but strong enough to take care of myself."

Sharply.

"So I won't _need_ him any more. So maybe, one day, I can go out and… and find him, or… I don't know…"

Quietly.

"…I just don't want to want him back so badly. But I know _that_'ll never _happen_…"

The monologue ends on a stinging, sour note, with the boy shuffling his feet.

Ooda only seems to notice when Ryusuke hums a bit, in thought.

"Very nice. When you go home tonight, though, read it _carefully_. Because I want you to perform it differently tomorrow."

"Differently? Did I do it wrong?"

Ryusuke shakes his head with his eyes closed.

"No, no. You did wonderfully, that was some beautiful expression. That was really nice, too, that balance of shame and anger. I just want to see if you can read into it a little _more_. Find out what the monologue is hiding, and use that to alter your performance. As differently as you can make it. All right?"

Yaku leaves first.

Ooda remains on stage for a short while, just thinking.

The monologue is all he can think about during his quiet dinner, and once he finishes the dishes, he takes the book out again and reads it over, and over, wondering what Ryusuke meant.

"Find out what it's hiding…?"

Words pop out as he reads.

_If I get too upset._

_But he's stronger, and more popular, and everyone likes him._

_Not my family, they're not here any more._

"What the monologue is hiding…"

Ooda is at his desk for a very long time.

The next evening, after the performance, Ryusuke joins him on the stage after he cleans it.

"Go ahead, Ooda-kun. Perform the monologue."

Ooda breathes in, out, once.

And his shoulders hunch. His posture and limbs crinkle weakly, as does his expression.

His voice is gentle, halting, like a child with half permission.

"I'm… the older brother. …technically. We're twins, but I was born first, so I'm… older."

Gentle disbelief, almost self-depreciating.

"Yet…. _somehow_, so many people seem to _forget_ that. What with this heart of mine… Because if I strain myself even a _little_, if I… run too fast or if I get too upset, I might… die."

The words here seem to carry weight that the previous words lacked.

"It's… scary, yeah, so everyone treats me real carefully…"

And then, a very, very small smile.

"But not my little brother. Kosuke. He was born second, but… you'd never know it. He looks exactly like me, but he's stronger, and more popular, and everyone likes him."

Absolute and utter admiration. Though almost defensive, now, in a subdued way.

"Well, except my mother, though… she always… _criticized_ him and told him not to be so reckless. But he can't help how he is…"

The subdued tone shrivels into an ashamed mumble.

"He only does it 'cos he… _worries_ about me so much. Says he wants to… be able to _protect_ me."

As if the very question of such a notion were unthinkable. Why would he need to be stronger?

"Which kind of… makes it my fault, that he ran away. To get… '_stronger_.'"

What might be tears.

"I wish he hadn't. I _need_ him here."

A gulp. Fear is creeping in, tinged with shame.

"Besides, if he's… if he's not _here_, then who's going to protect me…? Huh? Not my… family, they're not… here any more."

His head lowers.

"And… _nobody_ in town cares enough to look after a… useless kid with a… weak _heart_."

And further.

"And there's nothing I can do about that…"

A very, very long pause.

He raises his head slightly.

"But, I can…"

A shake of the head, a dismissive shake.

But his head rises again, with a lighter tone.

"But I can _try_ and get stronger. Maybe not like… _he_ was, but… strong enough to take care of _myself_…!"

Hope, maybe?

"So I won't… _need_ him any more."

The feeling is pricked with a pin and floats away, replaced by the heavy shame of before.

"So… _maybe_… one day, I can go out and… and find him, or… _I_ don't know…"

It's a silly notion, anyways.

"…I just… don't want to…"

Leaking out.

"…want him back so _badly_."

A very deep sigh.

"…but I know that'll never happen…"

The monologue settles with a dusty, blue air onto the stage.

And Ryusuke starts to clap.

Ooda's look of misery and is replaced like a slap with an expression of anxiousness. He waits for Ryusuke to speak.

"So, Ooda-kun, tell me why this was different."

"This one? You mean, the one I just did…?"

Ryusuke nods.

"Yes, what made that one different from the last time?"

Ooda doesn't have to think for very long.

"Well, the first time I read it, I sorta took it at face value, see… I mean, the kid sorta sounded like he was my age, so I just tried to put myself in his shoes. He seemed kinda jealous of his younger brother, and I thought about how I reacted at times like that—well, sorta—and went from there…"

"And this time?"

Ooda thinks a bit more.

"Well… I read it more carefully. Like you told me to. And I started to notice, it wasn't that he was jealous of his younger brother, it was that he was… proud, almost. Like, he thought it was really cool, and that he really blamed himself for not being strong enough to not need protection, whatever that means…"

A bit more thinking, because Ryusuke hasn't said anything.

"And… well, I figured, if a kid really had a heart condition where it was so dangerous that if he even got a little angry it could be dangerous… well, I figured he wouldn't be the sort to raise his voice much or get too angry, is all… That was the biggest thing, I think."

Ryusuke's smile widens.

"That's what I'm looking for. You have to read between the lines, use contextual clues to really find out who your characters are. Excellent work, Ooda-kun. You think you can do the same with the next one in the book?"

Ooda tenses up a little, though not unpleasantly.

"Gosh, well, I could try…"

"I'd highly encourage it."

Ryusuke begins to leave.

"Come to me when you're ready with the next one."

Ooda stays on the stage for a while, alone, a bit overwhelmed.

But a day or two later, the lessons continue; and, from there, until the book is finished.

Once that is completed, Ryusuke gets another book. Ooda takes it, eagerly, and is a quick study.

The other actors start to notice, since Ryusuke is far more inclined to spend his time after performances and rehearsals with Ooda. Many of them react with incredulity when told he prefers this practice to partying, when asked in the dressing rooms.

"What, you mean that odd little janitor boy? Why the heck are you even bothering?"

Ryusuke smiles, rubbing off his makeup.

"He's got a real talent for character interpretation. I'd hate to see it go to waste."

Some of the cast stick around to see what, exactly, the great Ryusuke is so excited about. It makes Ooda nervous, to so suddenly have an audience.

"Just pretend they're not there. Besides, in a real show, you'd have a lot more audience members than that."

This seems to trip something inside of Ooda's mind.

"B-but I wouldn't, I'm not that good, I'm not a real actor…"

Ryusuke's expression is sly but reassuring.

"For now."

It doesn't comfort Ooda. But there is a flutter of pride in his stomach.

He continues on as well as he can, even with the additions. Some of them leave, some of them stay. Most of them feel he has talent, but don't speak of it much.

Ooda feels he is still just imitating, that his lessons with Ryusuke and his monologues will never amount to anything.

He can't imagine himself as an actor. But it's a better possibility than a doctor.

He'd still rather stay with his mother, and help her.


	81. Blue Topaz Entr'acte

_Chapter 81 - Blue Topaz Entr'acte_

* * *

Time passes.

The lessons continue, moving on from monologues into full-blown scenes, learning how to time reactions, how to play off of one's fellow actors. To make the dialogue sound real, rather than wooden and rehearsed.

With this, also, comes the physical acting. Learning pratfalls and false punches, and how to handle a dulled sword properly.

Of course, these lessons can never last long—the space is theirs only between the aftermath of the show and as long as Ryusuke's stamina can hold out, and even with Ooda's suggestion that they also train beforehand (which delighted his mother in how much time it gave him outside the house, and made Ryusuke enthused in how excited he was) they have very little time together.

But Ryusuke is patient, and Ooda is a quick learner, and the lessons are effective.

And beyond the lessons, Ryusuke takes time to treat Ooda to lunch on occasion, to talk to him about his life, to give Ooda time to let things out he'd otherwise never tell his mother. Where questions from her about crushes and other interests would cause embarrassed shoulder-rising and stammers, Ryusuke's questions trigger giggles and flustered hand-waves. A bit of an improvement.

(As it stands, Ooda has no interest in any village girls. Though this is more due to his shyness than his preferences.)

Sometimes the lessons blend into the conversation, or vice versa.

Ooda and Ryusuke are in the dressing room one afternoon, after rehearsal. Ryusuke thinks it's about time that Ooda learn how to apply basic stage makeup.

"We might have to use extra-thick foundation for you, since your skin's so pale—unless you'd rather stick to your natural color?"

The question, unexpectedly, causes Ooda to freeze.

"…you mean you could make me look—normal?"

His voice is very, very quiet.

Ryusuke is caught, and he attempts a smile of comfort.

"I think you look normal as you are now, Ooda-kun."

Ooda lowers his head.

"Never mind, then… Please keep going, Ryusuke-san…"

Ryusuke pauses, pursing his lips, before reaching for a hair clip and pinning Ooda's bangs back to apply the makeup.

Ooda tries not to look at his face, nakedly exposed in the mirror, white skin and yellow-purple eyes and all. He doesn't really associate the features with himself, only with _him_.

He tries to listen as Ryusuke explains each step of the process, watching as his skin slowly begins to look more and more...

Normal.

"You have to remember to _dab_ and not _smear_ around your eyes and mouth, since that's much more delicate tissue. After that, we can apply color and powder."

A thoughtful pause as Ryusuke covers a foam triangle with tan foundation.

"I tell you what, though, we'd be having a much easier job of this if we were doing traditional paint. Your white skin would really make those colors pop, it'd look amazing. Maybe next time?"

Ooda tries not to look at his reflection even more, focusing instead on the counter, so he won't have to look at his ceramic-colored arms either.

"Ah, either way… Been a while since I've had to apply so much makeup—to myself, I mean. These days I just approximate how much I'd have to compensate for the stage lights. I've gotten pretty good at it lately."

Ooda blinks, looking sideways, visibly confused.

"Oh, you don't know? Well, I guess I sorta don't _talk_ about it much… Here, check this out."

Ryusuke's skin, normally a warm, pale sand-color, begins to turn a strange shade of kiwi-green, starting at the cheeks, and moving all the way to his ears and neck. It makes him look even more like a lizard than usual.

Ooda's mouth gapes.

"Your… your _skin_…!"

Ryusuke's smile is diminished, but prideful.

"Neat, isn't it? It's a trait of my clan, the Dokudami. We're sorta shape shifters. 'course, you can imagine, it's given us a fair bit of trouble…"

Ryusuke's face grows thoughtful.

"Your mom really helped my family out, when we tried to leave Mist. Not many of us made it, but she helped those of us that got by. I was a bit older than you when I moved here, actually."

His skin begins to grow a bit more yellow around the stretched membranes of his cheeks, and his forehead.

"To be honest I don't even remember what my natural skin color is any more. I sorta have to guess to keep it one color. It wasn't so hard, compared to my eyes."

"Your eyes?"

Ryusuke's grin turns sheepish.

"Yeah, here, look."

His eyes, currently a shiny insect-black, begin moving completely independently of each other, and are soon pointing in entirely opposite directions. The effect is more comical than anything, and Ooda can't suppress a laugh.

"Kinda weird-lookin', right? It took me forever to learn how to have them pointing in the same direction. It just feels so much more comfortable for me to let them move around like this. With that and my skin, it's kind of a give-away…"

He shakes off the melancholy expression that seems to have slid on his face with the recollection of his past. His eyes manage to come back together.

"You know, Ooda-kun, when I first met you, I thought that you might have been a relative of mine. What with those eyes of yours—they're really quite something, I think."

As he speaks, his skin grows paler and paler. His hair is starting to darken as well.

"Do you know where your family came from, exactly? I've been meaning to ask."

Ryusuke narrows his eyes, changing from black to gold, in concentration.

"I mean, I'm just assuming here, but…"

And suddenly Ryusuke looks like him.

Ooda can't help himself, pushing himself away and shoving himself against the far wall of the dressing room.

"Ooda-kun?"

Ooda is curled into a ball.

"Ooda-kun, what's the matter?"

Ooda can't look.

"Please, don't, don't make yourself look like that, you don't know who that looks like, it's horrible, please, don't…"

He has his white hands covering his own eyes, in horror, in shame. All he can think of is how much it looks like _him_, and how, one day, that's what he'll look like. He already hates himself enough. It's unbearable.

"You're lucky, you can look normal, please don't do that, it's horrible…"

He refuses to open his eyes for a very long time.

"…Ooda-kun, I'm sorry, I didn't realize…"

Ooda doesn't answer.

"I won't do that again. See? I changed. I don't look like this any more. It's okay, Ooda-kun. See?"

Reluctantly, Ooda opens his eyes and peers over his knees.

Ryusuke has returned his appearance to its "default" coloring, and he is attempting to smile through his worry.

"I'm sorry, Ooda-kun. I won't do that again."

Ooda returns his eyes to his face, and tries to stand up. He's shaking, badly.

Ryusuke's reluctance and shame are very clear.

"You, uh, want me to finish making you up, Ooda-kun?"

"I'd like to go home, please…"

He catches himself in the mirror. The makeup is smudged, now, around his eyes and on his cheekbones. What had once been some delusional passing for normal skin is now streaked with the true, sickening white.

And, as always, his eyes.

"…well, all right, let's get you cleaned up, then."

Ryusuke passes Ooda a towel after covering it with soap and warm water. Ooda begins rubbing the makeup off almost violently.

"…Ooda-kun, I really am sorry. I didn't know that this… sort of appearance was so troubling to you."

Ooda keeps the towel pressed to his face.

"…it made you look like him too much, and he... he _scares_ me…"

Ryusuke does not press further, making his own, close-enough assumptions.

Ooda avoids the mirror as he removes the towel from his face.

"…I'm gonna go home now. I'm sorry, Ryusuke-san. You can show me how to do makeup later."

Ryusuke stays in the dressing room by himself for a while, thinking.

Ooda, upon returning home, seeks out his mother and pulls her into a very tight hug, but does not say why. She doesn't ask.

The acting lessons, and Ooda's job, resume without mishap the next day.

Though Ooda is a fair bit quieter and reluctant to embellish for a while afterward.

Though Ryusuke, on a day off, takes the time to visit Ooda's mother and ask about who, exactly, scares Ooda so.

She tells him that it's Ooda's father, who was a bit of a terror in Ooda's early childhood, and whom Ooda rather resembles physically. Her terse handling of the subject is more than enough for Ryusuke to never bring it up again.

Ooda manages to catch some of his mother's explanation, and is at once grateful and ashamed, and has to hug her again once Ryusuke leaves, taking care to stay well out of his sight for as long as he can manage.

Time passes.

Eventually, Yakata is born. Ooda cites family illness when he asks Yaku for time off a short time beforehand, so he can assist with the delivery and everything after. He takes care of the baby, feeding and calming him and keeping him quiet and out of his mother's way until he's old enough for Suigetsu to take him.

In his free time, Ooda continues to read plays, to practice in his room. Ryusuke, from time to time, brings him new materials, and in the instance of the new year, a lovely, very expensive-looking fruit basket that is very-much appreciated by everyone in the family.

As he gets older, and more skilled, more confident, even, Ryusuke begins encouraging Ooda to audition for plays.

Ooda, naturally, resists, citing everything from lack of skill to social awkwardness to schedule tangles and having to help his mother.

(Shingetsu is in progress around the time that the encouragement really begins to ramp up, which may be a factor.)

But, eventually, a decision of sorts is made.

Perhaps it is Ooda's increased confidence in dealing with other people, and his familiarity with the theater's staff and actors. Or perhaps his increased confidence in his acting abilities, which are by now acknowledged by many, and not just Ryusuke. Or his slowly-decaying stage fright. Or his increasing comfort in leaving his mother alone.

Ooda has found a place where he truly feels welcome, outside of his home, and now, Ryusuke tells him, is the perfect time for his debut.

He is seventeen years old. Ooda has grown tall and, to his relief, his voice hasn't nearly grown as deep as it seems in the film reels of his mother's archives, nor as raspy. But his face has gotten leaner, his cheekbones horribly prominent. But it's nothing his bangs can't cover.

Ryusuke eagerly explains to him the upcoming play. In the five-or-so years that have passed since meeting him, he has barely changed, though Ooda is now taller than him by several inches.

"It's based on a series of poems found in a young girl's diary, it's how she chronicled her dreams. Someone got the idea to try and string them together into a cohesive narrative and have it performed as a pantomime piece, see? It's all about _interpretation_."

Ooda's cheeks blush slightly pink.

"Ryusuke-san, please…"

"There's a part in here that's just _perfect_ for you, Ooda-kun. The Piano Man. Dressed all in black, he's in a space ship that he controls by playing the piano. He's one of the very few _kind_ forces the main character encounters. He requires a lot of subtlety."

Ooda, sweeping the floor, just smirks almost patronizingly as he continues.

"Yaku-sama's kinda hell-bent on casting you, anyways, he thinks you'd be perfect for it."

"Well, that's just what Yaku-san thinks…"

"Well, I'm inclined to agree with him. Besides, Ooda-kun, it's about time you at least _tried_. I know you don't have much experience, but it's only one scene and I'd love to see you give it a whirl."

Ooda sweeps a few times, smiling still, though gently.

"I'll… see what my mom says."

His mother, of course, supports this enthusiastically. Though Ooda is not without his doubts.

"Oh, come on, darling, what's holding you back?"

"Well… the little one, of course."

The child that will eventually be called Asaoto is currently four months along.

"Yes, and how does that factor in?"

"Well… suppose it came while we were still having performances, I wouldn't want that to get in the way of things…"

His mother clicks her tongue fondly.

"Ooda, how long does it usually take for a production to come together?"

"About three months."

"Good, so that leaves me at about seven when you open, okay. And how long does the show usually go on for?"

"Two or three months…?"

"Wonderful, I'm due right as the show ends. There's nothing for you to worry about."

Her smile is very sharp and quick, like a sparkler.

Ooda is smiling more than he realizes.

"Go audition for that show. I'll come and see you on opening night, even, okay? I wanna see you give it your all, darling."

"And you'll be fine without me, Mom?"

"Do you even have to ask?"

He goes to Ryusuke the next day with the good news.

The auditions commence.

And Ooda gets the role, naturally.

To Yaku's delight and amusement, he still offers to sweep the stage before and after practice, which Yaku more than allows him to do.

"If you don't, who will? Go for it."

Yaku's personality is far more serious in rehearsals, though Ooda knows to expect it.

"The way we've arranged it, our Wandering Girl meets you right after being traumatized by the Ponytail Goddess. So she's wary of you, you understand? She pulls out her knife right away, but you don't mean any harm at all. You're more scared of her than she is of you. That is why you set out tea for her, to appease her. To sort of see what she'll do. It's a balancing act of trust between the both of you."

Ryusuke coaches him on the side.

"Read the source material, not just the script. Get really into Piano Man's head. Show me that talent of yours, Ooda-kun."

Ooda studies like he's never studied before. Practically all his free time is spent reading the script and the poems of the source material. It's a challenge, considering the poems are just, well, poems, records of dreams, but he has a character to construct, and he works best with raw material.

He even spends some time learning the basics of piano at his neighbor Mrs. Ryouzai's house. Anything to help.

The rehearsals commence. There are, naturally, difficulties. The actress playing the Wandering Girl is nice enough but Ooda finds it hard to balance her brand of harsh and biting fear with his more gently-reactive type, and works hard at striking it.

But progress is made. And soon, the scene begins to flow as if a natural series of events, and not just a preordained series of actions on a script.

The Wandering Girl enters, uninvited, after having stumbled through the boiler room of a shopping center, and finds herself in the Piano Man's spaceship, which is preparing for liftoff. She brandishes a knife, obviously scared—the last time she found herself in something else's living space, she ended up angering the thing with the mere flick of a light switch and trapped in a hellish red-and-black nightmare of white water and cacophony.

But the Piano Man reacts with hands outstretched, palms up, backing away and nearly injuring himself in doing so by tripping over his piano bench. He hurriedly takes tea and pours it into cups at a nearby table before returning to attend to his piano.

The Girl explores for a bit and samples the tea and sees as he seems to mean no harm, before joining him at the piano and bonding with him over a duet. Seeing that she is exhausted and still very scared, he allows her to sleep in his bed while the ship takes off, and when she awakens, they're in space.

It's all very lovely.

Until the ship crashes.

The grief of the Piano Man at the ship's ruin is very quiet and yet very distraught, and after attempts to comfort him fail, the Wandering Girl leaves the ship determinedly, in search of anything that can help. After finding nothing but ruins and dilapidated machinery on the alien landscape, the best she can do is signal for UFO's twinkling in the distant sky to come by and pick the Man up, where his fate is left ambiguous.

Yaku is delighted in how it's all going. As is Ooda and, well, just about everyone else in the cast. The crew is working on the otherworldly sets and props as best as they can—Ooda is particularly impressed with the soft monochrome of his spaceship, and the semi-working piano they've put together for him.

During costume fittings and makeup assignment, however, Ooda is confused.

"Do I not get any foundation?"

Ryusuke catches him.

"Well, didn't you read the poems? The Piano Man is described as having moon-white skin, so Yaku-sama decided to stick with your natural color."

Ooda's face falls, but he tries not to show it.

"Ah, I see…"

Ooda is very good at masking discomfort, but Ryusuke is even better at detecting it.

"Ooda-kun, if you think the only reason you were cast is because of how you look-"

"No, it's… all right, I didn't really think that was the reason… I just thought it'd give me a better opportunity to practice putting on a 'normal' face, is all."

Ryusuke cannot think up a response to that.

(Ooda, since learning how to apply makeup properly, sometimes goes into the bathroom when he's feeling particularly self-loathing and covers himself in tan foundation and highlights his face with red smears of flushed color, to see how he would look if he wasn't such a freak.)

(It rarely helps.)

"Well… if anything, we do have _white_ foundation for you, so you won't look as pasty under the lights. And we have contacts, too, you ever worn those before?"

This lifts Ooda's mood a little.

"No, but I'm _quite_ willing to try…"

The contacts are custom made, with pupils pointing off in completely opposite directions. When Ooda first sees himself in the mirror with them on, he starts laughing.

"I look like you, Ryusuke-san! Look!"

Ryusuke cannot help but laugh in return.

The costumes, as they do in all dress rehearsals, aid greatly in enhancing the performance. With his contacts on, and his pure black clothes and extra-white skin, Ooda is no longer himself, but The Piano Man. Mute, gentle, and frightened.

His mother, seven months pregnant and aching but good-natured, has her tickets ready for the opening night. And there's even talk of Suigetsu and Shingetsu coming to attend a later performance, despite the latter being only three years old and very enthusiastic but disruptive. Juugo, who comes by regularly enough these days for Karin to have a dedicated room for him in the basement for his bad spells, expresses regret that he doesn't have enough self-control to handle himself in a dark place full of people, but that he wishes to see a video-recording if possible.

It's all rather nice and exciting.

Until July 28th.

One of the final dress rehearsals. Ooda is sitting in the audience, watching the run-through of the Monochrome Desert sequence, waiting for his cue to head backstage and prepare for his scene.

When the back of his neck begins to _burn_.

His mother can make the seal on the back of his neck tingle if she needs him home and can't call out to him. All in all, a very useful utility.

But it has never hurt like this.

Ooda tries not to panic, but something must be wrong. He gets out of his seat, his heart rate increasing by the second, and heads backstage to undress. He has to go.

He runs into Ryusuke on the way out. His skin is a rotted forest-green, and one of his eyes is entirely black, with fake blood dribbling from it—fitting for his character of a run-over ghost in the middle of a forest road.

"Ooda-kun? What's going on?"

Ooda is gulping for air.

"I have to go home, there's something wrong…!"

"What's wrong?"

Ooda is in the dressing room, taking out his contacts before attending to his clothes.

"I just… I have a bad feeling, something's happened to my mom, I have to get home right now…!"

He can't lose composure, he has to stay calm, he can't tell anyone about his seal.

He has managed to get his pants on, and is now working on his shirt, too bothered to notice how much of himself he's exposing. He usually dresses in the bathroom of the theater instead of the dressing room if he can help it.

"Please, just… just tell Yaku-san where I went, it's an emergency, I have to go, please…"

Ryusuke puts a green hand on Ooda's shoulder, and this startles him, but his expression his concerned and comforting.

"I'll tell him everything. If you've gotta go, go."

Ooda runs.

The back of his neck is still in considerable pain. His legs feel like they're burning, as well, from the bone-out, he's running so fast. It is still very light out, and the buildings that line the street are covered in a skin-like yellow.

He pulls the door open to his house with a destructive clatter. The doctor is OUT.

It smells like blood. Like too much blood.

"Mom? MOM? Where are you?"

His t-shirt is sticking to his chest. He throws his shoes off and begins down the hallways.

"MOM!"

He finds her collapsed in the hallway outside of her bedroom. She is lying on her side, barely breathing. Her clothes are soaked in her own blood, which is collecting in a warm pool around her and seeping into the wood.

The source of the blood is a series of puncture wounds made by several very small, very sharp-looking spikes coming out of her swollen belly. Blood oozes from her mouth.

For a moment, Ooda is frozen.

Until she manages to reach her hand out and moan at him.

"_Help_ me…!"

Ooda is at her side in an instant. His knees are soaked with blood as he kneels down.

"Mom, what, what happened…!"

"Little one… something went wrong… Ooda… get it out of me…!"

Ooda cradles his mother's head under one badly-shaking arm.

"But mom, it's not—you're only seven months…!"

She grabs onto his arm.

"Save me… it's okay if we… lose the little one… just _do_ it…"

She collapses. The space where her hand has gripped his arm leaves a red handprint.

Ooda is breathing like he's nearly drowned.

"But, Mom, I can't, I can't…!"

But she doesn't answer.

"Mom, I can't do this…!"

He can't cry.

She's dying.

He has to do something.

He picks her up as best he can with both of his arms and begins carrying her down the hallway to the less-residential part of their home, where she keeps the labs and surgical equipment. A trail of smeared blood and his red footprints follow them.

Ooda knows how everything works. He has assisted in many surgeries. He knows where he'll have to cut.

He lays his mother down on the table and finds the antibacterial medicines, the anesthetic, the sterile scalpels, the incubator.

In case there's a chance.

And after cutting her clothes off of her, after throwing on scrubs over his blood-smeared clothes, he disinfects her punctured skin and begins to cut—not across the bottom of her stomach, like a normal C-section, but over the skin, almost like an autopsy, pulling it off of the bones that are piercing it.

He stops for a moment after seeing what she looks like inside.

Her womb and the surrounding organs and muscles are punctured by the pale little bones of the fetus still nestled there in the pink redness.

A thudding string of thoughts drums through his mind like a headache.

_I can't do this, I can't do this, I can't possibly do this._

_But you have to._

And suddenly it seems like his actions are not his own. He works on desperate instinct.

Ooda moves apart the tissue with his rubber-gloved hands where he can. The harmful mass has to be extracted first before he can work on any sort of healing.

The baby is so small that it easily fits into his cupped hands, though the long spikes of bone coming out of its back and ribs make that difficult. He keeps his eye on his mother's heart rate monitor as he removes the child, cuts its umbilical cord, and places it, gently, in the incubator.

It isn't crying. But Ooda remembers what his mother said.

He has to save _her_.

Because without _her…!_

He works on mending the holes as best he can, afterward. His understanding of healing jutsu is very advanced, for a civilian, but the most he can do is patch the holes with jutsu and stitches and stop the bleeding where he can, and close her up afterward and pray.

He keeps her on a heavy antibiotic drip and every regenerative medicine he can think of in the meantime.

The baby in the incubator is, somehow, still alive, squirming weakly but still not making any sounds. Ooda can't do a thing about the bones—he has no idea if the baby will even survive the night—but he manages to find a patch of bare skin to stick in a nutrient drip, with the oxygen of the incubator doing the rest for its underdeveloped lungs.

He comes down from the frenzy of surgery with a heavy and terrifying thought.

_...how did I just do that?_

The answer comes far too quickly to be comfortable.

_Because this is what you were _born_ to do. You're no _actor_, you're a _doctor.

The voice in his mind doesn't sound like his.

_Look at that, you performed a miracle emergency surgery with absolutely _no_ assistance whatso_ever_. No _guidance,_ either. And on your own _mother_. That's not normal skill, that's—_

"No, no, I'm not him, I'm not you, I am myself…!"

Ooda, the panic finally settling in, covers his eyes with his now-naked hands, leaning against a wall near the hallway.

_Just give in and admit it, this is what you were _meant_ to do. I was a genius at this, and so are you._

"I am not you, I am myself and nobody else, I am myself and-"

_You're just fighting against your destiny. It's undeniable. These little dreams of yours of acting, they're just pathetic attempts at breaking away._

"I am myself and NOBODY else, _NOBODY _ELSE!"

Ooda is almost screaming this, punctuating his words with deep, hard breaths.

He can't deny his actions.

He has a gift for this, he…

"I'm not you, I'm not, I won't be, I never will be…"

He manages to drown out both sets of thoughts with his crying, after that.

He doesn't move from the wall for a very long time.

When he does move, it's to lock the front door, so that nobody gets in. He doesn't feel like cleaning up the blood yet.

He has to know if she'll be okay.


	82. Black Spinel Finale

_Chapter 82 - Black Spinel Finale_

* * *

Ooda only opens the door two days later, when Suigetsu and Shingetsu arrive. Ooda is not the only one with a seal on the back of his neck, and Shingetsu's crying and insistence that "something is wrong with Mommy" are enough to bring Suigetsu back.

Suigetsu hides his shock badly.

Ooda looks horrible. His hair is matted and greasy from lack of washing; his face is hyper-thin from his refusal to eat and his anxiety, making his cheekbones jut out of his face like shelves.

He looks even more like his original than he ever has, and Suigetsu notices, and reacts with a disgust he tries to mask.

Ooda notices this.

"K-kid, what _happened?"_

Ooda's voice is dull and raspy.

"She's down here. Still hasn't woken up. Tried everything. Little one's in an incubator. Sorry about the smell."

He leads them through the foul, iron-smelling house with a tired gait, his shoulders slumped.

"Yeah, but—_Ooda_, are _you_ okay?"

Shingetsu is clinging to his father fearfully, clumsily covering his nose with one hand.

Ooda's answer is very low.

"…it doesn't matter. Come on, she's down the hall..."

He has placed his mother in a recovery room. A worrying amount of tubes and wires are connected to her arms. The only sound is the heart monitor, beeping at an uncomfortably slow rate.

Suigetsu takes a deep breath.

"How long's she been like that…?"

"Almost three days. She's healing. But still in serious condition. I don't know what else to do."

The hollowness in Ooda's voice breaks a little.

"This is all my fault…"

Suigetsu grabs his reactive reflex and uses it for all he's got.

"How is this _your_ fault? You haven't even told me what happened."

"I was out of the house. I was at theater practice. She was alone. And the little one—its bones started growing inside of her, and they hurt her, and she must have been laying there for—for I don't know how long, I shouldn't have left, I should have been home…"

Ooda's previously-hollow voice fills with anguish.

"I should never have left, I'm just fooling myself…"

Suigetsu reaches out to him with both hands, with Shingetsu still clinging to his legs.

"Hey, hey, calm down, this hardly sounds like your fault. Even if you _were_ home, you probably…"

Ooda has his head to the ground and is very close to crying.

Suigetsu takes another breath, a deep one.

"You did your best. You gotta take care of _yourself_ now, okay? Have you gotten any sleep?"

Ooda shakes his head weakly.

"Then go and sleep, for fuck's—I mean for heaven's sake! What would your mom say if she woke up and saw you like this? She'd kick my ass for not taking care of you, that's for damn sure."

Suigetsu pries his son off of his legs for a moment to put an arm around Ooda's back. They're nearly the same height.

"It's _okay_ now. Go take a shower and get some rest. A _hot_ shower, I know how good those make you feel. I'll keep an eye on your mom for you until you're feeling better."

Ooda reluctantly allows this, mumbling in return.

"…thank you, Suigetsu-san…"

Karin wakes up while Ooda is still asleep, under Suigetsu's watch. Shingetsu has fallen asleep on his lap, slumped over in his seat.

"Where's Ooda…?"

Suigetsu leans forward a little and finds himself struggling with what to say.

"…he's fine, he went to get some sleep."

She closes her eyes, almost in relief.

"Thank goodness… I was so worried he'd hurt himself…"

Suigetsu decides not to tell her how bad the boy looked.

"How do you feel…?"

"Like my entire stomach is a bruise. I don't think I'll be able to sit up for a while…"

"Well don't worry, I'm here and so is your kid. We're gonna take care of you, all right?"

"That's a relief…"

Her sarcasm is thin but an enormous comfort to Suigetsu.

"Do you know… what happened to the little one…?"

Suigetsu pauses.

"…he said he put it in an incubator, but I don't know anything else…"

She turns her head away, slightly.

"…I see."

For lack of a better action, Suigetsu scoots his chair closer and puts his hand on hers.

"I'm just glad you're okay, okay? You gotta work hard at getting better for us now."

She manages a very weak laugh.

"You think I don't know that…?"

He stays with her for a while, rubbing his thumb over her palm, until Shingetsu, left in the other chair, wakes up and gets very curious and upset. After which Suigetsu tries to keep the boy away from her stomach, trying to explain that she's recovering.

Ooda, eventually, sees that she has awakened. He's too ashamed to speak, though her comfort and reassurance that he did nothing wrong is genuine.

"You saved my _life_, Ooda, okay…? That's a great thing you did."

He can't look at her.

"…I'm sorry if the little one doesn't live, Mom. That's my fault…"

"…don't blame yourself, darling, okay? It'll be all right, no matter what happens."

Somehow, Ooda is unable to convince himself of this.

The immediate problem afterward is in getting Karin healed and at least out of bed.

Of all people, it is Suigetsu who suggests using Shingetsu's healing factor to help speed things along.

(Ooda had the same thought, though it was far darker in his mind when he had it. He thought it too Orochimaru-like to suggest, and kept quiet out of shame and disgust at himself.)

(Suigetsu is far more acceptable.)

Karin agrees with extreme hesitance.

The effort is explained to Shingetsu in as simple terms as possible.

"If you let Mommy bite you, then she'll get better and you'll be able to… hug her again."

Shingetsu is cautious.

"Will it hurt?"

"No, darling, it won't hurt. You'll just… feel very sleepy afterward."

His mother's eyes are full of what she hopes is truth.

(If he feels even the slightest trace of the strange pain-pleasure her own ability gives her, she resolves never to resort to it again.)

Going through with this sends Shingetsu into a watery, two-day nap, but it at least allows Karin to sit up and walk around a little after a bit of further rest. No scar is left on his arm, to her relief.

She asks to see the little one, afterward.

Ooda brings her to the incubator in a wheelchair. She presses her hand against the plastic shield in looking at it.

Asaoto is extremely premature, his skin wrinkled where it isn't pierced through with his own bones. Ooda has covered him with socks and a hat and diaper as best as he can manage, but the spikes are almost too much of a hindrance. What breaths he takes are shallow and shivering.

"It's still alive."

Karin's voice is slightly, horrifiedly breathless.

"Yes, he's… managed to hold on."

Ooda is nearly as quiet.

"It's a miracle he's even lasted this long, considering how premature he is, and…"

He can't complete the sentence, not with the memory of that afternoon still fresh in his mind.

"It's no miracle, Ooda. You did this, your good work caused this. Whether or not it…"

She shakes her head.

"_He_ makes it _now_ is up to _us_. You've done enough, okay…?"

The compliment almost makes Ooda cry.

Of course, she asks what's wrong.

All he can do is insist that it was only a miracle, that he isn't _that_ skilled.

(Which, in truth, it somewhat is.)

As soon as she's recovered more, enough to move around, enough to work again, somewhat, she begins trying to remove the bones.

This at least gets Asaoto to cry, finally. It calms her as much as it makes her heart ache.

She has her uterus replaced with a new one, grown fresh from her own tissue, once it's apparent that Asaoto is stable, growing, and as healthy as he can possibly be. She has priorities. It takes time.

Ooda performs the transplant, flawlessly, cleanly, with an air of resigned duty.

The best he can do is to stay on his path, he supposes now. Because fooling himself and straying—both physically, both metaphorically—only brought him misery and pain.

He has already informed Ryusuke of this.

The man makes a visit shortly after Suigetsu's arrival—in fact, it is Suigetsu who answers the door on that afternoon.

"Yeah, what do you need?"

"Oh, uh—pardon me, but… who are you?"

"I work for the doctor, who is currently unavailable at the moment. Can I do anything for you?"

"Well, uh, I'm a friend of Ooda-kun's from the theater. We're in a play together. I was just stopping by to see if everything was all right."

Suigetsu pauses.

"You want me to find him for you?"

"If it's not too much trouble."

"Fine, gimme a second."

Suigetsu steps inside the house and goes to find Ooda. He's in his usual spot in his mother's recovery room, keeping a miserable eye on Shingetsu, who is asleep in a translucent bucket of water on the floor.

"Hey—Ooda."

He looks up immediately. He is not called his name often by Suigetsu.

"There's some guy here from the theater to see you."

Ooda's expression empties.

"…you want me to send him away? He's just asking if you're okay, and I can tell him that."

Ooda stands.

"No, I'll… go talk to him myself. Thank you, though, Suigetsu-san…"

Ooda walks past him slowly, and to the entrance, where Ryusuke is waiting with an anxious expression that lightens only slightly when he sees Ooda's face.

"Ooda-kun! Is everything all right? Who was that man I just talked to?"

Ooda lowers his head, trying to smile dismissively.

"Just… a friend of my mother's, he's helping me take care of her right now…"

Ryusuke touches his thin lips, lightly, with his fingers.

"Did something happen to her?"

Ooda nods.

"She's gotten very sick very suddenly, and I have to take care of her. I don't know when she'll be better."

"Oh, that's—Ooda-kun, I'm so _sorry_. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"You can tell Yaku-san that I'll be dropping out of the play."

Ryusuke's face contorts as he processes the news.

"Dropping out?"

"I need to stay home and take care of my mom. Besides, it's not like the theater needs _me_, _you_ can have my part…"

"Well… if you need to take care of your mother then I more than understand, and I'm sure Yaku-sama will too, but we're all going to miss you. I can ask him to keep the role open in case you're able to come back…"

Ooda shakes his head.

"No, I'm done. I don't think acting is for me, Ryusuke-san. I'm sorry. It's not… what I'm meant to do."

"How can you say that…? You're an incredibly gifted actor, Ooda-kun, I _know_. _You _know."

Ooda's expression grows thoughtful.

"…there are better things I could be doing, is all. I'm sorry, Ryusuke-san, you've been _ever_ so supportive, but I just can't keep doing this…"

Ryusuke finds himself at a loss for words.

Truly, he feels an incredible amount of sadness, not only seeing Ooda so visibly depressed, but in hearing him say these things about something he obviously has a great passion for.

(And some amount of disappointment. Ooda, in a way, has been his student for the past five years, and seeing this now speaks to his failure as a teacher.)

"…well, I can't force you to come back. But if you ever change your mind, we'll be here with open arms, I'm absolutely sure of it."

"Thank you, Ryusuke-san…"

A hug would do nicely here, but Ooda feels too ashamed and self-conscious for it, and Ryusuke isn't sure if it would make him feel better or worse.

"Well… I hope the production goes well, I'm sure you'll make a better Piano Man than I ever will. You don't even have to wear the contacts, considering your eyes…"

"It won't be nearly as good as your interpretation, Ooda-kun."

"Mm… Well, break a leg, either way… You can come by later to visit my mother, I'm sure she'd appreciate it, but she's a little too unwell at the moment…"

"Of course. I'll be sure to come by."

Ryusuke's heart wants to stay but his legs are twitching to leave.

"…take care, Ooda-kun. I hope things get better for you soon."

Ooda doesn't respond, and he doesn't bother to stay and watch Ryusuke leave.

Things do get better.

Though Ooda's confidence is never quite as solid as it was when he was in the theater.

He does, gradually, work up enough courage to venture outside the house again, mildly getting over his fear that something will happen to his mother while he is away for any period of time. This is a great comfort to her, seeing him regain his ease.

In the wake of Kotoji's birth, he even returns to the theater, albeit shyly, to ask for his janitorial job back, which Yaku is more than pleased to return to him, with a thunderous clap on the back and a grin.

(He accompanies her and Suigetsu and Shingetsu all on their journey to Konoha to deliver Kotoji, and does her makeup, all coffee-tan foundation and banana-yellow lipstick and thick lavender eye shadow. The colors are so bright and garish, he figures, that any lingering resemblance will be overlooked.)

There are no more practices with Ryusuke after the performances, however. No more impromptu scene reenactments. No matter how much Ooda desires it, he has to resist.

His path is painfully pre-ordained.

And some things cannot be helped.

Returning home after being banished from the house to Juugo's hut by a jutsu in that emergency instance—he understands, later, that it was for his protection, that someone who might have identified him falsely had arrived—he finds a note on the fridge from his mother, saying she is going to be in Konoha for a few days.

Even with the date of her return clearly outlined—she knows he'll worry otherwise—the days go by slowly and sharply, and his panic grows like a creeping moss, until it reaches his head.

He has to go and find her. Because the last little one, the last one, Osato, has given her so much trouble, even though she has medicine, something might happen, like with Asaoto, and he has to be there for her.

He packs a bag full of medicine in plastic bags and a satchel full of clothes, and he begins on foot. The thought of using a transport scares him; there are too many people on them that might take him wrongly. On foot he can stay out of sight, and declare himself clearly at Konoha's gate to the guards. If his mother is there, then she can add to his story, and possibly Sasuke too, identifying him as her son and nobody else.

The prospect of this terrifies him, but he needs to be near her more.

Of course, meeting the spook on the first night down ruins everything.

It is unexpected, the man emerging from bushes, eyes wide and pink, his skin paper-pale.

And his awed, hushed cries of "Master Orochimaru," his enormous hands reaching out, as if to touch him, but holding back, as if unpermitted.

Ooda's reaction is, at first, scared. Defensive.

This goes over badly, with the man.

"Don't you, don't you remember me, Master, you said you would come back for me, you said I, was special, Master, please…!"

He has an aura around him, and it is dangerous and agitated.

Ooda doubts that he can run. And he doubts even more that he can fight.

Ooda, Ryusuke always says, has a talent for interpretation. Reading between the lines, to find a character's true personality.

Ooda has read diaries, journals, and reports. He's seen films of the man.

He needs no makeup, no costume. His body, disgusting and twisted as it is, is the perfect disguise. Enough to keep himself safe in the presence of the unnatural, ragged man from Sound.

"Of _course _I _remember _you. It's _wonderful_ to see you again, dear. I missed you so. It _ever_ so pleases me to see that you remain loyal to me, even now."

"Yes, Master, I have been waiting, I have been looking, I have, and now I found you, I knew this was your chakra… Master, anything, do you need anything of me?"

"…yes, dear. In the morning, once I am _rested_, I ask that you guard me on my way to _Konoha_. There is a woman there I need to see."

"Oh yes, Master, I know where Konoha is, my old false-home, Konoha, I will protect you, I _will_, I will keep you safe, anything for you, I knew you would return for, me, I knew it…"

Ooda realizes, as he falls asleep, twitchily-guarded over, that he's probably completely doomed himself.

That he'll have to keep the mask on once he arrives. Because nobody will believe him if he says he's a clone, not in the presence of a man like that as his guardian. Especially if the mask is the only thing keeping him from being harmed.

He thinks of his mother, of her fears, of Sasuke, of Sakura, of the not-siblings that are slowly being uncovered, one by one.

…there are other things he could be doing. And, above all else, he wants his mother to be safe.

The plan doesn't completely come to fruition until he's lying, crushed and crippled, on the muddy ground, trying to stay alive, desperate for someone to come around. Even though they'll know who he is.

All he can think about is her.

If he's captured, he'll blame himself. Say he was using her. And he'll protect the children, as well, saying that there are more of them than they'll ever find. Relying on what they don't know.

They won't hurt her if that's the case, yes, she'll be okay, and so will everyone else, they'll all be safe.

If he's hurt in the process, it doesn't matter.

He's already hurt.

This is what he's meant to do.

A freak like him deserves nothing better.

He isn't an actor.

He is Orochimaru, and that is all that people will ever see.


	83. Prenuptial Agreement

NAME: Uchiha Itachi  
AFFILIATION: Leaf  
CAPTURE RANK: S

KNOWN CRIMES:  
- Kidnapping (several counts)  
- Murder (several counts)

FURTHER NOTES:  
- Affiliated with terrorist cell (Akatsuki)  
- Known associate of Hoshigaki Kisame (pg. 139)

- Highly skilled eye-based genjutsu user. _Do not make eye contact if possible._  
- Chuunin rank and below: Avoid confrontation and try to escape. Do not provoke.  
- Jounin rank and above: Kill on sight.

_- Konoha Bingo Book (Prewar)_

* * *

**ACT 9**

**ESCAPE**

* * *

_Chapter 83 - Prenuptial Agreement_

* * *

The last thing that Hajime wanted to do, on the day after that strange revelation about Yakata and the Orochimaru-lookalike, was to think about his family, much less be around them.

His father, blessedly, was staying out of the house, after receiving a messenger bird on that Friday night. He seemed far too angry to do anything else.

_Why_ he was angry, Hajime only had a slight clue. Angry that he'd been duped by an—admittedly convincing—Orochimaru imposter, perhaps? Or that Yakata, a child-copy of his brother, Hajime's uncle—somehow?—was being forced to go home. The latter seemed to make more sense, considering how even Hajime noticed how much preference his father gave to the boy.

It was like with Takeru, only with far less fatherly pride behind it.

Takeru seemed to be in a foul mood as well, though Hajime didn't really understand why _he _would be upset. Maybe that he was the one that was going to escort Yakata home on that Saturday morning, when he probably had better things to do. Whatever they were.

And Inou was practically a vegetable. Hajime wanted to say _something_ to make him feel better—he'd heard through his mother that the mental upset was caused by the S-rank mission that eventually unmasked the imposter, which impressed Hajime very much—but it didn't seem right to say "Good job with the mental ricochet on your mission, little brother!" Or anything even remotely related. So he left it alone. He'd know what to say when the time came.

His sisters seemed fine enough, however. And his mother was preoccupied with Inou.

He didn't even need to try to sneak out.

(His mother wouldn't have tried to stop him, anyways.)

He spent that Friday night with Ninako, after his father left, calling her on the phone and meeting her in a restaurant to talk to her about the recent events.

(Though embracing, first, discretely. It had been almost a week since they'd last seen each other.)

"Talk about crazy," Ninako said, after both of them ordered drinks. "I mean, is it true what they said, that the guy we caught is a _clone_ of Orochimaru?"

"Seems to be," Hajime replied. "Same with that… Yakata kid that's been staying at my family's house lately, he's apparently a copy of my uncle? It's weird."

"Yeah, I heard about him…" Ninako said. "How's your… dad taken it?"

"Well, apparently, he's known from the start who Yakata-kun was; that's why he was brought here. And that's why I was stuck on guard duty at my house, these past few days. They thought something was gonna happen to him."

"I see…"

"But, hey, Takeru's bringing him home tomorrow, now that the threat's been taken care of. Or something." Hajime tried to sound cheerful. "And from what I hear, they're not going to let this affect the chuunin exams."

"That _is_ good to hear…" Ninako said. "And after that…"

She trailed off, tilting her head sideways, though there wasn't much of a smile on her face.

"Ah, yeah, that…" Hajime said. "You still wanna go through with it, Ninako?" He added, much more softly, "You know, us getting… eloped in the country."

"I'm… thinking about it," she replied. Her voice wasn't terribly teasing, however.

"I mean, if you wanna wait then that's absolutely fine with me," Hajime continued, quickly. "I mean, we haven't really planned this out much, we don't even know where we're going to go, we only have a couple of weeks to plan…"

Ninako looked back at him, this time with a smile, though a slightly patronizing one.

"Hajime, we can… wait. There's some… things I need to think over, first."

"Things? What… sorts of things?"

He sounded far more worried than he'd have ever cared to sound.

"I'm just… waiting on a few things, wondering if what we're doing is… I don't know…"

She sounded listless. Hajime put his hand on the table.

"Ninako, what's bothering you…?"

"…I want to wait," she said. "I just need to think about some things, is all. I'm sorry."

"No, don't apologize, that's _totally_ all right. We shouldn't… rush stuff like this, you know?"

"Yeah, totally…" Her voice faded off. Hajime could tell she wasn't looking at him any more.

"Okay, Ninako, seriously, what's the matter? Is everything all right?"

She responded with a laugh. "Hajime, everything's fine. I'm just thinking some things over."

"What sorts of things?"

"Just… things, all right? With you gone I've had a lot of time to think."

Hajime's face creased with uncharacteristic worry. "What are you thinking _about, _Ninako?"

Ninako leaned up against the table a little more, pursing her lips. "I just don't know if… we're doing this for the right reasons."

"The right reasons?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, when I first suggested it I thought it would be romantic and stuff, but now that I'm thinking about it… I don't know, I just think we should _wait_. Now isn't the right time…"

"Then when would be the right time, Ninako?"

"…I don't know, maybe when we're older, or… I don't know, I just can't imagine it _now, _not with my family…"

Her voice began to sound particularly strained. Hajime wished that he could be holding her hand.

"Ninako, if you want to wait, I'll _wait_. No matter how long it takes. We've made it this far, right?"

She managed to look up, managed to smile a little.

"You're such a dork…"

_There_ she was.

"Hey, I'm just trying to comfort you," he replied, putting on his best offended face. He knew it would make her feel better. "I won't make you do anything you don't want to do. We're in this together."

She laughed, lightly. "No matter what happens?"

"Come on, Ninako, you don't need to ask."

"Yeah. But I like asking anyways."

Their drinks arrived, and they continued to talk.

"Maybe we should just run away for good. Or for as long as we can manage," Ninako said, unexpectedly, stirring her soda with a straw. "I mean, we're already screwed if anyone finds out, might as well go all or nothing."

"Ninako, who says anyone's going to find out…?"

She looked at him with twisted, sarcastic eyebrows. "Hajime, I should have been married off to some… random guy in my clan already. They could give me a fiancé any year now. I'm not really allowed to object—but like _hell_ I'd let them make me some guy's baby-maker. And an affair sounds too messy to manage."

"And… somehow this justifies… running away?" he replied, unable to decide if he should have laughed or not.

"Like I said, we're doomed either way if that happens."

"And what if it doesn't happen?"

She shrugged. "I dunno. But wouldn't it be nice, Hajime? Get a house on the beach, maybe, that'd be great…"

"We could always rent a bungalow on the eastern shore for a while," Hajime suggested. "Those aren't too expensive."

Ninako sighed, a long sigh that was almost a moan. "I just wish I could get away from this place," she said, "just somewhere they can't _find_ me."

Hajime didn't need to answer.

She laughed again, noticing his silence. "Sorry, I probably sound completely nuts right now."

"Nothing wrong with a little escapism now and then," he replied. "Besides, shouldn't we be planning where we want to go after the chuunin exams?"

"I thought you said you'd be fine with waiting," she replied, almost sharply.

"…well, I just thought a vacation would be nice, either way. Eloping or not. This summer's been stressful and I think we deserve a… break."

The smile that followed was very warm.

"Hajime, you're such a sweetheart."

"No, I'm not."

"You are. Where do you want to go?"

"Anywhere you want to," he replied, trying to hide his growing smile.

"The beach, then," she said. "I want to go there."

"Then let's get on it."

They spent the rest of their time thinking over what sort of beach vacation they could have, with Ninako saying she'd visit the travel agent the next day to see what was available in the week after the chuunin exams. "Because I have no doubt whatsoever that Naruto-san will give us the time off. We'll be golden."

"Call me tomorrow, then, and tell me what you find," Hajime said.

"Of course."

They left without kissing, or even embracing—they couldn't afford a second one—and returned to their homes.

The Uchiha house was very quiet. Most everyone was settling down by the time Hajime returned home, and he set up his bed on the couch without upset and laid down to sleep.

But he couldn't.

Something about his meeting with Ninako had been bothering him, and it was only in contemplating it, in that vulnerable time when thoughts tend to gather right before sleep, that it was plain.

Why was she so suddenly hesitant about getting eloped? Why did she want to wait?

He thought about what she'd said. A few things stood out.

Her family. Their ages. A "right reason."

…well, their families were no-brainers. No matter who was in question, his family or hers, the issue of approval was almost always a negative.

"We're doomed either way," Ninako put it. And though he wouldn't have been so harsh about it, he had to agree, somewhat.

And her parents had gotten married when they were twenty years old, and so had his parents. Hajime didn't know a thing about how her parents got along—they seemed to be fine enough together, arranged marriage and all—but Hajime knew how much _his_ parents couldn't stand each other, and so did Ninako.

Maybe she didn't want to make the same mistake as them, choosing a spouse so early? But then again, they'd already been together seven years, and best friends for even longer, so maybe that wasn't even the issue.

It was the issue of a "right reason" that ended up bothering him the most.

Why did they even want to get married? Or eloped or whatever. To make it more official, more "real"—but what did that matter in the eyes of their families, or the law?

And they'd gotten along fine as just… loosely-associated partners, for the longest time.

…but at the same time, the idea of them continuing on like that unsettled him. Especially with the prospect of her family forcing her into a marriage, or his father issuing an ultimatum: "Get married to a girl I can tolerate by the end of the year and produce a grandchild or I'll disown you," or something.

(Truthfully, he wondered why his father wasn't already bearing down on him about it, given his age and how preoccupied Sasuke was about having a large, respectable clan.)

Silly as it sounded, just getting eloped _did_ make it seem more official, more "real"—like they were that much more serious about each other, to risk the wrath of their families if they found out.

Because that was what they had risked for all those years, just on a smaller degree, right?

…right?

It all just felt horribly flimsy to Hajime, and he ended up in an uncomfortable sleep over it.

He decided to talk to someone about it in the morning.

Not his parents. _Hell_ no, not his parents. Their marriage was everything he was trying to _avoid_.

And asking any of the Hyuugas was a right death wish.

So, Hajime turned to Sai-sensei. He was married, after all. Surely he'd know something.

* * *

Sai and his wife, Ten Ten, lived in a modestly-built two-story home with white walls and wooden windowsills. Hajime had been inside it many times, as its second floor was Sai's studio, and where Hajime had done much of his training when he was younger.

To any other person, the place would have seemed horribly unwelcoming. All of the furniture was very modern and uncomfortable-looking, and every room smelled strongly of paint thinner and ink.

But to Hajime, it was almost more of a home to him than where he slept, if only for the bizarre yet unconditional care he received from his teacher.

Sai greeted him very warmly at the door, after Hajime called him beforehand to ask if they could talk about something. His face was still very youthful and very pale, almost exactly the same—if not exactly, period—as when Hajime had first met him, at age ten. He was almost always smiling.

"You're very lucky all of that business about that imposter has mostly settled down, otherwise I'd have not been able to fit you in."

"Well, Sensei, I was busy then, too. They had me on guard duty at my house and I was helping guard the holding cell before that."

"Ah, yes, very true. Tea?"

"Yes, please."

Sai went to get the pot ready. He and Hajime preferred the same sort of leaves, and they both knew it.

"So, what is it you wanted to talk to me about, Hajime-kun?"

Hajime took only a medium-deep breath. "Well, Sensei… What's a good reason to get… married?"

"Marriage…" Sai said, thoughtfully. "Well, people get married for a variety of reasons, I suppose."

"Like…?"

"Better tax rates on owning property together."

Hajime blinked a few times. "I suppose that's… _one_ reason. But what else?"

"Well, improved social standing, as well. For many young people, getting married is the sign of finally becoming an adult. It's quite common to see people coupling and marrying as soon as they turn twenty. It makes cohabitation far more socially acceptable, though that seems to be less of an issue in this day and age."

"Mm…" Hajime said, uncomfortably.

Sai remained at the stove, watching the kettle with his hands folded behind his back. "There are also certain legal rights that come with such unions. Sharing property, finances. And there are also political marriages, though those are usually preordained by the families and not the individuals getting married. Unless said individuals are particularly shrewd or ambitious."

"Right… Well, aren't there any other reasons?" Because none of these seemed to apply to their situation in the slightest, since even simply sharing an apartment seemed like an impossibility.

"Well, marriages are also excellent ways to prevent a child from becoming a bastard."

Hajime almost snorted. "Somehow I get the feeling I won't need to worry about that…"

Sai turned around. "Ah, so are you the one considering marriage?"

Hajime looked at the ceiling, despite himself. "Yeah, I'm… considering it."

"With Hyuuga Ninako?"

Hajime almost choked, and looked directly into Sai's smiling face. It felt like a small boulder had dropped into his guts. "H-how did you know?"

"Hajime-kun, when one gets to know a person as well as I have gotten to know you, some things become very obvious," Sai replied, tilting his head slightly. "Don't worry, you're in no danger. I understand that a relationship between the two of you would cause considerable strain if known about by either of your families."

"Yeah…" Hajime said. "Neither of us think that we'd ever be able to get _really_ married, so we might just elope somewhere, but at the same time…"

"Ah, then you should have specified that it was elopement and not marriage that you were interested in. There are slight differences, you know," Sai said.

"Sure…" Hajime tried not to sound so miserable.

Sai, however, seemed to have caught on. He left the stove and sat with him at the table. "It seems that you have doubts."

Hajime nodded, slowly. "It's just… even if it's just us getting eloped, I can't help but feel that it's not… _necessary_."

"Why would you, personally, want to get eloped with her, Hajime-kun?" Sai asked.

Hajime thought about it.

_Because I love her,_ was the first thought. _Because we're nothing but boyfriend-and-girlfriend otherwise, _was the second.

Both of them sounded stupid, but Sai was the sort of person who considered even stupid things with utmost seriousness.

"…because I love her, and I want to be her… husband, not just her… boyfriend," he mumbled.

Sai thought over his response with a couple of nods. "Love. While I'm not much of an expert in romance, Hajime-kun, I do know that many people get married and eloped for this reason. True, it may not be the most _lasting_ reason, but it's still a reason."

Somehow, his answer didn't help Hajime much. "So should we not go through with it…?"

"Well, all things taken into account, Hajime-kun, the both of you are probably incapable of anything but a symbolic marriage, considering your families," Sai said.

"You don't need to remind me, Sensei…" Hajime said, quietly.

Sai nodded. "A symbolic marriage, however, is still a marriage, especially to the two getting married. What matters is that it matters to you, and that you feel your reasons for the marriage are justified. And love, Hajime-kun," he added, tilting his head forward, pointedly, "is a fine reason, even though it is just an emotion."

"You really think so?" Hajime said.

"Well, it's just my opinion, but yes, I do think so," Sai replied. "Even if the only one who acknowledges you as her husband is her, if that's enough for you, then I see no reason why not to go through with it. Though I do advise caution, regardless."

"Well, yeah, we'll be careful," Hajime said.

"Considering how well you've carried on so far, I don't doubt that you will," Sai replied, with a kind nod. The kettle began to whistle, and he went to tend to it. "Do you know when you want to elope, then?"

"Well, we sort of wanted to do it over a vacation after the chuunin exams."

"Interesting time for a vacation. I'd think that travel expenses would be less costly in October or November, or the spring. But then again," he added, thoughtfully, almost to himself, "I would imagine that there are far more vacancies around the time of the exams, since most everyone is still staying in or around Konoha. Do you have a location picked out?"

"Eastern coast, probably. Ninako wants to see the beach."

"Ah, then that's not even an issue. The autumn is the off season for the beach, anyways. Very smart of you." Sai poured boiling water into two cups of tea leaves, and brought them both over to the table, giving one to Hajime, who was chuckling a little at his monologue. "You should be able to secure very affordable lodgings."

"Never change, Sai-sensei," Hajime said.

"I think that's rather impossible, Hajime-kun, but I will try my best," Sai replied, and they clinked their glasses together.

They spent the rest of the afternoon chatting idly about art and the upcoming chuunin exams—Sai was very interested in the progress of Hajime's sister, Karai, which Hajime was eager to tell him about—before Hajime left.

"I'm gonna go talk to Ninako, she said she was gonna visit a travel agent today," he said. "Thanks for everything, Sai-sensei. You really helped."

"Any time, Hajime-kun," Sai replied. "And best of luck to you and Ninako-chan. Do take care, though, it looks like it's going to rain."

"I think I'll be fine." Hajime grinned in reply, and left.

Sai cleaned up their cups, afterward, and left to run an errand of his own.

When he said that he wanted for Hajime to be as careful as possible, he meant it quite strictly. And that included checking in with his gentler parent.

Sai knew very well the frustrations that Hajime had with his father, Sasuke. But his mother, Ino, seemed far more understanding, and was always the better listener whenever Sai held his parent conferences with the Uchihas.

(She had also made a point of asking Sai for as many studio sessions with Hajime as possible. "So he can get out of the house, it's better for him, you understand?")

He wasn't going to be callous, or even discouraging. He was just going to explain the situation to her for her benefit, because that seemed the fair thing to do.

(And even he knew that it would be unwise to speak to the Hyuuga clan.)

So when Sai arrived at the Uchiha house under a clear plastic umbrella a short while later, and Ino answered the door, he greeted her with, "Hello, Ino-san, are you aware that your son Hajime intends on running away and eloping with Hyuuga Ninako?"

Ino was a bit speechless, to say the least. And after calming down a little and inviting Sai in and asking him to elaborate, she got a less sensational story.

"Well I always knew that Hajime was fond of that girl, so I'm not terribly surprised…. But for him to want to _marry_ her…"

(Ino suddenly felt very old, and yet the warmth in her chest seemed to negate this.)

"Elope, Ino-san. Hajime-kun told me that neither of them see much sensibility in going any further than that, considering the social leanings of her family and your husband's more controlling tendencies."

(For a moment and a moment only, she considered defending her husband.)

(But she knew better. It was only a reflex, anyways.)

Ino nodded, slightly.

"I thought to at least tell _you_, since it's obvious he hasn't informed you of much," Sai continued. "Though I encourage you to give him advice, rather than discourage him outright, if you don't exactly approve. He's very unsure about this and I can only help so much. As his mother you doubtlessly have far more authority with him than I do."

Ino smiled with a strange sort of humility. "Well, Hajime thinks the world of _you_, Sai-san. We both know that."

"Indeed, he does hold me in very high esteem." Sai smiled for a moment longer, before standing. "Well, I ought to be off, then. It's about time for dinner. I do hope things go well for the whole of you."

"Mm, I do too. Thank you for coming by," Ino said.

"You're most welcome. Take care."

When Sai returned home, he found his wife, Ten Ten, already preparing dinner, her hair pulled into a low, wet bun. The gentle rumble of thunder stirred beyond the large, square windows. "You're home early," he said.

"With the alert levels down to something more manageable, there was less to do today." She stirred the fried rice she was making in the pot. "There'll be enough for you, don't worry."

"Thank you," Sai replied, and sat down at the table.

He thought, for a while, listening to her cook.

"Dear, why did _we _get married?" he asked her.

"Because it's cheaper to share a house with a studio when you're married, because I didn't want kids and you were the only guy that seemed okay with that, and because we can talk about art and weapon-crafting for hours without getting sick of each other," she replied, neutrally. "That's just what comes to mind right away."

"Ah, yes," Sai replied. "That makes wonderful sense."

"Of course it does," Ten Ten replied, with a mild smirk. "Get the bowls, would you?"

"Right away."

* * *

Hajime was in a very good mood when he returned to his near-empty house in the early evening. Ninako had managed to secure a tidy vacation package for them, food and lodgings and everything, and the both of them had more than enough saved up from their Seal Team work to pay for it.

Plus, there was what she'd said, when they were alone, together, on the street, just walking.

"There's a beautiful temple on the cape, the agent told me. Been there forever."

"In case we want to go forward with it?"

She paused. "Well…"

"Ninako, if you want to wait, I'll wait. But if you want to go through with it—even if it's just a stupid ceremony that means nothing to anyone but us—I'd feel _honored_ to be your husband."

She looked up at him, there, with moon-bright eyes. "How about I'm the husband, you're the wife, what do you say."

"Well, I—Ninako…"

"I'm kidding. Mostly."

She leaned into him, not quite a hug, not quite a shove.

"We'll see how I feel when we get there, all right?"

"All right."

Naturally, he couldn't stop smiling, even when he entered the kitchen to find his mother there. He was slightly damp from the rain outside—Ninako had brought an umbrella with her, having seen the storm clouds long before and anticipated the weather, but he refused to borrow it from her, when she offered.

"Having a good day?" Ino said, from the table. She was reading a magazine.

"You could say that," he replied. "Where is everyone?"

"Well, your father's… somewhere. And Inou's up in his room, resting; I don't think Karai's left hers either. But Takeru's out bringing Yakata-kun home."

(She didn't need to mention Nadeshiko. He wouldn't have asked about her anyways.)

"Ah, that's nice, that's nice," Hajime said, distractedly.

"Your sensei came by to visit this afternoon, by the way. Not too long ago, actually," Ino continued, casually.

"Oh. Did he."

Hajime tried, badly, to ignore the hum of nervousness that immediately began to circle his chest.

"Yes, we had _quite_ an interesting conversation. Tell me, Hajime… do you honestly plan on getting eloped with Ninako-chan?"

Aw, crap. No, no, no, crap, _no. _"He told you…?" he squeezed out.

"Well, yes, but-"

"Because, Mom, we're going to continue living apart but it's not like we're gonna make a big deal out of it, it's just gonna be symbolic and stuff, we might not even get eloped in the first place, and-"

Ino put her hands out, standing, approaching him. "Hajime, Hajime, calm down! I'm not angry! So long as you're _serious_ about each other then I'm_ more_ than happy with it! Marriage or not!"

Hajime paused very suddenly. "…what? You mean…"

"Hajime, I _want_ you to be happy. And I've sort of had a feeling about Ninako-chan for a while, now, and my only wish is that you had told me about you two _sooner_. I'd have _gladly_ given you excuses to go out and be with her, _honest_."

Hajime, embarrassing as it was, almost felt like crying. "Mom…"

"I know it's well out of my hands, by now, but if you two are serious about each other, then I… support you, unconditionally. And I'll cover for you for this vacation or honeymoon or whatever you two are planning. There's no way I'll let your father find out, for one," she continued, with a kindly, but almost rebellious smile at the end.

"Mom, are you serious…" Hajime swallowed.

"Yes, I am serious. Hajime, you're my _son_, and if I _didn't_ want you to be happy then that would make me a horrible mother. If you need anything, or if you want to talk to me about it, I'm here for you, okay? I won't tell anyone else."

Hajime sniffed. "Thanks, Mom, honestly…"

She reached forward and pulled him into a hug; not a desperate, life-needing hug like Inou had asked of her, the day before, but a warm, secure hug. Her head came up to his shoulder.

"Aww, honey… Come on, no crying, this is a _good_ thing."

Hajime nodded, sniffing again, and smiling quite sheepishly.

Ino pulled away and kept her hands on his arms. "Now, I want you to tell me _everything_. Where _exactly_ are you going after the chuunin exams? Your sensei didn't exactly go into detail."

"Well, Ninako found us this great little beach house on the eastern coast, near the Land of Tea…"

The two of them sat down to talk for as long as they could afford, knowing to quiet down and change the subject if any sound was heard in the hallway upstairs, or if the front door opened.

Both of them knew that this was the closest thing that either of them would get to real wedding, so the details were fussed over to Ino's liking, even though Hajime found himself repeating things quite a lot.

Ino, in particular, was determined for it all to work out perfectly, offering money ("No, Mom, we have enough savings, but thanks, though.") and advice ("Mom, seriously, I told you, it's just going to be symbolic if we even go through with it…") to him in vast amounts.

(But could she be blamed? Here was proof that her son was doing fine outside the house, that he was _happy_. And she wanted to protect that happiness as best as she could.)

(No matter what Sasuke might have done to stomp on it.)

Luckily for them, the house remained quiet well into the evening.

Things weren't nearly as peaceful as night fell, however.


	84. War Crimes

_Chapter 84 - War Crimes_

* * *

Takeru and Yakata left the house together later in the morning. Sasuke watched them go, keeping an icy eye on them as Yakata gave hugs to both Ino and Karai and thanked them for their hospitality.

(Nadeshiko was already long-gone and well out of the way. She had plans to stay with her grandfather for that night, figuring Sasuke needed a day or two to calm down before it was safe for her to return.)

They turned down the road and out into the city, afterward, and were gone.

Yakata walked with Takeru in tense silence for a while, after that. He recognized their path, a little, meandering towards the main section of the city, where the governmental buildings and gate out were kept.

But even with this recognition, and knowing that he'd soon be home with his mama and papa—he hadn't had the time to write to them about it, but he figured it didn't matter in the end—Yakata couldn't stop shivering. It wasn't quite out of fear, but more uncertainty and discomfort.

Even though he knew that this was being done for his protection, to protect him from the people that hated his father, he couldn't help the feeling that he was doing something wrong. Maybe it was the faint sneer of disdain that Takeru seemed to have slid upon his face that day—though Takeru always seemed to be sneering, and maybe this was just magnified by Yakata's nervousness. But even with that taken into account, his narrow features seemed sourer, tighter than usual.

And then there was Sasuke, who had been angry to the point of silence upon Yakata's departure.

…things just seemed far less "okay" than they were supposed to be.

And then Takeru said, softly, "Keep your eyes forward and don't look around. We're being followed." He wasn't looking at Yakata at all.

Yakata's eyes, however, skittered this way and that. "F-followed…?" he whispered.

Takeru gave the slightest nod. "They're hidden, but I can sense them here."

"Wh-why are we being followed…?"

"Stay quiet and close to me. I'll explain when we're in a safer place," Takeru said, in a wind-like hiss.

Yakata's heart began thudding loudly in his ears. Followed? Why were they being followed?

Was it something he'd done? Or his father? A pre-emptive apology began lining his throat, but he managed to say silent.

He stayed as close to Takeru as he could manage, without touching him. Somehow, Yakata didn't feel comfortable with the idea of clinging to Takeru's arm for comfort, or even his hand.

They walked further into the city, and the noises grew louder with the pounding of Yakata's heart.

Everyone seemed to be staring at them, and their expressions were not kind. Takeru, however, seemed unbothered. Yakata ducked behind him further, trying to make himself less visible. Though they were only walking, he was now taking shallow, fast breaths.

The "safer place," it seemed, was the library. Yakata noted, with some degree of disappointment and sadness, that he had not been there once, since arriving in Konoha. That it was these confusing, frightening circumstances that finally brought him there.

It was a fine, khaki-colored building with windows every few feet along the unmarked walls, and it did not seem to be terribly busy. Takeru motioned, needlessly, for Yakata to follow him inside after looking around near the entrance. They took an immediate left, after that, avoiding the librarians at the circular desk in the lobby, and taking a flight or two of stairs down to a basement floor.

The floor onto which they exited was dimly-lit, and consisted mostly of a hallway with doors placed at regular intervals. A bored-looking girl was attending a desk near the entrance to the stairwell, and she perked up significantly upon seeing Takeru enter.

"Takeru-san! You _again?_" she said. She adjusted her glasses, which were an unusually bright shade of deep violet, and tried to look displeased.

"Shiryou-chan, I couldn't _help_ myself," Takeru replied, with a slight bow. His voice sounded strangely deep and careful. "I _needed_ to come back."

Shiryou tittered. She sounded like a guinea pig squeaking. "You _know_ you can ask _anything_ of me."

"Well, I hope you'll allow me access to the records here today, my little _friend_ here has quite the interest in history."

"Oh! Anything for you, Takeru-san, _anything_," Shiryou replied, adjusting her glasses again and peering at Yakata for a brief moment. "Oh, and, um, I got those files you asked me for," she added, far more quietly and seriously. "You said you needed them as soon as possible, so when…?"

"I would love nothing more than to receive them _now_," Takeru replied.

Shiryou guinea-pig-giggled again and opened her desk drawer to take out a paper folder. "Take _all_ the time you need down here. I'll be waiting if you need me…!"

"I know I can always count on you," Takeru replied, taking the folder from her and sliding a finger under her severe chin. This made her giggle again. "Come on, Yakata-kun, this way."

Yakata could see him shaking his head as they went down the hallway and through another door, rubbing the hand that had touched Shiryou's chin, as if trying to get something off of it. They entered a much-darker room full of high bookshelves, punctuated only by plain, electric lights hanging every few feet down the rows. The air smelled stale.

The pair proceeded down several rows of shelves, further and further from the hallway and Shiryou, until Takeru suddenly stopped, looked around, and sighed slightly. "We should be safe here. I managed to give them the slip, I think; this section of the library is restricted. Not just anyone can get in."

Yakata had a feeling that their being there had something do with Shiryou's obvious attraction to Takeru, but the feeling did not last very long, overwhelmed by his worry again. "But Ta-Ta-Takeru-san, why _are_ we being followed…?"

Takeru hesitated, looking sideways for a moment. "It's because of you, Yakata-kun. You're a target."

Yakata's stomach twisted severely. "A t-target? But, but why, did I, did I do something wrong?"

And Takeru, with a devastatingly empty look on his face, said, "Yes, Yakata-kun. You _have_ done something wrong."

Yakata's breathing began to quicken to a worrying degree. "Ta-Ta-Takeru-san, then, then what did I, what did I do wrong? I'm confused, what did I do…?"

"Well, they're not things you'd _remember_ doing..." Takeru said, interrupting him. "Yakata-kun, you haven't been told the whole truth about things. You're not who you think you are."

"Not who I think I…? Takeru-san, I don't, I don't understand…"

The emptiness in Takeru's face was now slightly coated with sympathy. "Yakata-kun, there's no easy way to say this. But my uncle, Itachi… wasn't your father."

The hollow feeling in Yakata's legs only intensified with the twisting of his guts. "He, he, he wasn't…?" Takeru shook his head. "But, but, then, why did Sasuke-san… why did he…?"

"It's because he wanted to protect you, Yakata-kun. From the truth."

"Wha-wha-what truth…?"

Takeru's breath in seemed to last for an age. He then handed the folder to Yakata. "This truth. You need to see it for yourself."

Yakata stared at the folder, and back at Takeru. His mouth was trembling a little, to his shame. "What is this…?"

"Just read it." His voice was, for a moment, like Sasuke's at its hardest. A command, and not a suggestion.

So Yakata opened the folder and began to read.

A photo in the right-hand corner of the piece of paper looked back at him with dull, identical eyes.

It was Itachi. He looked young and slightly bored, or annoyed. Older, though, than the picture that Sasuke had given him, which Yakata had put into his pack, still in its frame. He was maybe Inou's age, or a bit older.

Beside the photo were words, basic information; blood type, a date of birth, a date of death.

That was the first inconsistency. Itachi had been dead for at least seventeen years when Yakata had been born.

Yakata looked up at Takeru for a moment, upon reading this, upon doing the simple math, but Takeru just shook his head and pointed to the papers once more. _Keep reading._

So Yakata kept reading.

Some things felt vaguely familiar, half-heard from Sasuke during training. Genin at seven, chuunin at ten, jounin and ANBU captain at thirteen—the ranks had only faint definition in Yakata's mind. Top grades in his graduating class—that could be understood. Mountains of successfully-completed missions.

And then a massacre.

Yakata wondered if, perhaps, he was reading the information wrong. But there was a list of crimes beneath his achievements, and almost all of them seemed to be murders.

And the last name of every victim was Uchiha.

An image and a voice seared their way through Yakata's mind.

"_UCHIHA MEMORIAL: These grounds, the former site of the Uchiha clan's compound, stand as a memorial to the lives lost on the night of October 23__th__, Akiwa 37 (8 BU). May such atrocities never occur again."_

"_Apart from him, and my children, he's the only living member my clan has left."_

"Ta-Takeru-san, wha-wha-what is this…?" Yakata's jaw was shaking like the stuffy basement had suddenly become a frozen cave.

"Keep reading." Takeru spoke, this time. His voice was clipped.

Itachi couldn't have killed all these people, could he…? Not his own family…?

_Uchiha Mikoto, Uchiha Fugaku._

Yakata knew those names.

His own mother and father…?

The atrocities continued.

Treason. Affiliation with a terrorist organization, one called Akatsuki. Kidnappings, both attempted and successful. Several more counts of murder, though the names belonged to people that Yakata did not recognize.

These weren't the actions of a kind man, nor one worthy of any respect in the slightest. He was a criminal, a _killer. _

And the final line in these pages of reports, of photographs of the monstrous, blue people that Itachi consorted with, the full, grim details of the crimes, that Yakata could only bear to skim over, Yakata found something that only confused and terrified him more.

"_Defeated and killed by Uchiha Sasuke," _followed by a date, and a year.

_Sasuke_ was the one who had killed him…? When he had spoken so highly and so warmly of him before?

Why would he say that such a man was his _father_, when it was impossible to begin with?

"Takeru-san, why, why, why are you showing me this…?" Yakata said, and was not interrupted, receiving only silence in return. "What does this… what does this have to, to, to do with _me…?_"

"Because they're things _you_ did. This is why people are after you."

The folder rattled in Yakata's grip. "But I didn't, I'm, I'm, I'm not, but _I'm_ not _Itachi_, I didn't, _I_ didn't do this stuff…!"

"You used to be him, though."

"I, I, I used to be…?"

"You're really my father's brother, Yakata-kun. Before you were reborn, your name was Uchiha Itachi."

It felt like a fist made of ice had taken hold of Yakata's chest. He shook his head, over and over. "No, that, that, that can't be right, Takeru-san, Itachi, he, he's _dead_. I'm, I'm, _I'm_ not _him…!_"

"You are. It's painful, Yakata-kun, and it's difficult for me to even tell you this, but it's the truth, and you deserve to know why these people hate you so much." Takeru's face was grave, utterly serious, though not angry. "You weren't born like a normal person. You were brought back from the dead. Goodness knows how, or who was responsible, but I think it was to give you a second chance. To see if, maybe, you wouldn't grow up to be the monster you used to be."

Yakata wasn't quite sure what to say. All he could do was shiver, wanting, badly, to swallow, but unable to. Irrationality seized him. "B-but I'm not, I'm not a, I'm, I'm, I'm _not_ a monster, I, I, I don't _want_ to hurt anyone…!"

"Oh, I believe you," Takeru said. "The thing is, the rest of the village doesn't seem to feel the same way. You're nobody but a mass-murderer to them, reborn or not. Everyone knows what you've done, by now."

The papers fell out of Yakata's hands with a hard sound, staying together only by virtue of the paper clips attached to them. Takeru did not bend to pick them up, keeping his eyes on Yakata, who now felt like he was undeniably starting to panic.

"But I didn't, I didn't, I don't, I didn't kill anyone, I didn't do _a-any_ of that…! Takeru-san, why…!" His breaths were gasps, short and quick and frantic. "Sasuke-san doesn't, he, he, he doesn't, he doesn't want to k-kill me _too_, does he?"

Takeru, there, shook his head, closing his eyes. "My father's known who you were from the start, Yakata-kun. And he's been dedicated to _protecting_ you; the last thing he wants is for you to be _killed_. He tried to keep you a secret from the village as well as he could, while he trained you and kept an eye on you, to see if the same corruption that plagued my uncle had set in on you at all."

Corruption.

"_I WON'T LET YOU CORRUPT HIM!"_

Sasuke hated Nadeshiko, who had killed someone when she was eight.

And he had gotten rid of Itachi all those years ago, who had murdered his entire family when he was thirteen, who grew up to only kill more people.

"But I don't, I don't, I don't want to hurt anyone, nobody, I don't, I don't want to hurt anyone, I swear…!" Yakata said, keeping his hands close to his chest; his knees felt very weak. "Ta-Takeru-san, I swear…!"

"It's okay, I _believe_ you, Yakata-kun," Takeru said. "And my father does, too. But somehow the government found out who you are and where we've been keeping you, and they want you out of the city. Not for your safety, but for _theirs. _Because, for all they know, you could just… snap and start killing people, just like you did in your past life."

They thought he was _that _much of a danger…? Yakata tried opening his mouth to defend himself, but not even stutters came out.

"My father's been trying to keep you hidden—it's why he kept you in the house these past few days—but they're forcing you out," Takeru said. "But he managed to convince them that I should be the one to bring you home, since they wouldn't let _him, _and he knows better than to let _them_ choose someone. He knew I could keep you safe if they tried something, which they have."

"H-He asked you to, to do that…?"

"Yes, when he told my family who you were, yesterday. Of course, I said yes. I don't want to see you punished for something you yourself were unaware of. Nobody _told_ you that you used to be a monster." He gestured towards the papers on the floor, and went to pick them up.

Yakata's breathing sounded amplified to his ears, like it did whenever he had to hide somewhere, either out of rare play or self-preservation. It was all too much to take in, far too much.

(And yet, one of the strongest thoughts in his mind was, "_Does Nadeshiko-san know who I really am, if this is all true?"_)

(Followed by, _"No, this can't be true, this is all too horrible, this can't be happening…!"_)

(And overpowered, sickeningly, by, _"If it weren't true, then why are there people trying to kill me? I did nothing wrong!"_)

(But he had the blood of dozens of people on his hands, if only by virtue of who he used to be. That had been wrong.)

He'd never been more terrified.

"Yakata-kun, I need you to calm down for me," Takeru said, plainly, adjusting the papers in his hands. "I'm going to get you home safely, I promise. But you need to trust me. All right? No harm is going to come to you."

Yakata managed to nod.

"I'm going to use ninjutsu to make copies of myself, and I'll get one of them to look like you. I'll send a copy out with copy that looks like you back the way we came and lead off the people following us, and I'll leave the library with you through another exit. I'll take you somewhere safe so you can wait for me until I come back for you, once I'm certain we aren't being followed any more. Then I'll get you home. You understand?"

Yakata nodded again, swallowing.

Takeru put a hand on his shoulder, and it made Yakata jump. "I'm going to get you home, Yakata-kun. You're going to be okay."

For the third time, Yakata nodded, but he wished he could have meant it.

Takeru then performed a quick sequence of hand signs, and with a puff of smoke there were suddenly two of him.

And a copy of Yakata.

He was identical, down to his eyelashes and the creases under his eyes, the pink, nearly-healed burns and their bandages.

But his expression was sly and narrow, especially his thin smile.

(Though Yakata didn't think of the look as Takeru's, but possibly his own. And it frightened him.)

(Did he look that scary to other people?)

"I'm going to have my double leave with your double, now," one of the Takerus said. "You and I will be leaving a few minutes after. Follow every instruction exactly, and you'll stay safe. Understand?"

"I, I, I, I understand."

"Good," Takeru said, and his copy left, taking the record of Itachi's—Yakata's—crimes with him, Yakata's own double smirking coldly at him before following.

The still, dusty minutes that followed were full of hot, terrifying thoughts. Takeru's silence did nothing to help.

So this was who Yakata really was? Sasuke's brother, brought back to life for a second chance? His real name—or his past name, at least—was Uchiha Itachi, a name he had thought belonged to his biological father.

Was that why Sasuke had lied to him? Takeru said that it was for his protection, but Yakata couldn't help but think that maybe it was to help prevent the "corruption" he had been talking about. That if Yakata thought of Itachi as a good person, he would aspire to be good, also?

Yakata didn't want to hurt anyone, ever. Not even for revenge. Frankly, he wished that more people would leave him alone, would stop hurting _him_.

But there were people that wanted to kill him because of this. Many people. And Sasuke had been trying to protect him from them.

_This can't be happening, this is impossible,_ Yakata thought to himself.

But this _was_ happening. Takeru wasn't the sort of person that would lie to him, especially not with a solemn expression like that. He could be _mistaken—_he was mistaken about Nadeshiko not being able to feel—but he wouldn't _lie_.

And Sasuke's anger over the past few days, rushing in and out and saying everything was for Yakata's safety, still clinging to that lie about his "father"—it was because he was scared for Yakata, wasn't it?

This was his true identity: that he had two names, two entirely separate lives.

Learning all of this about himself only made everything else make more sense. The over-protective behavior, the constant comparisons to Itachi, the horrible treatment of Nadeshiko…

Though that last thing only made Yakata more fearful, and sympathetic toward his friend. Because she had never killed anyone else, because she was _sorry—_but maybe only after they'd taken her away somewhere, to remove her corruption and _make_ her sorry, like Takeru had said?

Yakata didn't want to be taken away. He, the _present_ he, not Itachi, not his past self—it was dizzying, trying to think of himself as two people, when he'd only ever thought of himself as one—Yakata hadn't even hurt a single person, and he didn't _want_ to.

…but what if he suddenly did? If he suddenly felt a desire to kill, and couldn't hold it back…?

"We're heading out, now," Takeru said. "Stay quiet and close to me, I'll make sure we aren't seen."

And Yakata nodded, his mind buzzing with anxiety.

He was considering his skills. The things he'd learned from Sasuke. He was no match for Sasuke, surely, but Sasuke was far older and better-trained than he was.

But a common person, defenseless, untrained, would they be able to defend themselves against Yakata, if he ever lost control?

No, Yakata would never lose control, never, he didn't want to hurt people, he just wanted to be left alone.

It was an intense struggle to breathe slowly as he followed Takeru. Even in focusing his concentration, on keeping the breaths even and deep, he wanted to hyperventilate, to run home, alone, so they wouldn't catch him, because this wasn't his fault, but it _was_, because he was Itachi, he _was _Itachi, they could still blame him for those things that he'd done, because he _had _done them, and he could still _do_ things like that, but-

"Stay _quiet,_" Takeru hissed. Yakata, who had started to whimper slightly with the flood of thoughts, bit his lip, hard. An iron echo of a taste covered his tongue from the blood.

He managed to stay quiet the rest of the way, but he kept his hands locked at his chest. Some small, high, paranoid little thought told him that he couldn't trust them.

Takeru, through a route of back alleys and shadow-covered roads, led him to a forest, surrounded by a high, chain-linked fence. They stopped at a gate; it was locked with chains and a padlock.

"This is where I leave you," Takeru said. He took the lock from the gate and held a finger up to its bottom, and with a shock of blue chakra like a static discharge, the lock clicked and opened. He began to work on removing the chains. "It's a nature reserve. If all goes as planned, I should have misled them enough with our copies to get them on the wrong trail, but putting you here won't hurt our chances. There's no chance you'll be found in here, it's _completely_ safe."

The trees beyond the gate were tall, with thick trunks; moss dripped from branches where it did not creep over bark. Strange birds called out from within. "H-h-how long are you gonna, gonna keep me in here…?" Yakata said.

"A couple of hours. I'll come back around sunset so we can leave under cover of night."

"B-but that's, that's, that's a _long_ time from now…!"

Takeru swiveled around, opening the gate as he went. "Don't you want to get home safely? You don't want them to catch you, do you?"

"No, no, I don't, I don't, please, no…!" Yakata shook his head frantically.

"Then trust me. You'll be fine in a forest alone for an afternoon, won't you? You're more than competent. Especially considering who you are."

Yakata sucked in a breath to offset the swell of dread that rolled into his stomach.

"O-okay," he said.

Takeru smiled, slightly. "Right, then. In you go. You'd do well to get yourself in further, there's a better chance they'll see you if you keep near the fence. I'll be back before you know it."

"B-but how will you, how will you find me…?"

"I have my ways."

And before Yakata could say anything in return, the gate was closed behind him.

Yakata was alone.

(And Takeru was, as well. Though his afternoon, he was sure, would be far more pleasant than the boy's.)


	85. Urban Legend

_Chapter 85 - Urban Legend_

* * *

Yakata gathered his courage with a swallow, shifted his bag over his shoulders, and went into the forest.

It wasn't like any forest he'd been in before. The trees were enormous; tall, with thick trunks and an even thicker canopy that let barely any sunlight through. The ground was damp, almost springy. Yakata tread carefully, unable to keep his eyes on any one thing for more than a few seconds. The air was thick with humidity and sounds both distant and near, and it tasted like moss and ozone.

The hyper-observation was all Yakata could fall back on so as not to panic. He was unfamiliar with the area, of course, but focusing on his surroundings helped in keeping his more distressing thoughts away.

Though they inevitably crept in anyways, and horribly so.

After all, why was it he was in this strange, dark place to begin with? Because people wanted to kill him, because of things that he had done in another life, with another name.

Even with every protestation rising in his throat, Yakata kept quiet. Though he would occasionally clutch his arms and squeeze himself, tightly, when his fear began to get the best of him.

_Come on, you can't get scared now, you have to keep walking, you have to keep walking or they'll find you._

Sometimes this did nothing to help his fear, but at least it kept him somewhat distracted at the same time.

He managed, after a while, to find a river, which he supposed was as good a landmark as any to follow, so he wouldn't get lost. Following a riverbank was easy, and there were rocks here and there that Yakata felt he could recognize if he ever needed to turn back. Plus, the river would probably lead to the fence, so…

But he didn't want to go near the fence, not at all. They would find him if he did that. They would take him away, put him away somewhere, or kill him.

_But I don't want to hurt anyone, I don't, I don't, I don't_, Yakata thought, desperately, to himself. Even though he doubted it would be accepted as truth by the people out to get him. Not if he was no different than Itachi, not with a record like his.

He still didn't understand how in the world such a thing was even possible. Bringing a person back from the dead? That was something that could only be done in books, right? Yakata was just a normal kid, he wasn't reborn…

But unable to really help himself, Yakata sat down against a tree stump after walking along the riverbank for a good long while, and he took out the photograph that Sasuke had given him, all those weeks ago. The photograph of what he had once considered distant family.

Nothing had changed in the picture, naturally; there was still the stern-faced man that was Sasuke's father, Fugaku; his gently-smiling mother, Mikoto; a younger, happier Sasuke.

And there: Itachi.

The resemblance, however, was no longer a fascinating coincidence to Yakata, as it once had seemed. It was exact, and it was terrifying.

That was Yakata's face. Yes, his hair was longer, tied back with the bangs loose; yes, his expression was stern, serious, almost more mature than Fugaku's own thin-lipped stare.

But that was _his_ face.

Yakata hastily stuffed the photograph back into his bag and closed it tightly, looking around, as if expecting someone to have been spying on him.

His heart was racing, far more intensely, now, than the quickened thump it had possessed before. Why, exactly, the photograph was so convincing, he couldn't quite tell. Perhaps all it took was a re-examination of the evidence, now that the façade had been ripped away—and, truly, Yakata's mind began wandering in other places after seeing that face, and making that connection of ownership.

All those skills he had, were they because he was naturally talented, like he had been in the past? Or were they abilities, long-forgotten, returning with Sasuke's training?

Would he get other memories back? Stronger memories?

(Memories of having killed all those people.)

Yakata shook his head, as if he could get the thoughts out of his mind like water from his hair. It didn't help much.

So he began to walk, to try and focus on his surroundings—_anything_ other than himself.

No, no, no, that was impossible, that was _impossible_, like he was going to suddenly have memories of things he'd never done before. It hadn't happened yet, so why would it happen now?

…but then again, why _wouldn't_ it happen? This was impossible to begin with. But it was true. And people were trying to kill him for it.

Yakata began to walk faster, but he found himself staring at his hands, now, rather than the trees around him.

But he wasn't a killer, he _wasn't, _he didn't want to hurt _anyone_, not _ever_, he was just scared and he wanted to go home, where it was safe, where there weren't people who wanted to hurt him, where his Mama and his Papa (and other people that hated him for better reasons) lived.

He wanted to go home. And he was going home, he just had to trust Takeru, trust Sasuke, who wanted to protect him, who didn't want him to turn out like he had been before, who was concerned about a corruption of the soul or the mind or-!

But it had set in when Nadeshiko was eight years old and she had been trained for years and Yakata was ten and he had only started training but-!

But he didn't _want_ to hurt people, he just-!

And suddenly there was a strange, wet, clicking noise, coming from above Yakata's head, and it made his knees lock in place as he whipped his head around in trying to find it.

It was a centipede. An enormous one, with mandibles like dinner knives and fiercely wiggling antennae.

Yakata _ran._

The centipede gave chase. It did not seem to be as fast as Yakata, but what it lacked in speed it made up for in fierceness and tenacity. Minutes that felt like hours passed and Yakata's legs were starting to burn, but the insect was still mere feet behind him, lashing out for a bite every now and then.

He was too scared to think, too scared to wonder what sort of nature reserve would house a creature such as this, too scared to even consider which direction to take. He knew only to run.

And then he tripped—perhaps because he truly hadn't seen the root, or perhaps because his legs, in their fatigue, had grown clumsy and more prone to such things. But he fell to the ground, hard, and was barely able to scoot himself against the trunk of the tree to avoid the centipede's approach.

He was unarmed, gasping for breath.

When a thought occurred to him, from strange, higher reaches in his brain: _Use fire._

His hands came together and apart in whip-fast movements, and a sun-hot sensation in his chest began to grow and move into his mouth.

The blast that resulted enveloped the centipede in flame, and it unleashed an almost otherworldly screech as its exoskeleton popped and fizzed from the heat. It was with far greater speed that the creature retreated, still smoldering, leaving nothing but a horrible smell like burning hair.

Yakata pressed his back against the bark as he regained his breath, listening to the sound of the centipede's rampage receding.

It was then that the questions came, though the first question was a new one.

_How did I know to do that? To use fire like that?_

The logical answer, the one that he told himself to keep his mind from seizing with anxiety, was that it was only natural to use fire against bugs, who scuttled away from under the magnifying glasses of other boys, that it was a skill he had learned from Sasuke and had no reason to mistrust.

Yes, that was logical, that made sense, it was _perfectly all right._

The quickness of his thinking disturbed him enough to keep his self-comfort from growing in much magnitude, and to ensure that his hands would not stop shaking, no matter how hard he tried to clench them into fists, or to his arms.

He managed to stand, after a long while. He felt well up to running again, but continued walking through the woods, conserving his energy, determined to find a safer place, one without giant devil-bugs. He'd lost sight of the river, and considered trying to find it again—but considering that was where he had found the giant centipede, he didn't know how safe it would be.

Besides, what did it matter if he got lost? Takeru would find him, eventually.

…eventually.

Looking up, it was hard to tell what the time of day was. The sky was metal-gray, and growing darker, from what snatches of it Yakata could see through the leaves. It looked like rain, and soon. Surely there were rocks or hollowed-out trees to be found for him to stay in, for when the rain eventually came. This only made him walk faster, eyes wildly scanning the horizon, both near and far, for shelter.

It began to rain long before that. The canopy managed to collect a fair bit of water and keep it from the falling, but still it fell, thick and inconsistent, to the ground, and within a few minutes, Yakata was utterly soaked. Wiping his face every few seconds to keep his eyes clear, he realized that the rain would probably keep the thicker-shelled bugs—if they were around—away from him.

He was momentarily caught by a mental image of giant, man-eating earthworms coming out of the ground to swallow him whole. He managed to dispel the thoughts with relative ease, compared to his other worries.

The rain also meant that whatever shelter he managed to find would also probably be occupied, but that was a chance he had to take. He didn't want to wander about in the rain for hours and get a cold from it.

Though he supposed it would be better to be home with a cold than dead and dry. He continued on.

Shelter came in the form of a small, rocky overhang. It wasn't much, but it was dry, and much preferable to the caves that Yakata had managed to find before it, which smelled bad and had the sounds of things scratching and crawling echoing from far inside. Though by the time Yakata found his patch of dryness, his clothes were soaked through and clinging to his skin, and very heavy. He was shivering, now, half out of fear, and half from the chill.

Yakata sat down, deciding to wait out the rain and warm up as much as he could. He took off his pants and shirt and laid them on the rock wall beside him to dry, and held his knees and waited and tried not to think, leaning against his pack for support.

(A voice inside his head, much like the voice that had destroyed the centipede, was telling him to make a fire with his breath to get warm.)

(Yakata refused.)

Eventually, his skin dried, which brought with it a minimal comfort, though the bandages on his face and arms were soaked to the point of uselessness, so he removed them. Being dry was preferable to the minor sting of his exposed skin. He also took some of the clothes from his pack that had remained dry—folded neatly by Ino, he noticed, with a twist of his stomach—and put them on, which helped a little more.

The comfort was small, but enough for him to nestle into.

Like the cold, it covered his mind like a blanket, and kept him from thinking.

About his true identity.

About Nadeshiko.

About his old family.

About Sasuke.

About all the people he had killed.

About his dangerous mind and fingers.

About when Takeru would find him, and how.

That last thought was benign enough to obsessively polish, so Yakata held fast to it, assuring himself that Takeru would find him (somehow), that he'd go home (somehow), that everything would be okay (somehow).

He fell asleep.

He woke three times in the passing hours. The first was when he found himself suddenly unable to breathe, which was because his head had slumped onto his legs, and his chest had constricted as a result. He resituated himself so that he was laying against his pack, which had dried some in the time passing, but the unbearable coldness was harder to ignore, seeming to constrict him now, rather than merely blanket him.

Still, he pushed past it, and drifted away to avoid thought and worry.

The second awakening occurred when he thought he felt something slithering over his arm and face, and wildly flailed his hands around in an effort to find what had found him. But no centipede nor snake was present, just Yakata and his harshly-beating heart, laced with paranoia.

He breathed more slowly, this time, arms holding shivering knees, cold holding shivering body.

The third time he awoke to a cold-wet-hot sensation on his shoulder, and turned over in waking to find a bear in his face.

Yakata bolted against the rock wall, knocking over his pack in the process. It was, by then, very dark, almost night-like. But the outline of the bear was astonishingly clear, as if Yakata could see every hair on its back, every wrinkle in its young face. And even with that, its stink was the most noticeable; a cave-stink.

There seemed to be only one of them, thank goodness.

But that was still one too many.

The bear, sniffing, almost gurgling curiously, was loping towards him.

Yakata stumbled to his feet and ran.

He did not even look back to see if the bear would follow, or if it would remain behind, distracted by the stronger scents of his pack and drying clothes and discarded bandages.

The only thing that followed him, however, was the cold, which cloaked the thick raindrops that stung the skin on his chest and face like thrown, familiar stones. Thunder rumbled over the crackle of the rain, paired with flashes of light that threw everything into sharp, blinding color for seconds that stretched on for far too long in Yakata's mind, the shapes distorting and the colors growing saturated in the after-image.

Yakata's thoughts were clear but too quick for coherence.

The only constants were the rain, the hot tears on his burning eyes, and the unbearable desire for safety, for home.

"Help!"

(Home with his Mama and Papa.)

"Some, someone, please!"

(Home in the flower shop with Nadeshiko.)

"Takeru-san, where, where, where are you?"

(Home in the warm, dry arms of someone who cared.)

"Ta-Takeru-san!"

(Someone who didn't want to hurt him.)

"Please, suh-someone…!"

(Someone who didn't hate him.)

"_Help!"_

And someone came.

Though the trees came first.

The path, which had been, before then, muddy and twisting and dark but open, became congested with moving branches that stretched forth like arms, rather than swaying from the wind. This became even more apparent when Yakata tried to slow down and find another path, but was enveloped in the unnaturally flexible wood instead.

He struggled, trying to free his arms from the strange bindings and flee, but he was being turned around all the same to face the way he had come.

He tried to scream, and couldn't, his voice losing strength in his panic.

And finding himself turned around again, maneuvered by the forest, he saw a person coming out of the darkness towards him.

It was a tall person, with broad shoulders and very, very long dark hair that fell over their shoulders and dripped to their knees. They walked slowly, and the snake-like branches that lined the path and held Yakata still parted where they passed.

When they spoke, their voice was deep, like a man's, but their words were female and formal. The sound cut through the patter of the rain and settled deep into Yakata's ears.

"What are you doing in my forest, child?"

And as the bonds around his arms loosened, Yakata knew almost immediately what he was dealing with.

(But Sasuke had said that she didn't exist.)

(But Sasuke had lied about everything.)

"Puh-please, don't, don't, don't hurt me…!" he squeaked.

The Woman of the Woods—because surely she couldn't have been anything else—did not reply immediately. "I will not hurt you. Nothing in my forest will, if I decide it. Now, please, tell me why you are here. A show of bravery, perhaps?"

Yakata shook his head. "I was, I was, I was hiding, I'm supposed to, to, to go _home_ tonight, _please_, let me, let me _go_…!"

The Woman tilted her head, slightly. She was closer, now, and Yakata could see her face in the blue half-light. She had dark skin, the color of bark, and a face as mannish as her voice. She did not seem angry, though her expression was serious. "Hiding from what?"

"I, I can't, there are people trying to, to _hurt_ me, because of, of, of something I _did_, but I, but I _didn't_ do it, I swear, I didn't…" His hyperventilation turned into a sob. "_Please,_ I just, I just, I just wanna go _home_, I don't, I don't, I don't want to hurt anyone, I, I, I swear…!"

"What was it that they think you did?" the Woman asked.

Yakata could only gulp air in response, his chest hiccupping with fear.

The Woman then reached forward and cupped the side of his face with one of her enormous hands; her fingers reached well into his hair. She smelled like earth and metal and leaves. "Calm down, child. What have you done that has caused you to hide here?"

There was a strange, warm-cold sensation that flowed out from her palm and behind Yakata's eyes, and a great relaxed tiredness seeped into his limbs.

"You will not be harmed here," the Woman said.

"…I, I, I did something, some, something bad, I, I don't even _remember_ doing it, I, I don't even think you could say I even _did_ it, but…" Yakata gulped, his shoulders seizing up again with anxiety. "Oh, _please, _I, I just want to go _home,_ just, just let me _go, please_…"

"Hush, hush, I will not make you say any more." The Woman's hand drifted to his chin, forcing his gaze upon her face, with its dark, deep-set eyes and brows. She looked very suddenly surprised, though only slightly. "…what is your name, child?"

"Ho-Ho-Ho-Honbo Yakata."

"…really? You are not an Uchiha?"

Yakata's first instinct was to shake his head and he followed it despite the windy rush of thoughts that followed—_but aren't you but you're Itachi but you're but you're-_

"…pardon me, then. I have known far too many Uchiha, I suppose," the Woman replied, and her sharply-carved face softened. Her hair was sticking to her cheekbones. "There is a fair bit of a family resemblance, especially in the eyes."

Yakata sniffed again, trying to squeeze his fear into the bottom of his stomach. The thunder rumbled.

"Regardless of who you are or what you have or have not done, Yakata-kun, this is no place for a child to be hiding," the Woman continued, taking her hand off of his face. "You must leave."

"Oh, I'll, I'll leave right, right, right away, I'll, just, just please don't kill me, _please_," Yakata said.

The Woman shook her head, paired with a fatherly smile. "That is the last thing I would do. Relax, child. When you wake up, you will be somewhere far safer."

And before Yakata could do anything further, she had her rough hand on the side of his face again, and that strange sensation was behind his eyes, making everything feel heavy, his arms, and especially his eyes.

The last thing he remembered were his knees giving out, and something catching him and carrying him up and through the rain.

And then his dream ended, and he woke up.


	86. Written Confession

_Chapter 86 - Written Confession_

* * *

"…ritsu Hashiki-san, sir, she's… … brought him to us…"

"Ah, thank... …me what happened… …found him, ma'am…?"

Yakata slowly awoke to two voices conversing near him.

The closer, louder voice, was husky, full of smoke and concern. "Well, I found him on my way home from work. I work in the metalworking district, you know. And I pass by the forest and a bunch of other training grounds on the way home."

"Uh-huh."

"And I just saw him lying on the ground there in front of the security fence around the forest, and it was all torn to bits."

Fence…? What fence…?

"And of course I was _worried, _what with the weather and the shape that _fence_ was in, like an _animal_ had ripped it apart."

The fence around the forest…?

"Not to mention that the poor thing was all scratched _up_. So I picked him up and went to the nearest guard post to get help. I figured something had happened."

"Yeah, I saw that."

What had happened…?

"Thank goodness he wasn't too badly hurt, though, just a little roughed-up, that medic said. And healing from those burns _besides, _poor thing."

"Yeah, yeah. Did you see anyone that might have left him there or torn the fence apart? That was some damage, y'know." Ah, that was possibly Naruto, raspy and bright.

But what had _happened?_

"Surely not that boy, he's so small."

Where was he? How had he gotten out of the forest…?

His eyes were still far too heavy to open. He felt dry blankets on his body, bandages around his limbs, and a hard surface beneath him.

"Yeah, I think we can rule him out."

He couldn't remember how he had gotten there.

Dreamy half-memories throbbed in his temples.

Surely not…?

"Whoever's responsible, I'd like to give them a nice smack on the bottom," the husky voice continued. "Leaving a child alone in the Forest of Death, can you imagine? No child goes in there _willingly, _unless they're particularly foolish, and I doubt such a gentle face would have that temperament."

How had he gotten out of the forest?

"Well he wasn't supposed to be anywhere near that forest, ma'am, believe me, y'know. And as soon as we figure some things out, I got some people I need to talk to about this."

Yakata started to moan, lightly, trying to move his body.

How had he gotten out?

"Ah, is he waking up?" the husky voice said. There was a sound of a shifting chair. "Hey, are you okay there?"

Yakata managed to open his eyes and saw, indeed, Naruto sitting on a folding chair, and a taller, rougher-looking person, whom he supposed was a woman from all the "ma'am" talk. She looked far more worried than Naruto did, and had dark, wet hair tied back with a white handkerchief.

"Wh-where, where am I…?" Yakata managed to croak out.

"You're in a guard station, Yakata-kun. Senritsu-san here found you and brought you here," Naruto said, now standing. "Do you remember what happened to you?"

What _had_ happened?

He was in the forest to hide, there were people trying to kill him, and then in his panic—something about a centipede, and bears, and a fleeing panic...

"Yakata-kun?"

His breath was quickening. He couldn't remember anything clearly, and everything he did remember was falling through his mind like water in cupped hands.

Something had destroyed the fence.

Yakata had wanted to get out.

"Yakata-kun, are you okay?"

And he remembered the centipede clearly.

Surely his hands were also as powerful.

"I, I, I, I'm sorry, I, I didn't mean to, to destroy the fence, I, I really didn't, I'm sorry…!"

After all, he had killed his family at thirteen another lifetime ago, hadn't he?

(Had Itachi remembered doing that too? Or had he also blacked out, unable to control his own actions?)

"Yakata-kun, hold on, _you_ did that to the fence…?" Naruto said, coming closer.

(Or maybe his body had moved of its own volition, the mind aware of it the entire time, but unable to do a thing to stop it.)

Yakata pressed himself against the wall next to the cot, shoving the blanket to his feet. "I just, I just needed to get out, I was, I was scared, I'm so sorry…!"

"Yakata-kun, please, calm down, it's okay," Naruto said.

"I, I, I, I swear, I didn't want to, to hurt anyone, I don't, I don't know what happened, oh _please_ don't kill me I'm, I'm _sorry…!_"

A curious, nervous smile snapped over Naruto's face. "Yakata-kun, _nobody's_ going to kill you, y'know. Now let's calm you down, okay?"

And he reached out and touched Yakata's forehead with a warm hand, Yakata flinching and shivering at the movement, when a strange, familiar sensation trickled behind his eyeballs and relaxed his limbs.

"You're _safe_ now, and nobody's gonna hurt you," Naruto continued, with a quiet, calm voice, as he removed his hand. "I promise. Now can you tell me what you were doing in the forest in the first place?"

Yakata gulped heavily, and looked around the room as he tried to gather his thoughts.

The woman in the room, the only other person beyond Naruto and two green-vested people in the corner, was bent over slightly, blinking slowly. She had a heavy, somewhat masculine jaw that did not match her angular, gentle eyes. Her clothes looked well-worn and rural, and had many soot stains on them.

She seemed common enough—she had found him and brought him to safety, hadn't she?—and Naruto was looking out for him too, or so Takeru had said, but the two in the corner…

Their eyes were narrowed, mouths stretched in appraisal.

What would be safe to say…?

"Ta-Takeru-san said that, that he wanted me to, to, to wait there while he, while he made sure it was safe to… to proceed," Yakata said, trying not to look at the assassins in the corner. "He said he, he would come back to, to, to pick me up after only a few… a few hours…"

"_Takeru-kun_ left you there?" Naruto said.

Yakata nodded.

Naruto's face lost a great deal of its warmth. "What in the world for?"

"A horrible reason, I'm sure," the woman said, shaking her head. "_Really_."

"Senritsu-san, please," Naruto said. "He said it was for safety?"

Yakata nodded, again.

"…then I think I have some questions for Takeru-kun," Naruto said. "Yakata-kun, there is no reason you should have been left in that forest at all, y'know. Takeru-kun's job was to get you home safe and immediately, and I don't see how that helped."

"But, but, but he said-" The words slipped out before Yakata could reclaim them.

"Said what?" Naruto said.

The two guards at the door shifted their position.

"…that, that, that it _wasn't_ safe, that we could, could, that there were people who might get in… get in the way…"

Yakata averted his eyes, digging his chin deep into his chest. His hair was still slightly wet.

"Well that's… weird," Naruto said. "If there was anything out there that would make Takeru-kun hesitate then _I'd_ surely know about it, y'know…"

The relaxed feeling in Yakata's limbs was starting to fade. He started reaching for his knees.

"Well, again, I'm gonna be sure to ask Takeru-kun all about that," Naruto continued. "In the meantime, Yakata-kun, did anything happen to you in the forest? Are you hurt at all?"

He had his arms wrapped around his legs, now. "I, I, I don't know, it was, it was scary and it started to, to rain, I don't, I don't, I don't remember much…"

"Well, I don't blame you if some stuff's fuzzy," Naruto said. "And you said you don't remember how you got out?"

"…well I, I must have, must have… gotten out somehow…" Yakata mumbled, softly.

And before he could stop himself, he started to cry again. "I'm, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to do anything, I'm sorry, I really don't want to hurt anyone, I'm sorry, I, I promise, I don't, I promise I won't kill anyone, I promise, I'll leave, I'll leave all of you alone…"

"Yakata-kun, what are you _talking_ about?" Naruto said, leaning over to put a hand on his shoulder. "You didn't do _anything_, y'know, and why would you think you're going to _kill_ anyone?"

He was just being kind, wasn't he? Naruto knew who he was. Yakata didn't answer, just mumbling, again, through his sniffles, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…"

Because that always worked with everything else.

"It's okay, dear, I don't think you could hurt a fly," the woman said. "You have a good face. And I know a good face when I see one."

Yakata's shoulders hiccupped with another sniff.

"Well, we'll figure it out soon enough," Naruto said. "I'm gonna go out and see if I can talk to a few people about this, okay, Yakata-kun?"

"…can I, can I go home, please…?" Yakata asked.

"…as soon as we can manage, Yakata-kun, I promise," Naruto said. "Ah, Senritsu-san, now that he's awake, did you want to go home too…?"

The woman—Senritsu, apparently—shook her head. "No, I'm staying here until I know everything's all right. If that's okay with you?"

"Totally fine, y'know," Naruto replied. "I'll be back soon."

And he stood up and left the wooden-walled guard room, leaving Yakata alone with Senritsu and the two guards.

Somehow, he felt far safer than he thought he would have. Maybe it was her presence—they wouldn't attempt anything with a commoner woman in the room, surely? He didn't want to check their expressions to make sure.

But there was also something… soothing about her being there. It put Yakata in mind of when he was home with his own mother, or with Nadeshiko…

…just thinking about her, or any of the other people in that family, made him tense up and whimper slightly.

And suddenly, Senritsu's hand was on his shoulder, much like Naruto's had been. It was heavy and the fingers that touched the back of his neck were rough. "There, there. It's all right to be scared. There are enough critters in that forest to give a grown man nightmares for the rest've his life," she said. "But you're safe, now, okay?"

Yakata lowered his head instead of a nod he barely believed in.

"Your name's Yakata, isn't it? That's what Naruto-san said. I'm Hashiki. I actually have a son about your age," she added, fondly. "His name's Go'on. Gonna be in the chuunin exams this year! M'so proud of him."

Yakata lowered his head further, resting his face against his folded arms.

"…well, it seems small talk won't help here," she said, with an embarrassed chuckle in her deep voice. "Sorry about that."

"…it, it, it's okay…" Yakata said.

There was a mild quiet, filled with the drumming of the rain on the guard station's roof.

"You know what," Hashiki said, leaning in closer. Long wisps of wet hair were coming out of her handkerchief and hanging limply from her head. "I don't really think you ripped that fence open. No child your size could do that."

Yakata's shoulder rose, as did his hands up his arms. He didn't answer, but thought, _But you don't know who I am._

"You know, if you don't really remember what happened to you, you might've been spirited off by the Woman of the Woods."

He looked up, at that, but only slightly. "Oh, re-really…"

"Yeah! She's a forest guardian, see. Been around almost as long as Konoha, m'sure. My papa told me 'bout her when I was a just a little girl, anyways. She takes care of lost people, if they're innocent souls."

"And, and, and what if they're not innocent…" Yakata said, lowly.

"Well, I hear they get sealed into trees for a while, 'til they learn their lesson," Hashiki said, rather a bit too cheerfully. "But that's obviously not happened to you."

Yakata felt uncomfortable warmth in his cheeks, and lowered his head again. "O-oh…"

"Mind, it's prob'ly just a legend," Hashiki said, carefully, after a while. "But, hey, it's nice to think that someone was looking out for you, right?"

"I, I suppose…" Yakata said, truly doubting it.

"…either way, I still don't think you tore that fence up," Hashiki said, leaning back in her chair and crossing a leg over her knee. "My professional opinion as a metalworker says that it's highly unlikely for someone your size to do that much damage."

Again, Yakata did not answer.

So Hashiki sighed and put her hand on his shoulder again, with a motherly smile. "Don't worry, kid. Everything will be all right. Hokage-sama will get you home, at any rate. He'll figure out what went wrong."

Home. That was the only thing Yakata could focus on.

After all, if he was home, then, conspiracy or no conspiracy, he'd at least have less to worry about. Only critical-eyed neighbors and pushy once-classmates.

(That is, if he could keep his thoughts of corruption down, like food in a restless stomach.)

(The thought of harming even them.)

Yakata dug his forehead into his knees and battled with his mind until Naruto came back, Hashiki keeping gentle watch the entire time, stroking his shoulder with her calloused and burned thumb.

* * *

Naruto, meanwhile, was angry. Very angry.

Something had gone wrong here, and rage coated his chest in a sheet of prickly warmth.

Takeru was too clever and too skilled and too proud to allow anything to get between him and the completion of a mission. Naruto had known this about him since he was small. And it was unthinkable for an abduction to have occurred, not on Takeru's watch.

Something had gone wrong here, and he was going to find out for himself, and quickly.

Naruto exited the guard station where Yakata was being kept and made his way to the Manor, brushing past people with a fixed expression, and finally arriving at the roof. The rain had not let up at all, but he hardly felt it.

His skin began to glow with yellow chakra-fire, filling his limbs with lightness and his eyes with bright spangles. The city below him unfolded into a sea of stars, and each star was a person.

And one of those stars was Takeru.

Finding him was easy enough. He was nestled comfortably in one of those pridefully obscure lounge-cafes, his chakra oil-smooth. He had no worries, clearly.

Naruto did not put out his fire as he went out to meet him there. He wanted to be noticed.

And he was. His light gleamed off the windows of the lounge as he landed, catching the rain on the glass. Though he faded gradually upon entering, ignoring the flustered greeting of the receptionist as he walked with purpose to where the boy was reading—or had been reading—in a cushy green armchair.

"Hello, Takeru-kun," Naruto said, without smiling. "Would you mind comin' with me for a moment?"

To anyone else, Takeru would have appeared only mildly surprised, a book lying open in his hands.

But Naruto felt the metallic green spine of panic that appeared as soon as he had spoken.

Still, Takeru replied casually, "Why of course, Hokage-sama. What do you need to talk to me about?"

"A mission you're s'pposed to be on." Naruto jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "We can talk about it in my office."

Takeru closed the book over his finger. "Naruto-san, I can _honestly_ explain-"

"We'll talk about it in my office, okay?" Naruto said.

The gentle force in his voice made Takeru close the book and return it to a handsome wooden shelf nearby. He drained a cup of tea from a table by his chair before taking his umbrella and leaving with Naruto.

He made only one attempt at conversation on the way over. "Naruto-san, if this is about Yakata-kun, I can explain, honestly."

"Later, Takeru."

And Takeru fell silent, quivering with yellow resentment and fear.

The walk back did not feel long, despite the rain and the tension. And Naruto made Takeru leave his umbrella in the lobby of the Manor before continuing, alone, to his office.

Naruto did not sit down. "So, Takeru-kun," he said, closing the door behind him. "Why aren't you taking Yakata-kun home? I thought I sent out the mission statement yesterday, y'know. Did you not get it?"

"Oh, I got it," Takeru replied.

"Then please, explain. I want an honest answer, y'know."

Naruto could feel the insincerity emanating from him like chilled air long before Takeru even opened his mouth. But he let the words come out. He wanted to hear them.

"Well, I have to admit my laziness got the better of me, here. I didn't feel like it, so I passed the job on to someone else."

"Someone else, huh."

"Mm. It's been hard, constantly stuck in the house on guard duty. I wanted some fresh _air_. The job was easy enough, anyways, so-"

"I said I wanted the truth, Takeru," Naruto said. "You didn't give me it. Why didn't you take Yakata-kun home today?"

Takeru blinked, thoughtfully, a hum of nervousness behind him, like a rattlesnake's rattle.

"I'm merely delaying our trip out," he said.

"Then where is Yakata-kun now?" There was no need to ask why.

"I left him in the library," Takeru said. "Figured he deserved at least one trip there while he was here."

"No lies, Takeru. Not even half-ones."

"Fine, then." And Takeru's eyes grew hard and narrow. Familiar. "I left him in a forest."

"Which one, Takeru."

"Just a forest. One of the parks."

"The Forest of Death?"

No change in expression, but a cold sheet of fear and hatred suddenly descended between them.

"We found him, Takeru. About an hour ago, y'know," Naruto continued.

"Dead?" The hush in Takeru's voice could have been fear, but not of the concerned sort.

"No. He was collapsed outside of the fence after tearing it open to get out, he was that scared. Why did you leave him there, Takeru?"

Takeru considered this with an expression on his face like a shogi player contemplating his next move, eyes lowered, mouth thinned thoughtfully.

He finally looked up. "The entire truth, that's what you want, isn't it?" Naruto nodded. "Well, then, I suppose I'll have to stoop to full disclosure, then. That boy, Yakata, was a menace in my family, and I wanted to give him a taste of fear so he wouldn't come back _willingly_."

Naruto jumped on the first word to snag him. "A menace?"

"You should have seen how he was affecting my father, Naruto-san. And you _know_ who that boy really is, surely. Oh, I had a feeling for a while, who he was. I heard my father explain it to my mother the night he arrived. Unthinkable, I thought, but I was proven wrong." He began pacing the office with smooth, ball-bearing steps. "He was driving my father insane. Giving him delusions. Impeding his judgment. He hasn't been able to think clearly for weeks."

Takeru swiveled around near Naruto's desk, prepared with his next statement before Naruto could even reply. "You don't _live_ in my house, Naruto-san. You don't even speak with my father every day any more. So you are not a worthy judge on his behavior. But I am. I'm his _son_, after all."

"I know, Takeru," Naruto said.

"So, since the responsibility of bringing Yakata back to his place of origin fell so _neatly_ into my lap, I decided to put forth some preventative measures of my own. On the way out, I'd leave him in the Forest of Death—say I just wanted him to wait while I scouted the way out—and come back a few hours later, just enough time to give him a good scare. Nothing serious. It'd keep him from wanting to come back."

"Takeru, that place is used in chuunin exams. Yakata-kun is an untrained civilian, y'know."

"An untrained civilian that managed to rip open a chain-link fence on his own. Who also happens to be a genetic duplicate of my very talented late uncle, as we both know. And _besides_, Naruto-san, there hasn't been a death in that forest for thirty years. I knew it was safe."

Takeru began pacing again, like a defense attorney making his closing statement. "No harm has come to him, anyways, correct? I would have picked him up and brought him home once I'd finished that book I was reading when you interrupted me. Nobody would have known had he not… escaped like that." He stopped, his point poised on his tongue. "Besides, he doesn't belong here. Not in this village, nor in my family."

The expression on his face was quietly triumphant, and slim.

(Sasuke's expressions of victory were quite sharper and flashier, not this smooth, muted expression.)

Naruto, however, had long ago learned to stack away his rasher emotions and keep the pathway to good decisions open.

"Why don't we ask your dad if he agrees?" Naruto said.

Takeru's smile frayed at the edges. "He won't care either way. He's trying to forget that boy already. I know my father. He throws away things he's ruined or can't have. You know this, don't you?"

"You're going to come with me back to your house," Naruto said, "and we're gonna explain to your dad what happened. C'mon, let's go."

He opened the door and tilted his head back.

"Now, Takeru."

Takeru forgot his umbrella on the way out, though his stride remained princely, strong, confident.

The rain continued.

Ino, who answered the door, looked confused and scared upon receiving them. The air smelled like half-cooked dinner. "Naruto? What's going on?"

"Hi, Ino. Takeru and I gotta talk to Sasuke, it okay if we come in?"

"Well, of course, I mean he just got home, but—what happened?" In a smaller voice, as she processed things in speaking, "Where's Yakata-kun?"

"He's recuperating in a guard station, an' he might get moved to the hospital later if he doesn't get better soon," Naruto said. He took his shoes off standing up. Takeru didn't.

"What? What happened? Takeru?" Ino said.

"That's what we gotta talk to Sasuke about, y'know," Naruto said, and stepped out of the foyer. "Where is he, Ino?"

"In the—living room, should I be there?"

"Listen in if y'want, but… well, it might get nasty, so be careful," Naruto said.

(He was far franker than Sakura, though he understood their situation far less than she did.)

Sasuke was sitting on the couch with his arms crossed, staring at a wall. Though his eyes darted sideways as Naruto slid the door to the living room open.

"Hey, Sasuke. We gotta talk," he said.

Sasuke didn't say anything.

"Actually, it's more Takeru who's gotta talk with you."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. The two intruders joined him on the couch, on the other arm.

"Well, what is it," Sasuke finally said, in a toneless growl.

"Takeru, why don't you tell him," Naruto said. He settled into a comfortable sit, with his forearms on his knees.

Takeru's eyes slid from one side to the other.

(This was a challenge, and he knew it. No cream-cautious half-truths, not with Naruto there.)

"I failed in my mission of bringing Yakata-kun home," he said, "because I made the decision to punish him before we departed."

"Punish him." Sasuke said. An invisible cat's tail of annoyance swished behind him in whip-fast movements.

"I thought to leave him for a spell alone in the… Forest of Death. I knew there was no danger. I just wanted to scare him a little," Takeru said.

"Why," Sasuke said. Swish.

"Why, what, Father? Why did I leave him in the Forest or-"

"Why was he punished." Swish.

"Well, I didn't think it was… healthy for him to want to come back. Not here. So I wanted to give him a good reason not to return."

Sasuke's arms were still crossed. "What about Yakata being here is unhealthy, Takeru."

"I think your mood is enough evidence, Father. Look at how stressed you are. It's all because of him, isn't it?" He spoke carefully, each phrase like a clack on the chessboard. "Plus all this unneeded psychological baggage between you and your brother-"

"Takeru," Sasuke said. "You're speaking out of turn."

"Naruto-san gave me permission to speak, Father. Also, didn't you ask me a question? I had to answer."

Naruto remained silent, impartial, observing as the simmering moods collided.

(Waiting on Takeru's wager.)

(A sick feeling in his stomach telling him that he was going to lose.)

(That Sasuke wouldn't do anything.)

"You need to recover, Father. And I didn't think it would be wise to have the risk of that boy coming _back_ left intact before we left. I don't wish any actual _harm_ on him, why, not at all. But I do want _you_ feeling better."

"What gives you," Sasuke replied, "any right to choose what's best for me. I am your father, and you're not even an adult."

"Your behavior's been irrational lately, Father. Because of the boy. And," Takeru added, "didn't you always tell me never to judge a person on their age? Skill and cleverness come at any year."

Sasuke's fists clenched.

"Leave me alone," he said, "and do not show me this level of disrespect again. Go."

Takeru got up without hesitation. And Naruto followed, leaving only a sad, disappointed glance behind him.

"You are suspended from missions indefinitely for this, Takeru," he said, as he put on his shoes. "Any further punishment will be decided by your father and the Council."

"You're truly merciful, Hokage-sama," Takeru replied, with a parody of a humble smirk.

Naruto left before his disgust could grow any further, consoling himself in the fact that other people would probably get angry about this, if he told them.

(And Takeru polished his small trophy in his mind.)

(Even if he weren't his father's favorite, he still would have gotten away cleanly.)


	87. True Propaganda

_Chapter 87 - True Propaganda_

* * *

There was anger indeed over Takeru's actions, but because of the way that the information had spread, the reactions were splintered and uneven.

Yakata himself was still a shivering wreck when Naruto returned to the guard station, so it was decided that he was to be moved to the hospital until Naruto could find a substitute for his chaperone. Senritsu Hashiki expressed an interest in following them, but ultimately decided not to.

"I have to tend to my boy," she said. "Poor thing's been far too alone lately."

"Remember, there's always someone lookin' out for you," she whispered to Yakata, in leaving. "Never forget that."

Yakata clung tightly to Naruto's arm on the journey over, avoiding the eyes of the chuunin that flanked them. Since the rest of his clothes had been left behind in the forest, Naruto had lent him his jacket, which hung over him, orange and overlarge, like an extension of his arm.

(Naruto, Yakata had figured in waiting, was strong enough to fight back if he lost control. Naruto wouldn't hurt him otherwise.)

(Though something in him struggled to get away from his radiated kindness. Holding onto him was an effort in and of itself.)

(Even though Naruto was a good person.)

(…wasn't he?)

Sakura was notified next, and her anger was coffee-hot and steaming.

"That—that little _asshole!_" Her shoulders tensed up. "Why would he do that?"

"He thought that Yakata-kun was a bad influence on Sasuke, so he didn't want him coming back."

"That…" Sakura made a disgusted noise in her throat, disgust both at her slight agreement and his actions. "Naruto, that's horrible. And Sasuke didn't do _anything?_"

"Well, he was _mad_, all right. That was undeniable, I could _feel_ it," Naruto said. "But he's just… too overloaded to do much, I think, y'know. Got a lot on his plate. I mean, this, an' then Inou-kun an' Karai-chan are both in the chuunin exams next week…"

"…yes, that is a lot to deal with, goodness," Sakura said. "But still." She exhale-laughed, after a while. "Can't believe I'm actually _wanting_ Sasuke to punish someone for once…"

Naruto laughed awkwardly, in reply.

Sakura cleared her throat. "So is Yakata-kun okay?"

"Physically, yeah. But I think he's kinda worse for wear, emotion-wise, y'know. He's convinced he's gonna hurt someone, but I dunno why."

"Hurt someone…?" Sakura said.

"Well, he sorta tore open the fence around the forest by himself to get out, prob'ly in a panic. An' he doesn't remember doing it, so he's got this… idea that he'll black out and lose control again. Or somethin', y'know."

"Poor _thing_," Sakura said.

(Hiding her quiet, shared amazement at the boy's strength.)

"So I'm gonna see if I can get someone else to get him up there. Someone without beef," Naruto said. "I'm also thinkin' of telling Karin-san what happened."

"Oh, don't," Sakura said, almost immediately.

Naruto paused. "Why's that?"

"…she's horribly stressed out right now, what with everything that's happened these past few days, and it's bad for her health, and for her… baby."

The reality danced like a dust mote through Naruto's head, gently. "…I understand," he said. "But I still think it'd be fair to at least mention that Yakata-kun's not home just yet. Due to, um. Delays or something. I just think she should know, y'know?"

Sakura sighed. "I suppose that is fair… You want me to tell her?"

"Nah, I'll do it myself. I wanna see how Ooda-kun's doing too," Naruto said.

Sakura shifted herself, where she was standing at her desk. "Well, you know where they're staying."

And he did, so he went off after a chirping farewell.

Karin and the rest were in their usual room, Naruto found. The door was closed, as expected. Suigetsu's long-haired little boy was drawing on one of many loose sheets of white paper on the table by the window, with Ooda beside him, perhaps listening, perhaps only half-awake.

Naruto waved as he entered. "Heyo, guys! How's it going?"

Karin was writing in a notebook on the other side of the table, across from the boys. "Oh, Naruto. What are you doing here?"

Ooda dipped his head just a little lower as Naruto entered further. He had a blanket wrapped around him, still.

"Just checkin' in, y'know. Also to get you caught up on things."

"On Yakata?" Her reply was almost immediate.

Naruto's smile stretched uncomfortably, and he scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah, well, about him…"

"What happened? Is he okay?" Karin said. She wrapped her hand around her left thumb, inhaling sharply. "I've been trying not to track him, Suigetsu said not to, that it would be okay, but…"

"Karin-san, it's okay, he's okay," Naruto said, crossing over to her. "There's just been a change in plans, is all."

"What kinds-a changes." Suigetsu entered, his hands clenching cans of juice.

"Well, we had some trouble with Takeru-kun. He's not up to bringing Yakata-kun home, so we're looking for a replacement."

"What's the matter with him?" Suigetsu said. He put three of the cans on the table: one near Karin, two near the boys. His son snagged his own, light brown can and opened it with fizzing gusto.

"Conflict of interest," Naruto said, smiling to mask his discomfort at the waves of red-brown anxiety rolling out from behind Karin. "I mean, we thought about it some and figured that it might not be the best idea for someone so close to Sasuke to bring Yakata up, y'know."

"Huh, okay," Suigetsu said, opening his own can. "So who you got in mind?"

Karin, however, still had her hand around her thumb, her eyes shut tightly. "What happened to him, why is he so shaken?" she asked.

Naruto's smile developed a crack. "What, Yakata-kun? Karin-san, he's fine, we have him somewhere secure and Sasuke doesn't know where he is."

"But something happened to him. He's terrified. What happened?" Karin looked up, her eyes red and hard as ruby glass. "Do not lie to me, I'll know, okay."

Suigetsu was looking at him now, too, mouth poised on the lip of his can. Ooda, however, just shrunk further down into his blanket, away from the conversation.

"…there was an issue with the mission. Yakata was… misplaced, an' left unattended for a couple of hours in a forest near the city. We found him after he managed to make his way out, but he tuckered himself out an' we're keeping him for a night in the hospital while he recovers," Naruto said. "Obviously, we judged Takeru to be incompetent. That's all that happened, Karin-san. He's okay, now, y'know."

Karin's face looked almost close to tears, but her inner anxiety was far beyond the sobbing point. "So what are you going to do, then? Who's going to bring him home now?"

"We're gonna find that out, Karin-san, don't worry," Naruto replied, replacing his smile and putting a hand on her shoulder.

And as he did so a curious sensation radiated up his arm and up into his head and down into his toes. A ballet shoe-pink sensation, pulsing and flowing, gently, like ripples in a pool of water. He had felt it only minimally the day before, in trying to calm Karin down, but it had been flooded to near-obliteration by Karin's own fear and discomfort that day.

It felt small, gentle, warm, delicate. Almost familiar. Naruto faltered slightly.

"So who you got in mind to take Yakata home?" Suigetsu said, interrupting the sensation like a larger rock thrown into a pond.

"Oh, uh, nobody yet, but we'll figure it out," Naruto said.

"Cos if you ain't got anyone in mind I can do it for you," Suigetsu continued, with another casual swig of his can. "I mean, I know where he lives, and there's no way in hell I'd let anything happen to that kid."

"Suigetsu, you don't have to, okay…" Karin said, softly.

"Well, hey, if you're offering," Naruto said. "I mean, if you want compensation we'll-"

"I just want that kid home safe. I've had enough of this," Suigetsu interrupted. "I can have him there by tomorrow afternoon, that all right with you?"

"Well, that's—yeah, that's totally fine, y'know," Naruto said.

"Suigetsu," Karin said, almost in a whisper, "but he'll recognize you."

Suigetsu paused, slightly. "Eh, doesn't matter in the end. Or maybe I could wear one of them ANBU masks, if you think that'll be an issue."

"Hey, you don't have to do that, it's fine, y'know," Naruto said. "It might be more comfortable for him if he knows he's with someone that's got a face. If you want I can go tell Yakata-kun that you'll be bringing him home right now."

"I wanna come with you, if you're gonna do that," Suigetsu replied. "So he'll know it's me. I pass through town enough for him to know me somewhat."

Karin sighed deeply, folding one of her hands under her chin with a troubled expression. Suigetsu folded his face into a slight scowl in response.

"_Karin_. Hey." He crossed his arms, holding the top of his can with his fingers. "Would you rather have some nobody that didn't know him messing it up? I wanna bring him home safe, so we _both_ can rest easy, okay?"

She sighed again. "I know, just…"

"It'll be okay, c'mon. I won't mess up. I'm too good at this." His scowl stretched into a jagged smirk. "Now quit your worryin'. I won't cause trouble."

She didn't reply, crossing her arms in a childish sulk. But her worry was evaporating, smoothed over by familiar, sarcastic relief.

"So we heading out or what?" Suigetsu continued, returning to his can.

"Oh, yeah, sure. Yakata-kun's room is in the children's ward, that's what Sakura told me, y'know," Naruto said.

"Hey Daddy, can I come with?" Shingetsu had a slight, shiny mustache on his upper lip and an earnest expression on his face. Ooda still hadn't opened his can.

"No, you can't. You stay here with your mom," Suigetsu replied, "and your brother. You're always telling me you wanna spend more time with 'em, don't you?"

Shingetsu considered this with a pout that was much like Karin's. "Well, _yeah_… but I like goin' places with you, Daddy."

"Yeah, yeah, I know you do. But this is better for now, okay?"

Shingetsu glared back, so Suigetsu put his can on the table and crouched down to eye-height with the boy.

"You gotta take care of your mom and brother for me. Okay? They need you here."

Shingetsu's expression hadn't changed much, but his eyes had wandered to his hands.

"Shingetsu, listen to your father, okay?" Karin said, her head tilted forward.

"Oka-ay, okay, _okay_. I'll take good care of 'em. I'll be good. Promise." He looked up, and though his pout had vanished, a serious expression had replaced it. "You just gotta take care-a Yakata-niki too, okay? Cos I wanted to make sure he was okay too…"

"Shingetsu, he's not…" But the automatic words were recalled, and Suigetsu exhaled. "Okay, call it a deal. You take care of Mom and your big bro, and I'll take care of Yakata. Okay?"

Finally, Shingetsu smiled. "Deal!"

"Well that's that." Suigetsu picked up his can, slurped down the last of the drink, and tossed it expertly into the waste bin. Karin scoffed slightly and opened the can that he had brought her. "C'mon, don't wanna waste time."

Naruto mentally stumbled a little, having lost some focus during the exchange. "Oh, yeah, sure." His lips knotted together.

That beautiful, peaceful little ripple remained, like a sweet dream-melody in a song.

"Er, Karin-san? Can I ask you something?"

She looked up, mouth slightly open. "What is it?"

(But this was _their_ family.)

(He was just an assistant. That was all he was, and all he could ever be.)

"…never mind, I'll ask you later. C'mon, Suigetsu-san, this way."

"Uh, okay." Karin took a shallow sip of her can, and her eyes followed them all the way out the doorway.

And the ripples followed Naruto out into the hallway, until the multi-hued emotions of other people overwhelmed it.

* * *

"Yakata-kun?"

Yakata was sitting against the metal headboard of a bed in the children's ward, his knees drawn tightly up to his chest. He'd long since been dressed in hospital pajamas.

Naruto had his head bowed gently as he and Suigetsu entered the room, a safe smile on his face. "You feeling okay?"

"I, I, I don't want to, to be here…" Yakata mumbled, keeping his eyes on his knees. His arms were shaking slightly, most visibly by his shoulders. "There, there, there are too many… too many people…"

"I'm sorry, Yakata-kun, but this is the safest place for you right now," Naruto said.

"...I'm, I'm, I'm not worried about, about _my_ safety…" Yakata said softly.

Naruto and Suigetsu exchanged troubled glances.

"I don't think anyone here's in danger, Yakata-kun. You're all right, y'know."

Naruto smiled, trying not to worry about the strange twist of darkness he now felt in Yakata's mood. But that had to have been his anxiety. It had been present ever since he had come out of the Forest.

Yakata just held his knees tighter.

"Well, uh, I got some good news for you, y'know."

No response.

"Suigetsu-san here has volunteered to bring you home. You know him, don't you?"

Yakata finally looked up. His eyes were rose-pink from long-spent tears. "Ho-Ho-Hozuki-san…?"

"Naruto's a friend of mine an' I was in town. Didn't expect to hear that Satoko an' Gishi's kid was all the way down here," Suigetsu said, with an air of gruff ease. It sounded convincing. "So since I know the way back up to Tamina an' I heard that you needed to get back, I went up and said I could bring you if they needed help."

"O-oh…" Yakata returned to his knees. "Th-that's fine…"

"If you're feeling up to it, Yakata-kun, you and Suigetsu-san can leave in the morning."

"Okay…" Yakata replied. "I just, I just, I want to go home as, as soon as I can…"

"I _understand_, Yakata-kun. You'll be home before you know it, y'know," Naruto said. "You know where your stuff is?"

Yakata shook his head. "I, I, I think I, I lost it in the, in the… I, I, I don't _remember_…" He pressed his eyes to his knees with a hard inhale.

"Hey, hey, easy, that's all right. We can send some people out to find your stuff, no problem, y'know."

But Yakata shook his head again. "I don't, I don't want to be a bother, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"

Naruto approached the bed further, and put a hand on one of Yakata's arms.

Yakata jerked violently away, and started hyperventilating, like he was in pain.

"Hey, hey, it's okay, y'know. You're okay." Naruto did not try to touch him again. "You want to be left alone?"

"I don't… I don't want to hurt anyone, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…" Yakata's voice was ragged. "Please, just… just, just leave me alone, I'm sorry..."

"All right, all right. I'll come by with Suigetsu-san in the morning, then. You just call if you need any help, y'know," Naruto said.

Yakata didn't say anything, just trying to capture his breaths.

Suigetsu and Naruto left.

Suigetsu was the first to speak. "What the hell_ happened_ to that kid…?"

And all Naruto could do was shrug. "Alone, in a storm, in a forest… well, heck, that'd scare anyone, y'know."

"Not that badly," Suigetsu said, lowly. "Glad _she_ didn't have to see that…" he added, mostly to himself.

Naruto glanced at him, thoughtfully, for that. "You mean Karin-san, don't you."

Suigetsu's scowl was a reply.

"You two are awful worried about these kids all the time," Naruto said.

"Worried would be an _understatement_," Suigetsu replied.

"You care about 'em a lot, don't you."

"They're just my job." An automatic answer.

Naruto chewed on it a little. "Your job, huh."

Suigetsu glanced sharply back. "It's my responsibility to make sure that nothing happens to these kids." He paused. "I've failed twice, and I don't wanna fail again."

"Failed…? Failed when?"

Suigetsu didn't answer, crossing his arms and looking at the doors of the rooms passing by instead of Naruto.

But the bruise-violet feeling of worry that circled his head was familiar one to Naruto.

(He had felt it, often, from Hinata.)

(And had felt it himself, and denied it for the sake of others.)

"Okay, okay, I won't ask any more, y'know," Naruto said, with a sympathetic smile. "I'll, uh, leave you to go get ready while I let Sakura know what's up."

"I appreciate it," Suigetsu said, softly, and went down the hallway to the curse seal ward, where Karin and the others were waiting.

(Suigetsu didn't tell Karin anything he had seen in Yakata's room. She didn't ask. They both knew she couldn't have taken it.)

Sakura was updated first, naturally. And she took the news as flatly as she could, and went to update the appropriate staff on Suigetsu's imminent departure.

Next to hear were the council members and advisors, who agreed that this was the best course of action, given the circumstances. Takeru's punishment was also discussed, causing Shikamaru to sigh.

"Compromising a mission because of personal issues. He's Sasuke's kid, all right," he said. "And knowing Sasuke, he won't do a damn thing about it. Troublesome as hell. We can't just ban him from missions."

"Of course not, Takeru-kun is one of our best jounin," Iruka said, evenly. "A fair punishment should be used but it wouldn't be in our best interests to keep him out of commission for too long."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I know," Naruto said. "I was thinkin' of banning him from guard duty at the chuunin exams, 'cos he always volunteers for escort positions during events like these, but I dunno if that's enough."

"It's a start," Iruka said, helpfully. Shikamaru just sighed again.

Kakashi said nothing.

Sasuke, it was unanimously decided, would not be told about Yakata's relocation until well after the mission had been carried out.

And in the evening, after signing forms and approving plans for seating arrangements and almost forgetting the overwhelming flood of the past handful of days, Naruto went home with his personal letters, set aside for him by Andou, as usual. He left the homework.

A break, that would be nice.

He read the letters at his kitchen table while waiting for water to boil, for ramen to cook. He didn't feel like going out, even to Ichiraku, which would have had a seat for him despite the influx of tourists for the chuunin exams.

At the top of the list was a letter from Killer Bee, which set a welcome smirk on his face. It was a thank you letter, and only in reading it did Naruto recall what he was being thanked for.

Bee had written him the week before, before all of the unpleasantness, asking for a favor.

Of course, the letter had started in rhyme, as most of Bee's letters did.

_My little girl's boy ain't feeling so hot  
And he thinks of you as quite a big shot  
So here's a request, to you from me  
Can he hang out with us jinchuuriki?_

And, of course, the rhymes were brief, before returning to more typical prose. Bee discovered that it was more effective writing "translations" for his rhymes after the fact when he needed to say something important.

_The kid's a huge fan of us jinchuuriki, especially you. And it would mean the world to him if he could come with me to our usual hang-out before the tournament. He's had a tough summer and I think it would really cheer him up. I figured I'd ask you first cos you and Gaara are sort of in charge, and if you're cool with it then I know Gaara's cool with it._

Naruto had seen nothing wrong with the request, so he had replied cheerfully that any friend of Bee's or BB's was welcome at the meeting, and that had been that.

Bee's reply was cheerful, short, and, of course, in rhyme.

_Yesterday I told him, kid got so excited  
I thought that he would split in half, just straight up go dividin'  
But he is still in one piece, and coming here with me  
Cannot wait to see you, lots of love, from Bee_

There wasn't much need for a translation, and it ended up making Naruto laugh, so he set it aside for storage and went to the next letter.

It was from Hinata. And Naruto shook his head, sighing. Andou must have said something to her.

And yet, the words were like warm tea to his heart.

_I heard about all the trouble going on with the children and the Orochimaru imposter. If you ever feel overwhelmed, you know where I am._

And Naruto surely did.

_I thought you would also like to hear some good news, for once. Little Ninako went to me the other afternoon asking for advice and very vigorously suggesting that she was going on a journey soon. I suspect that she and Hajime-kun might be taking a step forward together, so don't be surprised if you are asked for time off by the both of them after the chuunin exams. Making things easier for them might be just the thing for all of us._

Naruto's smirk widened, upon hearing this. Ah, yes, that was good news.

His smile lessened as his thoughts turned to Sasuke, but he shook his head, and with it, the thoughts. Sasuke was a minor element.

He would make up a bogus mission for the two of them, give them an excuse to be out of town. That would be nice.

And then there was a letter from Kiine. And his stomach twisted slightly, in seeing those words, knowing, now, who she really was.

He had received a reply from her, much earlier, confirming her family's attendance to the chuunin exams. But this was an addendum, an announcement that they had moved out and were due to arrive in a few days. About how she couldn't wait to see him.

The letter lay, half-limp, in his hands, his eyes half-focused on the wood of the table beyond, on the words blurred into incoherence.

(…no, she wasn't family.)

(She was just a friend, and a dear one. This didn't change anything, did it?)

(He had only ever barely known his mother, anyways.)

He tried not to think of Karin, of the pink-ripple presence she carried with her, and moved on to the positives.

A friend would be returning, and with her came opportunities for negotiation with her family. This would be a good thing, for him, for Konoha, for everyone.

Yes.

And yet, that night, he could not sleep.

(Like so many other nights before.)

(At times like this, Naruto was grateful that he slept alone.)

The ghosts on his bedside table smiled and scowled into the darkness.


	88. Dream Diary

_Chapter 88 - Dream Diary_

* * *

In the morning, Suigetsu went with Naruto to fetch Yakata.

A small group had been sent out to search for Yakata's luggage in the Forest of Death, but very little effort was expended, as his waterlogged pack was found neatly set by the eviscerated metal fence sometime in the middle of the night. His clothes were sent to the hospital laundry room to be washed and dried, and the books left to dry as well as they could, the pages wrinkling like old skin.

The photograph of Sasuke's family had remained untouched, in its red wood frame. It was kept face-down until returned to the pack, with the dried clothes, and brought up to Yakata's room. Yakata remained distant from it.

He had not eaten the dinner, nor the breakfast that the nursing staff had brought him, and his eyes had the beginnings of shadows under them. He had apparently not slept all night.

"I'll go with you to the gate," Naruto said. "You're on your own from there, y'know."

"Sure, that's fine," Suigetsu said.

Yakata said nothing, clutching the straps of his pack.

They stayed well away from the curse seal ward as they went and retrieved Suigetsu's sword from the security station at the entrance of the hospital. And, of course, they attracted many stares as they went along, but Naruto smiled and waved back at every face, maintaining the assumption that they were all staring at him.

The gates opened for them.

"You take care, Yakata-kun, okay? You ever need help, you just write to me, and I'll come right away, y'know," Naruto said, with a tone that was meant to accompany an absent arm on Yakata's shoulder.

Yakata's face tightened uncomfortably, and he looked sideways, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

"I'll let you know when we arrive," Suigetsu said. "You take care of your city."

"Will do, Suigetsu-san," Naruto said.

The gates closed, and they were gone.

The journey was mostly silent, neither parties wanting to speak. But Yakata's movements were sluggish, his feet dragging in the dirt road.

Suigetsu had to keep his face away, eyes to the sky and the surrounding trees, so that he wouldn't have to torture himself with the boy's expression, which seemed perpetually on the verge of tears.

But even Suigetsu could only take so much. "We're stopping for lunch," he said, with the sun above them.

"…m'kay…" Yakata mumbled.

"…you don't look so good, is all. Some hot food will do you good," Suigetsu continued. "I don't wanna carry you if you end up collapsing."

"…you, you, you won't have to…" Yakata said.

And they ate in silence at a small restaurant in a small town, Yakata barely mustering the voice to order a bowl of rice that he ate slowly, his final bites lukewarm and sticky. Suigetsu, who had finished his soup long before, said nothing, allowing him to finish on his own time.

They continued on. Suigetsu tried not to speak, only losing control in frequently offering Yakata drinks from his water bottles, which Yakata would always quietly refuse.

The evening fell, and Suigetsu, to his discontent, discovered that they were only halfway to Tamina, at best. "We're gonna have to stop for the night, it'll be getting dark soon."

"…you, you, you don't have to lend me your kit or, or anything. I can, I can sleep on the ground, it's fine…" Yakata said, beginning to take off his pack.

Suigetsu, however, pulled on the cloth straps and kept Yakata from taking it off.

A creak of an uncomfortable expression crossed his face as Yakata's head jerked towards him; the boy's large eyes were half-closed, not like a child exhausted, but like a person possessed.

"We're not sleeping _here_. I'm gonna find an inn," Suigetsu said, speaking quickly to disguise whatever he was feeling.

"…oh, okay…" Yakata shifted the pack over his shoulders further and lowered his head, not saying anything more.

Suigetsu tried to be quick, but he had to find an inn with a bath. Anything else would have been torture, given his stress level and its dehydration. The sun was setting low into a sea of blood-orange reds as the innkeeper showed them to their room and left them alone.

The silence was even more uncomfortable and unavoidable. Suigetsu cleared his throat. "Um. So. Dinner, first? And then a bath, huh? That'll have us feeling better."

"…I, I dunno, maybe…" Yakata said. He had taken up residence in the corner of the room, by the closet where the futons were kept, resting his chin on his knees. "I'm, I'm not that hungry…"

"Well, you gotta eat _something_. And a bath is good for anyone," Suigetsu said.

Yakata just nestled deeper into himself.

He ate only rice, again, once dinner was served. And he only went with Suigetsu to the baths because Suigetsu refused to let him be alone.

"…just, just, if I, if I start acting… acting _weird_, then, then… then _stop_ me…" he murmured, as they were going down the hall in their bathrobes.

Suigetsu looked over his shoulder. "Weird?"

"…don't, don't wanna hurt anyone, I swear…" Yakata continued. "I _don't_…"

The words nestled like puffer fish into Suigetsu's stomach. "…nobody's gonna get hurt, kid. Promise. Now come on, bath's this way."

With his hair wet and his face sullen and empty, Yakata looked even more like an Uchiha than he ever did. He took off the bandages and did not replace them once he was done washing. Suigetsu tried not to stare at the pale blotches of pink on the surfaces of his arms and his cheeks, punctuated by thin, shallow scabs.

He stared, instead, at the mark on his neck, shining from the water. His reminder.

And once they had soaked to Suigetsu's satisfaction—he doubted that Yakata, at this point, would make much of an expression of anything—he left the boy in their room to use the telephone in the hallway.

Naruto had left him a phone number before they left, and Suigetsu used it and was quickly connected with Naruto himself, who was breathlessly, almost manically eager in hearing of their progress.

"Yakata's still a little worn-down so we're going slower than I'd like. We're almost at the border, I figure."

"Good, good, take your time, y'know," Naruto replied. "We're in no hurry, just as long as you get him home safely."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I know," Suigetsu said, and after a few more pleasantries, hung up.

He kept his hand on the phone for a while longer, wondering if he should call Karin.

It was a black telephone, made of plastic, and slightly worn where the receiver met the base. The buttons were clear and almost sharp around the edges.

…no, she didn't need to know, not yet. She had enough to worry about.

(And telling her about those haunting, half-dead eyes would not do her any good.)

His hand left the telephone.

Yakata was in his corner again, when Suigetsu returned. "You wanna help with the futons or should I do it?" he asked.

"…I, I'll do my own," Yakata replied. And the futons were set up in silence. Yakata lay down in his almost immediately.

"You tired?" Suigetsu asked.

"Mm."

"We could use some sleep. You'll be home with your mom and pop by tomorrow, I promise."

No reply.

Some scratching instinct that had been gnawing at his wrists all day nearly broke skin, and Suigetsu snatched it back when he noticed a hand wandering towards Yakata's back under the blanket.

(He remembered, far too cleanly, Yakata's reaction to Naruto's touch.)

"You need me, I'll be here," Suigetsu said, and coughed. "G'night."

"M'night."

He turned off the light of the electric lamp between them.

Suigetsu lay with his back to Yakata's back, mediating a battle between justification—he was just thinking of Shingetsu, just thinking of her, this was just his job—and sleep, sleep, sleep.

Sleep, eventually won. But not for very long.

He was awoken by Yakata's fitful tossing and moaning, and distressing words.

"No, no, I didn't, I didn't… Stop, no, stop, no, I swear, I, I didn't…!"

Suigetsu turned over slowly, his sensations still slightly blurred from sleep, to see Yakata sprawled out over his futon with his arms crossed under his cheek as if shielding himself, badly.

"No, no, please! Don't, don't hurt me, I didn't, I didn't do that, I swear…!"

"Yakata…?" Suigetsu blinked, frozen with—not fear, not worry, just—indecision.

Yakata's face was contorted with what was undeniably pain. His arms writhed above him. "Please, no, no, stop, Sasuke-san, STOP!"

Suigetsu finally reached forward and roused the boy awake. "Hey, hey, hey, calm down, calm down, it's only a dream."

Yakata sat upright, his bangs falling into his face, eyes fixed on his hands, fingers stretched like claws. He began frantically rubbing the wrist of his right arm.

"Yakata, you were having a nightmare," Suigetsu said.

But Yakata began to sob, cradling his arms and curling into himself again, and the job only got harder.

"Hey, hey, breathe, breathe," Suigetsu said, reaching for practiced lines. "You're awake now, nobody's gonna hurt you."

He avoided saying Sasuke's name.

"No, no, no, I didn't, I didn't do that, I swear, I, I _promise_," Yakata whimpered.

"You didn't do _anything_. You're okay. Nobody… nobody's going to hurt you," Suigetsu said, fighting with himself towards the end.

It was just a job it was just a job it was just his job he _was_ a father but these were what fathers did this was just a job.

Yakata's cries turned into sharp, hiccup-like inhales.

This was just a job. These were just things fathers did. This was just a job.

Suigetsu put a hand on Yakata's back and stroked downward, gently.

This was only because it was what he did with Shingetsu when he had a nightmare, only far more solid, because it worked, this was only a job.

"You're okay, now. You're okay. Nothing's going to hurt you. You'll be okay. Go back to sleep."

This was only a job.

"I'm here, now. It's okay."

He put the light on and shoved it a bit away, so that the glow wouldn't be overwhelming. And he stayed with Yakata until his uneven breaths became deeper and turned into yawns, and helped the boy back under the blankets. His hand on Yakata's head, stroking away the tear-soaked bangs, was not rejected.

(Ten years since they'd last been so close. Since he'd last even laid hands on the boy.)

"Go back to sleep. It's okay. I'm here." The final whisper-chorus.

Yakata's tightly-folded body lapsed into gently-breathing sleep, up and down, like waves over a shoreline.

Suigetsu stayed up for quite a while longer, watching him sleep, making sure that another nightmare hadn't taken root.

A quiet fire of rage fueled the simmering worry in his chest, one which he could no longer deny. Not any more.

Whatever had happened to that child to make him suffer so, to make him so terrified, he hated and wanted to destroy.

But one could not destroy neglect, nor willful malevolence, not with physical force.

Suigetsu had failed twice before, in leaving Kurunari with the people that would turn him into a monster, in being so cruel and feckless in leaving Yakata in Tamina, and his unfair treatment of Karin afterward.

Repentance was nearly as intangible as revenge. But at least it had weight.

This was only a job. His job.

This boy was not his.

But his care, at least for this short while, Suigetsu could ensure.

He laid his water-warm fingers on the back of Yakata's neck only once more, and whispered, "I'm sorry."

Whom he was apologizing to, he didn't know. To the boy, maybe. Or to Karin. Or to himself.

But with the apology, Suigetsu returned to sleep and woke only with the sunrise.

Yakata was only slightly less exhausted in the morning. His appetite had returned, at least, enough for him to request a fried egg for his bowl of rice and his consumption of half a bowl of miso soup to go along with it. This was enough to give Suigetsu some comfort, and a better attitude as they set out for Tamina.

The silence was not nearly as uncomfortable on the second leg of the trip. The nightmare was not mentioned.

But as they rounded the hill leading to the farming village, the expected gleam of homecoming comfort was missing from Yakata's eyes.

Suigetsu didn't say anything.

Many of the villagers, milling about in pre-harvest energy, stopped and stared at them as they passed.

It was clear whom they were staring at.

Yakata's breaths were poorly shallow. He had his hands clasped at his collarbone, his lower lip pressed tightly below his teeth.

Suigetsu heard whispers that he tried to ignore too late.

"Why is he back?"

"He'll curse the crops."

"Just when we were having a good harvest."

"Witch-boy."

Yakata inhaled sharply.

Suigetsu glared.

The women scattered like mice.

Eventually, they found the house. The garden beside it was a cloud of green and intermittent blossom, and Yakata's eyes flitted to it momentarily before returning to his shoes.

Suigetsu knocked on the door. Satoko answered, and she gasped.

"Yakata?"

"Hey there, Honbo-san," Suigetsu said.

Yakata lunged forward and into his mother's arms, which wrapped around him as if on reflex. "Hozuki-san?" Satoko said. "What are you doing here?"

"I was asked to bring your son home. Favor to a friend," he replied. "Yakata here had a bit of a rough time and they decided to send him back early."

"A rough time? Oh, sweetheart, what happened to you…?" Satoko said, bending her head. Her pale brown braid fell over her shoulder and bumped against her elbow. "Why isn't Sasuke-san here?"

Yakata flinched, inhaling sharply.

"Uh, Sasuke's been… busy lately. I dunno why, uh, he decided to send your kid home early," Suigetsu said, trying to mask his discomfort with nonchalance.

"Oh, gosh, I hope my Yakata wasn't too much of a burden at all, then…" Satoko said, hugging her son again. "Well, goodness, Hozuki-san, is there anything I can do to thank you for bringing him back?"

"Eh." Suigetsu shrugged. "I'm already doing this as a favor to a friend, so there's nothing you need to do for me. I'll, uh… be in town for a while, though, so if you need me for anything else, I am at your disposal."

"Oh, of course, of course," Satoko said. "Yakata, let's get you inside, you can tell me everything…"

Suigetsu waved at them before heading back down the road, and toward the town center, to find a telephone.

The promise had been improvised, but it felt… _right_.

Naruto was called first. "His mom was home so she was able to receive him. But, uh, I think I'm gonna stay here a few days before coming back, just to make sure everything's okay. He's still kinda shaken."

"Hey, good idea, y'know! That's fine. If you need compensation for your stay just keep your receipts, we'll pay you back," Naruto said.

"Nah, nah, I got it, you don't need to pay me anything," Suigetsu said, with an unintentional snarl on his face. "I got enough money. I'll call you when I'm heading back down."

"Sounds good. Thanks for calling, Suigetsu-san."

"Yeah, sure."

He hung up the pay phone, and his change jingled into the slot. He kept his fingers on the cool metal for a while, thinking.

Yeah, it would be right to call her now.

…just, how the hell would he find her?

He grumbled as he slid a few more coins in the slot and dialed the operator, and asked to be connected to Konoha General Hospital.

Yes, yes, he was aware it was long distance, he was paying for it.

He was connected to the hospital. The hospital gave him a receptionist. He asked to be connected to Room 145. He remembered that, at least.

Yes, yes, he was a relative, his—his wife was there, and his son.

They connected him, and as the dial tone pulsed, he covered his nose and cheeks with his hand, hoping that nobody had seen him in such a state.

Karin picked up. And he took private triumph in the obvious sigh of relief on the other end of the line after he announced himself.

"I was worried as _hell_ about you, is everything all right?" she said.

"Yeah, everything's fine. Yakata's home with Satoko, everything's okay."

"Thank _goodness_," Karin said. "Is he all right? Did he take the trip well?"

And it occurred to Suigetsu that it was a very, very fortunate thing that he was on the phone.

It would have been impossible to lie to Karin about this to her face. She'd have known.

"Yeah, yeah, he's just fine. Took a while 'cos he was tired, but he got a bath and some sleep and was right back to being himself. Second leg went much faster. Ran right to his mom's arms, couldn't wait to be home."

He heard Karin exhale through her nose. "Well, that's good, that's good, okay."

"And I'm gonna stay in town a few days, just to make sure he's really okay," he added. "I mean, transitioning and stuff. He's been through a lot, lately."

She started laughing, a little. "Look at you, making smart decisions for once."

"Hey, shut up, I can do things right without your say-so," he replied, with a smirk. "Besides, you're so damn smart everyone looks like a moron in comparison."

"Oh, shut up," she replied. He heard her chuckling.

"So how's Ooda doing?" he said, lowering his voice and smoothing it.

"…still hasn't said a word, but at least he's eating now," Karin said. "Shingetsu keeps talking to him, trying to get a reaction out of him. It's really upsetting him, but he tries not to show it. Afraid it'll worry me, okay. Gosh, wonder who that sounds like."

Suigetsu scoffed, though fondly. "Like mother, like son."

"Yeah, right."

"And how's the little one? Everything okay?"

"Smooth as silk," Karin said, warmly. "The medicine's helped. I had some more contractions this morning but they went away pretty quickly."

"Well, you rest up. I wanna be there when the little guy arrives, okay?"

She laughed. "It's not _your_ kid, why do you care?"

"It's not the _kid_ I'm worried about, it's _you_, all right? Jeez, woman, you've practically killed yourself to have this little brat. Last thing I want is you dyin' on me while I'm away. Not gonna happen."

"Fine, fine," she said. "I'll hold off on dying until you're here, okay."

There was a fine, enthusiastic trill from the background, and it sounded vaguely like "Zatdaddy?"

"That Shingetsu?" Suigetsu said, grinning.

"Gee, how'd you guess?"

"Mommy, are you talkin' to Daddy?"

"Put him on the phone, lemme talk to him," Suigetsu said.

"All right, all right." There was a hard rustle. "Shingetsu, it's your father."

"DADDY!" Shingetsu's voice burst through the receiver.

"Hey, squirt. You being good for me?"

"Uh-HUH. I'm bein' super good."

"Taking care of your mom for me?"

"The MOST. I helped Mommy mix her medicine yesterday. She let me."

Suigetsu leaned against the telephone box with one arm. "Oh did she."

"Yep! And I'm drawin' a lot of pictures for Ooda-niki. He's not talkin' much right now. Mommy says he's sick."

"Yeah, he's…" Suigetsu exhaled, and gathered himself again. "He'll get better, you just need to keep being a good little brother for him, all right?"

"You know it! I'll draw him lots of pictures."

"Attaboy. And you make sure to leave him and your mom alone when they need to sleep, right?"

"DUH. I go to Uncle Juugo's room when Mommy gets tired. It's SO fun getting to play with Asa-otouto every day, Daddy. Why can't I play with him more?"

Suigetsu laughed through his nose. He wouldn't correct the boy, not this time. "Because we live far away from him, Shingetsu, that's why. And Asaoto's sick, too."

"Yeah, but Asa-otouto told me that him an' Uncle Juugo are gonna live here in Konoha now, like Kototou-ji. Does this mean we get to visit 'em here?"

"…eh, ask your mother," Suigetsu said. "We'll see."

"Okay, okay!"

"_Please insert 10 ryou for the next ten minutes,_" a cool, metallic voice buzzed from the phone.

Suigetsu fumbled for change in his pocket, propping the phone against his ear. "Look, Shingetsu, I'll call you back later. But you keep being a good boy, all right? I'm not going to be home for a few days so you need to hold it together."

"Okay, Daddy! Bye!"

"I love-" But, ah, of course, Shingetsu hung up in his enthusiasm before the call could end itself. Suigetsu shook his head, smiling.

But a strange thought burrowed into his head. Visiting Juugo in Konoha, since he'd be living there, now, for his treatment.

Would he be allowed that, after all this? With everything going public, about him, about Karin, about his job…

The future seemed black, and very thick, and he could not imagine what lay beyond in it.

He inhaled through his nose, and out through his mouth.

Well, he could at least start with finding a place to stay. That, at least, was in his hands.


	89. Interlude: Super Hero

**INTERLUDE**

**SUPER HERO**

* * *

She hadn't always had strange skin. But it was strange now; blue, in the way that a raw steak is blue, but smoother, and browner. There were marks on her neck, too, like gills. She wore overlarge goggles with dark glass in the frames to cover the marks on her cheekbones, and to keep her eyes from view.

This, of course, was all due to the prickly sword that was so-often strapped to her back, which she had inherited from her father.

Well, "father." He wasn't that, exactly. Not biologically.

They did live together. And he made an effort at being kind to her, when they weren't training. But she shut him out, otherwise. It was nothing personal.

Her name had once been Ana, and she had come from what those upper-class people called "the rougher part of town."

She just called it the slums, where dinner was often the leftovers from convenience stores, and heaven was the hot-air dryers in public bathrooms after a downpour.

She didn't have a mother, or a father. She'd maybe had an older sister, but she had gone away somewhere.

The orphanage had lured her in when she was seven or eight, with promises of a better life. Of warm food, and a bed. How could she have resisted?

They didn't tell her that she'd have to fight the other children to stay.

"You gotta work if you wanna keep your bed, Ana-chan," the mountain-wide head of the place said, with her man-muscled arms crossed. "You either train or you leave."

Of course, since she was little, she was kept with the beginners. They were like her, wild and tangle-haired, and hungry. Most learned eagerly, how to punch, how to kick, how to hook one's elbow just so around a neck, so that it was whipped back and to the ground.

Ana discovered her talent there. Within two months she was knocking the teeth out of children almost twice her size.

When she had been alone, she had to be quick. Quick on her feet, and in her mind. This proved to be an advantage here.

She also discovered that she was not the only one with talent. Other children, just as quick, and quicker. Like her, they were favored, given extra attention, the best treatment. They ate first at mealtimes, and their clothes were usually the right size.

(The easiest way to eat was to get better at the things the folks in charge approved of.)

After a while, Ana refused to fight anyone below her. She was not denied.

After a while, there was no one left in the facilities, beyond the staff, that she hadn't defeated. Even the ones that had come back for revenge. If it could be called revenge.

They needed to decide what to do with her.

Luckily, the jinchuuriki was searching for an heir.

She was aware of him. Everyone was. She didn't want to fight him—he was way out of her league. But to be told that maybe—just maybe—he might take her as his protégé.

Ana trained hard.

And when the day finally came, she was lined up with all the others. Her eyes, dark and hard, slid sideways as she appraised them. One or two of her kind. The rest, clean people. They'd come from the "academy." Where the kids with homes went. Where they weren't forced to fight each other, no doubt.

She would beat them first.

Though, to her bitter shock, they would not be fighting each other, no. Just showing off their strength.

The jinchuuriki looked on, his hands in his pockets. He wore dark glasses, and had light hair and brown skin, like Ana did, but his skin was far darker, like a stone mottled with gray soot.

She excelled.

In the end, four were left. Two of them were shivering rich kids, and the other had an ear with a missing earlobe. They were called to step forward, and the muscles in Ana's arms tensed. Perhaps now, yes?

But instead, the jinchuuriki extended a fist, and they were told, one by one, to do the same.

The two before her touched fists with him gingerly, and the jinchuuriki nodded, smiled, and said, "All right, next."

When it was Ana's turn, she looked into his glasses with defiance, and jabbed her arm forward.

And for a moment she felt so very, very small, like a child standing before a great wall made of white marble. Her fists and all her strength made no more an impact than pinpricks on a paper surface.

And this angered her. She _would_ make a mark. She was not small.

So she made her mark, her fist grinding against the hard, purple-brown knuckles, against the warm, white-tile wall.

And when the sensation faded, when the moment ended, a creature like a worm covered in fangs had crawled up and over the jinchuuriki's arm, and was nuzzling against the top of her hand. The jinchuuriki flinched first, and pulled back.

Ana took it as a good sign. She watched the worm return to his back, and the boy that came after her hesitantly reach forward to touch fists, with shaking fingers.

She was not surprised when they came to her later and said that she had been chosen as the jinchuuriki's heir, and would begin training with him at once.

She learned, after they had started, that the jinchuuriki had his doubts.

"She's jus' so _angry_, I mean she has the drive, th'_ambition_, an' she wasn't in it for the fame, but still…" He was confessing to a pink-skinned man in his kitchen one night, a few months after they had come to live together. Ana—though her name was now BB, the second Bee, they told her, and she was getting used to it—had been down to use the bathroom when she found them. "I dunno, man, it just don't _feel_ right."

"Just hang in there, Bee-jiisan. She's not a _bad _girl, she's just got a whole lotta anger that she can't deal with. I've known a lotta people like that. She'll turn out fine if she stays with you, y'know."

The man had blue eyes like plastic buttons, and he turned around to smile at BB there, which caused her to scurry away like a cockroach until she was certain it was safe again. BB was uneasy around that man. His stare was far too honest and invasive to be comfortable.

But Bee didn't trust her, did he. That was fine. She could deal with that. He wasn't really her father, after all. They just lived together, trained together.

But her anger had nowhere to go. In fact, it only grew.

There were certain side-effects that came with using the Samehada, as she came to know the worm-sword. Unlike Bee, the sword had taken a liking to her immediately, and though she despised the energy it sapped from her at first, she came to rejoice in the strength it shared once they got used to each other.

But her skin began to resemble Bee's, losing its warm brown-ness and growing ashen. The whites of her eye were turning black, the blacks of her eyes were turning white.

Bee gave her a pair of goggles, once it became too noticeable. "So's people don't stare. Looks cool, too, y'hear?"

She took the goggles without a word. They didn't help much.

When she wasn't training with Bee, she was allowed to travel where she pleased. She often traced the paths of her old haunts, and loitered around the gates of the academy, where she sized up her competition.

The looks and names that were tossed at her were not kind, nor pleasant.

Yeah, of course she looked like a monster. She wasn't looking for friends. She was just the jinchuuriki's heir.

She trained hard, falling further into it all.

And then _he_ showed up.

She'd noticed him long before he'd even said anything to her. He was ugly, undeniably. His limbs were ill-proportioned and he didn't seem to have any eyebrows, and he seemed clumsy besides.

Also, first thing he said to her was, "Hey, uh, are you, like, a superhero or something?"

BB's eyebrows tangled with the question. "A what."

"A superhero. You know, like, in the comics?" He began digging around in his schoolbag. "I mean, sorry if it's rude to ask or whatever, but you just look so… so _cool_, I couldn't help but ask…"

"Uh… no, I'm not from any of your _comic_ books," she said. She sighed. "This why you been following me? Cos I look 'cool' like that?"

He paused, mid-rummage, looking up. "Well, uh. _Yeah_. I just was sorta… unsure about talkin' to you, I mean, you just seemed like you wanted to be left alone…"

"That's 'cos I _do_," BB replied. "Sheesh, kid, what's your deal?"

"Sorry, sorry, I sorta just started here," he replied, closing his bag and scratching the skin behind his ears. "I'm still sorta getting used to the city an' all."

BB scoffed, but something in his words caught her ear. "What you mean, 'you just started here'?"

"Oh, well, uh, I'm in beginner's ninja classes! I saved up money to move up here and live with my aunt so I could get taught," he replied. "They put me with the five year olds to start out with. It's pretty ridiculous, haha."

She laughed, once. "You're joking, right."

"Nope, not at all. I mean, I _am_ a beginner, so…"

She shook her head. "Look, hero boy, if y'think you're funny, it's not working."

"Oh, I don't think I'm that funny, really," the boy replied. "I'm kinda dumb, really, but whatever, I'm used to it." And he grinned. "My name's Fuzan, by the way. What's yours?"

"…BB," she replied.

"Oh, nice to meet you, BB-chan! Cool name. Like Killer Bee, right? The jinchuuriki? He's _so_ cool."

Fuzan had reached his hand out for her to shake it, but she hadn't taken it. Her connection to that man was one of the rare positive things people could say about her. She hated flaunting it. "Yeah, sure," she replied. "That the only word y'can say? Cool?"

"Do I really say that a lot?" Fuzan replied. "Sorry, guess I'm not thinking. So hey, do you go to school here or something?"

"I'm already a chuunin," BB replied, flatly. They had graduated her without much fanfare as soon as Bee had named her his heir, several years before.

"Oh! Wow! But you're, like, only the same age as me, right?" Fuzan said.

"Depends. How old're you?" He was taller than her, but his overgrown frame felt deceiving.

"Thirteen, you?"

"…fourteen," she replied.

"Oh, dang! I've really gotta catch up, then!" Fuzan then seemed to realize something, and smacked his palm against his high, bare forehead. "Shoot, I should probably get home and study! Bye, BB-chan! See you later!"

This was not the last she would see of him.

In fact, the next time she dared wander past the school, he approached her with a frantically-waving, gangly limb, and a cheerful, "Hey, BB-chan! Hey!"

And she had almost been wondering if the dork would be there again. She'd had a frustrating day. He was somewhat amusing.

"Oh, hey. Busa, was it?"

"_Fuzan_. How was your day?"

"…all right? Why d'you care?" she said.

Fuzan shrugged energetically. "I had a pretty good day. I'm doing great in class! Studying's paying off. But I still don't get what the heck is up with chakra."

The speech breezed past her. "Wait, wait, wait, chakra?"

"Yeah, it's kinda hard…"

She almost wanted to sigh, to shake her head, to brush him off, but there was something almost puppy-like in his disappointment. "Eh, everyone has trouble with chakra. The trick is to practice focusing it in one place before moving onto hand signs and stuff."

"Oh, oh, like, um, my hands?"

She shook her head. "No, idiot, like a point in the middle of your head, or your chest. Practice that first before you do anything big."

"Oh, okay! I'll give that a try. Thanks, BB-chan!" He grinned, closing his small eyes.

"…yeah, don't mention it," she replied.

"So you wanna hear about this comic I read the other day? It's _nuts_, it's about competitive rice-cooking."

And she sighed, though not unpleasantly. "Sure, why not."

"Okay! So it starts out in the country, see, with this kid that really, really likes rice…"

He started walking forward, and she followed. And somehow, she found herself listening, even amused.

The passage of time surprised her with him saying he was going home. "See you later, BB-chan!"

"Yeah… sure," she replied, though she was waving weakly back.

For some reason, she kept coming back to that academy gate around the time school got out, just to see if Fuzan was there. Which he often was.

The little nerd was growing on her. She had no idea why.

Though, eventually, she did.

Looking back, she did not remember when she had the revelation, exactly. But she eventually came to realize what made Fuzan so different.

It wasn't his eagerness or his clumsiness, or his enthusiasm. That could be found anywhere. That was nothing special.

It was because he treated her like she was normal. Which was saying something, considering the first thing he said he liked about her was her bluish skin. (The second and third things were her butter-colored hair and her glasses, respectively, which made her laugh and punch him gently on the arm.)

Maybe that was why she didn't want to tell him that she was Killer Bee's heir. Stupid as it was, she was almost afraid that telling him that would make her less of a person, and just a celebrity. That he'd grow distant.

Which only made her angrier, so she would try not to think about it. She liked when she wasn't angry.

But sometimes she couldn't help it. Sometimes she would lie awake at night and wonder if there was really anything she could do about all the other people, who weren't blissfully ignorant, like Fuzan was.

She couldn't help who she was. She was a replacement-in-training, she was a living weapon. She was someone—some_thing _to be feared.

What could she do to change that?

An opportunity came during dinner. She and Bee, at that point, usually ate separately. He usually went out to eat, she preferred to make whatever at the stove and eat in her room. But he was home that night, so she offered, ever so casually, "Hey, Pops, how's about you and me get something to eat together tonight?"

She usually only ever called him "Bee" or "Old Man," so this caused his eyebrows to rise. "Why 'zat?" he said.

"I just feel like it, all right? Plus we could talk, it might be nice." She shrugged. "I mean, if y'don't want to, whatever, but…"

"Hey, naw, that sounds cool," Bee said. "Where you wanna go?"

"…sukiyaki," she replied, trying not to blink in surprise at the affirmative. She didn't really care, but she knew that was something he liked to eat.

"A'ight, sukiyaki. Let's go, yo!"

She rolled her eyes at the rhyme, but behind her goggles, her expression was affectionate. She had grown used to it—tolerant, at first, but now it seemed familiar in a comforting sort of way.

Yeah, so Fuzan was also dabbling in freestyling, but that had nothing to do with it.

They talked, during that dinner. Small talk, stiff, but present.

In later dinners, to other restaurants, where BB was pleasant to the wait staff and laughed at Bee's jokes, the words loosened and warmed.

And in even later dinners, they would take turns cooking at home, and laugh at each other, and talk about their days, even if they had spent with each other, the two blue glories of Cloud.

And finally, one night, BB asked him, "Man, how the hell do you put up with me so well?"

Bee looked up from his meal with a puzzled expression. "Now what d'you mean by that, puttin' up with you."

"Y'don't have to lie to me, I know this whole… cohabitation thing was just s'we could get used t'each other," she said, twirling her spaghetti with her fork. Bee had made the noodles, she had made the sauce. "I just don't understand why you stuck with it. I mean, y'could've asked for me to live somewhere else, m'sure."

The great man across the table shrugged. "Jus' didn't seem right leavin' you alone, I guess."

"I can handle bein' alone," BB said, quietly.

And Bee shrugged again, a thick sigh easing past his mouth. "Yeah, but that ain't no fun, is it."

Her fork stabbed her noodles in reply.

"B'sides, this is just more convenient, y'know?" Bee continued. "In gettin' to know each other, anyhow. Can't expect t'get to know each other as people if we're just fightin' each other every day."

"D'you really consider me your daughter or whatever, though?" BB said.

At this, Bee paused. He cleared his throat, and put his fork down. "I could if y'want."

"S'not what _I_ want," BB said, forcefully. "S'what you _think_. Cos if m'just an heir or an apprentice t'you then that's fine with me, all right?"

Bee didn't say anything for a while. "Does that matter t'you that much, BB?"

The anger in her eyebrows and the corner of her eyes felt hot. She was not wearing her goggles, not here. "Doesn't matter t'me much, I just wanna know if this's the best it's gonna get for us. Or… or something."

She stabbed at her plate again. Her legs itched with the desire to leave.

"What d'you mean by that?" Bee said.

She pressed her mouth together tightly. "Look, jus'… never mind." She got up. "'scuze me."

She took her plate and began to her room.

"BB, if you're tryin' to ask if I like spendin' time with you, I want you t'know that I do."

There was a feeling like water pouring out of her shoulders and into her feet, making them heavy.

"S'not like I'm just puttin' _up_ with you, y'know. I've had a lotta fun spendin' more time with you lately. An' I'd be glad t'do more things with you, if y'want."

She tried to move forward, but.

"I'm honestly _glad_ you're reachin' out to me like this, y'know. I was afraid you'd never want to."

At that, she turned around a little. "You… _wanted_ me to?"

"Well 'course," Bee replied. "I mean…"

"I always thought you _didn't_ want to," BB continued, turning around more. "I mean, there was no reason for you t'really _want_ to…"

"The only thing keepin' me from reachin' out much was you," Bee said.

Air hissed past BB's teeth as she inhaled. "Now what is that s'pposed to mean," she said.

"Y'just didn't seem like you wanted to be bothered, s'all. You had this… _wall_ up, I felt it when I first met you. An' I was sorta scared by what you were tryin' to hide. I didn't wanna hurt you over it."

A wall?

That had been _her_ wall?

"So I guess I sorta din' know how to handle you at first, an' after trainin' with you, I thought that all I could do t'even _touch_ that wall was t'fight with you. So I left it alone. Stuff like that y'can't just have people tear down for you."

BB returned to the table, and set her plate back down, but did not sit.

"But I guess t'get back to your question, 'puttin' up with you' was me just… waitin' to see if you'd ever manage to start at that wall. I didn't wanna leave you all alone, just in case things got bad an' you needed someone. Even if y'didn't want my help. Y'know?"

A laugh escaped out of him like a cough, his lips sliding into a smile, the old skin of his cheeks shining from the kitchen lights. "I'm glad t'see you makin' some progress, BB. If all this dinner business an' stuff is progress, anyways."

That stupid _nerd_.

She started laughing, and hard.

"Awright, awright, what's goin' on. Don't go makin' fun of me just cos I was tryin' to be serious, now!" Bee said, leaning forward on one, massive forearm.

BB wiped her hand against her nose, but she continued to grin. "Would it count s'progress if I'd made a friend?"

Bee's smile puckered into an expression of surprise. "What, you countin' me as a friend or somethin' now?"

"Well… well, _yeah." _She couldn't deny that. "You an' a boy I been… hangin' out with these days." She sat down, fidgeting pleasantly with the words.

"A _boy_, huh," Bee said, with a lion-like purr. "Well why don't you tell me 'bout him."

"He's not my boyfriend, just sayin' that right off," BB said.

"Never said he was," Bee replied.

So she told him about Fuzan.

Bee said that he sounded like a fine young man, and that he wanted to meet him.

There, BB quieted. And Bee tilted his head in concern. "What, y'afraid I'll embarrass you?" he said, with a laugh.

Everything she had done was to tear down a wall she never knew she had.

Fuzan had torn away the first brick.

She gulped down her fears and told Bee, "M'afraid he'll start treatin' me diff'rently if he knows you're my old man, is all."

Bee mulled it over while leaning back in his chair, his arms crossed. "How d'you think he'd treat you diff'rently?" he finally replied.

BB shrugged. "I 'unno, I think he'll… stop talkin' to me like a friend and start suckin' up to me or… whatever," she said. "Like he'll stop treatin' me like he used to."

Bee nodded a few times, his eyes heavy. "I gotcha, I gotcha. Well, BB, if he's as good a kid s'you say he is, I don't think anything's gonna change. An' if it does…"

BB lowered her eyes further. Their dinner was getting cold.

"…well, hey, he's not the only kid'n the world. You got me too, r'member?"

"Tch. Well you're worse than nothin', Pops," she replied, trying to turn her uneasy smirk into a scowl. Bee raised his eyebrows and spread his hands out, as if to say, "Well, that's me," before the both of them returned to a warmer meal, with the assistance of the microwave.

Bee went with her to the gates of the academy the following week. She had finally worked up the courage to tell Fuzan, though she never would have admitted it. What she did admit was that she wanted to do a bit more thinking before making any solid decisions, which Bee respected.

Fuzan's mouth gaped open like a fish's when he saw that Bee was there. Well, him and several other kids, who were gathering around him with eager cheers and smiles.

"BB! _BB!_ Oh my _gosh_, do you see who's _here?!"_ he said, grabbing her arm and pointing vigorously at Bee.

"Yeah, that's my pops," Bee said, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Your 'pops'?"

BB rolled her eyes. "My _dad_, y'moron! Seriously, did y'not have any idea? He said he wanted t'meet you."

Fuzan's eyes bulged. BB gulped.

"…no _way_. Your _dad_ is _Killer Bee?!_ The jinchuuriki?"

"Yep, an' I'm… next in line," BB replied. Her voice shook.

Fuzan's mouth pursed and puckered. He pointed at Bee a few more times, and back at BB.

"Look, you gonna say somethin' or what?" BB said.

"…that is _so_ cool," Fuzan squeaked, before collapsing.

Once the crowd had been dispersed, which involved Bee parting the waves of people with his voice and hands, and BB picking Fuzan up in her arms with an uneasy roll of the eyes, they managed to get to a private room in a restaurant not far from the school, where Bee had booked a reservation earlier. Fuzan came to in the booth and practically jumped onto the table in his shock.

"Fuzan, c'mon, can you… be cool about this, okay?" BB said, pressing down hard on his bony shoulders. "Jeez."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm just… this is so exciting, I dunno what to say!" Fuzan replied. He was sitting, now, at least, bouncing on the vinyl seat. "Uh, it's an honor to meet you, Bee-sama!"

"Pleasure's all mine," Bee replied, laughing. "BB's told me a lot about you."

"Ohmygosh_really_." Fuzan was whispering, his face suddenly growing sunburn-red. "I, I had no idea, um."

"No idea _what_," BB said.

"That you two were related." He pointed a finger back and forth between the two of them, his voice still hushed, though not as much as before.

"Well we _ain't_ related by blood, but that don't matter," BB said. "I honestly thought you _knew_ but were just bein' on the down-low 'bout it."

This was a lie, of course.

(Though BB wondered, in her planning, if it would turn out to be true.)

"Well, I _didn't_," Fuzan said. "Is this… _supposed_ to be a secret? Because I swear, up and down, I will not tell a soul! I promise!" His eyes widened with glowing sincerity.

"Y'moron, th'whole city knows who _I_ am," BB said, pressing down on his head. "It's not like there's anything t'_hide_."

"Oh, gosh, really? Wow, huh…" He started nodding, thoughtfully. "Well, okay! Glad to finally be let in, then!"

"He's n'enthusiastic one," Bee said, leaning in and mock-whispering. BB shoved him, in return.

The conversation, as it continued into their drinks and appetizers, focused mostly on Bee. Fuzan's questions were breathless, lightning-quick, and mostly focused on asking if a large number of events involving him had actually taken place.

"An' is it true that you know Uzumaki Naruto?" Fuzan asked, in between sips of his melon soda. "Like, really?"

"Bro, we served side-by-side'n the War," Bee replied. "'course I know 'im, he's a good friend o' mine."

(In later meetings, after the demolition of the wall began, BB began thinking of Naruto as a friend too, hugging him nearly as warmly as Bee did.)

"Oh my _gosh_ you're so _lucky_," Fuzan said. He was practically vibrating.

Bee laughed. His voice was starting to grow a little hoarse, because he had been laughing far too much that afternoon. "Lucky how?"

"Well, Uzumaki Naruto's only the most _amazing_ ninja living _today_, Bee-sama. I mean, no offense at all to you, you're _amazing_ too, but Naruto's just… in a whole class of his _own_. I can't _even_."

BB sucked her cola through a straw, trying to hold her laughter until she had swallowed. "You are such a freakin' dork."

"He's certainly somethin', I'll say that," Bee said. "Hokage an' everything."

"Yeah, yeah! Wow, seriously." Fuzan was just nodding enthusiastically. "Though your achievements are nothin' to sneeze at, Bee-sama, I mean _really_. You're cool too!"

"Glad t'hear it, kid, glad t'hear it," Bee replied, warmly.

Fuzan left for home after the very long conversation ended, their many empty glasses littering the table like huddled penguins. He waved at them as he went.

"Bye, Bee-sama! It's been super nice meeting you! And see you later, BB!"

Bee waved back. "I din' know you let him call you by just your name," he said, once the boy had gone.

Fuzan had dropped the honorific ages before.

"M'just glad it's not BB-_sama,_" she replied, sighing, smiling.

Though the next day, she was just that little bit more hesitant in setting out for the academy entrance after training with Bee. And even when she did arrive, she stayed more out of view than usual, as if to see if there was some sort of visible difference in Fuzan's behavior already.

Even though he still called her BB, her heart still thudded in her ears. The visit the day before hadn't said anything, otherwise. It was just him fanboying over Bee.

And then, she heard him calling out for her. "BB! BB! Hey! Hey! There you are! I was lookin' all _over_, where _were _you?"

"Just over here," she replied. "What, y'thought I wouldn't show?"

"Well, _no_, just… oh, whatever," Fuzan replied. "I gotta tell you about class today, we did _shuriken _practice today!"

"Oh, yeah?" she said, trying to turn her faltering relief into a laugh. "Did you suck?"

"I sucked _so hard_," Fuzan replied, with a triumphant smile. "Missed most of the targets. But I was third-best in the class! How about _that?_"

"Pathetic," BB replied, crossing her arms good-naturedly.

"Yep, that's me," said Fuzan. He nodded a few times, almost sagely.

"You want me t'help you practice?" she said.

"What, you mean it?"

"Don' want you stayin' pathetic forever, c'mon."

And she took him by the wrist, there. She had never done that before, always pulling him with her words before, if ever.

As they practiced, neither of them mentioned the day before. The following days remained just as silent.

This frustrated BB. She was certain, _certain_, that there was something wrong. After all, Fuzan was Fuzan. He didn't just _shut up_ like that.

She tried not to let it out at Bee. He didn't deserve to get yelled at, especially with him actively suggesting things to do now, and not always depending on her making the first move. He was making plans to take her to a concert at the end of the month, and movie visits besides.

So on a Saturday, almost a week later, BB was grumblingly silent as she helped Fuzan with kunai practice.

He noticed. "Hey, somethin' the matter?" he asked, putting his kunai back into his pouch with lumpy concern.

She didn't ask herself if it was worth talking about. This was far past the time. "Look, Fuzan, you can talk about my pops in front o' me. I know you wanna."

"Uhh… no, I don't," Fuzan replied.

BB's eyebrows lowered. "Come on, don't lie t'me. You gotta be _dyin'_ to talk to me about him. Right?"

"But I don't _want_ to," Fuzan said. "I mean, I don't wanna be rude…"

"Then _be_ rude! It's drivin' me nuts!" BB snapped. "An' while you're at it you can go ahead an' ask me about what it's like bein' next-in-line to be a jinchuuriki, since I bet you're _dyin_' t'ask."

"BB, I really don't care…" Fuzan said. His features were wrinkling, mouth stretching awkwardly.

"Oh come _on_. Yeah you do. This is your _thing_, I mean, _you_ saw how y'exploded when my pops showed up at the school…"

"Well, yeah…" He stared at his feet.

"So go ahead an' explode again if y'want! Okay? Jeez!"

She crossed her arms, tapping her foot impatiently. Fuzan fidgeted.

"Well?" she said.

"Er, it's just… BB, I think it's _incredibly_ cool that you are who you are, like, you have no _idea, _but… well, since you didn't tell me right away when we first met, I figured that y'wanted it to stay that way, so I decided not to make a big deal out of it…" He started kicking at the dirt. "I mean, s'not like you have a secret identity or anything, since you told me everyone _else_ knows, but…"

"…wait, y'mean that?" BB said.

"Well, yeah. I mean, I figure you must want a break from all that ev'ry once'n a while…" He had shoved his hands into his pockets, now. "It'd be awful stupid of me to pester you 'bout it all the time, so, yeah. It doesn't really _matter_, anyways, I mean, s'not like you being a jinchuuriki-in-training ever comes up when we hang out, cos it's always just me talking or you helping me with training, so…"

And then he looked up, biting his bottom lip quite fearfully.

"…unless you _want_ me to freak out at you about jinchuuriki and stuff?"

BB ran over, after that, and forced a round kiss on his thin lips, which Fuzan squirmed against like a fish out of water.

"No freakin' out unless I say it's okay," she said, when they pulled away, "an' I'll keep you around. Deal?"

Fuzan just gawked, with a hand over his open mouth, in reply.

"…that was _so awesome_," he finally said. BB shoved him for that, and told him to get back to work.

She had kept him around for almost five years, when he was sent to the hospital with the broken arm and the pneumonia, after the mission in Sekiraun. And she waited for Bee in the lobby a day after Fuzan's return, so she could visit him.

This was the first time that anything like this had happened to her. In regards to Fuzan, anyways. Despite his clumsiness and general ineptitude, he had managed to keep himself fairly injury-free and out of the hospital.

(But the year before, around BB's twentieth birthday, Bee had fallen very, very ill, and for a time it seemed like the eight-tails would have to be transferred, and soon. Naruto had raced to Cloud himself to be there, it was that serious.)

(Fuzan had held her hand and her body during those long, terrifying nights, in Bee's hospital room and in her house, assuring her that nothing would change between them if that was what it came to. That he wouldn't leave.)

("I mean, beyond you getting t'turn into a sick octopus beast, but that's not much," he'd added, and she shoved him through her tears in addition to her smile.)

(She hadn't made many friends in the passing years. But she had gained several fans, and the affection of Sachiko, the other vessel. Though it was easy to gain Sachiko's affection.)

(Knowing Fuzan would remain was a greater comfort than she expected.)

The waiting here felt uncomfortable and unfamiliar. BB didn't want to go in and see Fuzan alone, and she told herself this was because it would probably cheer Fuzan up a ton if she'd brought Bee along. From what the doctor had told her about his injuries, he could use the cheer.

The injuries were the real reason. She didn't want to see him, her energetic, gangly goofball, connected to a machine and breathing shallowly beneath a plastic mask, his arm encased in plaster and not waving at her, cheerfully, like it always did.

But Fuzan wasn't her only support. Bee was still there.

He was also late. And each minute that she had to sit in that stupid lobby was a minute too much.

But he eventually showed. "Sorry 'bout that, BB, I got a bit hung up on th'way here," Bee said, upon arriving.

"About time," BB replied. "Can we go in already?"

"Yeah, 'course. Let's go see your man, hm?" His sunglasses were pushed up slightly by his cheeks as he smiled.

She rolled her eyes, sighed, and tried to smile back.

Her smile and her confidence were gone by the time they reached Fuzan's room. He was sleeping, an IV attached to his left arm, which was laid over the peppery-blue hospital blanket. His right arm was set in a cast that extended all the way up to his shoulder and his chest, and propped up with a bar. His hand hung limp at the wrist.

BB inhaled sharply. But Bee put his arm around her shoulder.

"It'll be all right, BB," he said.

This felt like something Fuzan would say. She lowered her head in place of a nod and slipped forward and out of the grip, and over to Fuzan's bed.

"Hey, baby, I'm here," she said, softly. Fuzan did not stir, just continuing to sleep. His short-cut hair looked fluffy; it had been washed, recently. BB ran her hand through it, gently, her thumb resting on his forehead. "You gonna wake up for me or what…?" she said.

Fuzan did not wake up.

Bee got her a chair, and she sat by his bedside until she didn't want to any more. He made dinner that night, though she didn't eat much.

Fuzan was sleeping again the next time they visited, but this time, as BB approached his bed, his eyes opened and he smiled.

"Man, m'I lucky or what," he whispered. "I get t'see you first thing n' the morning."

"It's the afternoon, y'idiot," BB replied, though her smile was gracious and uncontrollable.

The damage done to his arm had reached all the way up to his shoulder, hence the cast. "Can't move my arm at all, or else it won't set right an' I won't be able to do ninja stuff all proper-like," Fuzan explained, propped up in his bed, during a lunchtime visit. "But that's okay, I'm bein' a good patient," he continued, nodding. "Gon' be right back up to scratch before you know it."

"You'd _better_," BB replied, sitting with her arms propped up on Fuzan's tray table. "Or else I'll break your arm again an' make you do it all over."

"Aw, man!" Fuzan said, in a mock whine.

(He didn't talk to BB about the fact that his doctor had explained to him just how extensive the damage had been, with the tissue damage from the ice exposure and the severity of the fracture, which had affected his nerves. He still hadn't completely regained the feeling in his right hand.)

(He didn't want her to worry.)

BB began making regular visits to the hospital, with and without Bee, to see Fuzan. It was another routine, like how, in years past, she would go to the school to see him.

Though she was far busier now than she was in those days. They were sending her on missions, now that her training was complete, now that she was an adult. They were sending him on missions, too, but these circumstances made seeing him that much easier.

His new proximity made the depression that much more noticeable. Especially with the hospital stay extending for far longer than had been expected, and the possibility of surgery arising with each inspection of the healing. The ice-kid from the Taki clan had done far more than just a number on him.

BB wanted to believe that it wasn't there, that Fuzan was just feeling tired and still recuperating, but the glittering spark of his personality was dulling.

Bee had said that he was always there for her, so she brought it up to him. Though understating her worry, naturally. She didn't want him to go overboard.

"I just think we should… _I_ dunno, find some way t'cheer him up. He's been stuck'n there way too long," she said, with a shrug.

"Maybe you should buy him some of those comics he loves so much?" Bee offered.

"Already have."

"An' what about those shows he likes t'watch?"

"I stopped by his place an' got all the stuff he sets his VCR to record already."

Bee thought for a while, rubbing the stubble on his cheeks. "When he s'pposed to be out, anyways?"

"He don't even _know_," BB replied. "Shoulda been out ages ago, that's what I think."

"Well, the chuunin exams are next week," Bee said. "It'd be his first time there since graduatin', if he could go. That might do it."

"Oh yeah, and his cousin's made it to th'finals this year, too. He told me," BB said, nodding. "I mean, that'd _totally_ help, but he'd have t'get out of the hospital first…"

"Lessee what I can do," Bee said, with a grin.

Bee went to Rotsuki, explaining the situation. And Rotsuki, concerned and lukewarmly angry at the amount of damage that had been done to Fuzan, went to the chief of staff at the hospital. He was a coffee-colored man with candy-blue eyes, and he scratched his forehead at the request.

"With you and Bee-sama both asking, Raikage-sama, I understand I'm under a lot of pressure, here," he said. "Fuzan-kun is certainly well enough to leave, with the pneumonia gone, but I'm worried the most about his arm. There's been some extensive damage. He'll need therapy once the cast is off if he wants to get all the use of his arm back."

"But the cast isn't off yet, is it?" Rotsuki said.

"No, no, but I don't want him getting jostled or anything that might interfere with the bone-setting," the chief replied. "Plus, I don't want him getting over-excited. Getting exhausted and sick all over again won't do him any good."

"I think if he's with Bee-sama and BB-chan I get the feeling he'll be okay," Rotsuki said, with an easy smile. "We could always send a medic nin with them in case anything happens. We always have at least a few of your staff with us for the chuunin exams, anyways."

The chief of medicine hummed and scratched at his hairline again. "Well, you're the Raikage."

Rotsuki went to Bee. But Bee did not go to BB, not right away.

He'd gotten an idea in the meantime, and needed to see if it would work.

When a letter from Naruto came back in the positive, he went to his daughter. But he didn't tell her all the details yet, just what Rotsuki had confirmed.

"So let's go tell 'im, yeah?" he said.

"You don't have t'ask me!" BB replied, practically flying.

Fuzan was already glowing slightly, when they went to go visit him. "What's the haps, aside from naps?" he said, closing his eyes with his smile.

"Fuzan, my main man, we got a plan, yeah!" Bee replied.

"What does that even _mean_," BB said, through a scratchy chuckle, as Fuzan lifted his left hand for a fist bump from Bee.

"What you got for me, Killer Bee?" Fuzan said. "Or should I, uh, choose my news?"

"You go first," Bee said.

"Yeah, what's up, Fuzan?" BB said.

"Well, the doctors said they're gonna let me outta the hospital tomorrow!" Fuzan said. "So I'll get to go to th'chuunin exams!"

"Jeez, that's what we were gonna tell you!" BB said.

"Well, not all've it," Bee said.

"Huh? You mean you guys knew too?" Fuzan said.

"Well of _course, _my pops went to the Raikage about gettin' you let out!" BB said.

"Ohmygosh." Fuzan gasped. "No _way_."

"_And_ we were gonna have you in th'same box as us for the tournament," BB continued. "That's star treatment, right there!"

"You _guys!_" Fuzan said, almost squealing.

"An' that ain't the half of it," Bee said, laughing deeply.

Both Fuzan and BB turned at him at that. "What'chu mean, Pops?" BB said.

"Well, I jus' got a letter back from a friend o' mine," Bee replied, reaching into the pocket of his sweatpants to take it out. "Now, you was always gonna be watchin' the tournament with BB and me, but I managed to work in one extra surprise."

"What _is _it?" Fuzan said, breathlessly.

"Well, me an' the other jinchuuriki get t'gether at every chuunin exam to have dinner an' catch up. BB, you know that."

"'course I do, you always bring me along," BB said, though suspiciously.

"Well it's usually a VIP thing, you ain't allowed in unless you're one've us. But we just made 'n exception." And Bee's smile turned into a blinding grin. "How'd you like t'meet Uzumaki Naruto an' the rest of the jinchuuriki, Fuzan, my man?"

The stars in Fuzan's eyes were ones that would burn brightly in BB's memory for years.

"No _way_."

"Yes way."

"No WAY. You serious? You _serious?_" Fuzan really _was _squealing, at that point.

"Yep! He even said that any friend-a BB's is a friend-a his, right here'n this letter. He can't wait t'meet you."

Fuzan's face was wrinkled in a ridiculous, frenzied smile of disbelief. His breaths were halfway between dog-like pants and laughter. "Ohmygosh. Ohh my gosh. Bee, you're—oh my _gosh_."

"Dude, calm _down!_" BB said, though she was smiling almost as much as he was. She noticed that his voice was reverting to its wide, rural accent, the one that sharp street talk had been slowly replacing over the years.

"I can't calm down, this is too exciting!" Fuzan replied. "Oh my gosh, will I _really_ get to meet him?"

"Sure's you're born," Bee replied. "I could prob'ly get him to sign your cast, too."

Bee had already signed Fuzan's cast. The sharp, stylized letters took up nearly all of the plaster, but Fuzan wasn't complaining.

"Pops, f'you keep this up, he's prob'ly gonna have a heart attack," BB said, giggling.

"A'ight, a'ight, I'll save it for when y'actually get t'meet him," Bee said. "We're settin' out th'day after t'morrow, so be sure to have all your stuff ready."

"I'll help," BB added, pointedly. "What with that bum arm o' yours."

"BB, c'mon…" Fuzan said, coming down a bit from his excitement for a dog-like look of exasperation.

"I'm jus' kiddin', baby," she replied, and leaned over for a kiss on the forehead and a snuggle. "Man, tiger, you sure hit th'jackpot."

"I think I hit it a long time ago, but this ain't a bad addition," Fuzan replied.


	90. Pickup Knit

_A most felicitous greeting to you, __**(NAME OMITTED)**__!_

_We are writing to congratulate you on your recent successes in restoring the Araragi clan through your work in selective breeding and gene engineering. The children you have helped create are priceless treasures to the government, and your work is therefore of great value to us._

_This taken into account, we write to inform you that you have been placed into a new assignment. The government has considered these recent accomplishments of yours and decided that you are a prime candidate for one of our most pressing scientific endeavors: restoring the Yuki clan, one of our most treasured and beloved bloodlines._

_While the Yuki clan is officially extinct, we believe that, using your research into cross-breeding techniques and gene therapy, you should be able to succeed in creating a new clan with identical, or at least similar, gifts. For your purposes, we have gathered tissue, sperm, and egg donors, and surrogates with both natural wind and water release bloodlines in the hopes that they may contribute towards reproducing an ice release. All materials are viable and entirely at your disposal._

_You will be relocated to your labs and new quarters immediately; you shall be given twenty-four hours to gather your personal effects._

_We look forward to your inevitable results._

- A letter from the office of the Mizukage to an unidentified scientist, 25 AU.

* * *

**ACT 10**

**CONNECTION**

* * *

_Chapter 90 - Pickup Knit_

* * *

The chuunin exam tournament was on a Friday.

The Taki clan arrived on a Tuesday morning, via transport. Naruto was immediately informed, and the clan was kept at the station, awaiting his arrival.

He hadn't expected to feel that nervous. At all. And yet he was.

But of course, it was natural to feel so nervous. Especially with everything that had been going on.

The week before, there had been Orochimaru-now-Ooda, and all the panic he had brought with him, explosions of information and everything. And Yakata had only arrived home the day before, or so Suigetsu had reported, over the phone.

And as always, the masses and masses of preparations to be made for the tournament, and all of its guests, and the security needed for the guests, and the permits for the vendors around the stadium, and…

Yeah, there was a lot to think about, but Naruto never got _nervous_ over it, the chuunin exam preparations especially. _Maybe_ a little stressed, which always caused him to eat too much and laugh too loudly, but not nervous.

He decided to bring Andou with him to the station. "Why, what's going on?" Andou replied, after Naruto told him.

"It'll… look good," Naruto replied, nodding, nodding. "B'sides, maybe you'll… need to take notes, y'know. Or something. For posterity. Okay?"

"Sure, okay," Andou replied, shrugging, and patting his jacket pocket to make sure his favorite notebook and a spare pen were at the ready. "Whenever you're ready."

(Andou wasn't his mother, but he was a close enough presence for a placebo.)

They set out and into the warming day.

In approaching the transport station, Naruto kept his mind buzzing with distraction by waving at people as he went by—and there were _many_ people. As he did so, his eyes scanned the crowd for a scrap of bright red hair, or a fire-spark smile.

But Kiine found him first. And she let him know by cheering at him through the crowd, her voice sounding like a clear bell through the din.

"_Naruto-san!"_

And before he could turn around and see her, she had launched herself at him, wrapping her arms over his arms and squeezing so, so tightly.

(The sensation felt strangely familiar.)

"Dude, I freakin' missed you, yeah?!" she said, her voice high with a laugh, as she rubbed her cheek against his shoulder. One of her sandals had come off.

Naruto stumbled, his breath escaping him in one large reverse-gasp.

(Why did this feel so familiar?)

He didn't hug her back, not yet. But still, he found himself saying, "Y-yeah, me too, y'know…!"

(And he wasn't lying, he knew this.)

Kiine let go, but placed her hands on his elbows, stepping back. She wore finer clothes than she'd brought with her during her last stay, but they were no less feminine. Her smile was like a bright half-moon, and her hair was shorter than Naruto remembered. "Man, how have you _been?_ It feels like it's been forever!"

"Yeah, forever! Wow," Naruto replied, with a mock-sheepish shrug. "Um, yeah, been busy, been busy… But how are _you,_ y'know?"

"Freaking _awesome_, that's what," Kiine replied. "Man, I have so much to _tell_ you!"

"Sure sounds like it, from your letter," Naruto said.

"Kiine!" A man's voice, loud, and growing louder.

"Oh, whoops, I guess I sorta left my family behind, yeah…" Kiine said. She let go to scratch her temple in embarrassment. "Here, you wanna meet 'em?"

"Y'don't have to ask, haha," Naruto replied. And with Kiine leading, slipping her lost sandal back on as she went, they met the Taki clan halfway.

Naruto could feel his heart thudding in his throat, but he swallowed, smiled, and tried to ignore it.

"Kiine, now what was that about?" The voice, it seemed, belonged to a man with a red mustache, and ragged, severe eyebrows. He had his arms crossed within his red-gray kimono sleeves.

"Sorry, Papa, I shouldn't have done that…" Kiine said, bowing slightly in apology.

"Ah, so you must be… ah, Kiine's dad, Boss Tensho, right?" Naruto said. His face wrinkled slightly as he tried to remember the name. "Uzumaki Naruto, seventh Hokage of Konoha. Great to meet you!" He reached out a hand for Tensho to shake.

Tensho didn't take it, his expression just growing more severe. "The same," he said.

"And this is my mother, Mikan, Naruto-san," Kiine said, pulling on his sleeve in her direction.

"A pleasure to meet you," Mikan said, taking his hand anyways. She had a mirthful, almost Buddha-like smile, painted apple-red, and her pleasantly thick body was encased in a beautifully-made kimono of dull, rose-colored silk. "Kiine's told me quite a bit."

"Wish I could say the same! But then again, Kiine-chan wasn't exactly in a position to say much when she was here, y'know," Naruto said, trying hard to keep his laughter casual. "But, hey, nothin' we can't fix."

"Surely," Mikan replied, warmly. Tensho said nothing.

"An' this is my, uh, fiancé, Hakaza Kou!" Kiine said, pulling Naruto along further, and pushing forward another person with her free hand.

The boy, dressed in a well-tailored khaki vest that complemented the navy blue shirt beneath it, looked far too young to be a fiancé.

(And he looked nothing like Naruto's father.)

"A fiancé!" Naruto said. "Huh! Really!"

"It's _sorta_ complicated, yeah…" Kiine said, and made a groaning, laughing noise. "But, hey, he's not so bad."

"Very nice to meet you…." Kou said quietly, bowing.

"And I'm Shin, Boss of the _Hakaza_ clan," a man said, stepping forward and in front of Kou. He was robed in sumptuous, cold shades of gray, and had very pale, almost glass-like skin and yellow eyes that tickled the back of Naruto's memory. "Kou is my son. _Wonderful_ to meet you, Hokage-san."

"Uh, sure, same to you!" Naruto said, and shook his hand. "And you can just call me Naruto, y'know?"

"Ooh! Do you treat _everyone_ like this?" Shin said, tittering with his hand poised girlishly by his mouth. "So delightfully _casual_."

"Dad, please…" Kou mumbled.

Kiine was already tugging Naruto to the next person in the group, in familiar, lavender-colored robes. "An' this is-"

Naruto already knew. He would never forget that face.

Though the name associated with it was different, now. But he knew that name as well.

"Yuki-kun, right?"

Yuki blinked slightly, in surprise. "You, ah, remember me?"

"Yea-ah! 'Course I do, why wouldn't I, y'know?" Naruto replied. "You're, uh, Kiine's… brother, right?"

"…bodyguard," Yuki said, his face turning slightly pink, perfect lips tightening.

Naruto's stomach twisted slightly. Right, _right_, that was a mistake, he was only thinking that because-

"Dude, you are _totally_ my brother, yeah," Kiine said, leaving Naruto to cheerfully throw her arm around Yuki's back. "We were practically in diapers together, you know?"

"Whatever you say, sir," Yuki said, looking up, though smirking lightly.

The knot in Naruto's stomach eased, slightly.

Slide, click.

Oh. And behind Yuki.

Naruto made an attempt. "And you're, uh… Nobuyuki?"

"Nobu_hiro_," the man replied. Slide, click.

"Ri-ight! Right, sorry, I'm bad with names, y'know," Naruto replied. He received a slight eye-roll, a swell of disrespect with it. "Boss Tensho's guy, right?"

"Sure," Nobuhiro said, flatly. His expression and tone were much like Boss Tensho's had been.

But at least there wasn't any animosity expressed by either of them. Just annoyance, if anything.

That was a start.

"Well, uh, this here is Hyuuga Andou!" Naruto said, stepping back a little to address them all. "Andou-kun, this is the, ah, Taki clan! And Hakaza clan, I guess."

"A pleasure to meet you all," Andou said, and bowed with practiced, traditional composure. "Allow me, on behalf of _my_ clan, the Hyuuga, to also bid you welcome."

"Jeez, Andou-kun, no need to be so formal," Naruto said, shoving him slightly. "Andou-kun's my assistant, y'know. He practically helps run the place."

"Yeah, I remember you," Kiine said, leaving Yuki. "You got cool eyes."

"Thank you," Andou said, though his smile was diminished at the edges.

"Well! Uh! Now that we got our introductions outta the way, uh, why don't I show you to your accommodations, y'know?" Naruto said, clapping his hands together. "Then I can take you for a tour around the city, if y'want."

"Ooh, that'd be awesome!" Kiine said. "I mean, you already showed _me_ around but I'd love to show Yuki an' Kou all the cool stuff, yeah."

"I thought we were just here for the tournament, I don't feel like sight-seeing," Boss Tensho said.

"Papa, you can just stay in the room, if you're gonna be like that," Kiine said. "We should have some fun while we're here!"

"Just tryin' to be a gracious host, Boss Tensho," Naruto said, shrugging apologetically. "If there's anything you'd _personally_ like to do then I can totally see if I can fit it in, y'know."

"Thanks," Boss Tensho replied, curtly.

The accommodations had been chosen long before, after Boss Tensho's letter had returned, confirming their attendance to the chuunin exams. It was the Tenjou Inn, a traditional affair perhaps a block or two from Naruto's own house, with baths and an excellent kitchen.

It also happened to be an inn chosen by many of the Kages during their visits, year after year—Gaara and the Tsuchikage making the most use of it, by far. True, they had embassies that they could use—which Terumi Mei and her retinue _always_ used, with increasing frequency over the years—but that always reduced the chance that Naruto could sneak in for drinks and jokes in the evenings and reduce themselves to old friends, and no longer Kages. For that reason, Bee frequently booked his rooms there, as well, so he could join in.

Putting the syndicate guests there was something of a preventative measure. If they felt like causing trouble, they would be causing trouble in the full presence of Naruto, at least two other Kages, and at least one other, active jinchuuriki. There was very little room left for disturbance.

It was a really nice inn, besides, and fully suitable for housing such high-profile guests. They wouldn't be able to complain about the service _there_, at least.

Kiine talked practically the entire way there, leading the group with Naruto, Kou, and Yuki. The adults and the other bodyguards and the baggage-carriers followed behind.

There was a lot for Naruto get caught up on.

"So what's with the new hairstyle?" was Naruto's first question, however. It felt innocuous enough, and didn't make his heart beat any faster. "It's shorter than when I last saw you, y'know."

"Ah, this?" Kiine fluffed a section of her bangs with the back of her hand. "It was gettin' too long, so I decided to cut it myself. Sorta didn't turn out as well as last time, yeah… But Kou fixed it! He's a whiz with scissors, you have _no_ idea."

"I only trimmed it a little, you're _really_ exaggerating," Kou replied, though Naruto saw a gleam of pride in his marble-like eyes.

"Eh, c'mon," Kiine replied, smiling. "I tried to make him do Yuki next but neither of them seemed too interested, for some _weird _reason."

"I like my hair how it is, sir," Yuki said, primly.

"You ever try wearing it up?" Naruto said.

"Excuse me?"

Naruto made a little motion above his head, as if he were making a ponytail, or a bun. "Y'know, like this. It's pretty long, y'know. It would keep your hair outta your eyes, I think."

"I do that for kendo practice, already," Yuki replied, his head tilted in mild confusion. "I don't like it, though, it… makes me look too much like a girl."

"I don't think it makes _that_ much of a difference, Yuki," Kiine said, with a good-natured dig. "Though if you ask me, it looks more manly when you tie it back, yeah."

"That's… just your opinion, sir," Yuki replied.

Naruto's mouth, however, was pressed tightly into itself as his own words rebounded on him.

He had wanted to agree with Kiine, that loose hair made Yuki look more feminine, but…

(Was he only saying that because of that one day, in the clearing, thirty years before?)

("_Do you have anyone that's precious to you?"_)

(Why had he even brought that up in the first place?)

He shook the memories out of his mind like water from his hair. "So you do kendo, Yuki-kun?"

"Since I was five years old, sir," Yuki replied.

"Really! I remember your, ah, fancy swordplay from the last time you were here, y'know," Naruto said. He threw on a smile. "You must be pretty good."

"I'm as good as I need to be, I suppose," Yuki said.

"Don't sell yourself short, Yuki," Kiine said. Yuki just tilted his head blithely back at her, in reply.

"Anything else you're good at?" Naruto asked.

"What do you mean, sir?" Yuki replied.

"I dunno, just any sorta other talent, I guess." Naruto shrugged. "Like, hmm. Like, uh, can you do magic tricks or anything?"

"Magic?" Yuki blinked. "Well, ah…"

"Uh-oh, Yuki, please don't let this turn into a repeat of that night, yeah," Kiine said, with a stretched half-smile.

"Which night?" Yuki said.

"Kiine, I don't see any soup anywhere, so I think we're safe," Kou said, gently.

"Oh. That night." Yuki's voice was clipped, but as though hiding laughter.

"What are you guys talking about?" Naruto said. His eyes narrowed in confusion, automatically.

Kiine chuckled. "So we had this big engagement banquet like a month ago, yeah, and Yuki froze a bowl of soup for Kou 'cos I asked him to, only it _unfroze_ right when Kou here was holding it above his head! It got _everywhere_, yeah."

"Yep, sure made a mess…" Kou said.

"Froze, huh?" Naruto said. "So, like, you turned it to ice? How? Or is that a, uh, magician's secret, y'know?" he added, hastily.

"It's just something I've always been able to do, I suppose," Yuki replied. "Do things to water and liquid and such."

"It's pretty cool, honestly, yeah," Kiine said. "When it works, anyways."

"Excuse _me_, sir," Yuki replied, with mock-offense on his face.

"So you learned to use that, huh…" Naruto said, trying to keep his voice low and to himself.

"Learned to use what, exactly?" Yuki said.

"Ah, nothing, nothing, just talking to myself, y'know," Naruto said, waving it off with his hand.

(But punching himself in the face, in his mind.)

(Why did he keep _doing_ this?)

(Didn't he tell himself that knowing didn't make a difference?)

"So tell me more about this engagement thing," Naruto said, making a leap for safety. "I mean, aren't you guys a little young?"

"Our parents are sort of… _traditional_," Kou said.

"Understatement, yeah," Kiine said. "But, hey, we're trying to work with it."

"And by that you mean we're sabotaging things left and right." Kou made an attempt at a rebellious smile, but his face was too soft and kind.

"Well, or at least trying," Kiine added.

"Sabotage, huh," Naruto said. "Mind elaborating?"

"Oh, I do not mind at all," Kiine replied.

The conversation stayed safely away from the shadow-casting past until they reached the inn.

And though Naruto's nervousness felt reduced, his uneasiness and insecurity with himself remained.

* * *

The tour went well. Tensho stayed in the room, as did Nobuhiro and Mikan. Shin wanted to go, but Mikan advised against it with a waving hand.

"Let the kids go out and have some fun by themselves. They'll be stuck with us for a while afterwards, after all."

Shin agreed, cheerfully, and suggested that drinks be ordered for them all. Tensho couldn't disagree, though his obvious discontent only wrinkled with the alcohol.

The kids went out, and they did have fun—though Andou was dismissed (by his own suggestion) to go assist in the preparations for the tournament, so that Naruto wouldn't fall behind. Kiine added nearly as much commentary as Naruto did, on occasion; and when they stopped for lunch at Ichiraku, she made suggestions.

"Yuki, you don't like hot soup much… I dunno, maybe there's something with tofu that won't be so bad, yeah?"

"I think I can get over my sensitivities for this meal, sir," Yuki replied, with a graceful (far too familiar) bow of his head.

"And Kou, gosh, um, maybe the chestnut would be good for you, yeah? You like sweet stuff," Kiine continued.

"Ooh, if you like sweet stuff, the barbeque pork bowl is _really_ good, y'know," Naruto chimed in, just a bit too loudly.

"…um, I think I'll try the blossom bowl, actually," Kou said. "That sounds good."

"Oh, I didn't think of that," Kiine said, pounding a fist on her open palm. "Well, salt ramen for me!"

"And a Hokage Special, too!" Naruto added.

"Comin' right up!" The owner's grandson was working that day, his yellow tip-dyed hair pushed behind his handkerchief.

"Ah, Yuki-san didn't order, yet…" Kou said.

"Chestnut, please," Yuki replied, with a slight, curling smile in return.

But after the (many bowls of) lunch, Naruto returned the kids to the inn and excused himself. "I'll see you guys again at dinner, I got us a reservation at a real great place, y'know. Okay?"

"Sure, you know where we are, yeah!" Kiine replied, and waved at him as he went.

Naruto retreated to his own bedroom, flopping down, back-first, onto the bed, and exhaling deeply.

He realized, in spreading his thoughts out, picking through where the anxiety was coming from, that Kiine wasn't making him as nervous. He'd lapsed into chatter with her almost automatically, which came as a great relief to him. She was just a friend, and a dear one, and he didn't even need to remind himself of this.

(There wasn't much he remembered that he could compare her to. Just a faint memory of a water-born conversation, nothing more.)

Yuki, however…

His shame for his actions and words earlier stuck into his chest like nails. It wasn't supposed to _matter_ that he knew where Yuki had come from, and yet…

And yet, unlike Yakata, who was stuttering and weak; unlike Ooda, who was selfless and insecure; Yuki far too closely resembled Haku, with his gentle, glass-smooth words and impeccable manner of moving and speaking. He was even the same age as Haku was, in Naruto's memories.

As much as he wanted to believe that this was just an outlier, that he didn't have to worry, Naruto worried.

Especially when he began thinking of Kurunari.

But Kurunari was different _too, _and always _had_ been different from Jiraiya. But he was due to arrive the following day, along with many of the other jinchuuriki.

And besides, these things didn't happen with Yakata or with Ooda or with (thank goodness) Kiine. He didn't treat them differently.

…still, he worried. Especially because the very existence of the clones wasn't public information yet, nor did Naruto want it to be, at that point.

One slip, in front of the wrong people—and there were _lots_ of wrong people to slip around—could be _disastrous._

Another deep breath in. Naruto's ceiling was bare, yet cluttered with thoughts.

…Hinata was always there for him, with green tea and her gentle voice…

…no, he didn't want to bother her with things that were probably beyond her means.

Who _had_ the means, anyways?

…what _were_ the means, anyways? Naruto's face pinched together, and he crossed his arms over his chest.

The means were… well, anyone that had experience dealing with these children, knowing who they were, but managing to keep it all in.

Now, who the _heck_ did that cover?

Naruto sat up with the revelation. "Suigetsu-san!" he said.

…only, Suigetsu was in Tamina, keeping an eye on Yakata. Oh, right…

He flopped back down on the bed again, resuming his thought.

If not Suigetsu, then, who?

…Karin, maybe?

(A fluttering, butterfly-in-the-stomach ripple coursed, once, through his body.)

…well, he didn't want to bother her much.

Who were the guardians that _knew? _She'd said something, earlier that week…

His memory spun.

That guy named Juugo, who was _also_ at the hospital… But Naruto didn't know him that well, so…

And then Mikan, Kiine's mom. She had a firm handshake and a rose-like, trustworthy air about her. But she was young, too, and Naruto highly doubted that she had ever even _heard_ of Haku…

Naruto groaned and squirmed on the bed, flopping over onto his stomach.

If he didn't want to mess up, he had to talk to _someone_. Because messing up would mean more than just trouble for him.

_So_ much more.

So he started on his way to the hospital, hoping he was making a good decision.

He kept thinking of turning back, on the way over. Making up excuses, reasons for not bothering her, assuring himself that he wouldn't make any further mistakes.

Yeah, sure. Not with this much at stake.

He snuck into the hospital without much difficulty, greeted by a few of the nurses with crisp choruses of "Hokage-sama." He didn't check in with Sakura, even though he could have found out where she was, because, well, he didn't feel like bothering her, either. And he knew where Karin's room was, anyways, so he didn't need to ask.

Her door was closed, however. He knocked, gently. "Hey, Karin-san…?"

No response.

He knocked again, a little louder. Was she gone…?

(No, she was there. His heart fluttered with the edge of each ripple pulsing out from behind the door.)

He lifted his hand for a third knock when the door opened, and a figure covered in a blanket covered the door. "Mm…?"

"Oh, Ooda-kun…" Naruto said, almost whispering.

Ooda lifted his head, and some of the blanket fell away from his face. He made another, closed-mouth noise, his expression otherwise still obscured.

"Is your mom in there?" Naruto asked.

There was a simultaneous pang of comfort and unease in response to the words. "Mom's sleeping," Ooda finally mumbled.

"Oh! Oh, sorry, then, um, should I come back later…?"

"Why do you want to talk to her," Ooda said, leaning forward, but not stepping forward. A white hand was clenched tightly at his chest, keeping the blanket over him.

"Oh, just… advice, I guess, I'm havin' a little trouble with some… things, y'know," Naruto said. His smile stretched and exposed teeth in an improper way.

"Oh…" Ooda said. "Does it have anything to do with… Yakata?" His voice rose only slightly with the question.

Naruto's smile stretched into a grimace. "Well… _kinda_. Um, really, I'm sorry if I'm bothering you guys at all, y'know, I can always come back later…"

Ooda shook his head. "You lie badly. I can wake her up for you…" He turned around and went further into the room.

"Oh, no, Ooda-kun, really, it's fine." Naruto followed him, his voice diluting into a whisper with each step. "And it's okay, it's not… _exactly_ to do with Yakata-kun, it's not really that urgent…"

Ooda turned around near Karin's bedside. His profile was sharp against the hair falling in his face. "Then what is it."

"Erm, well…" How to put this…? "I… ran into Kiine and Yuki-kun today. And I think I'm… sorta messing up in dealing with them, y'know."

"…you didn't tell them who they _are_, did you…"

A great expanse of coldness started growing from behind Ooda, and the grip on his blanket tightened.

"No!" Naruto's voice spiked, then fell. "No, no, of course not, I just… well, Kiine I'm fine with, I just started acting all weird around Yuki-kun. 'Cos, I mean, I knew, uh, _Haku_ myself, an' I still… sorta remember him, and Yuki-kun's so similar an' stuff, so…"

Ooda hunched a little further into himself. "I see…"

"And well, see, I just wanna make sure I'm doing the right _thing_, y'know, and I wanted to talk to your mom about it…"

"I really don't think she could help you…" Ooda said. "My mother… makes a point about not getting attached, so she'd probably have nothing to share…"

"Oh, I see…" Naruto said.

"…you… knew my _'father,'_ though, didn't you…"

"'scuze me?"

Ooda crossed the room and pulled a chair out from a table pressed against the furthermost wall. "You know, Orochimaru…"

"Oh! Uh, yeah, I mean, not _personally_, y'know…" Naruto said, taking careful steps to the table, half-prompted by Ooda's reluctant, miserable tone. "We ran into each other a few times, I mean…"

"Then why do you treat _me_ differently."

Why _wouldn't_ he? The man half-standing in front of him wasn't Orochimaru, that proud, slithering creature with pearly confidence. This was a young man whose every movement spoke of someone that felt ashamed to even exist.

"Well… because you're not him, that's why," Naruto replied.

"But you had trouble with Yuki." One of Ooda's hands emerged to lean against the chair, his head still bowed low. "You knew his father too."

"Well… _yeah_…" Naruto creaked out. The memory of the beautiful, young Haku seized against the added, artificial role of "father." ("Sister," maybe, but not _that_…)

"Then what makes me different…?"

"Well, you're… well, you _act_ differently. I mean, when you're, uh, not… in disguise, y'know…" Naruto's face pinched as he tried to think further.

A bare echo of a chuckle floated away from Ooda's lowered head. "And Yuki doesn't, hm…"

"Well… _yeah_, that's the _thing_," Naruto said. "He's just… a _lot_ like Haku, so I just sorta… started treating him like he _was_, I guess…"

"Maybe you're just… focusing too much on the similarities." Ooda finally sat down, his blanket-draped arms folding on the table's surface. "Yuki… well, I… _obviously_ never knew Haku, but... I'm sure he's not as similar as you think he is…"

He disguised the plea well.

"You think I'm just… judging too early, huh?" Naruto said.

"Possibly…" A shift of a shrug. "I'm just speaking from…"

The unfinished phrase dropped into Naruto's stomach like a lead weight.

"…well I'm just… afraid of messing up, is all," he said, after lightly clearing his throat. "Y'know, blowing the cover… I mean, I don't want this whole thing to fall apart just 'cos I can't control myself, y'know…"

"I think you'll be all right…" Ooda said, softly. "We're all… _different_, I think… Well, even though I know next to nothing, that's what I'd like to hope…" His voice faded.

"Eh, I… think you're right. I'm just not smart enough to figure it out for m'self," Naruto replied, finally cracking a genuine smile.

The blanket slipped a little further off of Ooda's head as he looked up, and a thin smile of his own spread its way over his face like an ink drawing.

"It's all about differences, right?" Naruto said. "Focus on those, yeah. And shut up if I think I'm getting too… close, y'know."

"That sounds like a fine plan," Ooda said.

Naruto continued to smile, the stretched pang of _"You're outstaying your welcome!" _as usual, drowned out by happier, more relieved thoughts.

Yakata was different, and Kurunari was different, and Ooda was _definitely _different. Kiine was, too, though there was little for him to compare her to. Which was probably for the best, because he liked her too much for stupid things like memories making things awkward.

And Yuki was probably the very same. For all Naruto knew, he probably hated flowers and bunnies and loved doing manly stuff! He liked kendo, didn't he? Yeah!

"Thanks, Ooda-kun. You were a _huge_ help, y'know," Naruto said.

"Just… doing what I can," Ooda replied, lowering his head, like a bow.

With a shrug-like wave, Naruto left.

Alone in the room, Ooda's grip on his blanket loosened, no longer feeling quite so cold.

There was a rustle from the corner of the room. "Ooda, who was that…"

"…nobody, Mom," Ooda replied.

(Her back facing him, Karin's face folded into a warm, sleepy smile. She'd heard everything.)

(But she smiled the most at the fact that it was the first time she had heard Ooda speak so clearly since his ordeal.)

(The wounds were healing.)


	91. Openwork Lace

_Chapter 91 - Openwork Lace_

* * *

Naruto returned to Hokage Manor to find Andou polishing a sword at a small folding table that someone had brought into his office.

Well, this was new. "Hey, uh, Andou-kun, where'd you find that?"

"Evidence room," Andou replied, swiping a white cloth over the blade once more. "I thought we could use it to get us on some good footing with the Taki syndicate." He paused. "Giving it to them as a gift, I mean."

"Uhh… that's, uh, a great idea, Andou-kun, but I think it's kinda illegal to give away evidence like that, y'know," Naruto said, scratching his head.

Andou's tea-saucer eyes blinked, and he shook his head. "No, no, this _belongs_ to the Taki clan already. You see?" He balanced the blade on the palm of his left hand, covered with the cloth, while holding the handle with the right. "There's a seal stamped on the blade near the guard."

Naruto bent over and narrowed his eyes and, indeed, the kanji for "Taki" was stamped there. "Well, huh. How'd you know to get it?"

"I went back and looked at the records from when Kiine-san was first visiting. The complaints and the incident reports," Andou replied, returning to his work. "Some man named Honda had his sword confiscated and I don't think we ever returned it. So I think this would be an excellent opportunity to do so."

Naruto paused, the plan rolling lightly through his mind.

(And he realized something completely separate.)

(Andou, didn't he count, too?)

(Even knowing where he came from, and how he had been born, Naruto still treated him like he was just Hinata's son. Because that was what he _was_.)

(He wasn't anything else.)

(Knowing this gave him confidence.)

"I take it this is a good plan?" Andou said, not looking up, but seeing Naruto's smile growing overlarge.

"A _super_ idea," Naruto said. "Bring it with you when we go to dinner, okay?"

"You… want me to come with you?"

"Well, _duh_. You're sorta keeping this whole operation together, y'know, Andou-kun. I don't think I could keep half this stuff straight without you."

Andou gave a shrugging, shy smile. "Well, okay. The reservation is at five, correct?"

"Pfft, you tell me, buddy," Naruto said.

So, of course, Andou did.

The Hokage and the boy departed from the Manor at 4:30 to collect their guests at the inn. Andou had the sword sheathed and held firmly in his hands across his chest. Taking a bold move forward, he presented it to Boss Tensho shortly after Naruto made do with some sort of greeting.

"Before we departed, I wanted to have this returned to you, sir," he said, evenly. "I believe it belongs to one of your men, with the surname Honda. It was left with us during your clan's previous visit and never returned properly." Holding the sword out with both hands, Andou bowed low, at the waist.

"That moronic _egghead_," Nobuhiro mumbled, from his place behind Boss Tensho and Mikan. "He wanted that stupid thing replaced."

Tensho's mustache bristled, but he reached out and took the sword regardless, and nodded. "Thought this was missing for good. Didn't expect to have it returned."

There was a stiff silence.

"On behalf of my husband," Mikan said, as Tensho turned to a servant and told him to put the sword away, "let me thank you for your thoughtfulness."

"Anything less would not do our country's virtue justice, ma'am," Andou replied, with a polite smile. Nobuhiro and Tensho both scoffed somewhat, but were ignored.

"Gosh, where can _I _get one?" Shin whispered, from behind his fingers. Kou, nearby, covered a cheek and ear with his hand.

"So, uh, you guys hungry? We should probably get going, y'know," Naruto said, waving his hand. "It's a short walk but our reservation will be kept no matter what, so."

"Lead the way, Hokage," Boss Tensho said, shifting his shoulders.

"Of course, Boss Tensho. Follow me!"

A private room had been booked for them at the Red Kitsune, a sumptuous music-box of a place full of folding screens accentuated with gold leaf, and dark wooden pillars forming small, private dining rooms for each party of customers. Normally, reservations had to be placed a week in advance. During chuunin exam season, that period was extended to one month, three if you wanted to be sure.

But Naruto was the Hokage.

…and he'd made the reservation the month before, so whatever. He was fine either way.

"Order anything you want, I'm covering the bill!" Naruto said. He sat on the far right edge of the table, allowing Boss Tensho and Boss Shin to sit at the center with Mikan and Hikawa, where the best food would be placed when it arrived. Of course, Kiine sat beside him, with Kou and Yuki. The bodyguards and Andou took the other side of the table, though Andou was forced to the edge by Nobuhiro, who didn't want him so close to his master.

Kiine went for the menu immediately. "Ooh, what's good here?"

Naruto shrugged. "I dunno, everything, I guess!"

"Kiine, look at these _desserts_," Kou said, getting her attention by batting her arm with his fingers and pointing at his own menu. "Gosh, I wonder how they _taste_."

"Order them if you're so curious," Yuki said, though the snap in his voice was not malice but playfulness.

"I don't know where to _start_, Yuki-san," Kou replied.

"An appetizer, maybe?" Yuki said.

"I dunno, dessert for dinner is startin' to sound _pretty_ good, yeah," Kiine said, her mouth stretching into a playful smirk.

"Kiine, dear, order at least_ one_ thing that could count as a _real_ dinner," Mikan said, from her side of the table. Boss Tensho was studying the menu with an intensely displeased expression, his hand poised on his mouth. Or he could have just been concentrating.

"Okay, Mama, I will," she replied, nodding. "Hey, Naruto-san, you think the noodles here are as good as Ichiraku?"

"…I think saying anything would get me in trouble with someone, y'know," Naruto said, eyes shifting, mock-conspiratorially. "Let's play it safe and keep away from the noodles."

"Good idea, yeah," Kiine said, lowering her voice to match his whisper. Kou giggled, his round cheeks growing slightly pink, Yuki discretely smiling behind his menu.

Choices were, eventually, made. And plates made of beautiful chocolate-and-cream-colored laquerwork were delivered, bearing glistening steaks, tempura in batter that looked like gold ore, mountains of still-steaming dumplings. The food smelled and tasted as good as it looked.

Conversation bloomed from the ashes of hunger. Andou, of all things, had gotten into a conversation with Kou's one-eyed bodyguard, Shankusu, over alliances between pirate bands in the Northern Seas, or something like that. The Bosses Tensho and Shin kept to themselves, though Mikan was checking around the table with little sparks of conversation every few minutes: "Oh, isn't this chicken breast _divine_, Hikawa-san?" "Are you enjoying your salad, Yuki dear?" "Naruto-san, this is _truly_ remarkable food. I'll have to send my compliments to the chef!"

"I'm sure it'd be appreciated, Mikan-san!" Naruto chirped back, before returning to his conversation with Kiine. Naturally, the two of them had gotten started as soon as drinks had been served, and hadn't stopped for anything.

Though Kiine seemed to be shifting the subject, subtly. "Hey, so, Naruto-san," she said.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"You're the Hokage, yeah?"

"Uh, _yeah_."

"And there are other Kage-people, yeah?"

"Uh… _yeah_."

"Well, I was wondering." She put down her chopsticks to gesture outward with her hands. "See, we had some trouble this summer with some Cloud ninjas, and their leader-guy is the Raikage, yeah?"

"Yeah, Rotsuki-san," Naruto replied, though his brow was lowering. Yuki and Kou, he noticed, had stopped eating and were leaning in slightly.

"Well, d'you suppose you could arrange for a meeting for our families with him? 'Cos we got some negotiations started with his people but they didn't get too far, and we kinda wanted to talk to him ourselves, yeah."

"About what, exactly?" Naruto said.

"Eh, trade routes that our families use, whether or not aggression is so-badly needed, what to do about our less-than-legal goods, yadda yadda," Kiine replied, rotating her hand around in a circle with the list. "I mean, we agreed not to bother each other for the time being, yeah, but it'd be great if we could get this settled here."

Naruto thought, tilting his head, eyes closed. "Eh… I dunno, Kiine, that seems like it's sorta abusin' my power, y'know. Rotsuki-san's pretty busy with his _own_ stuff, too, and I don't wanna bother him if I don't need to…"

"_Please_, Naruto-san. It's really important that you at least _ask_ him, yeah," Kiine said, leaning forward and putting a hand on his upper arm. "Because if we keep putting this off it'll be bad for both of us. And I don't want either of us to get desperate again."

"_Again?_" One of Naruto's eyebrows rose.

"They, um…" Kou was speaking. "They… kidnapped me and tried to hold me hostage to force my… clan to enter into… talks with them…" He had his head lowered, rubbing his fingers over the top of his left hand. "Kiine, um… Well, her _and_ Yuki-san… They had to rescue me, see…"

Some sort of history rubbed against Naruto's memory. His eyes flitted to Andou, sitting across the table from him.

(His personal tragedies had been untouched by Cloud. But his mother, his honorary uncle, had been unmistakably changed by such things.)

"…well, I'll see if I can talk to Rotsuki-san and see what the deal is, y'know," Naruto said. "I suppose if he's interested, even if right _now_ doesn't work out, exactly, we can at least get something _started_."

Kiine's face lit up, her eyes glowing like dark, polished sapphires. She dove into a half-hug, wrapping her arm around Naruto's shoulders. "You are _seriously_ the best, yeah. Thank you _so_ much!"

"Hey, just doing what I can, y'know!" Naruto replied, shoving her back. "Hey, uh, and Kou-kun?" he added, a bit more softly.

His head snapped up. "Ah, yeah?"

"If you got nightmares or anything 'cos you got kidnapped, we can help you with that, y'know," he said. "S'not your fault that that happened to you."

"Oh, uh, okay, but I'm fine, mostly…" Kou replied, now tapping the knuckle of a finger with a shy smile. "Thanks for the offer, though."

"Hey, sure thing!" Naruto beamed and grabbed his chopsticks. "Now, let's see, what's left…"

There was a gentle rapping noise on a wooden beam outside the booth. A woman in a mask shaped like an ox's head had appeared. "Hokage-sama."

"Oh, hey there," Naruto said, though his expression tightened slightly. An ANBU, here? "What's going on?"

"I was sent to inform you that your daughter, the Lady Yomena, has arrived," the ANBU replied. "Since you were unable to receive her, she was sent to your residence."

…oh.

Her.

"Ah, I, uh, I see," Naruto replied, nodding a few more times than necessary. "Well, I'll be, uh, right with her after dinner's over and I've taken my, uh, guests home y'know."

The ANBU nodded. "Very well, sir." She departed, her coal-colored cape rippling slightly behind her.

"So… your, uh, daughter, huh?" Kiine said, after the awkward silence had left the table with all the other couples—even Yuki and Kou—returning to their conversations or starting new ones. She had her drink glass in her hand, the rim of the cup poised against her mouth. "Didn't I stay in her room while I was here?"

"Yeah, that's… her room," Naruto replied. Had he even cleaned it for her? He hadn't really touched it since Kiine had stayed there…

"Any chance I'll get to meet her while I'm here?" Kiine asked. "How old is she, anyways?"

"Uh… sixteen, I think..."

"Whoa, cool, so she's the same age as me, yeah?" Kiine's forced casual air broke into a smile. "Now I _have_ to meet her."

"I… dunno if she'd be so cool with that, Kiine…" Naruto said.

Kiine set down her drink. "Why, what's up?"

"She's..." He looked up, pulling his thoughts together. "Yomena is sort of… hard to get to know, y'know. She's not really… into talking much. Much less with me."

"What, really? You'd think that she'd be a huge chatterbox, if she were related to you, yeah," Kiine said.

Naruto snorted through his nose, involuntarily. "Well, I guess some stuff is weird like that, y'know."

"Well, either way. Why wouldn't she want to talk to _you, _at least, though? You're not so bad, yeah."

"We're just…" He shrugged, heavily. "Different people, I guess. She's never shown an interest in gettin' to know me, really, and I sorta go on automatic around her, so…"

"Automatic? The heck does that mean, yeah?" Kiine said.

Naruto shrugged again. "I just… treat her like a stranger, I guess," he replied. "Since I dunno how the heck she wants me to act around her, y'know."

"Well, you're her _dad_, aren't you?"

"Only in the… generic sense of the word, really," Naruto said. "I got to see her when she was a baby, an' then when she was five or six they started doing these visits where she stayed at my house. It was part of the deal I made with her mom, apparently. And by then she was already…" He waved his hands in the air for lack of a word. "S'quiet as she is now, y'know. Not so much into getting t'know me."

"Ah. Huh." Kiine went for her cup again. "Does it bother you or anything?"

"What bothers me?"

"The fact that you dunno how to act around her, yeah."

"Hey, I never said _that_, y'know."

Kiine swallowed, exhaling loudly as she put her cup down. "Um, hello, the whole automatic mode?"

"That, uh…" He pursed his lips, tightly. "That was just a figure of speech, y'know."

"Sure, sure," Kiine said. "I dunno, it just sounds _super _uncomfortable to me, yeah. Having to share a house with someone you _know_ is related to you, but you hardly know them. Reminds me of this thing my papa told me once, about having to deal with rival Bosses. Only, I don't think your daughter wants to secretly kill you, yeah. If she does, then, jeez, you made some bad decisions, buddy."

"That… hey." Naruto pulled a teasing, laughing grin over the axe of anxiety that struck his stomach. "Don't go talkin' about killing people, that's bad dinner talk, y'know."

"Okay, okay," Kiine said, laughing in reply. (Good, she hadn't noticed his slip.) "Still, I dunno, maybe you could _try_ and see if she wants to get to you know you at _least_ a little, yeah? I mean, that's _bound_ to make things a little more bearable."

"I never said it wasn't bearable," Naruto said. He crossed his arms, trying to make it look like a joke.

"Yeah, but it sure don't sound pleasant," Kiine replied, smoothly. "Just a suggestion, anyways."

She returned to the food and a discussion with her mother, but Naruto didn't eat anything after that, his stress, tightening his stomach, stifling his appetite completely.

In all honesty, he had more or less forgotten that the girl, Yomena, his daughter, had even _existed_ until the ANBU's arrival. And this wasn't due to the chuunin stress, nor the panic of the week before.

This was just how things were.

She was such a minor part of his life that, most of the time, his day-to-day thoughts glided by as usual without tripping over the few solid memories he had of her, like it did with so many other people.

He kept the door to her bedroom closed, in his house. There was no need for it to be used, normally. Kiine-then-Yukio had been a rare exception, and even then, Naruto had found her occupation of the space far more…

Appropriate? Fitting? Welcome?

The room felt more like it belonged to Kiine more than it had ever done for Yomena.

Normally, Naruto took on the visits with tolerable discomfort. They only really saw each other sparingly during her stay, especially given how early she awoke to meditate in her room and then cook her own breakfast. Their only face-to-face encounters tended to be in the greeting and the leaving, and that suited Naruto and, as far as he knew, it suited her as well.

But what Kiine said, about how awkward it felt.

…nah, it wasn't awkward, it was just…

…well, duty, he supposed. It wasn't supposed to be fun.

(It certainly hadn't been fun when he had been asked to make her, a barely-remembered promise dredged to the surface and plied into legitimacy through the offer of rare, raw materials for Konoha's use.)

(It hadn't been fun, sitting, alone, in that clinic, with a plastic cup and an overly-cheerful order to masturbate into it.)

(Every ounce of his effort was put into keeping his mind away from everything that was happening below his elbows, and well away from his cleaner memories, of people he held in higher esteem than Lady Shion.)

(It was better than being a traitor and actually sleeping with her.)

(But it wasn't fun.)

And, hey, it was better than when Yomena had first arrived at his house, right? When she was five, maybe six years old.

He thought of her as an invader, back then, but didn't dare complain.

She had a nanny in those days, anyways, an older priestess with a face like a bald cat that tutored her in the meantime. Naruto didn't have to take care of her, didn't have to cook for her or tuck her into bed or anything. If he'd had to do that now, he'd have been fine, since chores were easily-done, but Yomena took care of herself now.

But back then.

That was ten years ago.

(A memory, like the small shoot of a plant, nudged its way out and into his consciousness.)

"Hey."

(Had he once been almost happy to see her?)

"Na-aruto-san."

(Before that boy, the one who was more like his child to him than she was, was taken from him?)

"Oy, hey."

(…did she still deserve that cruel apathy, if it was true?)

"Naruto-san, seriously, are you gonna eat that?" Kiine was nudging Naruto on the arm, strongly now, gesturing to a peach-shaped bun on his plate with her chopsticks. "'Cos if you aren't, I'm going for it."

"Huh? Oh, no, sure, you can have it," Naruto replied.

"Sweet, thank you!" She dove for it with needle-fast movements, but it slipped out of her chopsticks and rolled across the floor, where it was picked up by Yuki's chopsticks in a barely-visible movement. "Dude, hey!"

"Your lips were not made to touch such filthy food, sir," Yuki said, and popped the whole bun in his mouth. "Awwow me."

"Aw, come on, Yuki, that was the last _one_, yeah! Traitor."

Yuki swallowed. "Too slow, I suppose, sir," he said, biting his lower lip with his smile, his mouth curling upward cartoonishly.

"I'm gonna make you cough that up, punk."

"Oh, so you like your food regurgitated, sir? Sounds like something new to try cooking with, Kou-san." Yuki leaned sideways, lowering his mouth appraisingly.

"Oh yes, that must taste _in-te-res-ting_," Kou added, nodding in mock-posh agreement. "I must try it."

"Gross, gross, _gross, _yeah," Kiine said, though she laughed, and they laughed in reply.

Naruto, however, had sunk into his thoughts again, unable to take any pleasure out of the exchange, full of unfitting mischief that Haku surely would have been mortified to have taken part in.

He was thinking of making an effort. To maybe make the duty easier to bear, or even to eradicate it altogether.

Because this wasn't all Yomena's fault.

(And if it was _his_ fault, for rejecting her that one year…)

(…well, maybe this would make up for things a little.)

* * *

Naruto dropped off the Taki clan and their associated guests at the Tenjou Inn with Andou, after dinner was finished, but instead of parting ways with the boy there, they went together to the Manor to see if there was anything that could be tied up by the end of the day.

Hawks and other messages had been received from the Lands of Wind and Lightning; Gaara and Rotsuki and their related parties would be arriving the next day. The Tsuchikage had already been received, but upon being told that Naruto was busy with other guests, a note was cheerfully and simply left for him instead, saying that a meeting could be arranged the next day. Which suited Naruto very much, since an informal meeting of the Kages was scheduled for the next day anyways.

Most of the other affairs had been taken care of, by either Andou or other interns, so Naruto signed a few papers and went on his way, saying goodnight to Andou.

"And give your mom my best, okay? Tell her I'll write back soon, y'know."

Andou smiled warmly, much like she did, and nodded. "I understand. Goodnight, Naruto-san."

However, Naruto was slow in going home. He shuffled, hands in his pockets, past fences and trees and lampposts soaking everything in yellow light. When he passed the Tenjou Inn on the way home, he considered, for a moment, going in and seeing if there was anyone that wanted to share a snack and a drink with him. But he shook his head, strengthening his stomach.

He had to get this over with. _Come on, man, _he told himself.

So he walked on, and towards home.

The lights were already on in his house, though they were few and kept low. A spicy smell cut through the usual, chicken broth air of the kitchen. She'd lit incense, probably.

Naruto swallowed as he approached her bedroom door. He knocked. "Yomena?"

There was a very light rustling beyond, and the door opened slightly.

Yomena's hair was loose, for once, falling over her shoulders in kinked waves. It was a bright, bright red, though it looked almost brown in the half-light.

Her eyes, a dark, nearly-violet blue, were dull as she looked back at him. Half-sleepy, half-disinterested.

(But they still looked like his.)

"I see you have returned, Hokage-sama."

"Uh, yeah. Just got back."

She nodded, eyes closed, her shoulders slumping in a slight bow. "Welcome back, then." She returned to her half-open gaze. "I was told you were entertaining guests. I trust you had a fulfilling time."

"Yeah, it was pretty fun," Naruto replied. "Did you, uh, get settled in okay? The trip over all right?"

"It was sufficient. I've been meditating in your absence," Yomena replied. "I will try to remain unobtrusive from here on out, of course."

"Oh, hey, you don't need to worry about that, y'know," Naruto replied, raising his hands and waving them at his chest. "Actually, uh, you hungry?"

Yomena's expression tightened slightly. "Not particularly."

"Oh, well, uh, 'cos I was gonna ask if you were interested in getting some dinner with me."

"…weren't you just _at_ dinner?"

"Well… _yeah_, but I sorta have a bottomless stomach, y'know." He laughed, and tried to make it sound natural.

Yomena's face grew more pinched. "I had my meal on the way over, of course."

"Ah, yeah, 'course…" Naruto nodded a few times, looking sideways as he thought. "Well, hey, I'm busy with lunches and dinners tomorrow, but d'you wanna grab breakfast with me or something? I could prob'ly squeeze in a dinner thing after the tournament's over, if you'd prefer, y'know…"

"I don't want to be a bother," Yomena said, flatly.

"Oh, you're not a bother, honest! I wanna make sure you have a good time here, y'know," Naruto said.

Yomena just shifted her position, slightly. "Of course."

"Just let me know if there's anything you wanna do, okay? Let me cook breakfast tomorrow morning at least." He tilted his head with the offer.

"That won't be necessary," Yomena replied. "Thank you for the offer, of course, but I doubt our schedules will line up. Please eat whenever you need to."

"Ah, sure…" Naruto shoved his hands in his pockets. "Well, uh, I still would like to treat you to a meal, y'know. While you're here."

"I will consider it, of course," Yomena replied, with a graceful nod. "I'm going to return to my meditation, now. Have a good night, Hokage-sama."

"Yeah, uh, you too."

Yomena closed the door behind her.

Naruto breathed in, deeply, and sighed.

The entire exchange, and he hadn't felt a single emotion from out of her. No fondness, no joy, no affection.

(No hatred or anger or annoyance, either, but…)

Maybe it was because he'd interrupted her in her meditation, or whatever it was she was doing in there. That her emotions had drained out of her in her concentration.

(Murasaki had once been like that. Sometimes she still was.)

But then again, in what memories he could scrape up of her, she had always seemed that way. Lukewarm and flat.

...well, he'd made an effort. And she was going to be there for a week or so.

He'd get other opportunities.

He left her doorway, after lingering for a while longer, to try and look forward to something better.

The next day, he'd be seeing Kurunari, and Bee, and Gaara. People that wanted to be around him.

Ah, yes.

But as he lay sideways in bed, the photo of him and his students on the table caught his eye.

Naruto, of course, was smiling in it, his face barely younger, even with the ten year difference.

Masao, to the left, was glancing worriedly with his copper-gold eyes at Murasaki, on the right. Her own eyes were closed, her head tilted slightly forward; she was nodding off.

And in the middle, there was Shusuke, grinning as brightly as his sensei was.

Naruto took the photograph and turned it face-down.

He wasn't going to let this get in the way.

Not this time.


	92. Casting On

_Chapter 92 - Casting On_

* * *

Nobuhiro needed a drink. A large one, preferably.

His nerves were getting the better of him. And that wasn't to say he was _nervous, hell_ no, he wasn't nervous. He was just pissed off. He had been pissed off for a while, really. But unable to do a damn thing about it. Because _manners_.

And why wouldn't he be pissed off, anyways? Having to share a table and a meal with that creepy, smiley yellow-haired Hokage _ninja_ guy? And Tensho wasn't enjoying himself either, which only made things worse.

(Yeah, so Yuki was having fun, but he was only having fun because Kiine was having fun.)

And besides, Mikan had suggested against ordering alcohol at the table. "We don't want to forget this delicious food, do we?"

Which, of course, meant, "I don't want you getting drunk and raising a fuss, Tensho." And of course Nobuhiro was included by proxy.

And with the night over, with Yuki excusing himself to be with Kiine in her room (and probably Kou too; even Nobuhiro noticed them getting along better, which was a small relief), and Mikan working at getting Tensho de-stressed, and Shin doing… whatever it was he did in his room, Nobuhiro saw absolutely no reason not to go off and reward himself for his patience and good behavior.

He left for the lounge after slipping on a light jacket over his night kimono, tucking his knife in his belt. It had been almost torture leaving the thing at home, on Tensho's order.

(Which of course meant it was really Mikan's order.)

So damn much out of his control, pissing him off.

He hoped the bar had a good selection.

The inn had nice décor, at least. Though the majority of the rooms were traditional, all sliding doors and tatami mats, the lounge in the west wing, as well as the kitchen and larger dining hall, had more modern sensibilities. But the warm yellow lanterns of the rooms still remained, in their dark brass fixtures, filling the room to the softly-defined walls with amber light.

The bar was mostly empty, at that hour. The only other people that seemed to be present were the bartender and a woman at the bar, her dress black and low-collared, leaving her shoulders and shoulder blades nearly bare.

The bartender was a slim man with a neatly-kept gray mustache, and he wore dark glasses. Nobuhiro got himself a seat, leaving some space between himself and the woman, and said, "Whiskey, no ice. And not the cheap stuff, all right? Charge it to the Phoenix Suite."

"Of course, sir," the bartender replied, and made himself busy with the fixing of the drink.

He hunched over himself, folding his arms on the surface of the bar, while he waited. The woman to his right, out of the corner of his eye, didn't seem to be moving much, her fingers poised at the rim of her martini glass.

"Your whiskey, sir." The drink was pushed his way on a white napkin, and Nobuhiro took it with the tips of his fingers and began to sip it, carefully, almost like a cup of tea. The scar on his lip made him a careful, slow drinker. Gulping things down without much care resulted in alcohol spilling out of his lip and onto his face, both wasting the drink and shortening his temper.

He put the glass down after a few sips, rubbing the taste with his tongue. The thick smell of the whiskey filled his nose and the whole of his mouth, and he closed his eyes for a moment to savor it. Well, at least this bartender knew what he was doing. He picked up the drink for a few more sips.

But before he could finish it, he noticed movement in his peripheral vision, and glanced sideways to see the woman in the black dress looking at him, her head propped up with her left hand. She was smiling.

Nobuhiro frowned, not exactly scowling, and took another sip of his whiskey, and then another. When he looked again, she was still smiling, though her head had slipped down a little and was propped against her wrist, coquettishly.

She was obviously drunk, though she looked a bit young to be the predatory sort, and too pretty to be terribly forward. Not with a guy like him.

Nobuhiro finished his whiskey, and ordered another. The bartender took the glass and went about his work.

"Two whiskeys, straight-up? Wow." The woman was speaking, now. She had a high, girlish voice, with an edge of roughness to it.

Nobuhiro tried to give her only a second-long look in return, but ended up speaking as well. "Yeah, what about it?"

"I'm just not used to it, that's all. Most guys where I come from are more interested in appletinis and cosmopolitans than whiskey."

He grimaced a little, in processing this. "What, you live with a buncha fruits or somethin'?"

She giggled. "Ex_cuse_ me?"

"_You_ know. Guys into… other guys. They're kinda… _I _dunno." He took a long sip of his drink, to look away from her, though he returned to her anyways. "Fruity."

"Oh, no, no, _goodness_ no. She was waving her hand. "It's… a cultural thing, I guess. It's more of a turn-on for most girls if a man is pretty and delicate and stuff, in my neck of the woods. And you should see how the _girls_ behave." She sighed, leaning forward with her arms on the bar. "_They're_ the ones ordering scotch and beer."

"The hell kinda place do you _come_ from?" Nobuhiro said.

"Land of Earth," she replied, "glittering product of generations of matriarchal clan rule. Ya-ay society." She waved her finger mockingly, like a celebratory flag, before returning to her slump.

"Matriarchal… that means… women run the place, right?" Nobuhiro said. His hand waved in a small circle as he tried to think.

"Not s'much any more, but that's how it was for centuries, before they started founding nations and… blah, blah, blah, sorry, it's stupid." She waved her hand dismissively, resting her head on her palm again. "Just something that bothers me, you shouldn't let me ramble about it."

"Sure, okay," Nobuhiro replied. He took another sip, but didn't hesitate this time in looking back at her. "But you're being serious, right? Is it really so weird for a guy to get a stiff drink where you come from?"

"Well, anywhere else I'm sure nobody _cares_," she replied. "I guess that's why I like traveling abroad so much, because of that. A man can be tough, a woman can delicate, or _whatever _the heck they want. Not exactly attractive back home, though." She sighed. "Lots of people denying who they are just to look normal."

"The heck even _is_ normal, anyways," Nobuhiro said. His face was beginning to feel pleasantly warm, the tension in his back uncurling. "If a guy can't be manly there or whatever, why doesn't he just move away where nobody gives a shit?"

She smiled, shaking her head. "Ties to home are stronger than personal discomfort for a lotta people, you know."

He thought on this, and ended up nodding. "That's damn true," he replied. "Damn true."

"Besides," she continued, "there's lots of people trying to change that. So people aren't so anal about gender roles and whatever."

"You use… a _lot_ of big words," Nobuhiro replied.

She giggled, fingers on her lips. Her nails were painted a flawless lavender-pink, and they shone like seashells in the bare illumination of the bar. "Big words, huh?"

"You some sorta scholar or something, I mean?"

"Nah, this is just stuff that bothers me," she replied. "I tend to just go on about it if I'm not careful. It's the sorta thing that gets a girl too much attention."

"What, the talking or the stuff you're talking _about?_"

"Both. Girls aren't s'pposed to be chatterboxes, much less about cultural bullcucky. Doesn't get me many dates."

"Hey." Nobuhiro leaned forward. "_I_ don't care. Talk all you want, if you want to. You're away from home, so talk as much shit about it as you want. People ain't like that here." He paused. "I think."

She tilted her head, and her golden-brown hair, shiny and curling around her face, fell slightly away. "Would it embarrass you if I told you that you're one of the most rugged men I've ever seen, and how much I like that?"

"Jeez, you're… forward," Nobuhiro said, his face growing hot. "Well you're not too hard on the eyes yourself."

"Thanks," she said. "But really, now. You're _gorgeous_. Craggy face, big eyebrows, and I'm guessing you're not terribly scrawny under those clothes. And that _scar_. That's like the strawberry on the cake, there."

Nobuhiro paused, trying to work through the fluttery feeling in his chest, and he ended up running his finger over the puckered flesh of his mouth, his fingertip touching the exposed teeth. "Funny," he said, "most people say it's scary, not… pretty." He quickly reached for his drink and sipped down the rest of it, and stared at the bottles of liquor behind the bartender instead of her, his mouth drawn tightly.

"It's _beautifully_ intimidating, is what it is. How'd you get it, if you don't mind my asking?"

He was quiet, staring, now, at the wooden surface.

"Got into a knife fight when I was a kid," he said, almost mumbling.

"Oh, _wow_," she replied. She was resting her head on both hands, now. "Tough childhood?"

"Yeah. My folks weren't around so I… lived with my sister. She worked and used the money to take care of me. But I sorta ran around unsupervised, ran into some bad types. Went around pickin' on people much bigger than me."

"And I'm guessing someone didn't like that."

"Nope." He reached for the knife in his belt, and held it in his hands under the bar, but did not open it. "Sliced my face up good. My sister managed to patch me up, but the rip on my lip never healed properly. An' there you have it."

"You get back at the guy who did that to you?"

"Huh? Nah, I… never did." He brought the knife up to the counter, and stroked the case with his thumb. "My sister asked me not to, so I never… bothered. She, uh. She gave me this knife, later. So I could protect myself next time."

"Sounds like she's a pretty good person."

"Yeah, she—was." Nobuhiro exhaled quickly.

(What he didn't tell her was that the knife had been her last gift to him. After that, she was gone.)

"Oh, I'm… sorry."

"Not your fault." He opened the knife. Slide. "She was taken away when I was a kid by some freaky… doctor. I never found out what happened to her." Closed it. Click.

"Oh… um, well, wherever she is, I hope she's happy…" the woman replied.

"Yeah," Nobuhiro said. "Me too."

He stared at his empty drink glass.

"Need another?" the woman said.

"Yeah, that'd be… nice."

"Another whiskey for… this gentleman here," the woman said, waving her hand to get the bartender's attention. "On me."

"The name's Nobuhiro. Inaba… Nobuhiro," he said, as the bartender took his glass.

"I'm Kohriza," she replied. "Sorry if I brought up any painful memories, I understand."

Nobuhiro waved it off. "S'fine. You could always make up for it by talkin' about how gorgeous I am, or whatever." He snorted.

She giggled in response. "Hm, well, where did I leave off? Ah yes, your face, and those big _hands_. Mm, I could stare at those for _hours_." She cupped her chin in her hands, her clear eyes gleaming like fine hard candy.

Nobuhiro snorted again. "You're really not shittin' with me?"

"Oh, trust me, you're like a breath of fresh air after nothing but pretty boys that spend more time on their hair than _I_ do," Kohriza replied. "Another reason I'm not too popular," she added, punctuating her point with her finger. "Guys typically don't like it if you're prettier than they are. Call it a woman's curse."

"Sure don't sound like guys I'd wanna hang out with," Nobuhiro said.

"They're a bit much, basically," said Kohriza. "Divas, mostly. The artists are the _worst_."

"Sound like it." Nobuhiro's third whiskey arrived, and he took a shallow sip from the top. "Guys like me ain't common, huh?"

"Eh, they're here and there, but they usually don't have much interest in girls like me," she replied, and then thought for a moment, tapping her chin with her fingers. "I suppose if I had to put it this way, it'd be like wanting to date a girl that acts like a guy. Not exactly everyone's thing."

Nobuhiro chuckled deeply. "I know a few people like that, but yeah, I get your point." Another sip, an immediate return. "Okay, even with the home loyalty thing—I get that, I _get_ that—why don't you just find a guy from another country to date?"

"The problem is making it last, since my trips out never last long," Kohriza replied, glumly. "Not too many guys interested in long-distance girlfriends."

"Ah, I get your point," Nobuhiro said. "Well, that sucks. I'd think that most guys would be lining up to date a girl like you."

"Eh, you'd be surprised. But whatever," Kohriza said, shrugging lightly and giggling again. She suddenly seemed to realize that she had a drink of her own, and swirled the pink liquid in the martini glass before finishing it.

"What's that y'got there?" Nobuhiro asked.

"Strawberry-kiwitini."

Nobuhiro motioned to the bartender. "Another one for my friend, here."

Kohriza giggled, her breath laced with surprise, as the bartender took away her glass.

"What, you bought me a drink," Nobuhiro replied, shrugging gruffly. "Only fair."

"You consider me a friend already?" she said.

"…drinkin' buddy. We've been havin' some good conversation, is all," Nobuhiro said. "F'you wanna be friends, though, hey, I'll go for it. Sounds like you could use one, anyways."

"I think we could both use friends," Kohriza replied.

Nobuhiro smiled as the bartender presented her with another drink, causing her to squeal.

"To friends, huh?" Nobuhiro said, raising his glass. "And, uh. And really big hands."

"And _really_ big hands," Kohriza replied, giggling again, and their glasses touched.

The night continued with the pattering of conversation, punctuated by denied attempts at flirting, and the warmth of alcohol.

Kohriza tired first, yawning like a cat. Her cheeks were flushed pink with pleasure and alcohol. "I'm gonna get some sleep. See you tomorrow night?"

"What, you want there t'be a tomorrow night?" Nobuhiro said.

And she leaned in closely, her lips so close to his ear.

"If I don't see you at the bar, I'm in the Black Tortoise Suite," she whispered. "Night, Nobuhiro."

"Night, Kohriza," Nobuhiro said, trying not to look stupid.

She left the bar with light, dancing steps, though her image remained in his head for far longer.

Nobuhiro, eventually, managed to shove himself off the bar stool, and out of the lounge, then back into the lounge once he realized he'd left his knife on the counter. The bartender nodded courteously at this, and his second departure.

Either he'd just gotten very lucky, or the world decided to fuck with him even more than usual, that night. All things considered, he'd probably be waiting alone in that bar the next night for a girl that would never come.

Yeah, he was… considering it. A lot.

_No_ girl had _ever_ shown so much interest in him. Much less called his scar _pretty_.

…okay, so she hadn't called it pretty. But she still liked it. Like, it was a good thing to her.

…yeah, but was that only due to the fact that she'd come from some weird messed-up place where guys acted like girls and girls acted like guys or whatever? Was that for real? Or was she just trying to mess with him?

_If that's real, it would sure explain a few things about Boss Shin,_ Nobuhiro thought to himself with a chuckle in the middle of the hallway. Since he lived close to the Land of Earth, right? Yeah. Psh, girly-men. If that was what Kohriza had to deal with, day after day, he sure as hell didn't blame her.

Man, the guys where she came from must have all been blind or something. Kohriza was pretty. _She_ was pretty. Not his scar. But she thought his scar was pretty.

Hell, whatever. He'd wait for her the next day. If it meant getting at least one good thing out of this stupid fucking trip, he wouldn't mind if it was this sort of thing.

He managed to find his room. Yuki was already curled into his futon, his face made even more delicate from sleep. Nobuhiro took off his coat, put away his knife, and got into his own bed. The whiskey had made his head and eyes heavy, but his thoughts were still somewhat active.

Whatever happened with him and Kohriza, it probably wouldn't last. Long-distance girlfriends and all that. Besides, maybe she was just a bitch and she was fucking with his mind, and it didn't even matter, anyways.

He turned over.

He'd make up his mind the next night. Hell, whatever. If he had a chance, maybe this was worth fighting for.

Yeah.

Who could give a shit about ninjas when he had something like her to look forward to?

Not him.


	93. Cable Needle

_Chapter 93 - Cable Needle_

* * *

Naruto was hungry. To the point of distraction. Yes, he was a man whose actions were often dictated by his stomach, at the worst of times, but this was _ridiculous_.

Then again, he hadn't had breakfast.

And that was because of Yomena.

He had _tried_ to be nice. Offered to make her breakfast, or take her out to breakfast, or whatever she wanted. But she had already eaten, or so she claimed. And to avoid awkward conversation around a bare kitchen table, he left for the Hokage Manor early.

And now he was hungry.

Well, at least there was the jinchuuriki luncheon to look forward to. The people, first and foremost, but now, the food!

When the heck was it going to arrive, anyways.

He'd set aside his biggest meeting room for the occasion, like he always did. And catering had been ordered for the occasion, which usually arrived after the guests did, to allow them time to reconnect before food distracted them.

_Dang! _Naruto curled his arms around his stomach and stomped his foot on the floor a few times, where he sat.

What he needed was a distraction. Yeah! The hunger was serving as a distraction for that morning, but since the hunger was _because_ of the morning, it wasn't very useful.

If someone didn't show up soon, he was going to have to do something drastic.

Luckily, he didn't have to. And it couldn't have been a better person.

"_Gaara!"_ Naruto launched himself out of the chair and hugged Gaara so tightly that he was lifted off the floor. "_Man_, am I glad to see you, y'know!"

Gaara smiled back, his face at once disgruntled and relieved, as he brushed his shoulders off. "It's great seeing you, too. Are we the first ones here?"

"Yeah, looks like," Naruto said. He leaned sideways, since Gaara was obviously not alone. "Hey there, Kankuro-san, Morizuru-kun!"

"Sup, Blondie?" Morizuru replied, with his soft, slurred voice. "This'd better be a good party."

Naruto just shrugged. Morizuru, he noticed, had gotten new clothes in the time that had passed since their last meeting, though they were still baggy and long-sleeved, to conceal his artificial joints. His perfectly-crafted face, once Sasori's face, was unchanged, though far more heavily-lidded than it had once been.

(…hm, well Morizuru counted too, didn't he? Naruto's head tilted with the thought, and his smile widened.)

"Hey, behave yourself or I won't let you come with me to visit Shikake." Kankuro, Morizuru's mostly-handler-sometimes-parent, was right behind him, face painted as usual.

"Okay, _fine_, I'll be a good boy," Morizuru replied, rolling his eyes. "Where can I sit."

"Couch is over there," Kankuro said, pointing. "Stay within my range."

"Aye _aye_… sir." Morizuru fell into a comfortable lounge on the sofa, arms stretched wide over the back.

"So you guys been all right?" Naruto asked. "How's things in Wind?"

Gaara kneaded the skin between his eyes. The shadows around them had gotten much darker over the years.

"Transport robberies," Kankuro explained, leaning in to almost-whisper.

"Oh, yeesh. That's no good, y'know," Naruto said.

"Yeah, but it's hard protecting the tracks out in the desert, since so much of it's uninhabitable," Kankuro continued. "It's exhausting too much manpower."

"Is there anything to drink, yet?" Gaara said, his voice cracking out of the back of his throat.

"Uh, if you're really thirsty there's hot water an' tea bags an' stuff in the staff lounge a bit away, but there won't be nothin' else till the food gets here," Naruto said.

"…right. I'll go get some, then," Gaara said. "Pardon me."

Kankuro and Naruto watched him go, before leaning back into the conversation. "He not been sleeping much lately?" Naruto asked.

"No, not much at all," Kankuro replied.

Naruto frowned, deeply. "Aw man, that's no good, I know how much he loves sleep, y'know."

"Yeah, tell me about it…" Kankuro said. "We're workin' hard at solutions but they're slow-coming. Temari's not been cooperative, lately, so that doesn't help…"

"Well, hey. Maybe we'll think of somethin' while we're here," Naruto said, clapping him on the shoulder and smiling reassuringly. "In the meantime, hey, at least lunch should be here soon?"

Kankuro laughed, shrugging. "Yeah, we'll see."

Kakeru the four-tails and Kemuri the five-tails arrived, shortly after. "Hey, guys! Welcome!" Naruto said.

"Oh, hey, Monkey-Boy's here," Morizuru added, afterward.

One of Kakeru's bushy eyebrows twitched. "Please don't call me that."

"Ook, ook, eek," Morizuru replied, making a clawing motion with his hand.

"Morizuru…" Kankuro raised one of his hands, and Morizuru's arms snapped to his lap. "Behave, or no Shikake."

"Fine, fine, whatever."

Kakeru cleared his throat to compose himself, batting his fist against his wide mouth and severely square chin. "It seems we're a little early."

Kemuri, having ignored the exchange completely, had glided over to Naruto, resting a bandaged hand on his shoulder. "Is Sachiko here yet?"

"No, she's not here yet, Kemuri-san," Naruto replied.

Though the plate-like mask that Kemuri wore had no expression painted on it, their shoulders slumped with obvious disappointment. "I'll just wait, then," they said, before sitting on the couch with Morizuru and running their hands over the thick, perfect braids hanging over their shoulders.

Gaara returned with a mug of tea, which he dispassionately sipped while Kakeru engaged in conversation with him.

Tonbo the seven-tails arrived around the same time that the food did, and she made a great ruckus darting around the legs of the caterers as they brought in plates of sandwiches and rice balls, a green plastic container thumping against her hip as she ran.

Naruto, eventually, caught her, and kept her in the corner by kneeling to her level and talking to her while the caterers did their business. "What's that you got there?" he asked, pointing to her container.

"Oh, this? _This_ is for Kurunari-nii," she replied, proudly, patting the box. "S'a most _special_ bug, m'gonna show it to him when he arrives."

"Oh _really_," Naruto said. "Mind showin' me, y'know?"

She shook her head, her black, defiant bob bouncing against her dark cheeks. "NUH-UH. Kurunari-nii gets first dibs." She looked around, then leaned in closer, and whispered, "But I'll show ya later, 'kay?"

Naruto laughed. "Okay, okay."

The two Mist jinchuuriki arrived escorted by masked bodyguards. Orders and itineraries were whisper-barked at them in the hallway before they entered, bodyguard-less, and wearing smiles of varying degrees of nervousness.

A great and wonderful warmth entered Naruto's heart, and he went right up to Kurunari and gave him a hug as well, his head rising only to his shoulder and his arms struggling to get around his wide chest. "Kurunari-kun!"

"Naruto-san! It's so good to see you," he replied. "Have you been well?"

"Amazing," Naruto replied, grinning, and meaning it.

He stepped back, and when he looked at Kurunari's face, all he saw were differences. The rounder, less-rugged chin and cheekbones; his white hair cut short, pulled into a high ponytail; the softer, larger body; the almost apologetic default expression, and the way his thick hands held each other.

But he couldn't stare forever, and savoring the sheer okay-ness he had with the situation, he directed his attention to Yuu, who hid behind Kurunari's legs. "And how are you, Yuu-kun?"

Yuu managed to emerge for a moment to bow, perfectly. "I am very well, Hokage-sama, thank you."

"Great manners, Yuu-kun," Naruto replied, causing the yellow-green-haired boy to blush and hide behind Kurunari again. "You guys hungry? They just-"

"KURUNARI-NII!" Tonbo exploded forward, her face still caked in rice from a rice ball, and leapt a full three feet off the floor to clasp her arms around Kurunari's broad shoulders. "Ohmygosh ohmygosh HI!"

"Hello there, Tonbo-chan," Kurunari replied, pulling her down a little to sit her on the crook of his arm. "You sorta startled me, there."

"Sorry, sorry, _sorry_," Tonbo replied, "I just got so excited t'see you an' stuff! I GOT A BUG TO SHOW YOU so put me down already, okay?!" She grabbed the collar of his turtleneck and pulled for emphasis.

"Okay, okay! Let go, please." Tonbo let go, and Kurunari set her down. "Now why don't you show me this bug…"

Naruto nudged him, before the two could retreat to a table, with Yuu in tow. "We'll talk writing later, y'know."

"Oh, of course," Kurunari replied, with an unfitting but good-natured wink.

The bug, Naruto eventually found out, through watching them together, was something called an Empress Slug, native to the Land of Waterfalls. Glistening with silver slime and sporting luminous spots like jewels on its back, it looked like a tiara reserved for royalty, hence the name.

"It's SUPER RARE," Tonbo said. "S'when I found one I got SUPER excited."

"Apparently!" Kurunari replied.

"An' it made me think of you! 'Cos you got a slug! So I been takin' care've it so I could show you it an' yeah." She nodded several times, stroking the back of the slug with her finger.

"That's nice, Tonbo-chan," Kurunari said, and laughed a young man's laugh. "I'm glad you wanted to show me, it's _really_ cool."

"Oh yeah, _super_ cool," Tonbo replied.

Kemuri snuck up behind Naruto again and tapped his shoulder. "When is Sachiko due to arrive?"

"I dunno, Kemuri-san, she usually shows up with BB and Bee," Naruto replied.

"Hn. All right." Kemuri returned to the couch, gloomily.

Sachiko the two-tails and the other Cloud jinchuuriki turned up a good while later, when everyone else had begun nibbling on the food brought in. And, immediately, Kemuri was by her side, and Sachiko's trailing sleeves were embracing Kemuri, and they retreated to the couch, where it was unlikely they would emerge for a while.

Naruto made himself busy by greeting Bee, and he did so with the usual fist-bump. "How-dee, Killer Bee!"

"How's it go, Naruto?" Bee replied. "Sorry for th'late arrival, I needed t'sleep for my survival."

"Whoa! Sounds serious!" Naruto said, in a parody of shock. "Were you fightin' in your dreams, bustin' the seams?"

"No, he just slept in too late." BB arrived, her skin as raw-steak blue as his was, nudging into his shoulder with hers.

"Th'air was too cold an' I'm too old," Bee replied. "Autumn days is chill, yo."

"Yeah, whatever," BB replied, smiling.

"Nah, nah, your dad's got a point," Naruto said. "When it's cold out it feels so much better t'just stay in bed, y'know."

"Yeah, see? You know the score, what sleep is for, an' stuff, yeah." Bee crossed his arms, nodding.

"Yeah…" Naruto nodded, sagely, crossing his arms as well.

"You dorks gon' keep ignorin' Fuzan like this?" BB said.

Naruto's arms loosened. Fuzan? Where had he heard that name before?

"Oh, yeah! Sorry 'bout that. Naruto, this is th'kid I wrote t'you about." Bee stepped aside, revealing the person standing behind him. "He's a real man's man, no flash in th'pan, and a wicked cool tan: Fuzan!"

If it weren't for what Karin had told him a few days before, Naruto would never have guessed that the boy was a clone of Zabuza.

For one, Naruto doubted that Zabuza would have _ever_ been caught making the face that Fuzan was making, a stretched, awed, open-mouthed thing halfway between a grin and a grimace. Not to mention the full-arm cast keeping his right arm at an awkward, raised angle, the plaster covered almost entirely with Bee's scrawl.

Naruto started laughing, hard. This was just too _much_.

"A-am I doin' somethin' wrong…?" Fuzan said, quietly.

"Nah, nah, nah, nah, just…" Naruto snorted. "You reminded me of somethin' funny, y'know…! I'm sorry, hold on!"

"O-oh, uh, okay," Fuzan replied. He looked at BB nervously, but she motioned him forward with her hands.

Naruto wiped his eye as he got over his laughter. What were the freaking _odds?_ "Your name's Fuzan, huh? And you're BB's boyfriend?"

"Y-yeah, somethin' like that…!" Fuzan said. He began sputtering. "I'm, uh, a huge fan of yours, Uzumaki-sama!"

"_Uzumaki-sama?_" Naruto started laughing again. "Please, c'mon, call me Naruto here, okay? Don't sweat it."

Fuzan's tiny eyes were shining like beetle-black gems. "Oh my gosh he told me to call him Naruto," he half-whispered, to nobody in particular.

Now BB was laughing, which only made things worse for Naruto.

Oh yeah, there was no way he'd have any trouble with _this_ kid.

"Relax, okay? We're here to have a good time," Naruto said, patting Fuzan on the left shoulder. "Want me to grab you some food?"

"Bad idea," BB snorted. And she was right, because Fuzan was whispering again about oh my gosh Naruto offered to get him _food_. "Fuzan, baby, this is jus' like hangin' out with me an' Pops. Don't make a big deal out've it, okay?"

Fuzan did a sort of shiver-snap, and whacked his temple with his free hand. "Right, right, okay. Oh man I'm acting like _such_ a dork, I'm sorry Uzu—I mean Naruto-sama."

"Just Naruto-san, please. It's what ev'ryone calls me, y'know," Naruto said, with a warm smile. "You're doin' fine, Fuzan-kun. Now let's get lunch, I'm _starving_."

"Okay! Okay!" Fuzan nodded a few times too many, but each nod helped erase whatever lingering echoes surrounded him.

Naruto got them all seats at one of the corner tables and got food for himself, while BB and Bee put together their own lunches.

Wanting to be courteous, Naruto started the conversation. "So, Fuzan-kun, what happened to your arm?"

"Oh, uh, this? Long story…" he replied, blushing slightly.

"Tell 'im, baby, it's a good story," BB said, before biting into her sandwich.

"Yeah, I wanna hear, y'know!" Naruto said.

"Well, uh…" Fuzan smirked uncomfortably. "Well it sorta got broken by this sword-girl on a mission. After she froze me to a wall an' gave me pneumonia."

"Froze you to a _wall?_" Naruto said, his eyebrows twisting. "How the heck does that work out?"

"Dude, even _I_ don't have a dang clue," Fuzan replied. "Maybe it was magic or ninjutsu or somethin'. I was out for most of the time after the mission so I din' get the details from my team much."

"Dang, sounds hardcore," Naruto said, nodding. "You gotten some friends to sign it?"

"Yeah, Bee signed it!" Fuzan said, his expression brightening considerably.

"An' took up half the damn cast," BB added.

"What, my name's got a lotta flair!" Bee said. Fuzan was sitting between him and his daughter. "I need a lotta space t'write it there!"

"Sure, sure," BB replied.

"Well, y'want me to sign it?" Naruto asked.

"…ohmygosh would you _really_," Fuzan said. "I mean, I thought've asking you but I din' wanna be rude an'-"

"HEY, ANYONE GOT A PEN?" Naruto yelled, so everyone would hear.

"Oh, hold on, hold on," a voice somewhere said.

It belonged to Kurunari, it turned out. He was taking out a notebook from his vest's pocket, and from the notebook's spirals, a pen. "Will this do?"

(The blood-connection of the two did not even cross Naruto's mind, a fact he would have reveled in, had he noticed it.)

"Oh, yeah, that should be fine," Naruto said. "Oh, speakin' of which! Fuzan-kun, this is-"

"Kurunari of Mist, I already know _you_," Fuzan said, grinning.

"You, uh, you do, huh…" Kurunari said.

"Well yeah! You're the six-tailed jinchuuriki, vessel of the slug," Fuzan replied. "That's pretty consid'rable. You use bubble jutsu like th'previous vessel did?"

"…well, I learned some, but it never really took…" Kurunari said, scratching his cheek, sheepishly. "I'm more adept with slime and spitting jutsus, if I ever use them…"

"Oh, that's cool too!" Fuzan said. "Hey, can you sign my cast too? Maybe I can get all've you…!" His eyes were shining again.

"Oh, um, I wouldn't mind…" Kurunari put down his notebook and uncapped the pen. "Your name is… Fuzan?"

"Yep! But you can just write down your name, I don' care," Fuzan replied, almost bouncing, but quieting himself so Kurunari could write his name in his shortcut-scrawl.

"Oh, Naruto-san, did you need to sign too…?" he said, after he finished. Fuzan was admiring the autograph with a wide-open mouth.

"Yep! All right, let's get this done." Naruto took the pen, poising it like a weapon.

"I'll go get Yuu-kun and Tonbo-chan, see if they want to sign too," Kurunari said softly, as Naruto wrote.

"The three-tails and the seven-tails! Oh my gosh _please_," Fuzan said. "I mean they're too young to have gone on missions but still…!"

"Hold still, y'know!" Naruto said, his tongue poking out between his lips.

"Oh! Sorry, sorry." And Fuzan held still, while Kurunari left.

Naruto wrote his name with looping characters on the side of Fuzan's wrist, easily visible if he turned his head. He figured the kid would like it. "An' there you have it!" he said. "One autograph. Though I hope the cast doesn't last _forever_, y'know. I broke my arm once an' it was _such _a pain to get _anything_ done."

Fuzan, who seemed to have been in some sort of trance, snapped out of it to reply animatedly. "Oh, they say it's gonna be on for at least a month longer, 'cos the damage was pretty bad. An' after _that_ they say I got therapy an' stuff. But it'll be okay, I can get through it!"

"Yeah, I bet you will! Keep strong, buddy," Naruto said, and Fuzan beamed back.

Kurunari was coming back with Yuu and Tonbo at either hand, having explained to them what Fuzan wanted. Tonbo was enthusiastic and Yuu was stoic about it, but both thought it was a good idea and agreed to it.

However, before either of them could reach the table, the party crashers arrived.

Namely, Kiine, Yuki, and Kou.

"Hey, Naruto-san! I heard you were havin' a lunch, is this where you are, yeah?"

Fuzan's skin turned a very unpleasant shade of puce. "Oh, _crap,_" he squeaked.

"Oh, hey, Kiine! The heck are you doing here? This is kind of, uh, a private thing," Naruto said, over his shoulder, chuckling awkwardly.

Yuki's face had frozen into a cold mask of rage.

"Well, I wanted to go say hi to Benio-sensei, but she wasn't home, so I stopped over at the Manor and asked where you were, an' I found out, so here we are, yeah!" she replied, coming closer with her party. "So what's this that's goin' on here, anyways?"

"What are _they _doing here…?" Fuzan squeaked, raising his left hand.

"What is _he_ doing here," Yuki said, lowly. He was not carrying his sword, but his hands were clenched.

"Huh? Fuzan-kun, d'you know these guys?" Naruto said.

Before Fuzan could answer, however, Yuki had pounced.

The small boy was a good head and half shorter than Fuzan, but he still managed to tackle him to the floor, the plaster of his cast crunching and scraping as it hit the ground. Fuzan yelped, out of fear, out of pain, unable to really fight back.

Everyone that had been sitting stood. Kurunari pulled Tonbo and Yuu close to him and backed away. From somewhere in the background, Morizuru whooped, and was quickly silenced by Kankuro.

"Guys, guys, stop it, stop it!" Naruto shouted. "Yuki-kun, STOP!"

Yuki, straddled on Fuzan's chest, stopped, breathing heavily. Fuzan had a firm grip on his long hair, his only real means of defense.

"Now what is the _meaning_ of this, y'know?!" Naruto got to his knees. "Both of you, let go! You can't fight!"

(Not because they had once been partners, goodness no.)

Yuki let go and stood up, stepping away with light, quick movements. Fuzan remained, moaning slightly, on the floor. The skin above his left eye was bleeding a little from a swipe from Yuki's nails. BB joined Naruto on the floor and began helping Fuzan to sit up.

"Yuki-kun, _explain_ yourself," Naruto said.

Kiine began looking increasingly uncomfortable. Kou had his fingers under his nose.

"…he's the one responsible," Yuki replied.

"R'sponsible for _what_, bitch?" BB said, hurling her voice sharply, her arms protectively around Fuzan's chest. "Any issue you have with him is an issue with _me._"

"He kidnapped Kou-san," Yuki said, quietly.

"Wha-?" Fuzan blinked, almost sleepily, in pain. "Kou who…?"

"Wait, Yuki, isn't this the guy you froze to the wall in Sekiraun…?" Kiine said, her face stretching into a confused frown. Kou was trying not to look.

"Y'mean _you_ did this to him?" BB said. "Oh, bitch, you are gon' be sorry you ever stepped in this _room_."

"BB, no, don't…" Fuzan said, weakly, grabbing her arm before she could stand. "Don't fight here, 'kay…?"

"Yuki, you already did enough damage, fightin' him here any more is dumb, yeah?" Kiine added, holding Yuki's own arm. Yuki scowled, but did not move.

"So… Fuzan-kun, were you on the team that kidnapped Kou-kun or somethin'?" Naruto said, piecing a few things together.

"I was… just on surveillance, I didn't actually kidnap th'guy…" Fuzan replied, rubbing his bleeding forehead with his left palm.

"You were still on the team," Yuki said.

"_Yuki_. Manners, yeah?" Kiine said, squeezing him again. "Hey, Kou, you okay…?"

Kou nodded a few times, lowering his fingers. "I just don't want to see anyone hurt further because of this stupid thing…" he said, softly. "Enough's been done already. Can we just leave it at that? It's useless if we try and act out against these people, Yuki-san…"

Yuki's lips tightened and he looked away.

"Okay, so we're promising not to fight each other, good," Naruto said. "I mean, I guess you both got legit reasons to be angry, but we're all trying to have fun here, y'know? You're all my guests, an' I don't want _any _of my guests to have a bad time."

"If _she's_ gon' be here then I'd rather _leave,_" BB said, glaring at Yuki.

"Hey, hey, whoever you are," Kiine said to her, "I know that Yuki went a little too far, but he was just doing what he had to. Just like m'sure your boyfriend there was too, yeah? The damage is done an' the best we can do is just try an' heal things, all right?"

"Well, I guess that's fair 'nough," BB said, helping Fuzan to his feet. "Baby, you okay? How's your arm?"

"Yeah, yeah, jus' fine," Fuzan replied. He blinked a few times, with difficulty. "…wait, did she say 'he'? You're a guy?"

Yuki nodded, stiffly.

"Oh, _man_, my bad."

Yuki's face flushed an angry, embarrassed red. "Sure," he grumbled.

"Hey, uh… dude. So what's your name?" Fuzan said.

"Mine?" Yuki said.

"Yeah, yours. I'm Fuzan, who are you?"

"…Inaba Yuki."

"Great. Wanna start over?" Fuzan said. He reached out his left hand with an awkward smile. "We were both just followin' orders, no need for us to be mean to each other now."

"…I'll keep away from you if you will do the same," Yuki replied, coldly, and kept his hand limp as Fuzan shook it.

"Hey, whatever works for you," Fuzan replied, grinning. "Dang, you got _really _cold hands… Oh, and, hey, so you're… Taki Kiine, right? I remember you a little. No hard feelings, right?"

"Haha, hey, _I'm_ fine," Kiine said.

"They seem like a couple-a good eggs," Bee said, joining Naruto on the sidelines as Fuzan and Kiine began talking. The activity of the other observers was quieting down, now that it was apparent nobody was going to fight any more. "You know that girl, then?"

"Yeah, she's a syndicate boss's daughter an' a friend of mine, y'know," Naruto said. "Her dad's in town for some… debt stuff, an' she came along."

"Coo', coo'," Bee replied.

"Ah, so they're from a syndicate family." Gaara had appeared, both hands wrapped around his mug of tea. "I heard about what happened in Sekiraun. Sounded like a bit of a neutral outcome for Rotsuki-san."

"Yeah, yeah…" Naruto said. He paused. "…wait, what happened in Seki-whatever? All I heard was that Kou-kun got kidnapped by Cloud ninja an' that's it, nothing afterward."

"Apparently," Gaara said, "the kidnapping was to instigate negotiations with Boss Shin about black market dealings."

"Well I heard that _too_, y'know," Naruto said, "what happened afterward?"

"Well, Boss Tensho's daughter, the one engaged to Boss Shin's son, interceded on her own and more or less took the negotiations into her own hands. From what I heard they're at a stand-still until further notice."

Naruto whistled, in quiet admiration. _Goodness,_ Kiine. "Ah, so that's what that was about…" he added, as a spot of memory hit him.

"What was _what _about?" Gaara said.

"Oh, well, I took Kiine and her family out to dinner th'other night, an' she asked me if I could get her in with Rotsuki-san for a talk or somethin'."

"Hmm." Gaara took another sip of his tea. He stared over its surface for a while, after he was done. "Why don't we have her and her family join us at dinner tonight?"

"What, the Kage dinner? That's, uh, sort of a swanky deal, Gaara…" Naruto said.

"Yes, but look at it this way," Gaara replied, switching the mug to one hand. "Her family wants to talk to Rotsuki, and I certainly want to see if there is anything I can discuss with Boss Shin, if he's present, about his connections to the bandit groups in the Wind Deserts. It's killing more than one bird with one stone."

"…ah, so you've got stuff to discuss too, huh," Naruto said.

Gaara took another sip. "Let's just say that I have a keen interest in this sort of thing."

"Gotcha, gotcha," Naruto said, trying not to think of his friend's tired eyes. "Well, I dunno… I mean, I'd be fine with it, and you obviously are, but I dunno how the other Kages would react to havin' extra people added at the last minute, y'know. Much less syndicate guys."

"Well, Boss Tensho and Boss Shin have about as much sway in their territories as a Kage would, if not more," Gaara said. "So they have every right to be there at the banquet. Symbolically, at least."

"Sounds like somebody really wants this t'go down," Bee said, putting his hands in his pockets good-naturedly.

"I'm just taking an opportunity where I see it," Gaara replied, with a smile like a crack in dried earth. "I could talk to the other Kages if you want to spread the news to the Hakaza and Taki clans."

Naruto shrugged, his eyes drifting to Kiine, who was laughing as Tonbo yanked on Fuzan's cast to sign it. "Well, hey, if you think it'll work…"

"Oh, it will," Gaara said, and he finished his mug.


	94. Dropped Stitch

_Chapter 94 - Dropped Stitch_

* * *

The dinner, at least, _began_ well.

Naruto went to Kiine, who went to her family, which also included Boss Shin by proxy, who then came back, agreeing to have dinner in the Hokage Manor's finest, largest meeting room that evening, which had been temporarily outfitted with a large, round table draped in white cloth. Seats for an extra nine people were accommodated for, and the cooking nin—led by Akimichi Chun, Chouji's wife, and accompanied by her daughter Chouko, and her brother Haruhi—scrambled to have the nine extra sets of courses prepared accordingly.

Naruto returned home only once, after the jinchuuriki luncheon, to put on nicer clothes. Which basically consisted of swapping his usual black t-shirt for an orange one, and his orange track jacket for a finer black blazer, and grabbing his red Hokage Hat, which was mandatory for at least a few minutes before the meal began.

Even though Yomena was absent, the spiced scent of her room was ever-present, and it made him nervous and quick to leave.

The Taki and Hakaza clans, Naruto was pleased to find, as he picked them up, had also dressed respectably for the occasion in fine kimonos, and even Boss Tensho seemed to grumble less about it on the journey over to the mansion. Kiine, Naruto figured, must have emphasized the importance of the meeting to him, and the benefit it would give both his and Boss Shin's families.

Kiine also shared her opinion on Naruto's choice in headgear ("Oh man, it looks even weirder _on_ you than I thought it would!") and her visit with Benio from after the lunch, both of which filled Naruto with light-hearted confidence and ease.

(She also walked with Yuki's arm tightly held in the crook of her own, Naruto noticed, keeping him close to her. Yuki did not seem displeased by this. Neither did Kou, who blithely followed along behind them.)

Gaara had already arrived, they found, accompanied by Kankuro and Morizuru.

"Oh, it's the cat-fighter," Morizuru commented, quietly, once he saw who Naruto was with. Kankuro rolled his eyes and lifted two fingers, which seemed to quiet Morizuru down.

"Hey Gaara, I got our extra guests," Naruto said, waving as he entered the lobby outside of the improvised banquet hall. "Boss Shin, Boss Tensho, ev'ryone else, this is Gaara of the Desert, Kazekage of the Land of Wind."

"A pleasure to meet you all," Gaara said, bowing slightly. "Boss Shin, your name precedes you."

"I do hope it's a _good_ name," Shin replied, with a bend of his head.

"I get the feeling it is," Gaara replied, and Shin waved a hand in fluttering dismissiveness. "And you must be Boss Tensho, from the Land of Silk."

"I am," Tensho replied.

"There isn't much for plant life where I live, but I imagine the mulberry trees your land is famous for are quite nice."

"They're all right," Tensho said, his eyebrows lowering with either aggression or confusion.

"Hey, uh, is anyone else here yet?" Naruto interrupted. "M'not sure if we should sit down yet or not."

"Zatou and her guys already went in, but Terumi and Rotsuki aren't here yet," Kankuro replied. "They should be here soon, though. We're not exactly early."

"Cool, okay, we can just… stand around for a while, then, y'know," Naruto said. "Man, I am _hungry!_" He added, after a few more, dry, seconds. "Who's up for some chow?"

"Well after last night I can say I'm _definitely_ looking forward to some more of your _fine_ Konoha cuisine," Mikan said, with a courteous wave of her hand.

"Oh, well, we got our best cooking nin on the job tonight, it'll be really great, y'know!" Naruto replied.

"_Cooking_ nin? What, do they roast the meat alive before serving it?" Nobuhiro said, with a scoff.

Gaara's expression, eyebrowless, raised.

"Nah, they're just, uh, a bit more skilled than civilian cooks. Better with, uh, knives and stuff, y'know," Naruto said, as cheerfully as he could manage, to offset Nobuhiro's uneasy annoyance. "None of that other stuff."

"I saw a fish cooked alive once," Morizuru said, with monotonous relish. "It writhed all around as they sliced it in half and took out all the guts to fry in a pan. Sorta like how a human does when you-"

"_Morizuru_. Just because we went to see Shikake today does _not_ give you free license to say things like that," Kankuro said, firmly, with a tug of his fist. "I'm sorry, Morizuru here's not the best when it comes to _tact_," he added, to the others.

"I'm a beast, I can't help it, it's my nature," Morizuru replied, flatly.

"Yes, you _can_ help it."

"Hey, you can tell _me_ that gross stuff once we start dinner. I don't mind," Kiine said, with a fox-like smirk. "I _love _that sorta stuff, yeah."

"Can you handle it? I've _seen_ things," Morizuru said.

"_Bring_ it."

"Please don't encourage him…" Kankuro said, shaking his head, though his purple-painted lips were smiling slightly.

"Please keep me out of this if you do, Kiine," Kou said, tugging on the magenta sleeve of her kimono. "I don't like that sorta stuff..."

"We can sit apart from these hooligans, Kou-san," Yuki replied, primly. "I'll keep your ears shielded with better talk."

"Thanks, Yuki-san…" Kou replied, blushing slightly.

"So what sort of manner of boy _is_ this delightful creature?" Shin said, pushing forward slightly to get a better look at Morizuru's perfectly-crafted face. "Such _rude_ words for such a _pretty_ child."

"Back off, grandma," Morizuru replied, pouting.

"Allow me to explain," Gaara said, coming between them effortlessly.

Gaara occupied himself with Boss Shin for a while longer, while Kiine and Morizuru reconnected (with Kankuro watching on), Morizuru expressing a "fully sincere admiration" for Kiine's "attack-bitch," Yuki.

"He's pretty great… when he behaves, yeah," was Kiine's reply, to Yuki's embarrassment. Still, he did not let go of her arm.

"Gosh, that sounds like me," Morizuru replied, actually smiling. "Only, I guess I'm pretty great _all_ the time."

Eventually, the Mizukage arrived, accompanied by her secretary and her latest model of young male bodyguard, perfectly-uniformed, his Mist headband tied without a single excess wrinkle. She seemed to get a new one every few years, well-trained, perfectly-stoic, and always with some sort of bloodline gift.

"Good to see you, Mei-san!" Naruto said, rushing to greet her immediately. "How are things?"

"Quite fine," Mei replied, holding a hand by the corner of her mouth. "And you? Still unmarried, I heard?"

"Hehe, yeah, what can y'do…" Naruto said, scratching the back of his neck. "Um, did you wanna go in an' wait for the dinner to start? Kohriza-san's already here, but we're just sorta hangin' out, out here…"

Mei's lips pursed. "I believe we will be waiting outside, thank you," she replied, shortly. "If you'll excuse us."

"Right, sure, y'know…" Naruto said, adjusting his smile, and watching her leave to keep her distance.

Right, Mei didn't like Kohriza. Naruto suspected it was because Kohriza was very public about the fact that she turned down most guys that paid her any attention.

"Ungrateful hussy. She probably thinks she's too _good_ for them," Naruto heard her say, under her breath, as she exited a meeting one year.

Naruto remained an observer, watching as clusters of conversation formed. Morizuru and Kiine and Yuki stayed together, while Kou and Kankuro chatted nearby, clearly trying to ignore the things being said. Gaara and Boss Shin hadn't come apart yet, leaving Tensho to mumble to Mikan, and the three other bodyguards to stand awkwardly apart, watching things on their own. The Mist trio kept to themselves, whispering in their clean blue clothes.

Though Naruto noticed something curious, as time passed slightly.

Mei's interest, typically focused on conversation with her secretary, Mizuno, or in fussing over her bodyguard, began to wander. Then, her feet began to wander with her interest; her movements were careful, her expression almost disbelieving, as she began to center in on her target.

"Pardon me," she purred, tapping the boy on the shoulder, "but what is your _name?_"

"…Inaba Yuki, ma'am," was the puzzled reply.

"_Yuki_, hm? And is that your given name?"

"…yes?"

"What a _beautiful_ name," Mei said, and reached forward to brush the backs of her fingers against Yuki's cheek. "Such cold skin… Are you mistaken for a girl much, Yuki-kun?"

"Only all the time, yeah," Kiine answered, smiling, though her voice was lessened.

"Yeah, no shit," Morizuru chimed in.

Yuki's lovely mouth was tightly-shut, in defense.

"My, my, that must be so difficult… Are you harassed much for the things you can do with ice, also, Yuki-kun?" Mei said, tilting her head in syrupy concern.

"Do _what_ things?" Yuki said. He pulled slightly closer to Kiine.

"Oh, well, producing ice out of thin air, manipulating water with your thoughts… I get the feeling you're able to do these things quite easily, Yuki-kun," Mei said.

"…how did you know?" Yuki's voice was hushed. The air was growing slightly cold.

"You remind me of a _boy_ I used to know, by the name of Yuki _Haku,_" Mei said, lifting a hand to run a section of Yuki's hair through her fingers. "He had gifts much like yours. Do you suppose you're related at all?"

However, before Naruto could intercede, Nobuhiro did.

His full height and width got between Yuki and the woman, and he held her knobby wrist in the full grip of his hand. "Don't. Touch. My _brother_," Nobuhiro growled.

Mei yanked her wrist out of Nobuhiro's grip, but she waved off the incoming intervention from the bodyguard and Mizuno. "I take it you're one of our _guests_ this evening," she said, her lip curling.

"Not by choice," Nobuhiro replied. "M'just here on account of my boss."

Mei scoffed. "Of course you are. And you intend to meet with Rotsuki of _Lightning_, then? Psh. You know, where I come from, we got rid of thugs like _you_ during the Restoration. Pity the rest of the world hasn't followed suit."

"You wanna keep your teeth, hag?!" Nobuhiro replied, raising a fist.

"Hey, hey, Nobuhiro-san! Let's take it easy." Naruto finally stepped in, putting his hands on Nobuhiro's raised forearm, radiating out as much goodwill and positive chakra as he could. "This is Terumi Mei, she's the Mizukage. Mei-san, Nobuhiro-san has s'much right to be here as you do, so let's be polite, y'know?"

"Hmph." Mei brushed off her dark blue, tailored sleeve. "I suppose."

Yuki leaned sideways, peering cautiously at Mei, but saying nothing. Kiine was holding his arm again.

"So, uh, Mei-san! Things been good in Mist?" Naruto said, now standing between her and Nobuhiro with his hands cheerfully poised on his waist. "Still, uh, misty?"

"Quite," Mei said, tersely.

Naruto jerked an elbow back. "Well, you know how things are here! Trees always… growin', y'know…"

He jerked his elbow again. Kiine seemed to take the hint, and moved to another part of the room with Yuki. Nobuhiro, however, stayed nearby, glaring at Mei fiercely.

"So, Naruto-san, I'm _most_ curious," Mei continued, composing her face again with a sweet, tight smile. "Are these… _guests_ of ours tonight at all connected to the incident in Sekiraun?"

"Uh… yeah, how did you hear about that?" Naruto said.

"Rotsuki-san contacted me after the fact," she replied. "Apparently a former citizen of Mist was involved, so he wanted to let me know."

"Oh, well… I hope it worked out okay?" Naruto said.

"It was settled well enough," Mei replied. "What's more interesting to me is the fact that the Taki clan seemed to have a member of the Yuki clan with them. That boy, I now assume."

"Oh…" Naruto's stomach twisted. "Uh, _which_ boy?"

"The one I was trying to talk to, before that _brute_ stepped in," Mei replied.

"Oh," Naruto said. "_That_ boy. You think he's… Yuki clan?"

"Fairly positive," Mei replied. "He shows all the hallmarks: feminine features, cold skin, and he admitted to having ice manipulation abilities-"

"Oh, must be a… coincidence!" Naruto interrupted, loudly. "I mean, hey, anything's possible…"

"…a coincidence," Mei said. She had her arms crossed.

"Well, yeah, I mean…"

"I think I'd like to speak to that boy again, truthfully. Find out exactly where he came from," Mei said.

"Oh, c'mon, Mei-san, is that really that important?" Naruto said.

She narrowed her eyes dangerously. "The Yuki bloodline is government property, _Uzumaki_. The boy's existence proves that there are others like him out there—a Yuki female has to have existed to produce him. And if she exists, there might be others out there. I _must_ know, Naruto-san. For the sake of my country."

Naruto grimaced, stretching for a reply. But it was then that Rotsuki entered and provided him a fine distraction.

"Ah! You're finally here, y'know!" Naruto sprang forward with his hands stretched, palm-outward. "How's it goin', Rotsuki-san?"

"Fine, fine," Rotsuki replied. He was flanked by his own bodyguards, two women with caramel-colored skin and creamy hair done up with pins. "Things all right with your own country?"

"Doin' the best I can, Rotsuki-san," Naruto said. He stepped a little closer, lowering his voice. "Um, Gaara _did_ tell you about our guests for dinner tonight, right?"

"Well, of course. I was entirely for it, to be honest," Rotsuki replied. "Perfect opportunity to lay out the playing field. I was entirely unaware that the Hakaza clan was even going to be _present _for the exams."

"Funny how these things happen, huh?" Naruto replied. "Well, hopefully it'll go well, y'know? I mean, I don't know much 'bout what happened in Seki-ramon, but I don't like seeing people all outta sorts over conflict."

"Don't we all," Rotsuki replied. "Is Kohriza-san here?"

"Yeah, she's already inside. Hey, I guess this means we can all sit down! Hey, guys!" Naruto called, louder. "Everyone's here, so let's all get seated, y'know!"

"Great, I'm _starvin', _yeah!" Kiine said. "C'mon, Papa, let's go."

Mei, face puckered from the loss of attention, gave little more than a disdainful sniff towards Rotsuki and his shapely escorts.

Naruto held the door open as everyone filed into the room, taking care to gauge the emotional levels going in in reflex-worry. Shin and Gaara seemed pleased with each other enough, as did their related persons, but Yuki seemed somewhat on-edge, his worry soft and undefined. Though Naruto had an idea as to its source.

(Just looking at Mei filled him with a tight sense of urgency, of duty. This was a woman that Karin feared and detested, and for good reason.)

(He would be keeping as tight an eye on her as he did the Taki clan. Especially since her eye was on Yuki, and it hadn't strayed.)

Once everyone was seated, Naruto took his own place at the head of the table, facing the exit. Kages were seated with their bodyguards to either side of them, and the other guests were seated similarly, with spouses and children taking up the extra missing space. Naruto didn't have bodyguards—he was his _own_ bodyguard—so he sat alone, with Kankuro on one side of him, and a mannish-but-large-breasted woman, one of the Tsuchikage's bodyguards, on the other. Boss Shin and his family were seated beside Gaara's group, and beside them were Rotsuki and his bodyguards. Mei and the Mist representatives sourly took up the space between the Taki clan, also seated beside the Raikage, and the Tsuchikage's group. Mei was mumbling things to herself about this, though Naruto could not hear her clearly.

Naruto stood. "So, friends! Super great for you all to come out to Konoha this week! Gonna be super exciting the next few days, y'know." The plates in front of them were a plain, white glass, and, so far, empty. "All of us have kids we're gonna be cheering for! Some more than others, some less. And, uh, I guess, some none! Since we have some extra friends with us tonight."

Mei cleared her throat, disguising it as a cough.

"For now, though, let's not think about the tournament and just have a good time eatin', y'know?" He clapped his hands together. "Uh, let dinner be served!"

He sat down, not expecting any applause. Staff began to enter the room through side doors, carrying trays bearing the first courses of soup and salad.

"So, Boss Shin," Gaara said, "as I was saying before…"

"Ah, yes, yes, do continue, do continue," Shin replied, waving his hand over the table at him.

Conversation resumed, though sparingly, and far easier to hear, given that fewer people were speaking, and more people were eating. But Naruto kept his ears open as he cut through the leaves of his lettuce, his brain almost humming as he tried to keep the balance of the room in his mind.

Gaara and Boss Shin were conversing amicably, seeming to have found a bit of a common ground in regards to Gaara's bandit problem, in the lobby. Kiine was politely asking the Cloud bodyguard to her left what sorts of fighting styles she preferred, and receiving a pleasantly-surprised answer. Mei, as usual, had tucked into lowered conversation with Mizuno, keeping herself away from everything else.

What Naruto didn't hear, however, was Kohriza's voice. He looked up from his food to glance at her.

Her shiny, curly hair was tucked behind her ears with pink barrettes that evening, paired with pink, plastic earrings that dangled from her ears like jelly beans. But her cheeks were unexpectedly pink as well, and her mouth was closed tight. She was intensely focused on her food.

_What in the world has her so quiet?_ Naruto thought to himself. _She's usually way chipper._

(And by that, of course, it meant that she talked almost as much and as enthusiastically as Naruto did.)

Everyone else seemed to be doing well—well, minus Boss Tensho and Nobuhiro, who seemed as dour as ever—so her silence stuck even more prominently in his mind. He wanted to ask her if everything was okay, but thought to wait, and instead struck up conversation with one of her bodyguards, who was more than eager to chat.

(Mei, he also noticed, when he glanced around the table again, had her gaze fixed upon Yuki, which was unsettlingly apparent when she reached for her drink.)

The balance was not disturbed as the soup and salad was taken away for the main course. Naruto's eyes swept across the table once more, his ears hearing laughter and anecdotes, and he prepared his knife with a relieved smile, blade poised on the edge of his steak.

And then Rotsuki spoke. "So, Boss Shin, if I might interrupt," he said.

Shin looked over his shoulder at him, his mouth lowered. "You may," he said.

"Glad as I am to see you making plans with the Kazekage about the bandit problem in the south," Rotsuki said, "I was wondering when you'd be interested in talking to _me_ about the issues we've been having with each other? I imagine that we can't be at a stand-still forever."

"Ah, so you're the _Raikage_, aren't you?" Shin said. "I'm sorry, but I'd _much _prefer finishing my conversation with Gaara-san before I even _think_ of speaking to you here."

"And why's that, Boss Shin?" Rotsuki said.

"Frankly," Shin said, his voice growing sharp, "I'd rather speak to someone that thought to invite me to dinner to attract my attention, instead of kidnapping my _son_."

"Oh. Really." Rotsuki leaned back in his chair, putting down his fork. "I see."

"Gaara-san has far more of a right to my attention than _you_ do, Raikage, because he used a little thing called _diplomacy_ and _manners _instead of… oh, how shall I put it… _brute force_." Shin speared a sprig of broccoli with his fork with a fast, snake-strike movement. "I'm rather inclined not to give you _any_ of my time until I'm _convinced_ you're even _half_ as civilized as he or our host the Hokage is."

"Civilized, is it." Rotsuki's voice was dangerously close to becoming a laugh. "Funny, Boss Shin, since your men were hardly civilized whenever we tried to approach them and get them to stop their, need I remind you, _illegal _activities."

"I run a business, Raikage," Shin said, closing his mouth neatly over his fork, and chewing. He swallowed before speaking. "And as far as I can see, the only laws _my _men are breaking are unreasonable and restrictive to _begin _with."

"Like?"

"The censorship of your artists, Raikage. Why they turn to _us _to get their films distributed and their paintings sold because nobody under _your _government will even _touch_ them for fear of persecution."

Kohriza coughed like she was choking on a piece of food, and dabbed at her mouth with her napkin, waving off the threat as most of the table turned to look at her. But Naruto knew she wanted to speak.

(Nobuhiro did, also. But the business of his Boss's associate preoccupied him and his anger far more.)

"That isn't censorship," Rotsuki said, evenly. "Those are just businesses acting out of their own interest."

"Of course," Shin said, flippantly. "Do explain my profits off of these works of art, then. Since there is _indeed _quite a demand."

"I'd like you to explain your _forgery_ market, then, thanks very much," Rotsuki replied.

Shin shook his head, clicking his tongue. "You are _quite_ aware, my dear Raikage, that those that purchase _copies_ of artwork from my businesses are _always_ aware that they are copies? I _never_ try to pass off a copy as the genuine _article_, why, that would be _dishonest_ of me."

"Dishonest." Rotsuki chuckled. "I see."

"Do you find this conversation _amusing_, Raikage?" Shin said, stabbing another sprig of broccoli.

"I'm just astounded at all this _justification_ you're doing, Boss Shin," Rotsuki replied. "Really, it's something."

"I suppose that defending my own business could be considered _justification_, yes," Shin replied. "Would you like it if I turned the tables and started asking you about your _utterly _barbaric methods of governance? I've been holding off out of _politeness_, you see."

"Hey, guys, let's not go flingin' mud here, y'know…" Naruto said, raising his hands.

"Oh, I'm not slinging _any_ sort of _mud_, Hokage-san. I'm merely stating the _truth_." Shin's hands flipped gracefully in expression. "I mean, _my _clan has certainly _never_ resorted to kidnapping and _hostages_ to get our way, _goodness_ no. We settle our issues like _gentlemen_. With _words_."

"Wonder how effective that really is," Rotsuki said. He'd laced his fingers and was resting his chin on his hands. "Besides, I bet you'd be lying if you said you never got your hands dirty."

"I prefer having problems brought to me _willingly_ before I deal out anything resembling _punishment_, thank you very much," Shin said. "While you would rather take by force, _regardless_ of the situation, wouldn't you, Raikage?"

"You take everything by force." Tensho was speaking. "No negotiation b'forehand, not even a damn fist fight."

"Papa, please don't generalize like that," Kiine said, her voice clear but strangely quiet.

"I'm speakin' the truth here," Tensho replied. "You're all a buncha bullies, is what you are. Bullies and liars."

"I'm no liar, Boss Tensho," Rotsuki said, flatly.

"Bullshit."

"No, really. I make good on all of my words," said Rotsuki.

"Really. So when you sent me a message saying that if I did not negotiate with you, I would never see my _son_ again? Did you mean it?"

"Absolutely," Rotsuki replied.

"And what would you have _done_ to my son, had I not complied to your… _satisfaction?"_

"I'd have had him killed, of course."

Kou, beside his father, breathed in sharply, with a shudder. His bodyguard, Shankusu, put a large hand on his back, but it provided very little comfort.

Shin's stare was paper-cut narrow. "Do you know what _I_ would have done, had you actually done that?"

"Tell me. I'd love to know."

"Guys, c'mon, this is getting a little ridiculous, y'know…" Naruto said, weakly.

"I'd have entered into your country with my strongest men, and found where you lived, and remained there until you explained yourself. And following that, I would have made you pay back the debt you would now have _owed_ me."

"A debt?"

"A life for a life is the simplest way to put it."

"And you expect I'd have agreed with this?" Rotsuki said.

"I'd have _made_ you comply," Shin replied, smoothly, joylessly.

Kiine got up, and out of her seat. Yuki immediately followed, and took his place behind Kou's chair as she knelt down to hold Kou's hand.

"Boss Shin, please," Gaara said, his face blank and his voice masking his anxiousness. "We don't have to resort to these things."

"Oh, I would _never_ go so far with you, Kazekage-san, since you're _ever_ so agreeable," Shin replied. "No, no, I'd only be so harsh with those that don't seem to understand _subtlety_. In fact, I'm beginning to doubt that the Raikage is even capable of being reasoned with."

"T'be honest, so am I," Boss Tensho added.

"Boss Shin, please don't be unfair," Kiine said, looking up at him from her place beside Kou. "Papa, you too."

"Oh, I'm not being unfair, Kiine, dear, I'm just calling it like it _is_," Shin replied. "Yes, right now, I don't even think that a ceasefire is even _worth_ keeping against such a person."

"I take it you intend on returning to business as usual, then," Rotsuki said.

"And I assume you're just going to keep on _antagonizing_ me if I _do_," Shin replied.

"It's my responsibility as Raikage to ensure that the laws of my country are followed."

"By kidnapping innocent people, hm?"

"Guys, please, stop…" Naruto said.

"If that's what it comes to, yes," Rotsuki said. "Though the innocence of the people is subjective."

"My son wouldn't hurt a _fly_," said Shin. "Even if I _forced_ him to, he'd _cry _about it right afterward."

"And yet I understand he's your heir. Slated to become the next head of the family?"

"At this rate, I might as well make his _fiancée_ my heir," Shin replied. "She's shown _much_ more initiative and leadership ability than my little pansy _ever_ has."

(Kiine's heart jumped, at the possibly-sincere statement, at the compliment, at the insult. She squeezed Kou's hand tighter, and put her other arm around Kou's hunched shoulders.)

"My point still stands," Rotsuki replied. "It'd be no different if we kidnapped one of your underlings. They're all equally guilty."

"Yeah? Really? Would a serving maid be just as guilty? Even if she never got her hands dirty, an' was just doing her job to take care of her family? Huh?" Tensho's voice was suddenly raised, and it hit the chests of everyone present.

Nobuhiro put down his glass with a loud, heavy thump.

"An employee of the family as well. And they _are_ being paid with dirty money," Rotsuki said.

"You shut your mouth. You shut your fucking _mouth_," Tensho spat, "you son of a _bitch_. See, this is the problem with you ninjas. No sense of honor. No sense of _dignity_. I bet you'd kill a kid if you were _ordered_ to, huh?"

"If the child posed enough of a threat, then of course," Rotsuki said, leaning forward.

"Even _we_ wouldn't do that. We don't kill kids, we don't go after unrelated people. We only hit where we gotta."

"My, don't you sound _noble_," said Rotsuki.

"Nobler than you, asshole," Tensho replied.

Nobuhiro had his enormous fist closed around his steak knife. He was running his thumb up and down the blade.

"Why don't you _both_ just wipe each other out, already?" Mei said. She had her glass of red wine half-raised to her lips. "It'd do us _all_ a favor."

"I'd appreciate it if you stayed out of what is clearly not _your_ business, Mei-san," Rotsuki said, with an oily glance.

"Oh, it's my business if the Taki clan is involved," she replied. "I'd like to know where that little Yuki boy of theirs came from."

Yuki, behind Kou's chair, lowered his head.

"I told you to keep away from my brother, hag," Nobuhiro said lowly.

"I'm nowhere near him, barbarian," Mei replied, smoothly. "I just want answers. Otherwise, I'll have to find them myself. And you said yourself that you didn't _like _how us _ninjas_ use force, hm?"

"Well I said it before back in Sekiraun, an' I'll say it again _here_," Nobuhiro said. "This Yuki clan you were talkin' about, those ninjas? Well, my brother's no _ninja_, he didn't come from no ninjas, an' neither did I. An' before you go _asking_, there is no way in _hell_ that I'd ever even _associate_ with ninjas. _Ever_."

There was a screech as a chair was pulled outward. Kohriza stood. "Pardon me, I have to go powder my nose," she said. She had her mouth covered with her hand, and she sped out of the room like a mouse, with one of her bodyguards following behind with a concerned expression.

"Somehow I doubt that all of your facts line up," Mei said. "Why don't we do some tests?"

"Mei-san-" Naruto began.

However, Rotsuki spoke. "I'd sure appreciate it if you kept your little bloodline obsession out of this, Mei-san."

Mei put down her wine glass, slowly. "It's no more an _obsession_ than this little contest of _honor_ you seem to have going on with our _guests_," she replied. "If you had any sense of perspective, you'd realize that you have _much_ bigger fish to fry."

"Like _what_."

Gaara stood, and walked over to put a hand on Boss Shin's shoulder. "Boss Shin, would you like to meet with me later about our plans for dealing with the bandits…?"

"Oh, Gaara-san, _any_ time," Shin replied, resting a hand on top of Gaara's. "You take _immediate_ precedent."

"I'm flattered," Gaara replied, "though…" he added, quietly, "do you really intend on giving up on your negotiations with the Raikage?"

"Well, if he were interested in dealing with this issue like a _civilized_ man then I'd be _more_ than interested."

"Why don't I show you just how _civilized_ I can be," Rotsuki cut in.

"_Really_. Why don't you show me _tomorrow?_ Or is that not enough time for you to groom yourself to my satisfaction?"

"Only if it's enough time for you to remove yourself from the pedestal you seem to have put yourself on."

"Guys, I don't want you to keep fighting like this, y'know," Naruto said, in the icy silence that settled down after their words. "We invited you here together so you could_ negotiate_, not talk _trash_ about each other."

"I agree." Kiine stood, though she kept a hand on Kou's arm. "You're all acting like _kids_, yeah."

"And I suppose you're a worthy judge of this?" Tensho said, gruffly. Mikan was rubbing his back for him.

"Papa, it was _my idea_ for us to come together in the first place, yeah?" she said. "Naruto-san and Gaara-san made it work because _they_ want to see you guys settle this, too. Okay? Raikage-san, Boss Shin, please?"

"And I thought _I_ was bad about staying out of other peoples' affairs," Mei said, with a sarcastic creak, and she took another sip of wine.

"If you're so concerned about us acting like children, young miss," Rotsuki said to Kiine, "then why don't you mediate?"

"No, let me do that," Naruto said, quickly, almost desperately. "Kiine has her own stake in these dealings an' she's gotta help her family where she can. I'm a neutral party here, y'know? I'll do it."

Naruto glanced at Kiine, who just nodded with an expression of concerned agreement. She was not angry, nor annoyed—she knew it was true.

"Ah, so _she's_ Taki Kiine, the one I heard so much about," Rotsuki said, quietly, to himself.

"I suppose that _is_ fair," Boss Shin said. "You've treated me with enough respect for me to _trust_ you not to pull in the Raikage's favor."

"I just don't want _either_ of you fighting any more, okay?" Naruto said. "B'sides, I want this settled in time for Gaara to have his time with you, Boss Shin. Okay?"

A curling, paper smile appeared on Shin's face. "Why, of _course_."

"So, we got a deal? Meeting tomorrow, this room, say… two PM? One? After lunch, y'know," Naruto said. "An' we'll go for as long as we need to."

"Sounds fine with me," Rotsuki said.

"Me as well," Shin said.

"Good, that's… great. Now, uh, let's try and not argue and enjoy the rest of the meal, y'know…"

"Hey, _I_ can't enjoy it," Morizuru said, from behind his empty plate. Kankuro didn't do anything to silence him.

(Shockingly, this was the only thing he had to say on the matter the entire meal. The banter had been too interesting for him to interject, he felt.)

(That, and they were doing all the work for him.)

Gaara and Kiine both returned to their seats, and Naruto's knife returned to his steak, though the meat was now stiff, and rubbery-cold.

But, more importantly, Naruto's appetite was completely gone, and would remain missing even as dessert was delivered. He picked at his filled pastry, but did not eat it.

Kohriza returned well after the argument had settled, and the room had lapsed into cold, sterile silence. Her lack of speaking only felt slightly less worrisome to Naruto, his mind focused on other things.

The emotional state of the room, once like a slightly-wobbly table, was now like a spinning plate on a stick, with so many tensions running high that another argument could have begun with a single glance, if the guests were so inclined. And many of them were.

But, eventually, the meal ended. And Naruto said goodbye to his guests, and escorted the Taki and Hakaza clans home.

Kiine sent him a lingering glance over her shoulder as she entered the inn, almost as if in apology. But Naruto shrugged it off, so as not to worry her.

All he wanted to do was go home, to go home and try to forget for at least a _little_ while.

(Because it was too late in the night for him to sneak off to the Hyuuga compound, to talk to her about it.)

(Even though she'd assured him that he was welcome at any time of the night.)

(Even though she had shown up at _his _house at one in the morning, on a melting-snow night, with a baby in her arms, terrified for the safety of two lives.)

There was far more in her home for him to disturb than the other way around, however. He had her honor to think about.

His mind fretted with ways to cope, and when he reached his home, he kicked off his shoes and almost ripped his stiff, formal blazer off, throwing it against the foyer wall. His Hokage Hat, which he'd kept on the back of his chair during the dinner like the rest of the guests, he dropped on the floor by his shoes, not even bothering to put it back in its proper place.

"Hokage-sama?"

He looked up.

Yomena was standing in the hallway, hands at her sides. Her ruby-colored hair was done up in its usual twin buns, the woven ribbons that kept them in place dangling behind her like insect antennae.

"Oh, uh, Yomena, hi." He lowered his head, heading for the kitchen.

"I understand you were just at your Kage banquet. I assume it went well, of course."

He opened the fridge and looked at the pathetic contents, out of twitchy almost-habit. "No, it went horribly."

"…oh, I see," Yomena said. "If you don't mind my asking…"

He slammed the fridge door shut. "Yes, I _do_ mind your asking, y'know," he said, quickly, and went for the table, pacing around the chairs, pushing them in if they were a few centimeters out.

"…ah, I see. Of course. I apologize for my indiscretion."

Naruto grunted a little in reply.

"My day was… adequate," Yomena continued, in her almost chant-like monotone. "I traveled the city, explored the parks, the forests. My usual activities, of course. Though I found myself alone most of the time."

"The way you like it," Naruto mumbled.

And she paused.

"…indeed," Yomena replied. "I was… able to meditate quite effectively because of that, of course."

"Great. Good. Awesome," Naruto said. He left the kitchen and began for the hallway.

Yomena did not move, only turning to follow him with her eyes. "Aside from your banquet, was the rest of your day… productive at least?"

Naruto turned around, in front of his bedroom door. "It was… fine. I'm going to bed, y'know. Good night."

Yomena blinked, and then bowed slightly. "Of course. Good night, Hokage-sama. I hope you have a pleasant sleep."

Naruto shut the door without replying, and flopped down on his bed, craving release.

He did not find it.


	95. Purl Back

_Chapter 95 - Purl Back_

* * *

The room was uncomfortably cold as Nobuhiro and Yuki prepared for bed. The skin on Nobuhiro's chest and arms felt tight and prickly, no matter how firmly he wrapped his pajamas around him.

Yuki sat on the other side of the room, combing his hair, his eyes downcast. His breath did not cloud in the air at all, unlike Nobuhiro's. It never did.

Naturally, this was his doing.

And Nobuhiro eventually had enough.

"Yuki, can you cut that out already?" Nobuhiro snapped. "F'fuck's sake, it's _freezin'_ in here."

Yuki stopped his combing. "Oh, I'm… sorry, I didn't notice…"

The room, however, did not get much warmer.

"I _really_ wish you wouldn't do that all the time," Nobuhiro continued. "S'not normal."

Yuki lowered his head. "I'm _sorry_, brother."

Nobuhiro wrapped his pajamas tighter and pulled an outer robe on. "It's _fine_, y'just need to show more control or whatever. Why are _you_ upset, anyways?"

"I'm not upset."

"Bullshit, Yuki."

Yuki's lips pursed. "It's nothing."

"Don't lie t'me."

"It's _nothing_, brother." Yuki glared at him through his hair.

"Then why's the room so damn cold still?" Nobuhiro relied. "Tell me or I'll make you tell me."

Yuki put the comb down, clenching his hands tightly in his lap. "That old woman, with the red hair. She… she made me uncomfortable."

"What, that ninja hag? Ignore her, Yuki."

"No, brother, I _can't_," Yuki replied. "It wasn't anything she _did_, it was what she _said_ to me."

"That don't make a difference."

"It _does_. Brother, how did she know so much about me?" Yuki looked at him more directly, there, and there was fear in his eyes.

"I have no idea. Maybe she's like one of those con-psychic-cold-reader people. I dunno. Stop thinking about her." Nobuhiro began looking for his knife.

"Then how did she know what I could do with ice?" Yuki said.

Nobuhiro paused in his search.

"She said there was someone _else_ like me. A clan with my name. And I just… it was just like Sekiraun, brother, when those ninjas asked-"

Nobuhiro found his knife. "That doesn't have to do with anything, Yuki."

"But what if it _does?_ Nobuhiro, I know you don't like talking about…" He lowered his eyes, momentarily. "…_these _sorts of things, but what if that's where I _came_ from?"

Slide, click. "That doesn't matter, Yuki." Slide, click, slide, click.

"It does to _me!_"

"Then you should stop caring!" Nobuhiro was sheathing and unsheathing his knife in fast, hard movements, as if pounding a fist into his palm. "Why the hell do you care where you came from? Th'only thing that matters is the present."

Yuki breathed in, deeply. The air seemed to drop in temperature that much more. "Are you afraid that I'm one of _them_, Nobuhiro? Or that I'll… that I'll _desert_ you for them?"

"You're talkin' nonsense."

"I am _not!_ These _ninjas_ have seen other people like me! And I try so hard not to think about it but… but I can't help it here, when it's just shoved in my face like this!"

Swirling, sparkling ice crystals were floating in the air behind Yuki, now, forming agitated spires.

"Yuki, cut this the _fuck out._" Nobuhiro unsheathed his knife entirely, and stabbed it into the tatami in front of him. "You ain't a ninja, you didn't come from no ninja, you're an _Inaba_."

"You're just saying that because you're afraid that you're wrong," Yuki said, lowly, his hair falling in his face.

"Do _not_ talk to me that way, Yuki!" Nobuhiro slammed his fist on the ground beside his knife.

"…you _are_ scared," Yuki said. His voice had grown dangerously quiet. "Nobuhiro, what if I really _did_ come from a ninja?"

"YOU DIDN'T."

"Because you can't stand the thought of having that sort of person as a brother, isn't that it?" Yuki said. "I know you've always wished I was _normal_."

"Yuki, just—just shut UP." He pulled his knife out of the ground, fumbling with his words and seeking sharpness. "Shut up and stop thinking about this. And stop doing that—that freaky thing with the ice, okay?"

The spires, whorled and knotted like diseased limbs, were now connected with thin, highly-reflective panes of ice, almost like mirrors. Behind Yuki's face, set in a mask of sorrow-cast anger, Nobuhiro's own face, flushed red with frustration, was reflected five-fold.

"…I see," Yuki said. "I'll just get out of your sight, then. Save you the embarrassment of having such a freak in your presence."

"Yuki, no-!"

But Yuki stood, the fragile spires and sheets of glass shattering as he went, and he left the room, taking the coldness with him. The shards of ice on the tatami disappeared.

And he went to Kiine's room.

She and Kou were together, though not speaking. She was reclined on one of her room's large pillows, reading a book. Kou was leaned against her, knitting with ice-blue yarn, his head gently touching her shoulder.

They looked beautiful. And the sight of this pained Yuki, the two of them so perfectly content without him there, though not nearly as much as the pain his brother had given him.

(Though it added to the needle of abandonment making its way into his brain through his ears, humming as it went, "Brother doesn't want you, Brother doesn't want you." Over and over.)

(Though, now, it said, "Brother doesn't want you, Master doesn't want you, you are just a tool to her, you could be replaced.")

He hadn't even said a word, opening the door noiselessly, but somehow, she noticed he had entered.

"Yuki?" She put down her book. "Hey, what's the matter? Are you okay?"

Her warmth was achingly undeniable. Yuki closed the door behind him and got on his knees in front of her. "I could be better, sir."

"Oh, gosh, Yuki…" She left the pillow (left Kou) and went to his side. "Tell me, what's going on, yeah?"

"It's my brother," he mumbled. "And I'm… I'm sorta scared about some things."

"_What_ things, Yuki?" She scooted a little closer.

Yuki glanced away from her. At Kou.

His face was filled with honest concern. He had even come a little closer.

"That old woman that asked me all those questions today. The one that kept staring at me. And then Sekiraun, Master, you remember?"

"I remember, Yuki."

"It's just… it's got me thinking about where, exactly, I _came_ from. I mean, if there are ninja out there that are like _me_…"

"Then it means you've got relatives that also happen to be ninjas, Yuki, you shouldn't be so upset, yeah," Kiine said, her eyes softening.

"…I know _you_ wouldn't care, Master," Yuki said, softly. "But my brother, and… Boss Tensho, sir. That matters to _them_."

"Papa's a huge baby about ninjas, Yuki, you _know_ that, yeah?" Kiine said. "Besides, it's not like he'll throw you out for being related to people you've never met."

"…that's not what I'm worried about," Yuki replied. "Nobuhiro, he… he thinks I'm a freak. I know _he_ wishes I wasn't like this." His throat began to feel tight. "And it just… I wish I didn't care, but it _bothers_ me…!"

"Oh, Yuki…" Kiine leaned forward and hugged him. "It's okay, it really is, yeah?"

Yuki shook his head. "It's not, it's not."

"What's not okay, then?"

"Master, I… I've always tried not to think about who my parents were, where I came from," Yuki said. "I try not to think it matters, but with all these people _asking, _I _can't_ ignore it. And I don't know what to _do_. It's not just your clan, sir, it's all these _other_ people."

(And Nobuhiro.)

Kiine's stammer-silence was no comfort. "Well, Yuki… I guess, that, um…"

"Sometimes it's just better not to know."

It was Kou that had spoken.

"What… do you mean by that, Kou?" Kiine said.

Kou fidgeted, his forefingers playing with the tips of his knitting needles. "When I was little, I asked my dad where my mom was, since I _had_ to have had one. He said that she was literally nobody and that he was only… _with_ her to have me, because my grandpa's dying wish was to have a grandchild…"

"Oh, Kou…" Kiine raised a hand to her mouth.

"He really likes to talk about her, though. 'Shame you're such a _plain_ boy, Kou. Maybe if I hadn't chosen such a _homely_ girl you'd have turned out _prettier_.' 'Look at all that baby fat. You must get it from your mother. Serves me right for choosing a flat chest over thinness.'" His voice was a painful imitation of his father, high and petty. "Some days I think I'm more of a pet or something to him than a person… Just something he had to have, not something he really wanted."

And it was then that the full weight of Kou's humiliation, from that day, from all the other days, hit Yuki.

"_She's shown _much_ more initiative and leadership ability than my little pansy _ever_ has."_

Being told outright that he'd have been killed if Yuki and Kiine hadn't rescued him.

And even on their very first meeting, how casually he had tossed out his father's insults, devaluing himself, constantly apologizing.

The lead-weight of guilt settled into Yuki's stomach, causing his shoulders to rise.

"So, Yuki-san… I understand how it _feels_ to wonder about those sorts of things," Kou continued. "I just… hope, if you do ever find out, that things don't go as badly for you."

"…well I think it's pretty undeniable by now that I'm related to these… Yuki people," Yuki said, quietly. "I mean, I was abandoned when I was a baby, that's what Nobuhiro told me. I still don't know why he took _me_ in, though."

"You ever tried asking?" Kiine said.

Yuki shook his head. "He just says he did it because he…"

He paused.

"Because he what, Yuki?" Kiine said.

"…had to. He always changes the subject after that."

"Oh…" Kiine bit her lip. "Well… I'm sure he's just simplifying his reasons, yeah…"

"I really think he views you as a brother, Yuki-san. Truly," Kou said. He had moved slightly closer to them. "I saw how he yelled at that lady for pressing about where you came from."

_Kou_ had noticed that…?

"Yeah!" Kiine's face brightened. "He did that the first time, too. R'member, Yuki?" She put a warm hand on his shoulder. "Nobu's your big brother, Yuki, an' he's always looked out for you, no matter what, yeah? He's just got… issues. But we'll get through it, okay?"

"…I just don't know what I should do if that woman asks me further about where I came from," Yuki replied.

"Well, just tell her what you know," Kiine replied, "and by that, I mean, tell her that you _don't_ know. And tell her to step off yourself, if you have to! I personally thought she was getting _way_ too touchy, yeah."

Yuki managed a slight smile. "I suppose we'll have to see what happens, sir."

"Exactly."

Still, the pin-sharp tension of the room down the hallway of the suite remained.

"…um, sir, is it… all right if I stay here with you and Kou-san for a while?" he said.

"Well _duh_, Yuki, of course it's okay. C'mon, I was just getting to the good part of this book, you wanna look on?" She grinned.

"I suppose I wouldn't mind that, sir," Yuki replied.

Kiine returned to her pillow, and patted the space beside her, where Kou was formerly sitting. "C'mon, over here."

But that wasn't Yuki's place. He didn't fit in, there. "Um, but Kou-san…"

"I'll find somewhere else to sit," Kou replied, brightly. "It's all right, Yuki-san."

Carefully, uncomfortably, Yuki nestled his head into the crook of Kiine's shoulder, pulling his knees up to his chest. His eyes strayed from the page, however, to see Kou sit against the wall near her feet with a placid expression, returning to his knitting. He did not seem to mind this shift in power.

But Yuki did.

"…um, sir?" Yuki asked.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Why don't you read aloud? So Kou-san can hear."

"Hey, great idea, Yuki! Kou, you remember what's going on in the story, right?"

Kou nodded, his smile growing slightly larger.

"Okay, I'll just continue where we left off," Kiine said, and cleared her throat.

The coolness of Yuki's cheek against Kiine's warm shoulder felt like it belonged there. Slowly, the hum of fear began to leave his ears.

None of them noticed, however, the thick creak of someone standing up from kneeling behind the door, and the footsteps that followed.

Nobuhiro had been listening, and he really needed a drink, or else he'd feel even shittier than he currently did.

The people in the lounge, however, did nothing to improve his mood.

Sitting at a table near the bar was the creepy eyebrow-less guy with the tattoo on his forehead, and _her_. They were talking, though as Nobuhiro passed them, they stopped.

"Whiskey. No ice, biggest shot you can," Nobuhiro growled, as he slid onto a bar stool.

He looked over his shoulder. The conversation at the table had died down and the creepy guy was leaving.

She was coming up to him.

"Your whiskey, sir," the bartender said.

"Nobuhiro…"

"Don't talk to me." Nobuhiro sipped his drink.

"Nobuhiro, please."

He didn't say anything, didn't even look at her.

"Can't we at least clear up a few things?"

"I don't give time to liars," Nobuhiro said. He took another sip.

"When have I lied to you?"

"You didn't tell me you were one of _them_."

"A ninja?"

Another sip.

"I don't remember that ever coming up, last night," she said. "That doesn't make me a liar."

He was silent.

"I'm sorry if it made me come across as deceitful, though," she continued. "Since it obviously seems that… you and your boss have some issues with people like me."

"Tch. More than a few _issues_," Nobuhiro said.

He thought of Yuki, and downed the rest of his drink, trying to burn away his guilt with the fire of the alcohol in his throat. Whiskey spilled onto his face, and he wiped it off on the back of his wrist.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked.

"I don't see why it matters to _you_."

"It matters to me because I can see how much it hurts you inside."

"Shut up. Barkeep, another."

"What's your deal with ninjas, anyways? Did a ninja give you that scar or something? Because that's not the fault of all of us, that's just-"

"A ninja didn't give me my scar. Fuck no."

She pulled back. "All right, all right. Then what happened?"

"None of your fucking business." He took his second whiskey and messily slurped down half of it.

"It _is_ my business if it's someone I know, or if they were acting on the orders of someone I know," she replied. "It's my _responsibility_ to ensure that the system isn't abused, so that people like _you_ aren't hurt."

"It happened when I was a kid, no fucking way you could-a known them," Nobuhiro replied.

"It's still worth bringing up."

"Shut up." He took a shallower sip.

There was a thoughtful pause. "This… doesn't have to do with your sister, does it? The one you lost?"

His fist tightened around the glass.

"It does, doesn't it."

"Shut the fuck up." He took a quick sip, to quench the tightness in this throat.

"What happened to her? I don't care how long ago it happened, I want to _know._"

"It's none of your fucking _business_, whore," Nobuhiro replied. He pressed his lips together, and his scar stretched, the skin burning from tension and alcohol.

She inhaled, sharply. "_Please_ don't treat me like this. Ninjas aren't all bad people, Nobuhiro."

"You _would_ say that."

"I _would_, because it's _true_. There are _always _going to be bad people, no matter where you come from. Ninja, civilian, syndicate, it doesn't matter. And I don't deserve to be treated like this if I haven't done anything _wrong_."

Nobuhiro scoffed.

"_Please_, tell me. I want to know."

"You wanna know what happened, huh? Really?" He could feel his jaw quivering, his hands loosening. "My boss's wife was sick when she was a kid, so her dad hired some ninja medic guy to cure her. White skin, freaky as fuck. This tweaked-out fairy. But he didn't want money as payment, no, not just that. He wanted a woman. And not to fuck, oh no, he had _other_ ideas. And guess who he picked."

She took a while to respond. "Your sister…"

"Yeah, that's right. He fucking picked my sister. Of all the damn servants in the house, he picked _her_. An' you know what happened after that?" He laughed like he was choking, bile rising in his throat. "And then, fucking… twenty-whatever years later, this _kid_ gets dropped off at our house with a note addressed to _me_. Says it's to make up for what happened to my _sister_. He practically has the same fucking name as her!"

"His… name?"

"Her name was Yukiko. My sister. My brother—I couldn't call him my… son, or, or my nephew, fuck, I couldn't—the name on the note said his name was Yuki. Jeez, I don't even _want_ to think about what that could _mean_."

"So you think he's hers, then."

"Yeah. And he's… _you_ heard what that red-haired ogre-woman said, all that shit about the Yuki _clan_ or whatever. I don't wanna think she was… forced to have some ice-freak's _kid_, but what the hell else could it be?!" He pressed his palm, hard, against his eyebrow, rubbing in frustration. "What kind of sick fuck thinks of humans like _money_."

"Nobody normal, Nobuhiro."

He stopped rubbing.

"Do you remember his name? The man that was hired, I mean."

Nobuhiro thought hard. It was a name he tried to keep it out of his thoughts.

"Orochimaru. That was his name."

She gasped.

Nobuhiro, finally, looked at her. She had a hand clamped over her mouth. "What, what is it, huh?"

"…that man was... a notorious criminal, even amongst ninja," Kohriza replied. "One of the most powerful in history. He even founded his own nation, in the Land of Rice, and launched a terrorist attack on Konohagakure thirty years ago with… children that he had trained and… modified himself."

"…modified? The fuck is that supposed to mean?"

Kohriza, who had lowered her hand in speaking, covered her mouth again. "Oh, gosh, I'm—Nobuhiro, I'm so sorry…"

"Tell me what the hell that means! Modified? Speak up!" He leaned forward, desperately.

It took a while for her to answer, her eyes narrowed in a precursor to tears. "…one of the reasons why he was so infamous was because of his record of… human experimentation."

"…that mother_fucker_. So is that what he wanted her for? Fucking… experiments?"

"Nobuhiro, I can't say, I don't _know_. But… please, let me tell you that what happened to you is considered wrong, even by _our_ standards. This man, Orochimaru, he hurt _many_ people, not just you. He does _not_ represent all of us."

Nobuhiro could barely hear her, his chest rising up and down. "Another drink," he managed to choke out.

"Nobuhiro, I don't-"

"I'm gonna kill him."

"What…?"

"I'm gonna… I'm gonna find where he lives an' I'm gonna make him pay."

"You mean Orochimaru…?"

"Wring his fucking _neck._" Nobuhiro muttered.

"Nobuhiro, he's… dead. He died almost thirty years ago, when the War ended."

The words sunk into him, slowly. "He's… dead?"

"Yes, he's dead."

"But then… then who the hell left…?" Words formed and dissolved in his mouth. "But who the hell else knew about Yukiko…?"

His third drink was delivered, but he did not touch it.

"What the fuck is going on…?" he said, quietly, resting his forehead on his hand. "Who the hell left Yuki for me then…?"

"That, I… can't help you with," Kohriza replied. She leaned forward against the bar, and closer to him. "But does that at least help, knowing more?"

A breath, uncomfortably like a sob, escaped him. "What the _hell_ happened to Yukiko, then…?" he said. "Damn it, what the _hell_ is going on…?!"

He slumped lower, his hand running over his slicked-back hair and ruining the neatness.

"Maybe it's better not to know," Kohriza replied. "I mean, considering what he did…"

"Shut up," Nobuhiro said, half-heartedly. He reached for his whiskey, but his hands were shaking, spilling the alcohol onto his fingers.

And then Kohriza's hand was on top of his hand. Her skin was soft and smooth. "The only thing you can do now is to move on. There's nothing else that can be done that can help you. Getting angry about the past will only harm you, and… your brother, too, I think."

His hand stopped shaking. He put the glass down.

"Since he's… well, he _was_ as much a part of this as you are," she continued. "You still know as little about where he came from as you used to, right?"

He tried rubbing his eye. It began to sting, violently.

"Mother_fucker!_" he shouted, reaching for a napkin and stabbing it in his eye.

"What, did you just realize something?" she said.

"No! I got… fucking whiskey in my eye!" he replied.

She laughed, but sucked it back in apologetically. "Do you want me to get you another napkin?" she said.

"No, no, I'll be fine. _Jeez, _I'm such a fuckup…"

Not only for the whiskey in his eye, he realized, in the painful silence that came after, but for what he'd said to Yuki.

Especially after hearing what he'd said to Kiine, afterward.

What the hell could he possibly say to apologize?

"You okay, now?" he heard Kohriza saying.

He took a deep breath in, removing the napkin from his eye and rubbing it with his dry left palm for good measure.

"…either way, he can't help it…" Nobuhiro mumbled to himself.

"Who?"

"My… brother. S'like you said, I dunno anything about where he… came from, or whatever. Ninja or… wherever." His senses were thickening around the edges. "So the most I can do is just… not think about it. Move on. I mean, he's still my _brother_, f'fuck's sake, that'll never change…"

Kohriza smiled, gently. "Forgive and forget, right?"

"Eh, dunno s'much about the 'forgive' part, but… eh." Nobuhiro slouched forward, crossing his arms on the edge of the bar. "Forgettin' is much easier. Drinks help."

"With moderation."

"Aw, shut up," Nobuhiro replied, though gently, this time.

She giggled. "So… maybe it's out of bounds for me to ask, but do you not have so much of a problem with what I do, now?"

"Yesterday I sure as fuck would have. But I'm sorta reconsiderin', now," Nobuhiro replied. "I mean, I still think that Raikage guy is a huge dick."

Kohriza laughed awkwardly. "Yeah, Rotsuki-san is… sort of difficult, sometimes. Especially considering what seems to be going on with your clan and him. I'm personally _really_ against the censorship that's sorta passive-aggressively allowed to happen in his country, it's _really_ dumb."

"Oh yeah? I thought all you ninjas got along."

"_Hardly_. Especially when you're a Kage." She sighed. "You have to deal with all the international squabbles, in addition to hometown stuff. Blech." She stuck out her tongue. This made Nobuhiro chuckle.

"Well, what would you do about it?" he asked.

"Me? Well… if I were in your clan's position, _personally_, I'd arrange for meetings with local merchants that sell the contraband. Look at sales figures. Then maybe talk about a tax in exchange for assurance that their product gets delivered safely to distributors. That's sort of a half-baked solution, though, all things considered… I mean, I'm sure that your clan provides protection anyways…" She pouted, child-like, resting her chin on both hands.

"I always get so surprised when you use all them big words," Nobuhiro said. He reached, with a steady hand, for his drink, and took a slow, savoring sip.

"Hey, I wasn't elected just 'cos I'm pretty, you know!" She paused. "…well, okay, so that was probably a _small _factor, but I still have to run a country!"

He chuckled again. "So you're like that… Naruto guy, then?"

She nodded. "Yup. What, you didn't notice at dinner?"

"I was… sorta too angry to tell the difference. B'sides, you weren't wearing one of those stupid hats." Nobuhiro snorted.

"Yeah, true…" Kohriza said. "They _are_ sorta silly. But they're traditional, so, what can you do."

Nobuhiro shrugged. "Tradition is stupid sometimes."

"Tell me about it."

The short silence that followed was comfortable.

"So, huh." Nobuhiro's furrowed brow looked almost contemplative.

"Hm?"

"So if I'd-a asked you what you did for work, last night, what would you've told me?" Nobuhiro asked.

"I'd have said I was a diplomat. Same as I tell everyone else, when I'm abroad," she replied. "Believe it or not, I _love _not being recognized. People sorta treat you differently if they find out things like that, I've found."

Nobuhiro nodded a few times, thoughtfully. "You just like bein' thought of as just a normal lady, hm?"

"Right on the mark," she replied, winking.

"Y'know," he said, after taking another sip, "I was sorta glad that I never asked, but now, I feel okay about it."

"Why's that?" she said.

"Well…" He folded his hands together, tapping the back of his hand with a finger. "I dunno. I guess I just feel more comf'table knowing that even _you_ don't like havin' your job follow you to the bar. An' stuff."

She giggled. "I'm glad you feel the same."

"Yeah. Hey, were you drinkin' something back there? With that guy with the tattoo."

"Oh, huh? No, I wasn't."

"Okay. You want one of them… kikitini-whatevers, then?" Nobuhiro said. "S'the least I can do for you puttin' up with my bullshit tonight."

"Strawberry-kiwitini. And sure, I suppose I can accept that," she replied. "It really was nothing, though. You had definite reasons to be angry. I just hope that you're able to… feel a bit less hate towards ninjas, knowing this."

"Eh, I can accept that whole bad egg thing you said," he replied, lowering the hand he had raised to order her drink. "I mean, that Raikage guy, an' the cougar that was bothering my brother."

Kohriza laughed. "Well, neither of them are as nasty as Orochimaru was…"

"Yeah, whatever." Nobuhiro was smiling a little. "I think I'll change my tune to… Hmm…"

"Change your tune to what?"

"…'It don't matter what you do for a living. If you're a dick to other people, I'm takin' you down.'"

"An _excellent_ tune," Kohriza said.

"Yeah, I guess it ain't so bad," Nobuhiro said.

He thought for a while, as Kohriza's drink arrived, and she delighted in removing the slice of lime placed on the rim.

"Hey, Kohriza?"

"Mm?"

"Who was it? That killed that Orochimaru guy, I mean."

"Hm? Oh, um… Some guy named Uchiha Sasuke, I think," Kohriza replied. "He lives around here. A friend of Naruto-san's, too, I think."

"Huh. Well, if I run into him, I'm gonna buy him a hell of a drink. Least I can do."

Nobuhiro's conversations with Kohriza were far less flirtatious, that night—rather, he asked her all sorts of things about her duties. "I mean, unless you don't wanna discuss work, I mean, I totally understand."

Though she'd giggled, and complied. "In the name of good diplomacy."

Something Nobuhiro came to realize, as he thought over their discussions, was that ninjas weren't so different than him. Well, sorta. They answered to a Boss-Kage-person, who was elected by the majority or the previous guy in charge, and followed orders and were paid to carry out errands and missions. And those missions varied depending on the area and what was being asked. Only difference he could really think of was size, since ninja villages had loads of families inside of them, while clans just had loads of individuals serving one family.

"If you were a ninja, Nobu, you'd be _very_ highly regarded, I think," Kohriza said, with a smile that wrinkled her nose. "Maybe even famous."

"Shove it," he'd replied, though the compliment actually made him feel warm inside. And he knew it wasn't the alcohol.

What this was, he decided in the bathroom, was just like a damn clan feud. Like that one time Tensho had pissed off the Hanamachi Boss and had to meet with her about it and got that rubber-concubine for his trouble, or the time that the Jansou clan and the Saigoro clan had gotten into a fight and called the Taki clan to intercede for some reason or another. It was just as stupid and just as necessary to end.

Hell, maybe just speaking up during the negotiations would be enough to get Tensho to listen. Since Nobuhiro knew, for all his size, he wasn't nearly as bold as Tensho was. When he said things, Tensho listened.

And, well, he definitely saw paying back Naruto for his help as the fair thing to do. Thinking it over further actually gave him some _respect_ for the guy—if Tensho had done something for somebody and wasn't paid back for it, he'd have been _way_ more forceful in getting that debt repaid. Naruto was freakin' respectful.

Man, that Orochimaru guy was a _dick. _

(Nobuhiro was following Kohriza's advice and letting the other issues at hand and the alcohol keep his thoughts from wandering towards whatever the son of a bitch could have done to his sister.)

But beyond the meeting the next day, he had one other thing to deal with.

Luckily for him, Yuki wasn't asleep yet. He wasn't in his room, either, but Nobuhiro had an idea where he was, from the way that the rice-paper screen of Kiine's room was illuminated, and the murmurs that were coming out from behind it.

He slid the door open just enough for him to get an eye through, and he saw Kou working Yuki's hair into some sort of ornate top-knot. "Just a little longer, Yuki-san, hold on." Kou had bobby pins in his teeth, like a tailor of hair.

"Playing dress-up, are we?" Nobuhiro opened the door, having to lean on the frame afterward. "Lady Kiine, this'd better not be your doing."

"Oh, no, it was my idea," Kou replied, waving a hand dismissively. "It's just, Yuki-san's hair is so _nice_, and everyone else has such short hair, I wanted to see what I could do with it."

"Practically begging," Kiine said. Kou rolled his eyes, smiling.

Yuki, however, kept his eyes to his lap.

"Well… I just wanted to see how you all were doin'. And… to apologize. M'sorry for yellin' at you, Yuki. And I don't care who your folks were or weren't. You're still my brother." He paused, the silence almost itching at him. "…yeah, s'about all I wanted to say. You can stay here tonight if you want, I'm goin' to bed though."

"…thanks, brother," Yuki said, looking up. He had a bare smile, but that was all Nobuhiro needed to see.

"Yeah, no problem. You all should get t'bed too, big day tomorrow. Wanna make sure we keep your dad in line, eh, Lady Kiine?" Nobuhiro said.

"Uh… sure!" Kiine said. "I mean, if we wanna get anything done, yeah."

"Uh-huh. See you kids later," Nobuhiro said.

He slept a warm sleep, after that. And though he did not hear nor feel him enter, Yuki was asleep in the futon beside him, when he woke up in the morning.


	96. Binding Off

_Chapter 96 - Binding Off_

* * *

The involved parties converged in the large meeting hall of the Hokage Manor shortly after lunch, the next day. The large round table that they had eaten dinner off of, that night, had been replaced with a smaller one, so that everyone could be heard properly, and glasses of water were set down at each place.

Naruto easily looked the most-nervous. His eyes seemed sunken and his expression was stretched tight, his lips pursed. He sat at the head of the table, with the Hakaza clan to one side and the representatives from Cloud to the other, with the Taki clan taking up the space in between. He had to clear his throat several times before he began the proceedings with an unsure, "Now, uh, let's try and make this a productive meeting, y'know? The goal is to reach agreements, not insult each other. Okay…?" There was no answer. "Well… okay, let's start talkin'…"

The outset was, of course, rocky. Rotsuki began by airing a list of grievances for which he held the Hakaza clan accountable, which Shin reminded him he'd largely covered the night before, at dinner. "Unless you're doing this for _formality's_ sake. In which case I am _not_ impressed."

Rotsuki smiled thinly in reply, and continued.

The first issue at hand was illegal goods. Tensho joined in, on this matter, because such business was also his business, and he did not appreciate rats like Rotsuki getting the facts wrong, in nearly so many words.

"We sell this stuff 'cos there's a need for it. We don't need to advertise an' trick people into what they don't want. They know what they want. They ain't stupid," he'd added, which Rotsuki quickly dismissed as irrelevant.

That was when Shin bore down with accusations of prudishness. "Really, are you trying to deny that people take pleasure from the _unusual _and _erotic?_ Because they _do_."

"We kind of don't want kids getting into that sorta stuff, Boss Shin," Rotsuki replied.

"Well, then, restrict the places that sell them! It's not like _we_ allow children to purchase such things," Shin said. "Besides, don't you allow _swimsuit_ and _lingerie_ catalogues to be sold in public? What's the difference between that and a pin-up collection? A mere few inches of fabric. Sometimes even _less _than that!"

"You're getting off the point, Boss Shin."

"I am _not_, I am _making_ a point," Shin replied, crossing his legs under the table.

"And that would be?"

"That if you weren't so _close-minded_ we wouldn't be having this issue in the _first_ place."

"So first I'm _uncivilized_, and now I'm _close-minded_," Rotsuki said.

"You'll find that they're quite related, Raikage."

Kiine, from her place at the table, sighed discretely and shook her head.

"Besides," Shin continued, "I'm quite puzzled by the fact that you're so _tight-laced_ about human sexuality when you so _casually_ promote violence and have mandatory combat lessons in your children's schools."

"You're one to talk, Boss Shin," Rotsuki said.

"Oh, shut up, both of you."

Nobuhiro was scowling, scratching behind his ear.

"Didn't you hear the Hokage? We're tryin' to find solutions here, not insult each other. For heaven's sake."

Boss Shin blinked his shiny eyes a few times, in confusion. "Excuse me?"

"This ain't achieving anything. We both got issues. Let's solve 'em. Okay?"

"And how do you propose we do that," Rotsuki said, smoothly.

"By just forgettin' who we are. Or something." Nobuhiro glanced at Tensho, gauging his approval. His eyebrows were lowered, but in concentration and confusion, and not anger. "I mean, at the heart've it, we're just two different groups tryin' to get somethin' worked out between us. Culture don't matter here. Hell, Boss Shin, c'mon, ain't you ever had a tiff with a clan you didn't agree with?"

Shin looked up, his mouth lowering. "Well, I _have_…"

"Then just pretend that the Raikage's a rival Boss. An' you, Raikage, you don't need t'be so high and mighty. Try an' be cooperative, okay? Jeez. If you don't wanna hear any solutions then we won't get anywhere."

"…well, color me surprised," Rotsuki said, crossing his arms. "Though I do think Boss Shin should have come to this conclusion himself…"

"Enough of that." This time, it was Tensho that spoke. "Nobuhiro's right, stop makin' us step backwards like that." Nobuhiro could hear, under Tensho's breath, a lightly-muttered "You asshole."

"You're as much to blame in this as I am," Shin added. "I'm willing to make compromises if you are."

Rotsuki's expression in return was sarcastic and questioning.

However, Shin made good on his offer, putting forth an idea of a plan that involved putting a tax on certain materials and allowing them to be sold, supervised, in stores. "I'm offering to reduce a cut of my own _profits, _here! Though I believe it would work out somewhat in the end, since I'm already spending _enough_ money fending off your men with my 'illegal' material."

"That's a start," Rotsuki said, shortly.

He warmed up some as more plans were suggested. Kiine also began chiming in, with her own ideas, as well as Tensho.

"We don't want to give up what we view as our rightful business, yeah," Kiine said. "I mean, our families've been doing this for generations, and to deny us our stake in the world is no more fair than uprooting any other family business. 'Legitimate' or not. So, why not collaborate?"

Outlawing trade entirely wouldn't work in the long run, not in the least, and everyone knew that. And transferring the sale of goods to pre-existing businesses that could be more-closely monitored and taxed was similarly impractical, especially considering how highly-specialized some the products sold by Hakaza Curiosity Shops were, and how iconic they were.

"We could send you a cut of the profits from our Curiosity Shops as a sort of tax," Kiine explained, "in exchange for having our properties treated like legitimate businesses and having our trade routes left unbothered. Plus, you could always hire our guys to fetch things for you, if you think the job's too specialized or diplomatic for your ninjas, yeah? I mean, that's what we're good at."

"Kiine, I don't want us to pay more taxes," Tensho said.

"It's just an idea, Papa," Kiine said, in what was almost a whisper.

"…not a bad idea at all," Rotsuki replied. "Though I find it hard to believe that your men are capable of doing anything that my men can't."

"Hey, remember what went down in Sekiraun?" Kiine said. "My man Yuki and I took out a whole guard station full of your guys by ourselves. We're pretty darn capable. Oh, and can we agree not to hold anyone hostage again? Ever? Please?"

Rotsuki smiled, and for once, it was genuine.

"The hostage thing I suppose I can work out," he replied.

Kiine grinned at Shin, whose smile was small and quite pleased.

By the time the meeting was over, hours later, very many plans had been made, but very few had been agreed upon. However, nobody seemed to have much of a problem with this.

"Why don't we take the next few days off to enjoy the tournament," Rotsuki said, as everyone was standing. "Wouldn't want that to spoil the sport."

"Oh, I could not hardly agree _more_," Shin replied. "And in fact, I'm feeling rather _mad_ at myself for taking up so much of our gracious host's time."

"Who, me?" Naruto said. His face had loosened a great deal over the course of the meetings. "Oh, no, it's no problem. I just wanted to make sure you guys got at least a start in all this, y'know…"

"Why don't we schedule for another meeting, after all this is over?" Rotsuki said. "I'd be glad to invite you to Kumogakure. Perhaps I could have someone escort you around the city, see how businesses are run _there_. Give you a few ideas."

"Oh, I'm sure I'll have a few _suggestions_ for you in return, if that's the case," Shin said, laughing afterwards. "That sounds like a _fine_ arrangement, though. Just a matter of where and when. Shall I send you a letter?"

"Either that, or I can."

"Splendid."

Kiine nudged into Nobuhiro as they all made their way out. "Jeez, Nobu, I didn't expect _that_ outta you!" she said. "And here I thought you hated ninjas more than Papa."

"Eh, only certain ones," Nobuhiro said, trying to sound gruff. This, however, made Yuki smile.

Kiine hugged Naruto afterwards. "Thank you _so much _for putting this all together," she said. "Really, we couldn't have done this without you, yeah."

"Hey, just helping where I can, y'know!" Naruto replied. "I'm just glad we actually _got_ somewhere."

"Yeah, I'm totally surprised," Kiine said, "especially considering what traditional old farts these guys are," she added, in a mumble that made Naruto laugh.

"Hey, Hokage." It was Nobuhiro, again.

"Oh, yeah, what's going on?" Naruto said, his face creased slightly with surprise.

"I know we all wanna enjoy the tournament that's comin' up, but, uh, I wanna make sure that you don't forget to meet with me an' my boss about those debts we owe you, all right?" Nobuhiro's shoulders rocked from side to side as he tried not to shuffle his feet. "I mean, that's why we're here'n the first place, isn't it."

"Nobu!" Kiine said.

"What, just tryin' to make sure we stay on-course, here," Nobuhiro replied. "Wouldn't wanna stop all our progress _here_."

Naruto smiled warmly. "I'll be sure to arrange something, Nobuhiro-san. Thank you for reminding me, y'know."

"Yeah, s'nothing," Nobuhiro said. "Thanks for bein' so damn patient with us."

Naruto's laugh went on for a while. "Yeah, sure!"

"Hey, so." Kiine pulled him away again, firmly, by the arm. "You got anything going on tonight?"

"Not… particularly, I mean, I was gonna see if I could get together with some friends later and get some hang-out time in, before the tournament started 'n all that, y'know. Why, you had something in mind?"

Kiine shrugged. "I dunno, just asking. I sorta wanna meet your daughter, still, unless you don't want to…"

"Oh! Yeah, I think I could do that. Dinner with you and Yuki-kun and Kou-kun and her, y'know? I can go out with my friends later."

"That sounds pretty cool, yeah! You should go ask her," Kiine said. "I can bring my family home, even, while you track her down. I mean, y'don't have to go escorting us everywhere."

"Sure, sure," Naruto said. "I'll come by to pick you and the rest up later tonight. Give your parents a night off! Let 'em explore."

"Awesome. See you then, yeah!" Kiine said, and Naruto waved back, in return.

Tracking Yomena, after that, was fairly simple. He knew her chakra, a shining purple-in-orange contradiction, glimmering like oil on water. He took his time to walk there, however, waving at the passers-by, tossing greetings here and there.

He found her sitting under a tree in a park near a civilian residential area, legs in the lotus position, hands folded in her lap. The light breeze sent the ribbons in her hair fluttering behind her like paper slips beneath a wind-chime.

He approached her. "Hey, Yomena!"

She opened one eye. "Hokage-sama."

"What are you up to?" he said.

"Tracking the spiritual landscape of this area," she replied, closing her eyes again. "There is an unusual amount of agitation here. I thought to see what was causing it, of course."

"Oh… uh, okay," Naruto said, and cleared his throat. "Uh, anyways, so I was wondering, do you wanna have dinner with me tonight?"

She opened one eye again. "Excuse me?"

"One of my guests is real interested in meeting you an' I thought it'd be nice if we did it over dinner."

"Is this one of the other Kages?" she said.

"…no, uh, she's the daughter of a… syndicate family. But she's real nice, I promise! And I think she'd really like you, y'know."

Yomena lowered her eyes, thinking. "Is having her meet me the only reason for this dinner?" she said.

"Well… and I guess 'cos it'd be a nice thing to do, y'know," Naruto replied, shrugging. "I mean, hey, if you don't want to…"

The emotion that he could not sense out of her was absolutely unnerving.

"I believe I'll have to decline. I'm not very fond of those sorts of dinners."

"O-Oh, okay…" Naruto said. "I mean, it wouldn't be very formal, it'd just be us in a restaurant or a ramen booth-"

"It is _those_ sorts of dinners I am referring to, of course," Yomena interrupted, flatly, opening both eyes.

"…oh, uh, sure…" Naruto said. "Well, hey, whatever you do for dinner, I hope you like it."

"Thank you," Yomena said. "Now if you'll excuse me." She closed her eyes and lowered her head, slightly, returning to her thoughts.

"Yeah, uh, seeya…"

Naruto took the uncomfortable afternoon that followed to finally stop by the Hyuuga compound and update Hinata on everything over a cup of tea.

They discussed many things. The success of the talks between Cloud and the Hakaza clan, for example, and his preparations for the bogus mission he was planning on giving Sasuke's son Hajime and her niece-by-proxy, Ninako, so they'd have an excuse to do what they needed. The discussion of the latter made Hinata smile especially warmly.

Naruto left the compound feeling far more relaxed than he had in quite a long while. What with the tournament proceeding without a hitch, thus far, and everything else going so smoothly… Having all his ducks in a row felt _awesome_.

…yeah, sure, there was still the issue of Karin and what to do about her punishment, or if there was even going to be one in the first place. But that was something that could be worked out over many more months, _certainly_ after the tournament. He definitely wanted for her baby to be born healthily and taken care of before anything else went down, _that_ was for sure.

(He tried not to think about anything else, regarding that baby. That wasn't his business, to get involved with that.)

(Even though he knew where the child came from.)

"Yomena said she wasn't really interested in having a casual dinner, so I guess it's just us, tonight," he announced, when picking the kids up. "Is that all right?"

"Aw, okay," Kiine said. She'd abandoned her formal dresses of the past few days in favor of jeans and layered tank tops, which suited her far more than anything else did. "Well, where to, then?"

"Anywhere you wanna check out?"

"…would it be bad of me to ask for us to go back to Ichiraku again?" she asked, and Naruto laughed, totally approving of her choice.

With the kids gone, the adults took the opportunity to entertain themselves unsupervised.

"I say we go see what sorts of _wonderful_ spirits this city can provide us!" Shin said, waving his arms around like a dancer. "I want to feel like a rosy-cheeked _schoolgirl!_"

"Boss Shin, you are utterly _ridiculous_!" Mikan replied, chuckling. "But I do say that isn't a bad idea at all. What do you think, Tensho?"

"So long as we don't have to discuss business at the table I'm fine with _anything_," Tensho said, smiling for what was probably the first time, since arriving in Konoha.

"Oh my goodness _yes_," Shin replied. "_Enough_ of this, it's bad for my complexion. Now I _must_ get dressed up!"

They settled on a lantern-lit café, of all places, because Shin became quite smitten with it, and once Mikan became enamored, the choice was set. The two of them spent a great deal of time going over the wine list together, during which Tensho leaned in to speak to Nobuhiro at his adjacent wire-legged table.

"So what was with today?" Tensho said.

"What was _what_ today."

"The whole stepping up and getting Shin and that Raikage guy to shut up. An' that little speech afterward, about ninjas and us not bein' so different."

"Oh." Nobuhiro folded his hands on the metal surface of the table, his fingertips touching his knuckles. "Well… I just did some thinkin' last night, is all. Since that banquet whatever was fuckin' _disastrous_, an' I sorta didn't want it to happen again. And that just happened t'be the conclusion I came to, is all."

Tensho's expression was skeptical. "Even after that shit the Raikage said about even a serving girl bein' guilty?"

"Hey, hey, I never said I _liked_ the guy. He's a piece of shit but if we get him to cooperate then he's out of our hair," Nobuhiro replied. "Besides, he's not a piece of shit_ because_ he's a ninja, he's a piece of shit because he's a piece of shit. That's what I figure. I mean," he added, quickly, "that Naruto guy is pretty damn decent. And Boss Shin seems to get along with that other dude. What's his name."

"I guess you got a point," Tensho said, shrugging. "I dunno. I'm remainin' cautious."

"So'm I, boss, so'm I. But, hey, it's workin' out pretty damn well so far, right?" He smiled using the left side of his face, like he usually did.

"We'll have to wait and see," Rotsuki replied, though his mustache bristled with a smile of his own.

They returned to the inn a few hours later with several bottles of wine in hand that Shin and Mikan felt would be a shame to leave the restaurant without, one of which Shin immediately opened upon returning to the common room of their suite. The kids got home a while after that, to find Shin dancing with Nobuhiro while Shankusu sang a shanty very loudly. Nobuhiro had a very uncomfortable look on his face.

Kou covered his face with one of his hands.

"Hey, kids, how was your time out?" Mikan asked.

"Pretty great, Mama. Naruto-san met up with Gaara-san and Bee-san while we were out on a walk afterwards, and they were gonna go out and get some drinks, so we headed home, yeah," Kiine said.

"Drinks! Yes, more drinks!" Shin cheered, and giggled.

"Seems you guys have been having some fun, too," Kiine added.

"Yes, rather a bit," Mikan replied. "I can get them to quiet down a bit if you need to."

"Nah, we'll just head back to my room," Kiine replied. "You guys have fun."

She held both Kou and Yuki's hands as she led them back down the hallway.

"Mikan," Nobuhiro groaned. "Help me."

Nobuhiro, eventually, escaped to the lounge. Not to drink, but to get away from the drinking.

_Damn_, Boss Shin could tuck it away. Not as much as Mikan, but holy _hell_. He sure couldn't hold it as well as she could, that was for sure.

Nobuhiro ordered a glass of ice water and went to rest his feet in one of the leather armchairs, closing his eyes to listen to the light jazz music that was playing over the lounge's stereo.

He wasn't alone, that night, since it was still fairly early in the evening. Other guests took up places at tables and armchairs, some of them reading books from the large lending library that took up one wall. Over in the corner, one of the tables had been cleared away, and an ashy-skinned girl was apparently teaching a tall, gangly boy how to dance. He had his arm in a thick cast, held up by a bar, and seemed to be having quite a difficult time. Watching them made him chuckle, lightly.

"Better you than me, buddy," Nobuhiro said to himself, taking another sip.

A larger group of people, arrived, later in the evening, and Nobuhiro was surprised to find that he recognized them: it was Naruto, along with Tattoo Guy, a tall man with ashy-skin like the dancing girl, and… Kohriza.

Nobuhiro didn't speak up, staying in his armchair with his glass of melted ice, just watching them, waiting to see what would happen.

He was able to hear snatches of their conversation from across the room: apparently the two ashy-skinned people were related, and both the girl and the boy with the cast joined the group at a table near the bar, while Naruto got them all drinks.

Kohriza kept looking over her shoulder at him, though her glances were small, almost accidental.

Naruto spoke animatedly and loudly, the boy in the cast listening on with wide-eyed, rapt attention, from his place immediately to his right. And apparently what he said seemed to be impressing Kohriza too, while Tattoo Guy just smiled, looking absolutely relieved.

She kept looking back at him more frequently, after that. But he didn't do anything to return her attention, just leaning back in the chair, eyes almost closed.

Eventually, though, he ran out of water. And he went to the bar to return his glass, bumping against her chair slightly as he did so.

She finally spoke. "Oh, Nobuhiro!"

"Speak of the devil! We were just talking about you, y'know," Naruto said.

"Oh, really," Nobuhiro said, putting his glass on the bar.

"It sounds like you were invaluable in helping out with the negotiations today," Tattoo Guy said. "Even though it doesn't really concern me, I applaud you."

"Sure, uh, okay," Nobuhiro replied. "What are you guys all doing here, though?"

"We tend to chill at this bar and grill, yeah," the ashy-skinned man said.

"Pops, there ain't a grill here," the girl added.

"Whatever, it sounded clever," the man replied.

"It's just a place where we can be together comfortably, once we're done with business for the day," Tattoo Guy explained. "We all have rooms booked here."

"Ah," Nobuhiro said, "I see."

"Yeah. Hey, you feel like joining us for some drinks?" Naruto said.

"I've been around far too many drinkers t'night, so I'll have to decline," Nobuhiro replied. "Thanks, though."

"Hey, no worries," said Naruto. "You can still hang out with us at the table, if y'want. We got room."

"I'll, uh… actually be just down the hallway," Nobuhiro said, brushing his hand against Kohriza's shoulder, which was nestled in a wreath of black lace. "But I'll be seeing you guys at the tournament, right?"

"Oh, yeah! I'll be picking up you guys in the morning to lead you to your box, y'know," Naruto said. "It'll be great!"

"Sure, sure. Uh, see you guys later," Nobuhiro said, and left.

He was almost shocked when Kohriza appeared a few minutes later, meeting him where he had been waiting in the hall. His heart was fluttering, at least, and cold sweat was collecting under his clothes.

"You _amazing_ man!" she said, rising up to her tip-toes, even in her shiny, high-heeled shoes, to lay her hands on his broad shoulders.

"I—uh—_what_, now?" Nobuhiro said.

"Naruto-san told me what happened at the negotiations. You're _amazing!_" She pulled herself up tighter, into what was definitely a hug. "That's incredibly brave of you."

His arms hesitated in touching her back. "I—I really didn't do nothing special, really, I was just thinkin' about… what was best for everyone and… yeah…"

She let go, looking up at him from where she was standing, her hands clasped playfully behind her back. "I really wish I could have been there. You must have looked so _powerful_ speaking up like that."

"Powerful, huh?"

"Mm, really, I love bold, confident men." She stepped forward, pressing her chest against his stomach.

Nobuhiro gulped. "Uh, really."

"Mhmm. _Definitely_. You know," she added, a hand wandering up and over his chest, "my offer from a few nights ago still stands. My suite should be empty for a while. And I won't be missed back in the lounge."

"…wait, you mean… you want to…?" Nobuhiro raised his hands, motioning them awkwardly in place of words.

"I have protection, if that's what you're concerned about," Kohriza said, her hard-candy eyes widened sincerely. Her mouth was so close to his, and he could see that her front teeth were slightly larger than the others.

"Oh, jeez, uh—no, no, it's not that, I mean…" His voice lowered. "You—you wanna do it with _me?_"

"_Quite_ a bit," she replied. He felt her hands, so small against his chest, reaching for the hem of the opening of his robe. "I've sort of been daydreaming about what you're hiding under here…"

Nobuhiro's face felt _very_ hot. "Won't this, uh, cause an issue…?"

"What sort of issue?" she replied, with a wide-eyed glance up.

"I mean, given who you are… you worried about, uh, political scandals…? I mean, nobody gives a shit about what _I_ do, but…"

She hopped up and gave him a little kiss on his cheek, by his scar. It left a blossom of pink lipstick on his skin. "You are _so_ considerate. It's okay, my private life is nobody's business but my own. Besides, I think it'd be good publicity if people found out I was actually _interested_ in someone for once. I've been criticized for being more or less _celibate_ by some columnists, as a matter of fact."

"…the people where you come from are weird as _hell, _Kohriza," Nobuhiro replied.

She giggled. "Yeah, I know. So, shall we?" She tugged on his robe again.

"Sure, uh, where to…?"

She took two of his fingers and wrapped her hand around them. "This way."

When Yuki finally returned to his and Nobuhiro's room, later that evening, he was confused at his brother's absence, but figured there was a good reason for it.

(At least Nobuhiro wouldn't have to see the kinks left in his hair by Kou's experimentations. He didn't feel like brushing them out, however.)

And boy, was there ever.

* * *

Naruto stumbled into the foyer of his home quite late in the evening, filled with effervescent cheer. Even though Kohriza had left, he'd had a good enough time with Bee and Gaara and BB and Fuzan for him to forget that she never did come back. He figured she had a good reason.

Beyond the drinks (Naruto only had one or two rum and colas—he didn't like bitter alcohol at all), Fuzan had prepared a _rap_ for him, of all things.

_About_ him.

He'd apparently been rehearsing, but only decided to perform it for him after BB suggested he give it a try.

The chorus, Naruto liked especially. "Na-Na-Na-Na, Naruto! Man, that _reminds_ me," Naruto said, laughing. "I used to have a nickname like that, y'know."

"A nickname, huh? Like what?" Fuzan said, eyes gleaming.

"Yeah. Nana-Naruto. One of my students gave it to me. 'Cos, y'know, I'm the seventh Hokage, and Nana means 'seven,' and it just sounds so good together!"

(This was one of the brighter memories he had of Shusuke, and one he did not mind revisiting.)

"That is _awesome_, man!" Fuzan replied. "Nana-Naruto, that is some good stuff!"

Naruto was still laughing over it as he kicked off his shoes. "Na-Na-Na-Na, Naruto… Doot doo, hahaha…"

"Hokage-sama."

He looked up. Yomena was in the hallway again. "Oh, Yomena, hey! When did you get back?"

"A while ago."

"Did you get dinner all right?"

"Of course."

He passed by the kitchen, near where she stood. "Well that's good t'hear. I'm still sorta bummed y'didn't want to have dinner with me and Kiine, y'know. Would you be more comfortable with, like… a fancy dinner, or somethin'? Cos I could arrange one of those if y'want."

"I'd rather you didn't," Yomena replied.

"Oh, uh, okay. Then, uh, what _would_ you want?" he chattered, continuing into the hallway. "I mean, if you want it to be just you and me, even. It'd be really great if we could fit that in somewhere, y'know."

"Please stop trying," Yomena said.

"…trying? What do you mean?" He turned around to face her.

"I really don't feel comfortable with this show you're putting on, and I'd appreciate it if you'd just stop," she replied.

"Show? What show…?"

"You know how we are to conduct ourselves while I am your guest here, of course. I stay in the room you've allotted for me, and you graciously keep me without complaint. That is how things are _supposed_ to be." Her eyes were narrowed, and very dark. "This excessive friendliness is inappropriate and I really wish you would stop with it. I know it's not genuine, of course. Which makes it worse."

Naruto was silent, for a while.

"I'm not… trying to be inappropriate, y'know," he said. "I just… want to reach out to you. Get to know you a bit."

"A suggestion by your PR staff, of course," Yomena replied.

His chest began to grow heavy. "No, that's—that's not it. I'm doing this because it's what _I_ want to do, Yomena. I really do want to get to know you better, y'know."

"Then what kept you from doing so for the past ten years?"

For a moment, for just a moment, he felt a gentle pang of… _something _from out of her. But he could not identify it.

He choked on his words, exhaling to try and remove them. "I just… I don't know. But there's no reason why I can't start now, right?"

Yomena sighed, shaking her head. "Hokage-sama, let me make one thing _very_ clear to you. In regards to me, you are nothing more than a sperm donor. I do not consider you to be my father. I never have, and in all likelihood I never _will_. The arrangement between you and me and my mother is for the good of my country, of course, and nothing more. I have no interest in getting to know you further, and I suggest you abandon any interest of your own, or any interest your staff might have had."

Whatever pang he had felt was gone, replaced by nothingness.

Naruto swallowed something back.

"…sure, whatever… makes you comfortable, y'know," he said. "I'll leave you alone, then."

"I appreciate it, of course. Thank you."

She bowed.

He nodded back, and retreated to his room.

As soon as his door was closed, he shoved his palms over his eyes.

Of course. Of course she didn't care about him. They only saw each other once, twice a year.

(Shusuke had nothing to do with their distance.)

She just didn't want to know him.

That was surely easier for her, instead of pining for a father figure that was impossible to get to know. She probably already had someone that she looked up to, back in the Land of Demons. Someone that guided her in the right directions. Someone she could talk to.

His palms slid up and into his hairline, fingers grasping hair in frustration.

He knew better than to even try. Ten years, and this distance had worked for them. And now he'd gone and made her uncomfortable.

Well, at least he had things keeping him away from her. And she was gone in a few days.

He wouldn't be bothering her any more, after that.


	97. King Hunt

_SA: Can you hear me, Murasaki?_

(Five second pause.)

_KM: I suppose._

_SA: That's fine. I'd like to talk to you about what happened at the chuunin exams._

(Four second pause.)

_KM: When Tomoshi-san was with me?_

_SA: When you were performing Gentle Fist._

(Three second pause.)

_KM: Yes, that was Tomoshi-san. Not me._

_SA: I see. Is this Tomoshi-san like your friend Shusuke, who allows you to hear?_

(Ten second pause.)

_SA: Murasaki?_

_KM: Shusuke-kun doesn't allow me to hear. He just tells me things._

_SA: I see.__ Do you think we could speak to Shusuke now, Murasaki?_

(Five second pause.)

_KM: He can hear you, you know. I can tell you what he's saying, if you have any questions for him._

_SA: No, no, we'd like to speak with him directly. Can you let him talk to us through you?_

(Seven second pause.)

_SA: Murasaki?_

(Fifteen second pause.)

_KM: I'm here, what do you want?_

_SA: Is this Murasaki or Shusuke that we're speaking to?_

_KM: I'm Shusuke._

_SA: And how are you today, Shusuke?_

_KM: I'm all right, I guess. What do you want?_

_SA: I'd like to know more about you. Are you aware that you're sharing this space with Murasaki?_

_KM: Well, yeah, I'm with her all the time. She can't hear nothing without me._

_SA: I see. May I ask you another question?_

_KM: Go for it._

_SA: Do you have control over when Murasaki allows you to speak, Shusuke?_

_KM: What's that mean?_

_SA: Can you take control when you please, or is it entirely up to Murasaki?_

(Two second pause.)

_KM: I guess it's all up to her. I can't do this unless she's okay with it. Same with the others._

_SA: The others?_

_KM: Yeah._

(Five second pause.)

_SA: Exactly how many of you are here right now, with Murasaki?_

(Three second pause.)

_KM: A lot more than there used to be._

- From the transcript of an exploratory hypnosis session between Dr. Senjin Ayari and the patient Kamitsure Murasaki, September 7th, 17 AU. Patient was later diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder and prescribed further therapy.

* * *

**ACT 11**

**TRIAL**

* * *

_Chapter 97 - King Hunt_

* * *

The chuunin exams were held twice a year for a number of reasons.

The first reason was fairness to and consideration of the students participating. The average age of a participant was somewhere between fourteen and sixteen, though the ones that made it through to the tournament were usually a fair bit younger, for some odd reason—this was something to do with prodigies and statistics. And regardless of the exact age of people, the fact remained: most genin hopefuls were _young_. And youth meant impatience.

Frankly, a whole year was far too long to wait for many genin, for second attempts. Six months seemed just fine, however; enough time to train up and develop new techniques for the next go-around. And having the exams once a season would have been far too quick a turnaround, considering the month-long recess between the preliminary exams and the tournament. That was the first reason.

The second reason was logistics and statistics. Different statistics from age-specific behavior, of course; this was more to do with weather. And war.

Konoha was chosen as the place of testing because of a few factors: it was the first Hidden Village, it was in a relatively central position and relatively equidistant to the rest of the Hidden Villages, and it had a fairly mild climate, both in winter and summer. In summary: a prime location for such an international event.

But the timing of the exams was also key. The winter exams were always scheduled with the exam portion ending shortly before the celebration of the New Year, when spirits were running high and the hunger for skirmishes and battle was low, replaced by a hunger for partying. And, truly, the battlefields were usually left empty upon the approach of January, and the slight lengthening of the days.

As for the summer exams, their placement was exactly six months after the commencement of the winter exams—logical, of course. But these exams also took place roughly three months after genin graduation, which was an attempt to boost attendance. This proved less effective as the years went on, but with the loosening definitions of "chuunin" that came with peacetime, fresh genin began appearing again.

The third, and possibly most important reason, was to give people an excuse to get together.

After all, the New Year alone got people traveling, but the addition of the chuunin exam gave families something exciting to talk about, and a chance to invite foreign relatives, friends, allies, what have you, for a meal or two. And the tournaments, in February and in September, were even greater excuses to gather, and far less formal, at that.

Truth be told, aside from the great Waveball tournaments over in the Land of Water, and their small-harbor-sized stadiums for the sport, such enormous events were few and far between, in the world. So people booked around them, and purchased seats near each other, and made restaurant reservations afterward, and hung out in hotels after that, and so on and so forth. The whole thing was just wonderful for Konoha's local businesses (and less-scrupulous scalpers and vendors), and for ex patriats and just plain friends to come back together for a grand hoo-rah once or twice a year.

For example, on this particular Friday morning, Sarutobi Konohamaru, fresh-returned from the Land of Earth, was looking for Moegi, as he always did. Since she was the responsible one in the relationship (if you could call it that) and had gotten their seats for them, as well as a place for him to crash after the tournament, since Kurenai gladly took care of the kids.

Yes, kid_s_. As in the plural. As Moegi exclaimed with a difficult sigh upon meeting him, "You had _another_ one?"

"Yeah, isn't he cute?" Konohamaru beamed; the baby was wrapped in what looked suspiciously like one of his scarves.

Moegi pressed her temples with her fingers. "You told me that Yoh was enough. That you would stop."

"I know, I know, but I had a _breakthrough!_ Seriously! No more after this, Moegi, I _promise_."

"And how do you expect me to believe you."

"I finally got the fertility jutsu to work for _women!_"

Moegi blinked. "Excuse me."

"_You_ know. I always thought it was unfair that I could figure out how to give someone a guaranteed working womb, but not a working penis, but I managed to get together some volunteers and after a bit of experimentation—ta-da!" He cuddled the infant in his arms closer, his cheeks growing ever-rosier. "I had Hao! You should see his dad, she's _gorgeous_. Also a total freak in bed, but bam, bombshell otherwise."

Moegi's eyes drifted to Konohmaru's legs, where his five-year-old daughter, Yoh, was holding the end of his scarf with a surly, pinched expression.

"When are you dropping her off at Kurenai's?" she said, in a tone that clearly said "I'm going to ignore what you just said and return to _important_ things."

"Soon as possible. Hao too. Why?"

"I don't want you poisoning your daughter's mind any more than you already are."

Konohamaru laughed. "She's just growing up with a more mature understanding of things than her peers!"

Yoh made a face that clearly expressed how pleased she was to be in possession of this "mature understanding."

"Right. Come on, then," Moegi said. The pair, children included, began to walk. "Yoh-chan's about ready for school, by the way, isn't she? Do you want her to stay with me once the season starts so she can be educated?"

"Oh, Daddy couldn't _bear_ being away from his precious little girl," Konohamaru cooed.

"I want to go to school with Moegi-sama," Yoh said, tugging on Konohamaru's scarf. "She takes me to the library and doesn't leave me _alone_ all day."

Moegi's eyebrow raised. Again. "You leave her _alone_ all day?"

"Not _alone! _I'm in the house with her, of course. And I leave her with a sitter when I have business. Not that she needs them, anyways. My precious Yoh's an independent individual! She cooks for me and cleans her own bedroom."

"Because you're lazy, Daddy," Yoh replied.

"I think we're going to be making some arrangements this year, Yoh-chan," Moegi said, primly, folding her hands behind her back. "But first, let's drop you off at Aunt Kurenai's."

"Yay," Yoh replied, flatly. Though her cheeks were pink, like Konohamaru's, her eyes were dark and almost permanently-narrowed.

"I can't wait to show Haruhi-kun my new technique," Konohamaru chattered, most-likely in complete ignorance. "I know how much he and Benio-chan want to have kids."

"I'd wait until you have some _privacy_, first," Moegi said. "For the sake of the children."

"Of course, ma'am," Konohamaru replied, fondly, with a roll of his eyes. "And I'll show _you_ tonight."

"You had better," Moegi said, under her breath. But Konohamaru heard her.

In another part of the city, the Might family was making their arrival.

Loudly.

"Lee!"

They had met up with the Haruno family.

"Guy-sensei!"

They did this with every exam, sharing seats next to each other and, afterwards, dinner.

"LEE!"

Guy, in the wake of Lee's own marriage to Sakura (since Neji had been matched in an arranged marriage and Ten Ten didn't count, apparently), began lamenting his own lack of a wife.

"GUY-SENSEI!"

Almost as if it were fate—which, in all likelihood, they both believed it was—Haruko bumped into his life. Quite literally. He'd been out on a walk with Kakashi, she out on a walk with one of her coworkers. She was a kunoichi teacher at the academy.

"LEEE!" With a hug, this time.

She was as handsome and round as he was youthful and muscular.

"GUY-SENSEEI!" A hug in return, with tears.

They had their first date within a week, and were wed perhaps a month afterward.

"Lee-hee…"

After which they settled down in the suburbs of Konoha and began having children.

"Guy-sensei-hei…"

_Lots_ of them.

At present count, they had nine, with a tenth due to arrive in April. The youngest was two, the eldest, twenty. The goal, Guy and Haruko claimed, was that they wanted to keep on having children until they had an equal number of boys and girls, since it "wouldn't be fair otherwise."

The nine children were presently greeting Sakura and Lee's two, as they usually did, with many hugs, like their fathers. Sakura and Haruko just politely greeted each other, smiling at all the youthful nonsense.

Lee wiped off his happy tears on his sleeve. "It is so good to see you again, Guy-sensei! And your family as well! Growing finely!"

"We're hoping for the best!" Guy replied. "Four _beautiful_ girls and five _handsome_ boys. Another daughter would be _perfect, _especially to balance out those twins of ours."

Said twins, hellions of eight years, were currently clinging to both of Kenji's flexed, firm arms, swinging like little, black-haired monkeys.

"I truly wish you the best, Guy-sensei!" said Lee, clenching a fist. "I wish nothing more than for you to be blessed with another pretty girl."

"I hope you're not too overwhelmed, Haruko-san," Sakura mentioned, aside. "Handling all these kids with the next one on the way, and at your age too…"

Haruko just waved a hand dismissively. "I have the older ones to help run the house, the only thing that _I _worry about is how torn-up my darling Guy will surely be when our oldest finally leaves to settle down with someone. Fuka _is_ getting to be of an age…"

"Ah, yes, my Sakari too…" Sakura said. "No sign of settling down for a while on her end, though. So I think we have nothing to worry about. Kids these days tend to wait, it seems."

The women smiled and laughed warmly.

"We can't stay long, now, my dear student," Guy was continuing. "We must be getting to our box. Rascals to wrangle and all that. Should be quite the ordeal!"

"Ah, yes, young children," Lee said, fondly. "Well, we will be sitting near you! So my family can offer our usual assistance."

"You remain a star pupil even now, Lee," Guy said.

"Oh, Guy-sensei…" Lee was starting to get tears in his eyes again.

Haruko and Sakura, however, had been waiting for them to get to their conclusion, like they did every exam. Besides, it was highly unlikely that the twins were going to let go of Kenji's arms any time soon, and Kenji more than had the stamina to put up with them.

The sizeable band continued together to the stadium.

And on the way, they ran into Kakashi. He was with Yamato.

Of course, Guy had something to say about it.

"Kakashi! Look at you!"

Kakashi was holding Kotoji, with a patient, half-closed expression in his eye. "Ah, hello Guy."

"I didn't _know_ you had settled down!" Guy continued, breaking away from the group to be closer to Kakashi. "Why, I'm so happy for you!"

"Hm?"

"How long have you been together?" Guy's grin sparkled like finely-polished porcelain. "Of course, I've had my suspicions for a while, but you have my _wholehearted_ approval, Kakashi. Whether you're a man or a woman shouldn't get in the way of love, after all!"

Yamato had grown slightly flushed. "Uh, Guy-san, I believe you're mistaken…"

Kakashi hadn't. "I'm just helping Yamato today with his son, Guy," he replied. "It's something _friends_ do for each other."

"Ah, friendship, indeed…" Guy said.

(In Guy's contemplative pause, Kakashi's eye met with Sakura's, and he waved slightly, but dismissively, with his free hand. _Everything's fine._)

(Of course, not everything was fine. But Kakashi couldn't let this get in the way.)

(Sakura could only smile uncomfortably back, returning his wave with one of her own.)

"Your hair's _pretty!_" Kotoji was pointing at Sakari.

(Sakari had touched up her dye job for the occasion—her hair was naturally a soft brown, but her admiration for her mother brought her to dye it pink, to match.)

"Oh, _thank_ you!" Sakari replied, grinning, tucking a lock behind her ear.

"You want a flower? Your hair looks like a flower," Kotoji continued.

"Kotoji, _no_. You can't do that here," Yamato said, pointedly.

"Aww, okay…"

"So, Kakashi-sama, where are you and your friend sitting?" Haruko butted in, politely.

"Nowhere special, just standard seats," Kakashi said.

"But away from the rail. We don't want a certain _someone_ falling over the edge," Yamato added.

"Yamato, he won't fall."

"I know, but he's three, you never know…"

Through careful manipulation from the wives and older children, the band began moving together. Guy's smile, misplaced yet knowing, did not disappear.

Of course, not everyone in Konoha was nearly so prepared. Nor as happy.

"What the hell are you wearing? Pajamas? Your hair's not even brushed. Hasn't your father ever heard of _discipline?_"

"Hi, Mom," Shikake replied.

Her father was, of course, absent. Like he always was. Shikake had left the house on her own to meet with her mother's side of the family and go with them to the tournament. Shikamaru would find his own seat without her.

"Are you prepared? Should I even ask? Why do I even bother," Temari continued.

"I got everything sealed up into scrolls." Shikake opened her jacket, where a few scrolls were held in with cloth loops. Others were sticking out of the pockets of her cargo pants. "I did it all ages ago, calm your tits."

"Where the hell did you get that mouth from. How old are you, anyways? Thirteen?"

"I'm almost fifteen, Mom."

"That makes no difference."

Shikake sighed deeply. Her father cared too little, her mother cared too much. At least she only had to see Temari for a few weeks every year. Spending most of the year in apathy was far better than the concentrated criticism that came from her holidays in Sand and the chuunin exams.

(Though the company of her uncles and Morizuru made things a little better.)

"I think you'll do fine, Shikake," Kankuro offered. "You have any puppets prepared?"

"Yeah, a few."

"Good, good."

"Hey, you wanna use me?" Morizuru added.

"I think we should be heading out," Gaara said, fixing his Kazekage Hat on his head with purpose.

"Great idea," Temari said.

"Excellent," Kankuro said.

"About time," Morizuru said.

But Shikake said nothing. She just wanted this to be over.

Especially because Temari started on about how many times she had failed before, barely ten feet out of the hotel.

Shikake didn't even want to become a chuunin all that badly. She just wanted people to leave her alone.

But nobody really ever listened.

Oh well.

Things were at least somewhat peaceful at the Uchiha house. Presently, Ino was helping Inou get dressed.

He had managed to recover well, following his ordeal with Ooda. And she knew this because he was fussing.

"Mom, seriously, I can do this _myself_."

"Oh, hush, I'm almost done."

She had gotten him and Karai new clothes for the occasion. Inou was dressed in—or soon to be, anyways—a smart, tailored sleeveless shirt in bluish, almost purple, gray. There were fasteners all the way up the front, which Ino was presently attending to, and a high, tight collar. She had small chainmail sleeves set aside for his arms, to match the shirt underneath the one she was fastening.

Karai was dressing herself, in her own room, sliding on her new elbow and kneepads. Ino had gotten her a violet romper, loose-fitting, perfect for movement.

"Now don't you worry, dear, you're going to do just fine," Ino said, as she neared his neck.

"I _know_, Mom. Stop _telling_ me that."

Ino pursed her lips. "Chin up, just two more."

Inou raised his chin, looking away from her. She got the last two snaps, and smoothed his hair when he looked back down again.

"Oh, Inou, you look so _handsome_," she said.

"_Mo-om_…" Inou whined. His shoulders tensed from the extra attention.

She smiled kindly back, running her hand over the back of his head. "Now, now. None of this when you head out into the arena, okay? You'll want to show your _best_ face to the world."

Inou made a mildly annoyed noise in return, not looking at her. She sighed. "Hand me your necklace, please." He did, and she leaned in closer, putting her hands behind his shoulders.

"Remember, Inou." She pressed her forehead against his. "No matter what happens today, I will _always_ be proud of you," she whispered.

"Is Karai ready yet." Sasuke, like an enormous magnet of shadow, was coming down the hallway.

Ino pulled herself away, keeping her hands on the clasp of his necklace as an excuse. "I don't know, she should be."

"Good. We should get going already." Sasuke went to go put on his shoes.

Ino sighed. "Of course, dear. Karai, honey! We're heading out in a bit, are you ready?" she called, picking up the chainmail sleeves and handing them to Inou, so he could put them on himself (in the view of his father).

Karai's door opened and she was at the top of the stairs moments later. "Yup, all ready to go!"

Sasuke had gotten his shoes on and opened the door without a sound. Hajime was coming down the hallway behind Karai, from his room.

Takeru, however, wasn't going with them. Even though several days had passed since the incident with Yakata, Sasuke was still angry.

(And there was no way he'd try to sneak away, because he knew his father would find out, this time.)

(Nadeshiko wasn't going with them, either, but that was a given.)

"Come _on,_" Sasuke said, jerking his shoulder while everyone else was getting on their shoes. "You all took long enough to get dressed, let's go."

"Give them a break, Dad, it's just shoes," Hajime said. Sasuke glared back at him, and crossed his arms.

"Let's go, now," Ino said gently. She closed the door behind them as they left.

A while later, Nadeshiko left her room and knocked on Takeru's door. There was no answer. She went in.

Takeru was sitting on his bed with his hands folded across his stomach, fingers interlocked, thumbs touching. It meant that he was thinking. He wore a set of headphones connected to the stereo on his desk.

Gently, Nadeshiko sent out a mental message. _Brother_.

_Don't interrupt me._

_I'm not trying to. I'm going to the tournament now. Would you like me to relay to you what's going on as it happens?_

_Fuck off, freak._

Nadeshiko blinked, slowly, and left without another word, spoken or thought. She slipped on her black flats and began on her way to the stadium. She would be sitting with her grandfather and the rest of the Yamanaka clan in their box, a fair distance away from where the rest of her family would be sitting.

She normally did not attend chuunin tournaments.

(Too many bad memories, too much guilt, too much hurt.)

But this year was different.

She told herself she would probably never go again. Not because it would prove too difficult to bear.

(She had tolerated far more painful things.)

But because she had utter belief in her siblings, and their success.

Slowly, the boxes around the arena began to fill. Once there had been three, constructed atop the high, circular walls of the arena. But now there were seven; there were calls for more seating during the stadium's reconstruction, following the Day of Pain, and year after year the decision proved to be more and more sound. Nearly every seat was taken, by the time the festivities were scheduled to begin, at 1 PM.

The eight finalists and the white-haired Hyuuga Hakkou, the third chief examining officer, took their place at the center of the arena. Hakkou was sporting a new wrist brace and bandages on his neck and cheek this time around, though his smile was no less bright for it.

"You kids ready for this?" he said, tapping his pen good-naturedly against his clipboard. "Smile, now. The world's watching."

And indeed it was. A great cheer rose up across the arena as Naruto stood up and stepped to the edge of the central Kage box, where the Kages, their bodyguards, and guests sat. His orange jacket was visible from almost anywhere.

"Hello and welcome, everyone! Once again, I am honored that you all came to my village's hosting of the bi-annual chuunin exam finals!" Another great cheer. Naruto waited it out with waving hands. "This year we have eight super-worthy finalists representing five different countries, and I wish all of 'em the best, y'know! Though some of us more than others. But, hey, I'm gonna shut up now, so we can let the tournament BEGIN!"

The applause grew and died with hard, scattered echoes, and Hyuuga Hakkou cleared his throat. "Right, then, let's all of us have a look at the roster before we get started, shall we?"

He turned the clipboard around, where a tournament bracket had been filled out in clear, black ink. "Okay, then, first up we have Uchiha Inou and Senritsu Go'on, followed by Nara Shikake and Chouso. You guys got that?"

The parties in question all nodded.

"Okay, then, after that we have Garyuu and Uchiha Karai, and finally Kashiwa Ichii and Natsuhaze Hari. Now, I want you all to remember the rules: it's the same as the preliminaries. Use whatever means you can to suitably disable or knock out your opponent; I'll intervene if I sense any killing intent or if things get too dangerous. But... hopefully it'll never come to that, hm?"

Garyuu's fingers danced over the handle of the knife on his belt, with its curved, fang-like blade.

"Also, at any point before or during your fight, you are free to surrender, so long as you can let me know. Sound good?"

"Yes, sir!" Ichii replied. There were no other replies.

"Right, then. Uchiha Inou, Senritsu Go'on, you have the arena. The rest of you may observe from the deck over there."

Inou did not watch them leave, concentrating only on his opponent.

He still couldn't quite place where he had seen the boy before. Something about his eyes was especially familiar, even unsettling in their largeness. Perhaps they had met in the Forest of Death, during the exams? He'd been in the preliminaries, so that might have been it, but something was scratching at the back of his mind that kept him from settling on one possibility.

But, no, this couldn't bother him. Inou swallowed, gathered his concentration, eyes zipping over limbs in pre-analysis.

Senritsu seemed to be a stringy, brown boy. Flexible, with tight muscles. Not strong, but fast, in all likelihood. He would probably rely on evasion and non-physical techniques.

What luck. That was Inou's specialty, too. Only, Inou was older, and more experienced. And he could do things that he was certain Senritsu couldn't even dream of.

The completion of the S-Rank mission barely a week before had only filled him with confidence in his stronger abilities. See, this was what he was good at. This was what he could use to win. That was where he had failed, before. He had tried to be too much like his father.

He had his new technique. But he wasn't going to use it on this boy, oh no, not yet. He was going to wait.

The examining officer stood between them with his clipboard. "Are you ready?"

Senritsu swallowed and nodded, shakily. Inou, for a moment, flicked his eyes over the crowd, to try and find his family. But he gave up after a moment and nodded, instead, far more firmly.

"Begin!" the officer called.

Barely a second after his announcement, Senritsu disappeared.


	98. Quickplay Finish

_Chapter 98 - Quickplay Finish_

* * *

Inou was surprised for perhaps a moment, before collecting himself and thinking. Senritsu hadn't left the arena, of course he hadn't. And the arena was a large, open area, with only a few, inexplicable trees dotting the edges near the high walls. And since he was not above, nor besides…

Inou dashed for the trees. And as soon as he did, a brown-and-pencil-gray blur shifted from one tree to the next. The crowd gasped as the blur moved to another tree, and further away from Inou.

Senritsu could _move_.

Of course, Inou was only mildly impressed. And figuring that Senritsu was keeping his distance to set up a trap or spring some sort of genjutsu, Inou decided to set up camp himself, and he scrambled into the tree immediately beside him.

The crowd, of course, wasn't happy, since for a short while after this, it appeared as if nothing were happening. "Come on, we want a fight!" "Stop hiding!"

They were doing Inou's work for him. And soon, with a rustle, the blur returned, leaping from tree to tree and closer to Inou.

Inou, however, anticipated the move, and dropped down from the branches right as Senritsu was set to collide with his own tree. While Senritsu was still landing on the branch, Inou hopped up again and made a grab for his arm, flinging him over the branch. Using gravity to his advantage, he could throw Senritsu to the ground and have the wind knocked out of him, leaving him vulnerable for a possession.

Senritsu, however, recovered quickly.

_Way_ too quickly.

He spun through the air and out of Inou's grip, landing, almost cat-like, on all fours, and whipping his head up as the dust settled. He was in the air again almost immediately, springing desperately for the tree.

Not to hide, however. Before Inou could react, Senritsu had whirled around on a branch's arm like a gymnast's bar and kicked him square in the face. The white smell of the impact and the dirt in Inou's eyes blinded him, temporarily, which Senritsu more than took advantage of by grabbing Inou with both arms and pulling him into a sleeper hold. Spots appeared in the darkness before Inou's eyes.

But the shape of the hold felt familiar, the way that his arms were fastened around his neck and arm.

This was how his father had taught him the hold.

Ah. Now he remembered. Senritsu was his father's student.

Well, Inou had trained with Sasuke too. For far longer.

And he knew how to get out of his father's holds. Even blind.

It was in the ease of his freedom that Inou, for once in his life, remotely appreciated how very hard his father pushed him. Compared to Sasuke, Senritsu's arms were made of grass, and they bent and flexed with almost no effort on Inou's behalf.

Inou took the opportunity to turn himself around and get Senritsu pinned, however momentarily. And, indeed, a short while later, Senritsu was gone from beneath his knee and was upright. Inou made a few jabs, but even after his eyes cleared, none of them came even remotely close to hitting him.

Senritsu's dodges were flawless, almost like his father's own Sharingan-aided moves. Though they were less analytical and more fluid, here; he was not dodging Inou because he was anticipating the attacks, but because he felt the need to dodge, instinctually. This felt unnatural, unreal, and yet utterly exhilarating. Inou had never fought anyone quite like him, and his mind was dazzled with the new experience.

But Inou could not keep up forever. And even though Senritsu was not terribly on the offense, matching his moves took up quite a bit of energy; energy that Inou could not afford to waste on mindless sparring. So, when Senritsu hazarded a strike of his own, Inou made use of a substitution jutsu to replace himself with a nearby tree branch, so he could hide and rethink his strategy.

Inou also took the moment to catch his breath—his fatigue, already setting in this early, ashamed him. But his thoughts were clear, and the sooner he got back into his element of the mind, the more quickly he was able to forget about his weaknesses.

Senritsu _was_ fast, and his physical techniques were familiar, but fairly developed. And Inou was going to have to trap him, like an animal.

So he needed bait.

He glanced at the arena. Senritsu was gone. Inou prepared his chakra.

Senritsu did not hesitate this time. The rustles heralded his arrival, before the blur. But as soon as his fingers were on Inou's shoulders, flesh was replaced with wood and leaves, and Inou was on the ground, his hands quickly transitioned from traditional sign to Yamanaka.

The packet of chakra shot out of his hands and collided with Senritsu in less than a second, as anticipated. And Inou felt his mind in his fingers, and, carefully, he pressed into the areas that controlled consciousness, awakeness, awareness…

Moments later, an unconscious Senritsu fell out of the tree. And Inou stood, brushing the dust off of his clothes as the examining officer bent down to look at the boy. For a while, all was quiet, until Hakkou stood.

"Victory goes to Uchiha Inou!" he called.

The crowd cheered.

Inou finally allowed himself to brush his eyes over the crowd.

(He saw Nadeshiko first, a black flower in the midst of their blond relatives, clapping with a kind smile on her face.)

But finally, his father. His arms were folded, his face firm, even though his mother and brother were applauding.

Of course not.

Medical ninja had come onto the field to attend to Senritsu, though he was already regaining consciousness. Inou had made sure of that. Though, curiously, Senritsu was stumbling his way after getting to his feet, with almost a smile on his face.

"Th-thanks for the great match," he said, holding out a hand.

Inou's eyes flitted to his father again. His expression hadn't changed.

But Inou shrugged. "Yeah, sure. You have an interesting style," he replied, as neutrally as possible.

"Heh, well, thanks…" Senritsu replied. The medic nin behind him were making motions with their hands, so the two genin followed them into the door set in the arena's wall and up the stairs to the observation deck, with the rest of the contestants.

"Right, next up: Nara Shikake and Chouso!" the examining officer called.

Chouso decided to make an entrance with a bang. Throwing something down onto the ground below, Chouso leaped over the railing of the deck and landed just as the smoke was clearing, for a very artistic effect. A box full of Earth people cheered.

Shikake, however, just took the stairs. Which Chouso did not find at all acceptable.

"You made me wait, um?"

"You didn't exactly have to jump over the railing, you know," Shikake replied. "Can we just get this over with?"

"Yes, if you two would please come to the center of the arena," the examining officer said.

Shikake sighed, pulling her messy ponytail tighter. "I hate fighting boys, they're so damn flashy," she muttered, though clearly loudly enough for Chouso to hear.

"Excuse me, um?" Chouso said, sounding immensely uppity.

"What."

"I'm a _girl?_"

Shikake blinked, then smiled. "That makes you a flashy _tart_ then."

"I am not a _tart_?" Chouso said.

"Actions speak louder than words."

"Could we get the match started, please?" said Hakkou.

"Hey, soon as the tart's ready," Shikake said. She reached into her jacket for a scroll.

"I told you, um, I'm _not _a _tart?_"

"Whatever," Shikake replied. "Let's just get this over with."

"Are the two of you ready?"

"Um, yeah?" Chouso said.

"Whenever," Shikake said.

"Then, begin!"

Chouso opened up much like she had entered the arena: with an excess of explosions. Shikake, however, jumped just far enough away to avoid the stronger shockwaves, and opened the scroll to summon a series of curved knives attached to wires. Since it was obvious that Chouso was a long-range fighter, what with the barrage of cherry bombs she was lobbing here and there.

The blades managed to make contact with Chouso, Shikake wrapping the wires around her wrists and whipping them her opponent's way, but their accuracy was shoddy. Chouso seemed to have come up with an ingenious method of moving around, where she planted bombs in the ground and stepped on them to fly most magnificently away from whatever attack was being sent her way. Whenever Shikake trod on one—which happened twice before she got wise—she would get blasted into a nearby wall. Though she was able to twist her way into recovery in midair, the blasts singed her legs and burned the hair on them, and she was bleeding fairly badly by the second blast from the flying debris.

Chouso, however, was prepared. There were metal braces on her legs, and her shoes were heavily-reinforced in a similar manner. And she was obviously used to the blasts in general, enough to fly gracefully with the shockwaves instead of letting them control her.

Well, there were ways for Shikake to not have to move around. She reached for another scroll, and summoned five puppets, each draped in worn and ragged cloth. Gifts from her uncle, Kankuro. They were custom-made by him, with multitudes of arms. Shikake had a particular talent for manipulating many things at once.

This development made Chouso pause, a clay-caked bomb in each hand. "You're a puppet-user?" she said.

"Sorta," Shikake replied.

"Like Sasori-sama?"

"Whatever," Shikake replied, and with a twitch of her fingers sent her two outer-most puppets zooming towards Chouso, leaving the three in the center to guard her. Chouso quickly threw the bombs in her hands at them, and they hit and exploded in a shower of blue-green sparks.

But puppets were not made of meat, and they could not be harmed in the same way. And with another twitch, Shikake had them continue forward.

"This is, um, so _cool?_" Chouso was chatting to herself as she leaped around and over Shikake's head. Her puppets bobbed in the air protectively with each movement. "It's almost like destiny?"

"Would you, um, shut _up?_" Shikake replied, in whiny imitation, before sending two more of her puppets out to intercept Chouso on either side. Before they could reach her with their arms, Chouso utilized a substitution technique. With the expected "flair."

The puppets collided and soon exploded, and pieces of wooden limbs scattering everywhere, raining to the ground and hitting the walls of the arena with hollow clatters. Shikake shielded herself with the one puppet near her, the other two staying distant and wobbling uncertainly in the air.

"This is way too much damn trouble," Shikake mumbled, shaking her head, and checking her scrolls in the meantime. She didn't want to waste her best stuff on this hyperactive nuisance, so she decided to stick to the puppets. The two damaged ones still had some use to them, she figured, and thought, quickly.

The four outer puppets returned to her, though only briefly, before she sent the two damaged ones out and towards Chouso.

"That's not, um, going to _work?_" Chouso said.

Shikake, however, didn't say anything, sending the other two out, taking a path that was lower to the ground.

Chouso shook her head, playfully, the long brown bang over the left side of her face flipping over her shoulder. With a purposeful stomp, the ground beneath her exploded and she soared into the air, easily avoiding the four puppets heading her way.

The puppets, however, weren't exactly heading for her. They were heading towards each other.

It was soon apparent why. Shikake had formed a small net out of chakra threads, and with their convergence, it began to tighten around Chouso. Her flight seemed to mysteriously slow, and as the pairs of puppets began revolving around her, her limbs were pushed closer and closer to her sides, and soon she was suspended mid-air, wrapped in a pale blue glow, like an insect trapped in a spider's web.

Shikake's one remaining puppet slowly hovered away from her and over the ground, its many limbs touching the earth every now and then, its hands shining with reflected light. All the while, Chouso was completely trapped, her arms too tightly-bound and numbed by the over-strong concentration of chakra that Shikake had imbued in the threads to reach for her bomb bag.

When Shikake's puppet finally returned to her, it floated behind her, and it raised its many limbs out behind her in a blossom of arms and metal. And each hand held a knife, rescued from the ground. Shikake kept her fingers and her mouth curled, savoring the taste of the moment.

"I think I'm going to take this slowly, since you seem to like going so fast," Shikake said.

"I-I surrender?!" Chouso stammered in reply.

"_Now_ you say it," Shikake said, putting down her hands and loosening her fingers. The four puppets returned to her, the net of chakra disappearing. Chouso hit the ground with an unpleasant _thud_, and she picked herself up slowly.

"Victory goes to Nara Shikake!" the examiner declared, and the applause commenced.

Shikake, however, ignored all of it, getting to work resealing her weapons into their scrolls.

"Okay, um, even though you _beat_ me, I gotta say, um, you're _really_ amazing, and we should be partners?" Chouso was behind her.

"Huh." Shikake didn't look up.

"Like, um, Deidara-sama is my _idol_, and he had a partner, um, named _Sasori?_ And he used puppets, um, like _you?"_

"And your point is?"

"Well, I just think, um, it would be really _awesome?_"

Shikake sealed her last puppet into her seal, and put it in her jacket. "Even if I _were_ like Sasori, I'd never want to be partners with _you_. Tart."

Shikake went with the medical ninja, after that, to get her legs and whatever else healed up, ignoring every over-eager attempt Chouso was making in trying to get her attention. She returned to the observation deck with her hands in her pockets, where Inou had also returned, though the Senritsu kid was nowhere to be seen.

"Looks like we're gonna get to fight each other," she said.

Inou, leaning against the railing, did not answer.

He was watching Karai's fight, against the Sand ninja, Garyuu.

She fought like their father. Fire bloomed everywhere, and her dodges and strikes were highly-practiced and strong.

Apparently, Shikake had returned near the tail end of the fight, because Karai had Garyuu pinned and crying for surrender very shortly afterward.

"She's good," Shikake said (knowing exactly how Inou would take it).

Inou, again, said nothing, watching as Karai extended a hand to help Garyuu up, which was swiftly denied.

("I should have fought the _bear _guy," he muttered, in leaving.)

The next match, between Kashiwa Ichii and Natsuhaze Hari went… strangely.

Ichii entered the arena to an outburst of shouts and cheers, which he responded to with eager waves and smiles, like he was behind a reporter on a news show. Hari simply waited for him to finish, and for the examiner to start the match.

What happened after that was fairly unclear, at least to the spectators. Hari lowered the high collar of her turtleneck to below her chin.

There were scars over her lips, puffy and unsightly.

And she began to sing.

(The Natsuhaze clan had once been known as the Sirens of the Mist. They had unusually-shaped larynxes, with chakra systems woven around them, with which they could perform stunning feats of genjutsu.)

Her voice was light, and soft, yet seemed to fill the whole arena. It was a song without words, and the melody felt nostalgic and comforting, like a favorite grandmother's lullaby.

(Orochimaru had lured them away, once, decades ago, with promises of power and freedom, where they would not be consigned to the rocky, miserable outer reaches of Mist, to keep intruders out. They were among the first to join his new nation, and were the ones to give the land its name.)

The harsh, mid-day light of the sun seemed to dim, replaced with a softer, paler imitation. The air thickened, images blurred into blue shadows of themselves.

(Mist lured them back, in time, with promises of payment and freedom, where they would not be experimented on without their consent and their best and brightest turned into stumbling monsters; where their precious techniques would not be stolen and warped, forced into flutes and used by outsiders.)

Peace fell thickly over everything. There was nothing that needed to be done. To simply sit and listen was enough.

All anyone wanted to do was listen, after a while. Unto the point of starvation, or exhaustion, if it went on long enough. Just anything to _listen._

(As a child, Hari had a device sewn over her lips to keep her from accidentally activating her gift, while they trained her.)

(Or so they told her.)

And then the mist lifted. The peace fled. The sharp light of the sun broke into the arena once again, as the vision of the audience cleared and sharpened.

(Except for the Mizukage and her followers, of course. They had brought earplugs.)

Hari, the rough-faced singer, was on the ground, unconscious, the needles in her sleeves scattered away from her hands and gleaming in the harsh light. Ichii was standing over her with his hands on his hips, his smile bright, yet a touch confused.

He was wearing headphones, attached to a cassette player on his belt. He'd put on his music, a mix-tape from his cousin Fuzan, as soon as the battle started, to pump himself up. It had managed to effectively drown out Hari's song, causing him a great deal of confusion when Hari began to come towards him very slowly and very carefully.

By all means, he _should _have been hypnotized. And she would have pierced him through with needles to ensure unconsciousness, for her victory.

Instead, she got kicked in the face and stomach several times, and was knocked out before she could retaliate.

"Uh… victory goes to Kashiwa Ichii?" Hakkou was rubbing his eyes, disoriented but certain of the verdict.

Ichii drank in the applause, pumping his fists high and waving.

Hari, however, seemed to grow narrow, as if she herself were trying to disappear.

(She would be punished for this.)


	99. Kibitz Prophylaxis

_Chapter 99 - Kibitz Prophylaxis_

* * *

There were four left. Uchiha Inou versus Nara Shikake, and, recently-decided, Uchiha Karai versus Kashiwa Ichii.

"Things sure are going along quickly!" Karai said, cheerfully, from the observation deck. "They usually last a lot longer…"

"It goes by a lot faster when you're actually on the field, I think," her opponent, Ichii, replied. "All those fights before me seemed to go on for _forever_."

"Oh, you think?" Karai replied. "My fight with Garyuu-san did seem to go by pretty quickly…"

"You _did_ fight him pretty fast. But I'd say it lasted about… average length." Ichii nodded a few times, to add to his credibility.

"I see, I see! I hope my fight with you lasts a bit longer, either way. I want to have a bit of fun with it!" Karai said, smiling with her eyes closed.

"Ah, yeah, you're my opponent, right?" Ichii said. "Uchiha Karai, isn't it?"

"Mhm! And you're… Kashiwa Ichii, correct?"

"Yep! Like the number one." He grinned. "Seems to be good luck to me, since I'm top in my class an' everything."

"Oh, that's nice," Karai replied. "I have a nickname like that, myself."

"Ah, really?"

"Mhm! Sorta embarrassing, though…" She looked away, her smile perfectly bashful.

"Aw, come on, I have to know."

"Well, see, it's Second-Place Karai. Since, no matter what I do, no matter how hard I try, I _always_ seem to end up in second place…"

"Aww, that's too bad! I guess that means you'll end up losing, y'know, with destiny and all that."

She shook her head. "Nuh-uh. If I lost to you, I'd only be in _third_ place, at best. The only person I'd _ever_ lose to is my big brother." She pointed over the ledge. "It'd be embarrassing if anything else happened, so I'll try my best to beat you!"

"Huh, that's your brother down there?" Ichii said. His expression remained bright with ignorance. "The one that fought the fast kid?"

"Mhm."

"Can't wait to see how he does."

"Me neither," Karai replied, smiling warily. "Me neither."

Below them, Inou and Shikake were preparing.

"So, ground rules." Shikake was tapping her feet against the ground, to shake the dust off. "You don't probe my mind or anything, and I won't hit your face. Deal?"

Inou shook his head, his eyes to the ground in concentration. "Nope."

"Not afraid to get dirty, then?"

"I never have."

"Oh. Really."

He looked up, scowling. "_Stop_ it. I'm not gonna go easy on you just 'cos you're my _teammate._"

"Aw, that's cute, you thought I was going to do that?" she said.

"No, I'm just letting you know."

"Whatever. You still can't probe my brain. I won't let you in." Her face turned, for a rare moment, utterly serious, rather than mocking or impatient.

"You don't set the rules," Inou replied. He turned to the examining officer. "Sir, I'm ready to start."

"Me too." Shikake set her stance, her hand reaching for a scroll.

"If both of you are ready, then… begin!"

Neither Shikake nor Inou wasted any time in getting started. Shikake darted away, her hands running over the scrolls in her jacket, considering her possibilities.

"Those puppets are damaged, Shikake!"

Across the arena, Inou was smiling. His hands were stretched, palms-outward, at her.

"It wouldn't do you any good to use them!"

Her brow furrowed, slightly. "I'm not gonna use a puppet, don't be _stupid_."

Inou shook his head, his smile widening. "Don't lie to me, Shikake. And don't use that medium-sized sword, either, I know you're not that good with it."

Shikake's mouth tightened in rare, true anger. "Don't read my _mind_," she said.

"Why don't you stop me, then?" Inou replied.

She unfurled the scroll in her hand and soon had two swords in hand, one long, one short. She ran forward.

Inou, however, was faster. And everywhere he managed to stop that was out of her range, there his hands were, making that dumb sign again.

"You're no good at close-range, Shikake, it's not gonna trip me up!" he called. "Those kunai you're thinking of would really do a better job, though I'd be able to dodge them pretty easily too."

"Shut _up!_"

Inou did not shut up.

In her frustration, she threw the two swords aside and reached for another scroll. She wouldn't be using the kunai.

"Use the kunai, Shikake-chan, come _on_." Inou's voice sounded almost, annoyingly, whiny.

She got out the boomerang shuriken, a trio of small, sharp pieces of metal attached to wires that could be easily thrown and returned, for sharp, painful cuts.

Inou, however, sighed. "I _knew_ you were going for those, ugh…"

"Shut up shut up shut _up_." She whipped the shuriken at him, and managed to hit him on the arm, though only one of the blades nicked him, on account of his chainmail. "Think you're so damn _clever._" She caught the shuriken in her free hand, fingers closing with effortless muscle memory at just the right time.

"I'm sorry, am I bothering you?" Inou said. He hadn't even winced at the cut.

Shikake didn't say anything, whipping the shuriken at him again, this time aiming for his face. She missed, though one of the blades cut off some of the hair on that stupid bang of his. This wasn't much of a consolation prize. The shuriken returned to her hand.

Inou didn't even _look_ tired. Shikake was breathing heavily and slowly, and her mouth felt dry. She reached for another scroll. The shuriken in her hand pierced her palm, and blood got on the paper as she summoned the kunai. She unfurled the scroll further for—

"Ah, and you're going to get the sickles too, right? Planning for a barrage?" Inou said, his face framed by the diamond-shaped space between his fingers.

"Stop poking around in my damn _head, _it's _annoying!_" she yelled, as the sickles in question appeared in her hand. The metal of her weapons made muffled clinking noises as her fingers struggled to contain them.

Inou just shrugged back, with that _arrogant_ smile, with his hands still stretched, with his fingers still in her brain.

The scroll fluttered to the ground as she flung both hands forward. Wires and chains glistened from the sun and the blue chakra she now infused within them, to guide them better. She was going to cut that damn smile off his _face_.

"Ah, that's a little better!" he said, leaping sideways. His hands came apart for only a moment, to balance himself, but were soon back together in the mind-reading sign. "I know where you're trying to hit me, though, so it's not gonna work."

Shikake didn't say anything, her weapons rearing up like cobras in the air where Inou should have been, recoiling, re-aiming, and striking again. One of the kunai got his leg, as he was dodging away, but little else. "Ugh, stand _still_, damn it!" she said, mostly to herself.

"It won't help to add exploding tags to them, you know. I'd be able to see that even _without_ my technique," Inou said.

"You're only telling me what you already know!" Shikake yelled, with her next attempt. The multitudes of wires and chains parted like tentacles and went for either side of Inou. "It's not impressing anyone!"

Inou barely managed to backflip over the pincer-like movement of Shikake's attack. But the sickles, larger than the kunai and shuriken, and slower with their heavy chains, managed to slice him upon his recovery, ripping the fabric of his shirt and badly lacerating his right shoulder, which began to bleed profusely.

But he didn't even seem to notice. He kept his hands in that sign. "It barely even hurts, Shikake. And, yes, if you keep it up like this, you'll just get less and less accurate. That _was_ lucky."

She bared her teeth, the wires returning to her and quavering dangerously behind her, like tails. "Stop it with that stupid _mind_ reading! It's not fair!"

"I'd be nothing but a wussy wimp if I didn't have it, Shikake-chan," Inou replied, flatly, and without sarcasm. "You'd rather have me that way, wouldn't you?"

"Anything's better than this _act _of yours!" she shouted, and sent one of the kunai out in a whip-fast movement, like a scorpion's tail. "Cut it out!"

Inou dodged the kunai, and the wire snapped from the force; the kunai sailed off and embedded itself into the wall behind him. "You sure hate being _angry_, Shikake-chan," he said. "What's up with that?"

"_Nothing!_" she yelled. Another whip, though this one missed him by a long shot, impacting with the wall with even greater force.

"Don't want to be treated like a kid by your _parents_, huh?" Inou said. His voice sounded mockingly sympathetic. "Getting angry doesn't really get you anything, does it?"

"Shut _up!_" She threw one of the sickles his way, this time, trying to direct it, aiming it with purpose. And it did hit him, but she miscalculated, and only the blunt, curved edge of the thing hit him in the stomach.

"Not even your _problems_ are interesting," Inou said, with a tight voice. "Trying to make it look like you don't even care or _have_ them when _everyone_ feels that way." He started coming closer to her, with his hideous hands and face. "You're so _predictable_, Shikake-chan. Why can't you be original for once? This is almost too easy."

Shikake threw the rest of her weapons forward, and Inou covered himself just long enough for safety, before springing back into position.

(But when he opened his eyes again, she was smiling a smile that he was not comfortable with.)

"Original, huh." Her bloodied hands began wandering into her jacket. "Okay, I'll give you something _original._"

Inou's face crumpled slightly, so that his voice wouldn't. "Shikake, what is that."

"Oh, you don't know? Don't you know _all_ of my weapons?" she said. She waved the scroll near her face. "Oh, wait—this one's _new_."

She bared her teeth again, in an animalistic smile, and summoned the scythe.

It was large, almost as tall as her, and made of tarnished red metal, though the long chain on the end of it was shiny and new. It had three curved blades, and they looked recently-sharpened.

"Beautiful, isn't it," she said, and took it in one hand, swinging it by the chain and throwing it towards Inou. He managed to get away, but the three blades left a deep gouge in the earth that was dangerously close to him. She pulled it back and it returned to her hand as if magnetized; the chain was now glowing with chakra.

The thin polish of confidence on Inou's face was starting to crack. He struggled to keep his hands together, possibly because of the blood loss in his right arm, possibly because of fear.

This only made her smile more. She was pleased with either possibility.

She raised the scythe above her head again.

And then she couldn't move.

Her arm felt frozen in place, and then, like invisible hands were yanking it down, it fell. Her hand pried itself open, and the scythe hit the ground with a thud.

She knew this technique. And sickening anger made her jaw clench.

Her father was on the field.

Chouko's father was, as well, and Inou's mother; Chouji was standing in front of Inou, ready to intercept any blow that might have come the boy's way, and Ino was standing behind him with her hands poised in the square body-possession sign, prepared to move him if he wouldn't.

"Stop the fight," Shikamaru said.

The crowd simmered with murmurs.

Inou dropped his hands. "What, no! Why?"

"Inou, this isn't about you," Ino said. Her voice was unusually stern.

"Nara-san, you just seriously compromised the fight," the examining officer said, approaching him, and not the others. "Can you explain this?"

Shikamaru stood, motionless, his shadow linked to his daughter. "She can't use that weapon."

Shikake seethed.

Hakkou peered back curiously. "Sir, there doesn't seem to be anything about it that would disqualify it from use."

"What if I told you that this scythe is the former property of the man who killed my sensei?"

Shikamaru said this, loudly.

There was a very prickly silence.

(Shikake felt like a dog getting its nose rubbed into an accident.)

"I refuse to see this match continue. Give the victory to Inou," Shikamaru continued.

Inou pushed his way forward, desperately, angrily. "No, _no! _Come on, let me _fight, _I don't _care!_"

Before he could reach Shikamaru, however, his mother got a hold of him, and he froze mid-step.

"Inou, stop," she said. "Please."

"It's just a _weapon_, Mom!" His eyes were fixed on her, aching.

"This issue is a lot bigger than you, Inou-kun," Chouji said, far more kindly than others would. "Please, stay out of it."

Inou trembled with rage in his useless body.

"Were you aware that your daughter was in possession of this weapon, Nara-san?" Hakkou interjected.

"No. I thought it was buried under twenty feet of dirt with the man who used to _own_ it. I put it there myself," he added, sharply.

"It's a terrorist's weapon, Hakkou-san," Chouji said. "Part of Akatsuki. From the old days."

The name caused whispers like hisses to circle through the stands.

(In the Kage box, Kankuro's hands tightened into preventative fists.)

Hakkou thought about this, his eyes lowered and his mouth drawn, before he nodded, twice, and looked up. "I understand. Given those circumstances, then, I will have to disqualify Nara Shikake for the use of an illegal weapon."

There was no applause, only louder murmurs.

"NO! Come on!" Inou yelled.

Shikake said nothing.

"I'll be taking her with me," Shikamaru said. "If you could confiscate the weapon, officer."

"Oh, um, of course," Hakkou replied. He bent over and picked the scythe up, his eyes widening at either the lightness of the thing, or the history behind it. A chuunin proctor entered the arena and carried it away.

As soon as the exchange was over, Shikamaru disabled his jutsu and took Shikake by the shoulder. "You're coming with me."

Shikake said nothing, her body merely tensing at his touch, her eyes burning sideways.

Inou was frozen until after she and Shikamaru were out of sight. After which he burst, again. "MOM, why did you DO that?!" he yelled, flinging his arms sideways. The blood from his weaker right arm spattered the ground.

"Inou, please, this is an outside issue-"

"I didn't win that match _fairly_, Mom!"

"Of course it was fair, Inou-kun," Chouji said, from behind. "The examiner declared it and everything."

"But I didn't _beat_ her!" His voice was full of furious condensation, almost tears. "I should have been able to _beat _her…!"

"Inou…" Ino put her hand on his undamaged shoulder. "You won the match. How you won it doesn't matter, and it won't matter to _him_. You understand?"

(But, of course, it _did_ matter to Sasuke, and that mattered to Inou.)

"Now let's have a medic patch you up." She stood. "You're going to do wonderfully in your final fight."

"It's true, you made it to the final round, Inou-kun," Chouji added.

"I still should have been allowed to beat her," Inou grumbled, pushed along by his mother and into the waiting hands of a medic ninja.

Chouji patted her on the back, once they were gone. "We did the right thing, Ino."

She sighed. "I know."

(Though all she could think about was the look that Shikamaru had shot her when their eyes met in the stands, after the scythe had been produced, when they were wordlessly deciding what to do.)

(He looked disgusted by her.)

Shikamaru, meanwhile, had pulled Shikake into the small service tunnel that ran between the walls of the arena, and stopped her with her back to the concrete wall.

She kept her head down, but her eyes defiantly set upwards.

"Explain yourself," Shikamaru said.

"What do I have to explain?"

"That weapon. Where did you get it."

"I found it." She glanced sideways, almost casually.

"You _found_ it."

"Yeah. So?"

"And where, exactly, did you _find_ it."

"The clan forest, duh. Come on, you said you were the one that _buried_ it," she added, glancing up at him with her small, sharp eyes.

Shikamaru just folded his arms tighter. "How did you know where to find it."

"I was bored when we were at Grandpa's one day so I went exploring and I found a map that had this whole area marked off as forbidden ground. And that sounded interesting, so… I checked it out a few times and figured there was something buried there." Her shoulders shifted as she folded her own arms, though far more loosely (and higher up on her chest, as if to protect her). "So I went out with Hyuuga Ekkusen a couple of weeks ago and had him look at the area, and there _was_ something buried there. So I dug it up and decided to fix it and use it."

"You just _dug it up_."

"Yeah, uh, isn't that obvious?"

"Do you have any idea _why_ that area is forbidden ground?" Shikamaru's voice was rising.

"Uh, no."

"That is the place where my sensei's _murderer_ was defeated and _buried_."

"Oh, neat. That explains the skeleton I found down there, then," Shikake said, looking away, nodding slightly.

"_Neat?_" Shikamaru was close to shouting. "Shikake, that man's _weapon_, the one that you were _using_, was the one that was used to _kill_ my sensei!"

"You don't need to say that again, I heard you the first time," Shikake replied.

"Shikake, do you not understand what the hell you _did _out there?"

She shrugged. "I don't get what the big deal is, it's just a weapon," she said.

"A weapon with a _past_, Shikake. The man who used to own it was part of the _terrorist_ organization that, need I remind you, nearly killed _both_ of your uncles."

She sighed. "Uh, yeah, _duh, _I _know_ about _Akatsuki_, Dad, I'm not a freaking _moron_."

Shikamaru inhaled through his nose.

"And Uncle Kankuro and Uncle Gaara are okay _now_, aren't they?" she continued. "Plus it's not like Akatsuki's around any _more_, much less the guy that used to use that scythe. Whoever he was."

The muscles in Shikamaru's neck were tensing visibly, and his words shot out of his mouth like arrows. "Shikake, for _fuck's_ sake, can't you take things _seriously?_"

The cool, smooth quality of her voice lessened, slightly. "To be honest, I think I'm being more serious about this than _you_, Dad. Here, let me ask _you_ something: what's the difference between me using that scythe and, say… Uncle Kankuro using Sasori's puppets? Or Morizuru? I mean, wasn't Sasori the one that almost _killed_ Uncle Kankuro in the first place? They're just _weapons_, Dad. They're just tools. Nobody _really_ cares about history."

Shikamaru slapped her.

"Shikake, by using that weapon, you are disrespecting me, my sensei Asuma, his family, _and_ my teammates. And I want you to _apologize_."

Shikake's head remained turned slightly by the slap, her cheek growing red. But her eyes moved to pierce his. "Why the hell should I?" she said. "It's not like _I_ killed your precious _sensei._"

Shikamaru slapped her again, on her already-raw skin.

"You… are grounded," he said, through the breaths he was trying to catch. "No visits with your… uncles, _nothing._ And your…" And he sighed, not quite frustrated nor satisfied. "And your _mother_ is going to hear about this._"_

"…well, at least I know what you _really_ care about," Shikake said, under her breath, as he dragged her by the arm back to his box.


	100. Sham Desperado

_Chapter 100 - Sham Desperado_

* * *

Inou spent far too much time in the small medical wing for his own liking. Shikake had slashed his shoulder deeper than he had thought, and they ended up having to inject him with medicines to get the blood to stop long enough for their healing to be of any use. And despite his insistence that he was fine, they insisted on attending to the bruising on his stomach.

"I don't _need_ to be fully-healed, let me _go_, okay?" he said, pulling away.

"You aren't due to fight again for a while, be patient," one of the medic nin clucked.

And this was true.

But he wanted to see Karai's fight.

Part of him didn't want to—he already _knew_ how his sister fought, he already knew her brawn-over-brains style, and seeing how well she was doing would eat away at his confidence—but the opportunity to study her opponent, in case she lost, was something he couldn't pass up.

But they kept him, and he stewed in his perceived weakness and his anger at the match with Shikake.

Just a little more time, just a little more, and he'd have been able to _beat_ her. He'd have looked _amazing_.

But, no. No, no, no. He won because of a _cop -out_. How _humiliating._

Whether he fought his sister or the stranger, Kashiwa, didn't matter. He would win, he would win with his technique, and it would be something that his father wouldn't be able to deny, that he had strength, that he was strong on his _own_.

When they finally let him go, and he climbed the stairs back to the observation deck, Shikake was missing, and Karai's fight was nearly over.

She was winning, clearly. Kashiwa was stumbling and sore-looking, and his once-pristine clothes were singed and smudged with dirt.

Inou analyzed what he could. It wouldn't have been a very exciting fight against Kashiwa, he concluded. He was even more predictable than Shikake—and she was his own teammate—without anything resembling a unique style to set him apart from the rest of the contestants. He seemed to rely on luck more than anything, tricking his opponents into coming near him so he could take a swipe or two, and dodging with reckless enthusiasm.

But Karai wasn't dumb. She wasn't the best at strategy, but she wasn't easily tricked.

The fight ended with a stone in Inou's stomach. Kashiwa had collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath, and Karai approached him with cautious cat-steps.

"You wanna give up? You look a little tired," she said.

Kashiwa, in reply, reached out and grabbed her arm, whipping her overhead.

Karai, however, flipped over one more time in the air than expected, and it was Kashiwa that ended up in the dirt.

"…I think I'm done," he groaned, once he'd gotten some of his knocked-out air back into him.

"Victory goes to Uchiha Karai!" the examining officer called, and the audience cheered. (Though, of course, Inou did not.)

Karai gave Kashiwa another hand, and then a shoulder, and walked off the arena with him to the medical room.

The wait after that was agonizing, as the utter real-ness of the impending fight began to settle over Inou's shoulders.

He was going to have to fight Karai, his little sister.

Big deal, they'd sparred before. And this was only her first chuunin exam, and their father didn't care about her as much, it was okay if she lost. _She_ wouldn't care.

He had to win. It didn't matter who she was.

_He_ would win, he _would_ win, he would _win._

Still, his anxiety remained, and only increased with each minute.

By the time Karai returned, walking straight onto the arena, Inou's hands were shaking. He gripped the railing of the observation deck to ignore it.

"Final match, Uchiha Inou versus Uchiha Karai!" Hakkou called.

He inhaled deeply, and jumped over the railing, using chakra in his right hand and foot to gracefully slide down the side of the wall and to the ground.

He approached Karai slowly. There was dirt on her face, he could see; her kneepads were scuffed up, and her smile was subdued.

She was an enemy, now, an enemy, nothing more.

"Good luck, big bro," she said to him.

Inou said nothing.

"If you are ready?" Hakkou said.

"I'm ready!" said Karai.

"Ready."

"Then, _begin!_"

Inou knew that he and Karai were about equals in strength, though that fact was beginning to waver from what little he was able to see of her fight with Kashiwa.

She chucked a handful of shuriken at him, which he dodged, and she leaped away.

And she was speedy, but not nearly as quick as Senritsu.

Another attack, this time with exploding kunai. Inou jumped out of the way, throwing a few back on reflex.

His mind kept whirling. His technique, he was going to use his technique on her, right? He would be able to win with that.

There was a hot roar as Karai sent a fireball his way, which he counter-acted with another fireball, just strong enough to lessen hers and allow him to get away.

He gasped, his chest hot and burning. He couldn't do that again, that took up too much energy, he wasn't _good _at that.

His technique, he could use it, he would _win _with it—but how?

He had to start somewhere. His hands formed the sign.

The tentacle of his influence stretched outward, and began searching for her. But unlike Shikake, who was stationary and slow, who had an ego to exploit, Karai was quick, and she had no secrets—at least, none that Inou knew of.

The only thing he could think of would be to track her, anticipate her movements before she did, and dodge every attack before they were even thrown.

…but what good would _that_ do? It was an excellent stalling tactic, yeah, but the only offensive use it had was in psychological fake-outs and knitting opponents into traps of their own fault. And Inou doubted that he could…

No, no, no, he _could_ do it, he could trap her, he just needed to track her, and, and incapacitate her. There were lots of ways he could do that. It would be easy, she was dumb, she was eleven, she was just his little sister, he could _beat_ her.

But she bounded around the arena continuously, flinging flame and metal at irregular intervals, barely missing him whenever she leaped forward to get him into a hold. And she would always leap back, pacing and jumping, never staying still, but never constantly attacking.

She was difficult as _hell_ to keep track of. His normal thought-scan was too slow.

…the other one, however…

He had been practicing with it, training, more and more. And he knew his brain, he _trusted_ it, like he trusted the way that his hands could mold and shape chakra like a glass-blower shaped glass. And he and Karai were the only people in the ring—minus Hyuuga Hakkou, the examining officer, but his thoughts would be little more than static , surely, easily tuned-out.

He wouldn't lose control. He just had to keep it up for long enough to get into her mind, to anticipate her moves, to spring a mental trap that would send her flying to the ground with foam in her mouth and—no, no, he was getting ahead of himself, he had to concentrate, so he could listen.

His hands moved to his forehead, and with bubble thoughts in his mind, he began to move them apart.

The sounds of the outside world began to dim. And out of the haze, he began to hear voices. Faint and far away, at first; he squinted harder, extending the bubble of chakra, making it thinner, but stronger. He hadn't filled the whole arena yet. But he would.

He got Hakkou first. It was a slurry of thoughts—_siblings fighting siblings my this is just so tragic I hope that this doesn't cause any animosity in the family_—thin and worrying and past-leaning—and Inou quickly set them aside, smoothing them into the hiss of the white noise, searching for Karai.

He kept his eyes open. Normally, he wouldn't, to concentrate, to assist in visualization, but he had to see where she was, to make sure she wasn't trying to attack him. She was continuing her rounds across the arena, and threw more kunai at him, after a while. He jumped, his concentration slipping with gut-pulling intensity, but it wasn't enough. The tags on them exploded upon impact, sending stinging sands and rocks against him, and hot air burning his arms.

He closed his eyes, to shield against the explosions, to concentrate. His lids were shut so tight that mother-of-pearl lights were dancing in the darkness, and tears were leaking out, but he couldn't care. He had to be quicker, quicker, _quicker_. He had to _catch_ her.

But as he concentrated, hearing the familiar voice of Hyuuga Hakkou and smoothing it out as usual, he began to hear other voices.

_What an embarrassment._

_A wretched little boy, isn't he?_

_The shape of this clan, these days, honestly._

These weren't… these weren't coming from the crowd, were they?

_I doubt he'll make it, he's lost _three_ times already._

_I'd bet money on his sister, she seems far more capable._

He opened his eyes a little, just to see where Karai was. She was lingering by one of the trees, gasping for breath, wiping her mouth off on her bare arm.

Inou was struggling for breath himself, his jaw quivering. If he was hearing the crowd already, why couldn't he hear _her?_

Unless that wasn't the crowd…?

_He's such a little failure, I wonder why he even keeps trying._

_Clothes all ripped, he's quite a sight, isn't he?_

_He won't make it._

These were _his_ thoughts, weren't they? Projected and warped into fictional voices, but his.

He was letting them get in the way, infecting the space, smothering all of the sounds he _wanted_ to hear.

He grit his teeth, his breaths deepening, and he concentratedfurther.

He would _win_.

_A plucky little half-breed, but little else_.

Yeah, so what if he wasn't entirely Uchiha? He had other talents!

_More Yamanaka than Uchiha._

That's right, he was _good_ at Yamanaka things, and there wasn't any _shame_ in that!

_Oh, what is he _doing?

He was concentrating, he was getting rid of these thoughts, transforming them.

_There's blood all _over_ his face, oh, I can't bear to watch._

The liquid warmth and the iron smell under his nose was becoming just as dulled as his doubt, becoming scratchier as he forced it away.

_You can do it, Inou. I believe in you._

The last voice, the smallest but fondest of all, before, finally—

—_break up the pattern with some close-quarters combat, I can't go flinging things at him forever, but all that blood on his face—what if he collapses, I can't let that happen, but what do I do—_

Karai's voice, jingling and uncertain. He opened his eyes, and she was still frozen at the tree, her face as worried-looking as her mind.

She wasn't going to move. He could hear it in her, she was frozen by doubt.

But he wasn't. Not any more.

But how to trap her…?

Come on, come on, come on, she was _frozen_, for pity's sake, there was an _easy_ way he could do this!

Easy, but stupid, it was so stupid, he _hated_ that technique!

But he was desperate, he had to win, he _had_ to win, so he _had_ to use it.

His hands broke out of the sign right as she began charging for him, her path like the curve of a shuriken, weaving and darting.

His fingers came together in a triangle. The full body possession. The rough, clumsy, artless art.

Blood was dripping over his lips and down his chin and onto his already-ruined shirt.

And he sent himself forward.

His body collapsed, his limbs splaying imperfectly across the earth.

And Karai.

Stopped.

She stood, stock-still, for a moment, in the middle of the arena. The kunai she had prepared in her left hand fell to the ground. Her head was leaned forward slightly, a dull, glazed look in her eyes.

And then, she smiled, strangely, and raised her right hand.

"I, Uchiha Karai, concede defeat!"

A few seconds passed, deafening in their silence.

"V-Victory goes to Uchiha Inou!" Hyuuga Hakkou called, his smile breathless and intense. "Uchiha Inou has won the tournament!"

The applause was mighty. And shortly after it began, Karai's body went limp, around the time that Hyuuga Hakkou knelt down to check on Inou's own body.

Inou, eventually, stood, with the officer's assistance. His face was covered in smeared dirt and blood, and he wore a shaking, disbelieving, almost terrified expression. Hakkou lifted his arm, presenting him as the champion, at least symbolically—since winning the tournament didn't guarantee a person promotion, but it sure didn't hurt their chances.

When Karai came to, surrounded by worried medics, she had a tired, but genuine smile on her face, the model of a perfect loser.

Sasuke watched all of this with a set face, his arms crossed.

He did not look pleased.

(And though Nadeshiko was applauding, her face was unsure of its smile.)

Naruto came on the field, after a while, and he shook Inou's weak hand.

"Let's get you cleaned up so you can go home and celebrate with your family, y'know," he said, patting him on the back.

Inou said nothing, looking like he was going to be mildly sick.

After which Naruto called the participants back onto the field. Shikake wasn't present, of course—which obviously vexed Chouso, who was looking around, her brown eyes wide with worry. And Go'on made an entrance that was far flashier than he was comfortable with, since he had left the observation deck to watch the rest of the event with his mother.

He dove, arms spread, as if for flight, from the box, which was _much_ higher up than the observation deck. The branches of a tree caught him, and perhaps it was a trick of the light, or the way that the branches rustled when he landed, but it almost seemed as if the tree itself reached up to embrace him. His features pinched with modest embarrassment at the applause he got for his stunt, and he joined the rest of the competitors with his shoulders hunched and his hands clasped together.

"One more round of applause for all of our participants, y'know!" Naruto called, and applause was given. Karai and Ichii waved spiritedly at the audience, at least, since the reactions of the other four were far more subdued.

After this, Naruto dismissed both the participants and the audience, though he held Karai and Inou behind.

"I'll go ahead and tell your family to wait for you at the arena gate, y'know," he said. "You guys rest up a bit and get those scratches healed. And, uh, have someone clean your face, Inou-kun, y'know."

"Thanks, Uncle Naruto," Karai said, leaning forward and giving him a hug. Naruto hugged her warmly back.

Inou said nothing.

And Naruto leaped off, to send his message.

The medics escorted Karai and Inou to the small medical room, cleaning them up and patching whatever minor scrapes and bumps they had without a word.

Midway through their work, however, Inou said something: "When you're done, could you leave my sister and me alone for a little while? I wanna talk to her."

The medics looked at each other. "Oh, uh, of course," one of them said. And, exactly as asked, once they were done, they gave the pair a congratulation and left them alone.

And after that, once he was certain they were gone, Inou stood away from the small cot where he'd been sitting, and he went to Karai, and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Karai," he said, his voice shaking, "why did you _do_ that?!"

"Do… what?" Karai replied.

"Don't play DUMB!" He shook her, once. "You know what you did!"

"But what, uh, _did_ I do…?" Her voice was becoming very quiet.

"YOU THREW THE MATCH!" Inou lost control of his voice, almost cracking from the volume, as he let go and started waving his arms around. "You threw the freaking MATCH, Karai!"

"No, I didn't…" Karai was trying to smile, but there was too much fear in her eyes.

"Oh come ON. My technique didn't connect with you! You faked that I had possessed you!"

Her eyes slid downward, her imitation of a smile stretching into a prelude of a cry.

"Why did you DO that…?" he continued, far more softly.

"…because you needed to win more than I did, that's all," Karai said.

Inou slugged her on the shoulder, and even in his anger, it was not a strong blow. "You freaking IDIOT! So you gave up the fight! That means I didn't WIN!"

"Yes, you did. Everyone saw it."

"NO! You GAVE UP! It's NOT the SAME!" Inou was pacing a little, now, his eyes hot and wet.

"But you still _won_, Inou," Karai said.

"I DID _NOT. WIN!_" Inou shouted. "Karai, don't you freaking under_stand? _You ruined EVERYTHING!"

"Inou, come on…" She stood. "You're just… overreacting, okay? I mean, they declared the win and it's _official_ and stuff, it's not like they're going to take away your victory because of a loophole, I mean, I was _allowed_ to surrender…"

"No! _No!_ That's the THING!" Inou said. He was starting to grab at his hair, clutching it between his fingers, but not pulling. "What if DAD finds out?!"

"Inou, there's no _way_ Dad could find out!" Karai said. "Besides, I can keep a secret! I'm not gonna tell him what I did, promise, I _promise_."

"No, no, no, no, you don't understand…" Inou was pacing in tight loops, now.

"Seriously, Inou, _nobody's_ gonna make you tell." She approached him with her hands raised, arms stretched for a hug that she knew would be rejected.

"I'm not concerned about _that!_ He's gonna find out, he's gonna find out, that's what's gonna happen, he's gonna find out what you did and he's going to _kill_ us."

"Inou, I already told you," Karai said, an anxiety-reflex laugh in her voice, "Dad is _not_ going to find out!"

"Oh, he'll find out, he always finds out…" Inou muttered, shaking his head, both hands now over his ears. "No, no, no, this is _not_ happening…!"

Karai forced her hands onto his bandaged upper arms, there. "Inou, please, calm down… It's gonna be okay, Dad didn't notice anything, everything's going to be _fine… _Let's go home, okay? It'll be fine, I _swear._"

Inou inhaled sharply.

"We have mom and we have Hajime, it'll be _okay_. They're gonna be _so_ proud of us, Inou." She took his hand. "Come on, let's go home."

Inou said nothing, his face so tight that his eyes looked almost closed.

But he went to her, and to where their family was waiting.


	101. Amazon Superqueen

_Chapter 101 - Amazon Superqueen_

* * *

Ino hugged both of her children, naturally. And Karai accepted it and returned in kind, while Inou just allowed her to wrap her arms around him, waiting for it to end.

But the rest of the journey home was entirely silent.

(Of course, Nadeshiko was not with them. She would sneak into the house, not expecting any recognition, a while later.)

Sasuke stayed ahead of them all, the unnecessary leader. And Ino stayed near to the children, with Hajime staying near the back. Every now and then, pieces of the audience would see them and wave and make other attempts at greeting and congratulation, but only Karai reacted, if anything. Inou stayed close to his mother, his eyes on his feet.

As they drifted away from the city center, where groups were now floating into restaurants and bars to celebrate, things grew quieter still. Onward through the residential areas, and into the barren corner of the city where the Uchiha grounds and their own house were located, nothing but birdsong and the wind could be heard.

This made it all the more shocking when Sasuke finally spoke, as they were nearing the gate of the house.

"Karai," he said, almost softly, "did you honestly think that I wouldn't notice?"

Karai didn't answer, for a while. "Um… notice… what, Father?" she said.

Sasuke turned around. His hands were in his pockets.

And he looked _furious_.

"That _despicable_ trick you pulled, Karai. You really thought I was stupid enough not to notice what you had done?"

His voice was rising. Ino stepped forward.

"Sasuke, not now-"

He shoved her aside, staring his daughter down. Karai could do nothing but stare back up at him, biting down hard on her lower lip.

"I cannot _believe_ you. Throwing the match? After you did SO well before?! HONESTLY, Karai?!"

His eyes were red and spinning.

"I, I, I didn't throw the match, Father, I swear, Inou beat me by-"

"_DO NOT LIE TO YOUR FATHER!_"

Karai flinched, gasping. She was starting to shiver a little.

"There were discrepancies, Karai. I _saw_ them. My eyes DO NOT LIE. That technique never connected. It was OBVIOUS."

Karai had taken a few steps backward. Hajime took a few steps forward, to be nearer.

"You _honestly_ thought that I wouldn't notice! You _stupid_ girl. I am EXTREMELY disappointed in you, Karai."

"I'm, I'm sorry, Father, I, I didn't mean to-"

"Don't give me that BULLSHIT, Karai, and _DO NOT LIE TO ME_."

Ino got behind her husband.

"Sasuke, please, don't be so hard on her-"

"Stay the fuck out of this."

His voice was a growl, like a feral cat.

"I thought I raised you better. I thought I had raised children that weren't _quitters_. But I suppose I was wrong. _Again_."

Tears were rolling down Karai's face. Her lip was shivering with each breath she hiccupped in.

Hajime resisted every urge to hold her.

"B-But Inou, he…"

"Oh, I have some things to say to _Inou_."

Sasuke's eyes snapped to the boy, who was trying his hardest to become invisible, his arms attached to his sides.

"But right now, you have the _most_ to apologize for."

"But, Father… Inou, he, he _needed_ to win more than _I_ did," Karai said, "an', an' I can always try _again_, and-"

"If Inou needed _your_ help then he's weaker than I thought."

Inou closed his eyes tightly against at the merciless tone in his father's voice.

"And besides, Karai, the fact that you helped him, that you HELPED him… You're a disgrace. You're a complete and utter disgrace to our clan."

"Sasuke!"

Ino's voice was useless.

Sasuke was starting to pace.

"Siblings, if anything, should be… should be _walls_ to each other, for each other to climb OVER. To BETTER themselves!"

His hands were clenching and unclenching in firework-like bursts at his chest.

"They're not supposed to HELP and CODDLE each other! You'll never learn ANYTHING if you keep on BABYING each other like this!"

Ino was rubbing her forehead.

"You're better than that, Karai. You're an _Uchiha_. You're better than this… this bullshit."

Karai reluctantly wiped the tears out of her eyes with her palm, half-nodding.

"And YOU, _Inou!_"

Sasuke pointed at the boy, halting his pacing.

Inou did not look up.

"You couldn't even beat your little _sister_ in a fight?!"

And Sasuke scoffed.

"Maybe it wouldn't have come to this if you didn't dabble around with fucking _mindgames_ and did some actual _training_ for once."

"I don't. Just. Dabble. Around. In MINDGAMES!"

Inou finally looked up. He was seething.

"I trained until I _collapsed_ for this!"

"Well," Sasuke replied, "that obviously wasn't enough."

"The fight barely lasted five _minutes_, Dad!"

"Yes, and I wonder why that is, really!" Sasuke said. Something like a monkey's smile, hostile and thin, appeared on his face. "What was that technique you were using? Oh, yes. YAMANAKA techniques. Absolutely _useless._ And look where that got you, boy."

"Sasuke, please, can we go inside at least, someone might hear…"

Ino, however, and whatever retort she might have received, was drowned out by her son.

"SHUT UP. JUST… JUST SHUT _UP_."

Inou's chest rose up and down, causing his ruined shirt to flutter.

"I didn't… I didn't get a chance to show off my true _skills!_"

Inou very quickly closed his mouth, after that, bracing for the inevitable command to not talk back.

Sasuke, however, was quiet in his response. Dangerously so.

"True skills, hm. So you have more to share beyond your little…" He waved his hands in the air, all wishy-washy. "…techniques?"

"Yes." Inou's voice hissed between his teeth. "I _trained _for this."

"Then why don't you show me," Sasuke said. "If you're as strong as you say you are."

Inou, to his mother's horror and Sasuke's indifference, wore a face that had once been his father's, when they were the same age.

"Maybe I will."

"Fine, then. You and I are going to have a duel, Inou. Family training grounds, no-holds-barred." Sasuke crossed his arms, apparently pleased. "If you impress me enough, then I'll believe your victory was legitimate. Though I'm not yet finished with your sister."

Karai shivered in place at Sasuke's glance, with Hajime behind her like her shadow.

"Fine. Let's… let's do it, already," Inou said. "I'll fight you right now."

Ino spoke, again, finally seeming to gather some strength in her voice.

She still sounded like she was being choked.

"Sasuke, be—be reasonable."

"Be quiet, Ino. This is none of your concern." Sasuke's voice was unusually cool, which only made it that much more terrifying. "Besides, if it weren't for your _family_ and their worthless _techniques _then we wouldn't be in this predicament in the _first_ place."

The man and the boy began down the road towards the family grounds, together, yet separate.

Ino chased after them, Hajime holding Karai's hand as they followed.

She threw out attempts at halting them along the way. But none of them worked.

Inou didn't even hear her. All he could think about was what he had to do.

He had to prove himself to his father.

He'd been so foolish, before. Why the hell did he even _think_ his father would have even an _ounce_ of respect for his Yamanaka innovations?

He was an Uchiha, he was an Uchiha, he was an Uchiha.

And he would have to use Uchiha techniques.

He was weak, but he would win.

Because otherwise…

Because there was no otherwise.

They reached the family training ground, his mother still pleading for Sasuke to be reasonable, for him to stop this, to just go home and cool his head for a while.

But Inou didn't want things to stop.

He had to do this.

Sasuke stood across from him in the grounds, Ino still near him, very close to tears. Karai was still crying, surrendering to Hajime's embrace on the sidelines.

The only way that Inou knew the match had even started was that his father had said "Begin," and darted forward, leaving his mother coughing in the cloud of dust behind.

It took Inou every ounce of effort he had to merely dodge Sasuke. He was faster than Inou had ever remembered him being, during their training, and he was making faster swipes, the near-misses feeling anything but safe.

Inou struggled.

Come on, come on, come _on_.

He hurled shuriken, both big and small. But his right arm was weak, and they missed, or bounced harmlessly off of Sasuke's sleeves.

_Stupid, no, none of that Yamanaka crap, you're an Uchiha, _he told himself.

He ducked away from a charge forward just long enough to weave his hands together and suck in his breath for a fireball.

The result was impressive, for him. The heat made his eyes water.

But his father sliced through it effortlessly, as if it were a cloud.

Sasuke didn't say anything. No insults, no calls for improvement.

Just silence.

That was utterly worse than anything else.

Ino had gotten out of the way, paralyzed with indecision. Inou could see her hands curled into deformed shapes near her chest, as if she were considering possessing one of them to get the fight to stop. But she did nothing.

(She feared what punishment she would receive for such a thing.)

(Sasuke had never beaten her, but that night, and all of the weeks before had her second-guessing.)

(Though not for the first time in her life.)

The minutes passed like frames in a film. And Inou was beginning to get tired.

He and his father stood across from each other again, each bent slightly over. Inou's breaths were deep and dry, and he was coughing.

Sasuke's breaths, however, were measured and even.

And he finally spoke.

"So this is all you have, isn't it."

"No! No, it's… it's not!" Inou called back, and he struggled to swallow to keep his voice from cracking again. "I'm… I'm not done yet!"

"No. I think we're done here," Sasuke said.

And then.

The air began to smell of ozone.

Inou could feel the hairs on the back of his neck and arms standing on end.

And there was a curious sound, almost like birdsong.

Coming from Sasuke's left hand.

Inou knew that sound. And he knew the technique that it heralded.

There was a flower of chakra-lightning in Sasuke's hand.

And a murderous expression on his face.

And then Sasuke began to run.

And in that moment, Inou knew that he was done for.

He couldn't dodge this.

His father was going to kill him.

He was going to die.

But before Ino's hands could come together and take her husband away, before Hajime could let go of his sister to intervene, there was a blur of purple and black, and it took Inou with it and somersaulted away.

Sasuke's chidori hit a tree, and it exploded into shards of bark and leaves.

His expression, however, only became more infuriated when he saw that it was Murasaki unwrapping Inou from her arms.

"DAMN IT, NOT _YOU!_" Sasuke yelled, his smooth rage disappearing.

"Inou, are you all right? Are you hurt?" Murasaki said, softly, touching his face, brushing his hair away with careful fingers.

Inou was gasping for air, his heart thumping painfully in his chest and throat.

If she had been one second too late, then his father would have…

He really would have…

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE _YOU_ DOING HERE?!" Sasuke was approaching them, quickly, his breath hot through his teeth.

Murasaki looked up at him. Her eyes were open, and wrinkled with anger.

"I should ask the same of _you_," she said. Her voice was shaking, but strong.

Sasuke growled and reached down to pull her up by her collar, but Murasaki managed to dodge him, almost too gracefully. And when Sasuke stood back up, she had already grabbed him by _his_ collar, and pulled him towards her, so that his face was equal with hers.

"Are you absolutely out of your MIND?" She was yelling, now. "Sasuke, this is your SON! Do you realize what you could have DONE? You were going to KILL him!"

Sasuke wrenched himself away from her, stumbling a little. "Do NOT tell me how to treat my own CHILDREN!" he shouted. "And don't call me SASUKE like you KNOW me, madwoman!"

Murasaki's face did not suit her expression. It was hard, and her teeth were bared behind her soft lips. "I thought you were better than this, Sasuke. You were going to kill your own _son_ over… over the outcome of a match? Over _strength?_" She gestured behind her, at Inou, and her lilac-colored sleeve fluttered like a banner. "This boy is a GENIUS, Sasuke! But you're too hung-up over what the clan USED to be to even NOTICE! You have no IDEA what he's capable of, what he's DONE!"

"HOW THE FUCK WOULD YOU KNOW!" Sasuke screamed back.

(A tiny thought, solid and cold within his hot hurricane of anger, wondered how in the world she knew what they had been arguing about, why they had been fighting, when it had just been his family present for many minutes.)

Her voice suddenly got very quiet, but not breathy, like it usually was. "Because I've been watching, Sasuke. Every day, I've been watching. And I'm tired of just standing by any more."

She turned back to look at Inou. And she smiled a desperate, miserable smile. "Inou, my precious, _precious_ Inou, never, _ever_ let anyone tell you that you are inferior because you are different, because the rules weren't _made_ for you. You have a _gift_, and I am _so _proud of you."

"Shut up," Sasuke said, lowly. "Shut up and stop TALKING to him!"

"And Karai—Karai, what you did today was BRAVE!" Murasaki's voice was rising again, to overpower Sasuke's muttered curses, and his coming closer. "A HUNDRED MEN could not do what you did today, you are STRONG!"

"THAT WAS NOT BRAVERY, THAT WAS NOT STRENGTH, THAT WAS _WEAKNESS_." Sasuke was shouting in her face now, close enough to get flecks of spit on her cheeks

His thoughts were red and incoherent, his only desire to eliminate her, to make her hurt.

But Murasaki blinked, slowly, her glass-gray eyes narrowing.

"If what your daughter did today was weakness, then the sacrifices that I made for _our_ clan were cowardice of the highest degree… little brother."

An icy fog fell over Sasuke. His jaw shuddered, slightly, his words frozen to his tongue.

Murasaki leaned in closer, so that her face was directly in front of his.

"_Listen_ to me, little brother. Mark my _words._ If you continue to treat your family like this, then the clan will die for good. And it won't be my doing, this time."

With those words, Murasaki's head fell forward, and the rest of her body followed, collapsing against Sasuke's shoulder.

Sasuke's hands shot upwards on reflex, not to catch her, but to push her away.

His limbs, however, felt weak, like straw. He couldn't do anything but back away, her body slumping forward further with each step.

Eventually, and mercifully quickly, she came to. And she jerked away from Sasuke, looking quite a bit shocked herself.

"…what… what _happened?_" she said. Her voice was no longer forceful, but windy and weak. "…Shusuke, are you there? Shusuke…?"

Sasuke grabbed her by the arm. "Get… get out, get _out_." His voice sounded almost like he was retching.

Murasaki blinked several times. "…Sasuke-san? Did something happen? What did I do?"

"Get OUT." He whipped her forward and she fell into the dirt, her dark hair falling into her face.

"…I-I'm sorry, did I do something wrong…?" she said, sounding utterly terrified.

"GET OUT!" Sasuke pointed away from him.

Murasaki pulled herself to her feet and ran off, almost stumbling, clutching her head, her palms on her temples.

Ino finally managed to move, running to her son's side. Inou was still on the ground, too overwhelmed to stand since Murasaki came in and rescued him. His eyes were wide, slightly unfocused from shock.

Sasuke, with Murasaki gone, looked around in what could be best described as furious confusion. He saw Hajime holding Karai protectively, one hand on her head and the other on her back, though she didn't seem to be crying any more. He saw Ino on her knees in the dirt, shaking Inou's shoulders, wordlessly asking if he was all right, and Inou's face remaining blank.

The afternoon was playing over and over and over and over and over in his mind.

The sound of that woman calling him "little brother."

What the hell was going _on._

"I've… had enough of this… _shit_," he muttered. "I'm going _home_. And the rest of you can meet me there, for all I fucking _care_."

And he left. And once he had arrived home he took refuge in his bedroom, because his sanctuary had been invaded by cowards and failures and—

That hadn't been Itachi. That was _not_ Itachi.

That wasn't, that was just an illusion, that was just him seeing what he wanted to see, that was just Murasaki being the poison that she was.

(But how had she known all those things, how had she suddenly gotten so agile, so graceful, so familiar in her movements.)

That was not Itachi. It wasn't it wasn't it wasn't.

Eventually, the rest of the family returned home.

Karai refused to leave Hajime's embrace half the time, either in the form of his hugs or his hand, and ended up falling asleep that first night with him next to her, stroking her on the head. She had curled up against him like a baby, after tiring herself out with another bout of wordless crying.

(Karai never talked about her problems. Her family had enough troubles, and she didn't want to increase the burden with her own.)

(Karai hated making anyone feel unnecessarily uncomfortable. And this included making people look bad.)

(This was the reason why she had graduated at the age of eleven, why her nickname was Second Place Karai.)

(She could have easily become a genin at age seven or eight. But seeing Inou's struggles, and the pressures her father put on all of her brothers brought her to the decision to hold herself back. Inou had become a genin at ten. She would allow herself out at eleven. He'd look better by comparison, then.)

(This was just one of many decisions Karai made, on the behalf of others.)

(But she never talked about them.)

Hajime was beginning to regret the plans he'd made with Ninako.

Beyond their vacation-honeymoon, he had a feeling that she was going to take him out to dinner for his birthday—not on the actual day _of_ his birthday, since, oh joy of joys, his birthday actually fell on the tournament day that year. And given how upset Karai was and the fact that Inou wasn't coming out of his room and his father was stewing in his own juices—well, he just worried about his mother, and the family in general. He couldn't leave them like _this_.

When he called Ninako the next day, the day after his birthday, she wasn't around, so he left her a message on her family's answering machine, being as terse as possible: "My family made plans for after the tournament, so our team's get-together will have to wait. I'll call you again once things get back in order."

He returned to Karai, after that, watching television with her leaned against his chest, her little hand in his.

He couldn't leave the house like this.

But he couldn't stay for very long. He had to get away somehow.

Inou retreated to his room and stayed there after Ino ushered him home, doing far too much thinking.

His own father was willing to kill him.

Because he wasn't strong enough.

These two facts were enough for hours of torture.

When his mother brought him food, he barely touched it. When he tried to sleep, he was restless and dogged by uncomfortable dreams.

Ino did not call Sakura about this.

She couldn't have anyone find out about this.

What would people say about the wife of a man who did these things to his own children?

That she hadn't done enough, probably. To prevent it, or to stop it.

That she was worthless.

So she stayed quiet.

She left Sasuke alone to take his walks and glare at anyone that dared talk to him, and she left him his meals outside his door, like she did with Inou. She slept on the couch so Sasuke could have his space, even though Nadeshiko had offered her own bed.

(Nadeshiko ran into Murasaki on the way home from her grandfather's, after the tournament.)

(She was curled up under a tree in one of the parks. Her hands were wrapped over her eyes and forehead, muttering desperately to herself. One of her shoes was missing.)

(As she passed, Nadeshiko caught some of her rambling: "…please I swear I swear he told me that it was an emergency _please_ Mikoto-sama I'm sorry please _believe_ me if it was him I didn't know please I swear I'm sorry please _please_…")

(Nadeshiko lowered her eyes, in passing, and informed a shopkeeper along the way that there was a young woman having a psychotic episode nearby, and that they should probably send for help.)

Nadeshiko told her grandfather that she wouldn't be coming into work for a while, after her mother managed to explain to her what had happened after the tournament.

And Takeru merely observed everything. Almost fascinated.

This was the state that the Uchiha household was in when a messenger arrived the evening after the tournament, with an order for Sasuke and Hajime to meet with the Hyuuga clan leaders.

Immediately.


	102. Interlude: God Companion

**INTERLUDE**

**GOD COMPANION**

* * *

"Y'know what, Saki-chan? I really like Masao-kun."

Murasaki looked up from the gathering of wild herbs she was collecting. "Mm?"

"Like, he's really… _interesting_, you know?" Shusuke was leaning against the trunk of his usual, nearby tree, his leg balanced on one knee. He had a long blade of grass in his mouth. "He's _different_. And it's kinda cute how frustrated he gets with me sometimes, you know?"

"Mm. I suppose," Murasaki replied. She picked a flower, inspected it, and tossed it away.

"And y'know what? I think I'm gonna tell him that, Saki-chan."

"Mm?" Murasaki bent down for another plant. "Tell him what?"

"All that stuff I just said."

"I don't think Masao-kun would appreciate that bit about him being frustrated," Murasaki replied.

"But it's _cute_," Shusuke said, almost whining. "An' besides, I don't do it on _purpose_… most of the time."

"Mm." Murasaki added to her bundle.

"Hey, Saki-chan?" Shusuke sat up.

"Mm?"

"You think Masao-kun would let me hold his hand if I told him all this?" he said.

"What for?"

"Well that's what people are _supposed_ to do if they like each other, aren't they?"

Murasaki tilted her head slightly in place of a shrug. "If they're lovers, I suppose."

"Ew. Do I gotta tell him _that?_ 'Cos I just really _like_ him, Saki-chan. But, like… all that love stuff is kinda… _gross_."

"Well, if that's what you want," Murasaki said. She turned to look at him, and yawned. "Mmm… Children can't really be lovers, though."

"We're not kids, Saki-chan, we're _thirteen."_

"Mm. I suppose." She returned to her work.

Shusuke was supposed to be helping her gather ingredients for her family's tea shop. She didn't mind that he wasn't, however. She liked listening to him talk. And he liked talking to her, because she would listen.

And, lately, he'd been talking a lot about Masao. This was not the first time she had heard him talk about how much he liked Masao, and how he wanted to tell him sometime.

But, somehow, after their conversations were over and plans were made, Shusuke always seemed to miss his opportunities. Or just plain forget. He was just that kind of person, really.

She had known for a while that Shusuke was more than just fond of his teammate, despite what their behavior during their missions might have suggested. This was one of the first things she really learned about him, once they began spending time together outside of missions, when he'd come by her family's tea shop to pester her, and later invite her to his apartment for lunch with his mother.

Shusuke liked boys, apparently. The topic came up during a discussion on romance while they were gardening. And by that, of course, it meant that Shusuke was hunting for slugs and Murasaki was pruning, which worked just as well.

"I mean, girls are okay, I guess, but I just… _really _like guys more!" was how he had explained it. "I mean, I wouldn't wanna kiss a girl, that's just gross—no offense, Saki-chan—but a guy…" He had to pause, rethinking. "…yeah, okay, _all_ kisses are gross, but if I _had_ to choose, like, if I were _forced_ into it, I wouldn't mind it if it were from a guy, is what I mean to say. Is that weird?"

"I don't think so," Murasaki had replied. "I'm not terribly interested in boys myself, but I'm supposed to be, I think. Though you're not at all bad, Shusuke-kun."

This made Shusuke very happy, and opened him up significantly. And he was already very open, so that was saying a lot.

His preferences soon developed names. Random classmates that caught his eyes, at first, but increasingly Masao.

It amused and confused Murasaki, why this attraction was present. But opposites _did_ attract, just like how a sweet tea with a bitter custard cake made them both taste better. So she was content to watch Shusuke's fizzled attempts at connection and his bright teasing while on missions, and mediating between the two boys so that things never got overly sour.

And then another thing arose that confused her: Shusuke's sudden determination, following his success in the chuunin exam preliminaries. Murasaki and Masao had both fallen through, in the preliminaries, which Shusuke waved over Masao's head at every opportunity.

"I'm gonna do it, Saki-chan," Shusuke declared.

"Hm? Do what?"

"Gonna finally tell Masao. This is the moment. After the chuunin exam tournament. I'm gonna win the heck outta that thing, and then, when Masao has to go up and congratulate me, I'm… I'm gonna tell him!" Shusuke's smile burned like magnesium. "And maybe I'll give him a kiss too, just to see the look on his face."

Murasaki smiled, gently. "Is this your 'right moment' then?"

"_Oh_ yeah. Totally. It'll be _awesome_."

"Mm. That sounds quite lovely," Murasaki replied.

She fully expected him to forget about it by the time they next talked. But, to her surprise, and to some extent, delight, he kept working at the plan.

He gushed about his training. "So I can get up to a super high rank! It's not nearly so impressive if I'm just in the lower tier. I'm no _loser_."

He worked on a script. "Do I do something long? Or do I just, like, go up to him and tell him I like him?"

He tortured himself over the final act. "Augh, what if a kiss would ruin it?! Should I just hug him instead? Hugs are good, right?"

All the while, Murasaki just did her work, and nodded, and offered advice where she could.

She never expected to be left with the plan, half-finished and unsure.

Shusuke never got to speak a word of it, if he had even wanted to speak a word.

This was what haunted her.

Not the way that his spine had twisted and snapped over the Uchiha girl's knee.

Not the sea of his blood that remained on the arena long after he had been carried away.

Not the look of brokenness on Naruto-sensei's face when he came to tell her and Masao that he was gone.

What haunted her was that his plan was now hers to own, and she had no idea what to do with it.

She wanted to ask Shusuke, but Shusuke was not there. He was gone.

But he couldn't be. Shusuke couldn't be gone, not entirely.

It was impossible that the warm, star-bright boy no longer truly existed.

He had loved too much and too strongly to have just disappeared without a trace.

His plan still lived within her. His love, and his words, those were _alive._

She mused over this often while picking tea ingredients, feeling the space where he should have been, by the tree.

He couldn't be entirely gone.

The solution came from her grandmother. Her parents had asked the old widow to accompany Murasaki to Shusuke's grave, so she could learn grave-cleaning rituals, how to pray, and light incense. Murasaki's grandfather had passed away long before she was born, during one of the wars, and his wife was experienced in keeping his resting place cared for.

"Lighting incense ensures that our prayers are carried along to the Will of Fire," her grandmother explained, bowing her head as she struck a match.

"The Will of Fire?" Murasaki replied.

Her grandmother blew out the match. "It's a great spiritual river, a path that connects us to those that have left us."

"A path that connects us..." Murasaki's voice became very soft.

Her grandmother nodded again, and began lighting the incense. "Those that die never really leave us, Murasaki. Their love for us continues to touch us and those around us through the Will of Fire. Their skills, their ideas, their thoughts, they are passed on too, from person to person, generation to generation."

Shusuke's plans still lived within her. Excitement and the spicy scent of the incense began warming her heart.

But surely that wasn't all that remained of him?

"Can people… actually _speak _to the Will of Fire?" Murasaki said.

"Perhaps some can. I know that many meditate to gain the wisdom of the Will," her grandmother replied. "Now, take this stick and put it in the pot, there. And once you're done, clap your hands and say a prayer for Shusuke-kun. The smoke will carry it to him."

Murasaki clasped her hands together, and prayed, fervently.

"I'm going to find you, Shusuke-kun," she murmured. "So you can tell me what to do."

From that day forward, Murasaki was on a mission.

She was going to find the Will of Fire, and communicate with it herself.

So Shusuke could talk to her again.

So she herself could be at peace.

In between missions—and there weren't nearly as many as there used to be, not with the state that Naruto-sensei was in, not with a teammate missing—she lived in the library, reading religious texts on the Will of Fire, spending hours deciphering scrolls full of theory and philosophy. She went on day trips with her grandmother to temples in the countryside of the Land of Fire, and spoke extensively with the monks and nuns there.

Most of them were amused, though sadly-so, with her little obsession. And many gave her soft, half-answers: The Will of Fire lives within all of us, the Will of Fire is present in our skills and nothing more, there is nothing that the Will can tell you that you cannot find out for yourself, little girl.

But there was.

It was an old master that finally gave her something true. She brushed aside the other nuns, who were beginning to tire of Murasaki's endless questions, and knelt down to eye level with the girl.

"Young child," she said, "if you truly desire to make contact with the Will itself, then you must be willing to empty your body entirely, to rid yourself of everything inside of you, to remove your very soul. Only then may you become a vessel through which the Will of Fire may flow. Only then may you truly communicate with it, if that is what you desire."

"And how do I do that?" Murasaki replied.

"That is something you must find out for yourself, young one. To remove one's self requires deep meditation and contemplation," the master replied. "I must warn you, however. Many have trained for years to achieve this level of enlightenment, and many have given up."

Murasaki bowed, deeply. "Thank you, master. This helps me greatly."

The old master nodded her head, in return. "I wish you luck, child."

The encounter left many of the nuns in the abbey confused. The child's questions were naïve and immature—why would their leader give her so much time, and so many answers?

But the great old woman with the bone-dry fingers would say nothing on the matter, and told her disciples to return to their studies and meditations.

Murasaki went home jewel-eyed and breathless, and rushed to the library the next day to devour every book on meditation that she could find.

She had to learn how to empty herself, so she would.

For Shusuke's sake.

Once she got the hang of this, she meditated for hours on end, every day. Usually when her parents thought she was sleeping, or when she claimed she was out gathering ingredients. She would meditate under Shusuke's tree, in those instances, gathering enough for an excuse afterwards.

Cross-legged, her hands folded in her lap, she would concentrate, focusing only on the sound of her own breathing, blocking out all other sounds and sensations until they had disappeared. If the wind blew, she was not aware of it. If it began raining, she did know it. If her legs began to cramp up, she did not feel it.

(The first time she ended her meditation to find herself in a downpour filled her with such joy that she skipped all the way home, completely forgetting her errand-alibi.)

The only things that could break her concentration were her parents, rousing her on the shoulders to get her attention.

Or hunger.

Hunger would go next.

She began going without meals in the afternoons, to give herself a head start. And when the pangs of hunger and thirst began scratching at the comforting emptiness she had managed to wrap herself in, she absorbed it, making it as insignificant and nonexistent as every other sensation in and around her body.

This took time. But she was disciplined.

Her fasting continued. She survived on water and broth, and polite, excused absences at dinner.

Her parents began to notice her soft face growing thinner, and shadows appearing under her eyes. They wondered if it was, perhaps, due to her grief—but that seemed unusual, because Murasaki had never seemed so peaceful in her life. And she had always been a sleepy, serene child.

The first time she collapsed was in the kitchen, when she was helping her mother to clean dishes. Her limbs were trembling with weakness, and a plate fell out of her hands and into the sink before her knees gave out. She smacked her head against the floor, hard. Her parents rushed her to the hospital.

She was put on an IV, because she was dehydrated and malnourished. When they asked her why she had allowed herself to fall into such a state, Murasaki just smiled.

"I'm training," she replied, "and I haven't felt much like eating these days."

"If you don't take care of your body, you can't train," was the given advice. "Eat regular meals a day, and get plenty of liquids and sleep."

Murasaki used the pain in her head as a focus point for her meditation, during her brief stay in the hospital. Erasing it, removing it, dissolving it into nothing.

And when she was not meditating, she was thinking.

She supposed the doctors were right. If she allowed her body to weaken and fall into disarray, then how was she expected to touch the Will?

She had to keep her body strong. She supposed that erasing hunger was proof enough that she was getting somewhere, anyways.

But she had to go further. She hadn't made it, yet. Otherwise, she would have heard Shusuke.

Winter was approaching. Neither she nor Masao had any interest in that season's chuunin exams, and Naruto-sensei didn't press the issue.

This gave her more time to train.

There was a waterfall, in one of Konoha's many nature reserves-slash-training grounds. The water would not likely freeze over there.

A waterfall was surely a greater force to erase than a light, fall rain.

Every day that she could manage, Murasaki made her way over the reserve, stripped to her underwear, and sat under the waterfall until she could no longer feel it. She was never really quite aware of how long she remained under. She would only break from her concentration when her head began to lean forward too much, and she would tumble into the river below from the loss of balance.

This worked, for a time. She would return home with her long hair pulled into braids and buns, and she would eat well and sleep well. And her parents were delighted to see the color and shape returning to her face.

Somewhat.

Her body was still weakened, and thin. And the water and the winter air were very, very cold.

The second time she collapsed was on the way home from an errand for her parents. The vegetables in her grocery bag scattered and rolled into a snowdrift, and she lay on her stomach in the middle of a quiet street for a good long while before someone found her.

She was not cold, but very, very hot, and she breathed like she was running for her life.

Once again, she was put in the hospital. She had a dangerously high fever, and despite medicine and rest, it only worsened.

In her bed, Murasaki's vision blurred and twinkled. Patches of yellow and paler yellow and flesh passed in front of her, black and brown, and white, white, white.

She gasped for air like she was drowning in sea of flame.

A halo of heat circled her head.

In her delirium, she wondered if this was what enlightenment felt like.

For she felt light.

She felt people laying hands on her hands.

A rough hand on her left, warm and solid.

The other, on her right, burned immaterially, like hot, hollow glass.

She closed her eyes, and even the darkness burned.

It became harder and harder to feel things. She could no longer open her eyes. Her heartbeat and the lava-rumble of the blood rushing through the vessels in her ears were the only sounds, for a while.

Then, nothing.

Involuntary meditation.

Her very soul was incinerating.

But this did not worry her, as she gulped in the cold air, swallowing it in great, tortured mouthfuls.

Golden words swam through the increasing nothingness.

To feel the Will, she had to empty herself.

She would let the fire burn until nothing was left.

For Shusuke.

She felt her soul rising up through her throat, into her mouth, her nostrils, with a hard, iron scent. Her head sank back into the pillow with its weight.

When, suddenly, she could feel again.

A hand, thin and dry, like paper, like wood, like bone, pressed against her mouth with its fingertips. Its long nails brushed her lips.

_This isn't what she meant when she told you to empty yourself, dear._

Her breath slowed. The voice echoed and flowed, like whirlpool-waves, circling her mind.

_A soul is a terrible thing to waste._

Murasaki's mouth opened and closed in mushy, fish-movements.

The fiery-glass hand on her right increased its grip.

_We must be quick if we are to save you. You will not return undamaged, nor unrewarded._

Murasaki's throat began to tighten. The warm-solid hand on her left tightened also.

_Your life will be full of hardships, dear. But you mustn't be afraid._

Murasaki found her voice in the void. "I'm not afraid… I'm not afraid…" she moaned. She felt her lips brush against the fingers, the nails.

_Be brave, Kamitsure, God Companion. We now walk with you. _

And she felt the fingers move from her lips to her ears, and they traced the curve of the cartilage all the way down to her earlobes, and across her forehead to the other ear, like a crown.

The path burned on her skin for a moment, before fading into the emptiness, like everything else.

The hand of fire released its grip. Her wrist ached in the comfort of its disappearance.

Slowly, like light leaking through a window at sunrise, other sensations began to bleed through.

She heard a voice.

_Saki-chan, please, please, don't, it's no better over here, I swear, it's lonely and I don't want you here, not yet, Saki-chan, please don't die!_

It was a voice she never thought she'd hear again.

"Shusuke…?"

Her head felt very heavy. She struggled to move it, to hear where he was.

"Shusuke, is that really you…?"

_Saki-chan, no, no, please, hold on, don't die!_

"I'm fine, Shusuke… I'm okay… I'm not going to die…" She managed a smile, if she could call it that. She wondered if he could even see it.

_Wait, can she… can you hear me? Saki-chan?_

"I can hear you, Shusuke… I can finally _hear_ you… It's okay now…"

Her eyes managed to creak open.

She saw Naruto-sensei to her left, holding her hand. He was saying something, but she could not really hear him, his words muffled and very quiet, as if he were far away, and underwater. Masao was with him. He had been crying, and his face was tight and outlined with red.

"Naruto-sensei, I can hear him… I can hear Shusuke… He's okay…"

She tried smiling for him too, but her head sank back into her pillow, and a cool, welcoming darkness.

Her fever broke, that evening. And by the next day she was well enough to sit up and eat.

But a curious thing seemed to have happened to her hearing.

Whenever anyone tried to speak to her, they made noises, but they weren't at all interpretable, reduced to vowels and jelly-consonants. Of course, Murasaki could understand herself perfectly fine, so she spoke and informed them of this.

Shusuke, however, was perfectly clear. Once he was certain that Murasaki could hear him, he made no small effort in talking to her as much as he could.

She informed them of this, as well, far more joyfully.

They began testing her, after that.

Hearing tests, with machines.

(Her hearing was otherwise perfectly fine.)

Mental evaluation.

(Her inability to understand human speech was almost certainly a mental condition.)

Talks with psychologists.

(Brain damage from the fever, possibly. But they wanted to see if it was psychological before they did any invasive tests on that end.)

They tried communicating with her through a notepad, until Shusuke came up with the idea to interpret for her.

_She asked you if I've ever talked to you before this. Uh, duh, no I've been trying to talk to you _forever, _so of course you haven't._

"…no, he only appeared after I started getting better. We've been talking a lot, lately," Murasaki replied, once he was finished.

She seemed to be improving, so they prescribed further visits with a therapist and a temporary ban on training and missions, and sent her home.

This gave her more time to talk to Shusuke.

(The doctors dismissed this as a temporary coping mechanism, figuring it would be worked out of her with her therapist.)

They talked about many things. She usually went to their tree for privacy, since she figured it looked rather odd for her parents to see her talking to someone that nobody could see.

Shusuke, she was pleased to learn, was doing fine. He was terribly lonely, however, in the foggy somewhere he seemed to have ended up in.

_Most people are just, like, dark figures that you don't really see unless you get super close. But you an' my mom and Naruto-sensei and Masao-kun are normal-lookin'. And all the buildings are clear as day, Saki-chan, only, there are a lot that I don't remember ever bein' there. It's weird._

He also talked a fair bit about the people he had met on the other side. Nobody famous, really.

_Though there's this really cool-looking blue guy that I see every now and then. I'm sorta too scared to talk to him, though. He hangs out with some tough-looking guys around the Uchihas' place._

He also gossiped, a fair bit. And in most ways, it was almost as if nothing had changed. He simply didn't have a body any more.

Murasaki found herself surprised at her reluctance in bringing up the plan, considering that she had undergone all these trials for it, in the first place.

But, eventually, she got around to it.

"Shusuke-kun, do you want Masao-kun to know that you liked him?"

Shusuke's silence in return was worrisome.

But, Murasaki waited. And, eventually, he spoke.

…_y'know what, I sorta wanted to? I mean, for a while after it happened, I sorta thought that it was keepin' me here or something? I dunno how these things work. But… I sorta don't regret it that much, that I never got to tell him. 'specially now with me gone an' all. I don't want Masao-kun havin' to keep living with that, knowing that I'll never get to be with him or anything, if he actually felt anything for me back. It'll get in the way of him actually moving on, I think. I really want him to be _happy_, you know? He sure could use some happiness. Kid's got such a stick up his butt…_

Shusuke asked Murasaki why she was crying, after that.

"It's because I'm relieved," Murasaki replied. "I didn't want to ruin that for you."

_I'm really glad you're my friend, Saki-chan. I'm givin' you a hug right now. You probably can't feel it, though._

A chill ran up Murasaki's spine, and her chest seized up. That was enough for her.

Though Shusuke was not without requests entirely.

_Can you go tell Nadeshiko-chan that I'm sorry?_

"Mm?" Murasaki was grinding tea leaves in the back of her family's shop.

_Uchiha Nadeshiko-chan. You know, the girl that, um… fought me._

Murasaki paused. "Why do you want to… apologize to her?"

She was not bothered by the girl, but Shusuke's request still struck her as strange.

_Because she's really hurting, Saki-chan, like, you have no idea. Like, she didn't know she was going to actually hurt me so bad, for one. She feels so bad that she quit being a ninja, just like that! And her dad threw her out of the house, too!_

"She was thrown out of her house…?" Murasaki said. "But where is she now?"

_With her grandpa. I tried to find her one day. She's all bright for me, like you are. She was easy to find._

"I'll see what I can do," Murasaki replied.

Though when she went to visit Nadeshiko herself, finding her at the Yamanaka flower shop when the family compound bore no fruit, things did not go well.

"…is Nadeshiko-chan in?" Murasaki asked the old, blond owner of the place.

_He says that she's working in the back._

"…may I speak to her, please?"

_He asked why._

"…I just have a message to pass onto her, it won't take very long."

_He just called her out, _Shusuke said, even though Murasaki could see that plainly. Shusuke still spoke too much about things.

What Murasaki noticed again, like she had noticed when Nadeshiko had first gone out onto the field against Shusuke, was how very small she was. She had little hands and barely came up to Murasaki's shoulder. Nadeshiko bent her head lowly in looking back at them, as if hiding her face and body behind her waist-length hair.

"…Nadeshiko-chan?" Murasaki said.

_She asked what you want._

"…my name is Kamitsure Murasaki, I'm a friend of Kugi Shusuke-kun's. He wants me to tell you something."

Nadeshiko's big eyes narrowed.

_What is it?_

"…he just wanted to apologize for all the pain he's caused you. He didn't mean for your father to yell at you like that and throw you out of your house. He's very sorry."

Nadeshiko's hands rose up to her chest, clinging to each other tightly.

"…if there is anything we can do for you to help…"

_Uh, Saki-chan, the shop guy's asking us to leave…_

"…I'm very sorry," Murasaki said, and she left.

_I get the feeling that, uh, not a lot of people know that that happened…_

"Poor girl," Murasaki replied.

They kept running into each other, and each time, Murasaki tried to do a better job.

At the graveyard, where Murasaki was cleaning Shusuke's grave—him chattering along fairly cheerfully, all things considered, as she worked—Nadeshiko showed up with a small handful of marigolds, though she left just as quickly, once she saw that Murasaki was there.

She returned, however, Shusuke was quick to inform.

_She's talking to me_, he said, out of the blue, a while later. _I can tell. It's weird, it's like someone sneezing when you're talking about them, only with… prayers and stuff, I guess. Being a ghost is kinda weird sometimes, Saki-chan._

The graveyard visits provided more than just awkward encounters with Nadeshiko, however.

It was there that Murasaki discovered that she was starting to hear more than just Shusuke. Faint murmurs, at first, but soon she was able to hear full conversations as spirits passed by. There were certain places where they were loudest: the graveyard, where Shusuke said the "sad sacks" hung out, but also a few, seemingly-random neighborhoods, and the area near the Uchiha family grounds, where Murasaki frequently took walks, due to its otherwise-silence.

_D'you wanna see if I can get someone to talk to you? _

Shusuke began to have daydreams about what Murasaki could do with this ability, if it was as developed as he thought it was becoming.

_Living people always wanna, like, talk to the dead, right? Maybe it works the other way around, too?_

"I suppose it's worth a try," Murasaki replied.

While she slept, Shusuke began rumormonging. He didn't dare leave her side during the day; she needed him to understand people, and her studies in reading lips were slow-coming.

Ghosts didn't sleep, he informed her. There wasn't really anything resembling day or night, with everything remaining the same, uniform gray.

Most people didn't believe him, the older folks informing him that there were plenty of crackpots out there that got it all wrong, and that he was an utter fool to fall for it as a ghost himself. Others thought there could only be trouble in meddling with the living world, and that it would only bring discomfort, to pass messages on. Others still simply looked at Shusuke, sadly, knowingly, and shook their heads, saying nothing.

However, Shusuke did find one person.

He had been a Hyuuga, a man named Tomoshi, with a gentle, cultured way of speaking. He'd died of illness while his wife was pregnant with their son, and he wanted very badly to let them know that he was still okay, in the years that had passed.

Murasaki could practically hear the grin on his face once she'd proven to him that she could really hear him.

Things got a little bumpy, after that.

"The last time I tried carrying on a message to a living person, things didn't go terribly well, Tomoshi-san," Murasaki explained. The three of them had gathered in her room, and she was sitting, cross-legged, imagining it as something like a child's tea party with her stuffed animals. "So even if I were to go to your wife, what could I do to prove that it's really you there?"

_I'm rather without an idea, _Tomoshi replied. _But we'll think of something. I don't care how long it takes, really._

The idea, eventually, came from Shusuke.

_Maybe he could, like, possess you?_

_How on _earth_ would I be able to do _that? Tomoshi replied. He'd taken to following them around lately, when he was not at the Hyuuga compound, watching over his family.

_I 'unno. You could go through, like, Saki-chan's nails or mouth or belly button I guess? Like how fox spirits do in the stories._

_That sounds thoroughly ridiculous._

"Wait," Murasaki said. "Perhaps there _is_ a way."

There was something that the master had told her, months ago. And perhaps it hadn't been what she'd had in mind, but it inspired Murasaki all the same.

She had to empty herself to become a vessel for the Will of Fire.

Suppose she could empty herself and become a vessel for Tomoshi's will?

_It's worth a shot, I suppose, _Tomoshi replied.

_That sounds _awesome, _let's totally _do _it! _Shusuke said.

The experiments began shortly afterward.

Murasaki took to meditation again. Though her focus was different, this time. Not only was she trying to shut out everything outside of her, she was trying to shut out everything _inside_ of her, as well.

And once she had reached that state?

_What do I do, just… step inside of you, or something like that? That seems rather awkward._

"You could try taking my hand," Murasaki offered. "I'll leave my palm open for you."

_Well that seems a fair bit more proper, doesn't it._

The first few attempts were useless. And Murasaki grew frustrated, which rarely happened to her.

"Tell me when you have your hand in my hand," she said, one afternoon. "I'll see if I can feel a difference, and work with it."

_All right, Murasaki-san._

She focused all of her concentration on that little hand.

And suddenly, she felt it. A blue lightness, like milk or liquid soap, pressing on the tips of her fingers, the palm of her hand, glowing in the void she was trying to produce.

She pulled on it. And she felt her very consciousness ache against it, resisting, rejecting the intrusion of another soul.

But she could empty her soul.

She could become a vessel.

The last thing she remembered was Tomoshi saying, _Good heavens, what is going on?_

She woke up at the bottom of the stairs, feeling unusually tired-out.

_Murasaki-san, I do believe we have found our solution! _

_Now that's what I call a possession!_ Shusuke whooped from nearby. _Tomoshi-san, you really booked it!_

Murasaki smiled breathlessly, sitting down on the steps and propping herself up on her elbows.

She had a feeling she'd be able to do something great with this.

The possession training commenced.

Every day, she would practice with Tomoshi and Shusuke, taking them into her body and giving them short activities to do.

One of the disadvantages of the possession technique, she discovered, was that she was entirely unaware of what the guest soul was doing in her body. To see how much she was capable of, she would tell them to do things like take an object from one room to another, and looking to see if it had really been moved while she was out, afterwards.

Each attempt was more daring than the last. Though sometimes she would run out of stamina and wake up halfway through, disoriented and tired for a while, until she remembered what she'd ordered Tomoshi or Shusuke to do.

Practice began to reduce this occurrence.

Spring was on the approach.

Shusuke began looking forward to the chuunin exam.

_You should totally give it another try, Saki-chan. I mean, things are _okay_ now, you know? Plus I bet you and Tomoshi-san could totally bust some dudes up if you teamed up. Tomoshi's a wicked fighter I bet._

_Oh, I wasn't really that special. I preferred the library to the battlefield, really._

Murasaki was hesitant. But she couldn't deny that she was curious as to the extent of her technique in regards to combat.

So she and Tomoshi trained for it.

Shusuke, meanwhile, went out recruiting again. He felt he had more evidence for their case.

He at least got a few more interested parties: a few adults of varying ages, and one old-ish guy that seemed to be more interested in Murasaki than her technique.

None of them really wanted to try it out for themselves, yet. But they were willing to see how Murasaki did during the chuunin exams before allowing her to take them in for whatever they wanted to do.

"I won't do anything illegal or mean, though," Murasaki was quick to add. "I trust you all to be responsible."

_Trust us, sweetheart, we won't make you steal even a kiss_, the old-ish guy replied.

Naruto-sensei was a bit surprised when Murasaki announced her intention to participate in the chuunin exams, despite him not training with her at all over the past year.

"…I've been working at some new things on the side, Naruto-sensei," Murasaki replied. "Please put your trust in me. I will do well."

Masao had declined, earlier. He was doing well by volunteering and doing missions independently for the academy as a gopher of sorts, and making a name for himself in that way. A career as a chuunin wasn't in his immediate interests.

_He says he'll get you in,_ Shusuke said, and Murasaki smiled.

The first section of the exam was laughably easy. Shusuke and Tomoshi drifted around the room and gave her answers. She never had to lift her eyes from the paper.

The Forest of Death was a wee bit trickier, but with Tomoshi and Shusuke to scout ahead, and Tomoshi's Gentle Fist in case she had to fight anyone—she had trained herself to induce a possession in record timing, and could remain possessed for up to ten minutes—she was more than prepared.

_It's weird, but this place isn't foggy at all, _Shusuke remarked. _All the trees are glowing. Neat._

Murasaki promised Shusuke that he'd be allowed to fight in the preliminary, but her name was never called.

_It's all right, you can let me have some fun on our first chuunin mission out together,_ Shusuke replied, when she apologized for this.

The summer of training began.

By the time of the tournament, Murasaki had extended her period of possession to almost a half an hour. She and Tomoshi were beginning to plan how he'd announce himself to his wife, as well.

_Well, you using Gentle Fist will certainly get her attention. And once I see her after the tournament ends—I'll point her out to you—you can let me take over. I'll be able to convince her I am who I am, and say my piece, and that will be that._

"I hope it goes that smoothly, Tomoshi-san," Murasaki replied.

It didn't.

The fight went, more or less, as planned. Tomoshi possessed her and won, or so she assumed, since their opponent was knocked out when she came to.

However, she was pulled aside by an ANBU after the match, who said that the Hokage had some questions for her.

"…oh, of course," Murasaki said. Whatever questions Naruto-sensei had for her, she was certain that he would understand the answers.

She did not expect the small gathering of Hyuuga that were with him, in the service tunnel down the stairs.

A harsh-looking woman stood at the center. She wore a black kimono and had her hair pulled into a simple, severe knot. She spoke quickly.

_She's asking you to explain yourself, Saki-chan. She wants to know how you know Gentle Fist._

"…because I have the assistance of a Hyuuga with me," Murasaki replied. "He guided my hand."

_She's asking who taught you._

_That's my wife, Murasaki-san,_ Tomoshi said. He sounded almost sad.

"Which one's your wife?" Murasaki replied, the words slipping out of her.

_Saki-chan, she's getting angry…_

"…my apologies, my apologies… A man named Tomoshi is with me, he just told me that, mm, one of you is his wife?"

The hard woman's face flared. Her mouth opened and closed in barely-discernible movements.

_Uh, Saki-chan, she's asking you to explain yourself…_

"…well, ma'am, I have a connection to the Will of Fire, I hear it, and it flows within me, so it was not me that was fighting just now, but him…"

A bark-like movement of the mouth.

_Saki-chan, she just called you something _seriously_ rude._

_Hanabi, please, don't be this way, _Tomoshi said, quietly.

Naruto-sensei was saying something, now. The other woman in the group, a far-softer-looking creature, was holding a floppy-headed toddler in her arms. She was bouncing the child, whispering something to it.

"…Hanabi? Is your wife's name Hanabi?" Murasaki asked.

_Yes, and that's my son, over there, with my sister-in-law. His name is Andou._

"…Andou… What a sweet name, Tomoshi-san, you must be so proud of him…"

The woman named Hanabi was apparently shouting, though Murasaki could not hear.

_Saki-chan, uh, I think you should probably stop, she's getting really angry and telling you to shut up…_

"...Tomoshi-san, I'm so sorry," Murasaki said. "I had hoped that this wouldn't turn out so badly."

Murasaki didn't say anything, after that, because Hanabi had scratched her across the cheek with her nails. The Hyuuga men with her restrained her after that, and Naruto-sensei hurried Murasaki away, and Shusuke passed on the fact that he wanted to know what had just happened.

"…I only told the truth, Naruto-sensei," she replied. "This is the technique I was working on. I hear the Will of Fire. It flows through me now."

Naruto-sensei smiled a very uncomfortable smile after that.

_He said we should get that scratch on your cheek healed up, Saki-chan. He wants to take you to the hospital._

"…I suppose that's fair," Murasaki replied. "All right, let's go, then."

They did more than just heal her cheek, after that.

There were more tests. Many more tests.

She spoke to the therapists again. And the therapists passed her around amongst themselves.

She had her brain scanned and prodded by medics and mind-readers alike.

One afternoon, they had a hypnosis session. Or at least, that was what they said they were going to do.

When they asked to speak to Shusuke, she allowed him to possess her, and let him speak. Others spoke, too, when they asked if there were others inside of her.

"…they're not _inside_ me all the time," she replied. "I merely allow them to enter."

Of course, she didn't know exactly what was said while she was possessed.

But her parents came to her after a while away with an orange plastic bottle of pills, and explained that they were going to make her better.

_They said you got audio-tory hallucinations an' trauma-induced dis-social-something identity disorder. Whatever the heck _that_ means,_ Shusuke elaborated, once they had gotten home. _They think it's cos you're still sad about me dying and everything. I guess telling the truth isn't really helping us much, huh._

"No, I suppose not," Murasaki replied.

She took the medicine they had given her, anyways. Her parents said that it would make the voices she heard disappear, so that she would feel normal again. But Shusuke's voice never left her, nor Tomoshi's, nor any of the others.

She hadn't expected them to. She knew she wasn't sick.

She lied about hearing them, though, whenever she went to visit her therapist. For a while, anyways.

But she eventually stopped going, because there was less and less to talk about over those visits, beyond if the medicine was working.

Murasaki had to admit that the pills made her feel… different. Her head and body felt lighter, hollow from a fever that didn't exist. She also felt very, very sleepy, and would spend many more hours in bed than before.

This worried Shusuke, because, even though he knew Murasaki to be a lover of sleep, this felt excessive.

"There's nothing wrong with me, Shusuke-kun, don't worry…" Murasaki said, digging her head further into her down pillow.

He told her to stop taking the medicine after a year.

_You're not sick, you don't need to fake that you are so they'll leave you alone, okay? Besides, it's just making you sick in a _different_ way…_

"Mm, all right…"

Her parents noticed, and pleaded with her to start taking the pills again. But Murasaki replied that she felt better without them, and eventually the issue was dropped. They still encouraged her to speak to her therapist from time to time, but Murasaki never did.

Even with the medicine gone, with her head regaining its clarity, Murasaki no longer spent her days practicing possession. She lost her motivation to give another try at the chuunin exams, instead wandering about town to listen to the conversations of those around her, that other people would never hear.

(The people at the hospital had banned her from missions until she was mentally healthy, anyways.)

(Which meant indefinitely.)

She talked at length with those who needed someone to listen. She began living in the library again, reading over history books, exploring long-built-over areas of the city and asking the people there about their take on things.

And things might have been all right, for a while, if they had stayed this way.

But then Murasaki met the Uchiha family.

The deceased branch.

In the years that passed, in his miserable excuse for an existence, Shusuke would rue the day Uchiha Mikoto reached out to his best friend, asking her for a favor.


	103. Cockroach Wasp

_Despite the establishment of Hidden Villages bringing them in close proximity, and as a result encouraging interaction and even romance, intermarriage between clans remains somewhat of a rare occurrence. Most clans choose to have their members marry within established clan social traditions, taking landless civilians as husbands/wives, or both. In the Land of Fire, for example, the Uchiha clan has a well-documented marriage law within its family that prevents males from taking non-Uchihas for wives; Uchiha women, however, may marry whomever they wish, Uchiha or otherwise. […] A similar rule exists amongst the Yuuhi clan, though reversed: it is believed that the Yuuhi clan proclivity for genjutsu is passed on by the father, and therefore females must marry other Yuuhi for the clan lineage to be preserved. This restriction is absent for Yuuhi males._

_[…] One clan that stands out amongst all others in terms of marriage law is the Hyuuga. While other clans have evolved systems of law regarding the admission of non-clan members into their clans for the purpose of marriage, almost exclusively for the preservation of bloodlines, the Hyuuga clan stands apart in that it seems to have developed a form of functional incest, where no two members of the clan are not related to each other. This seems to have been facilitated by the establishment of a Main family and a Branch family, the members of which are usually never closer than first or second cousins. Hyuuga clan members are customarily assigned a spouse from an opposite family when they come of age; should a marriage be requested between two members of the same family, however, the clan genealogy must be consulted, so as to prevent too much similarity in blood. […] The reason for this somewhat militant form of marriage law is thought to be a particularly aggressive form of bloodline preservation; certainly, there are no recorded instances of non-Hyuuga/Hyuuga marriages in any sort of written history, but even then, there are no birth records nor medical documentation of half-Hyuuga offspring, unlike other well-established clans, such as the Uchiha, who keep track of children born out of wedlock or extramarital affairs, regardless of whether or not the child develops a Sharingan later in life._

_[…] Of course, given how relatively young Hidden Villages are, it remains to be seen whether these social customs will evolve with time, or will remain in place due to necessity._

- Excerpts from an anthropological report detailing marriage laws across the greater continent; 65 BU

* * *

**ACT 12**

**LOST**

* * *

_Chapter 103 - Cockroach Wasp_

* * *

Takeru was the one that answered the door, when the Hyuuga messenger came, the evening after the tournament. This wasn't exactly his choice, but given that his mother was taking a nap, exhausted, on the couch, and everyone else in the family seemed to be either emotionally compromised or Nadeshiko, this became his responsibility.

"Excuse me, but are Uchiha Sasuke and Uchiha Hajime at home?" the messenger asked. He was dressed in a teal kimono, with the sleeves and hem pulled up with white strips of cloth. A runner's clothes.

Takeru's eyebrows shifted. "They _are_ home, but I doubt they're up to receiving any visitors at this particular moment."

"I'm not here to visit," the Hyuuga replied. "They have been summoned by the head of my clan to go speak with her. It's very urgent."

"How urgent," Takeru replied.

"I don't think that's for either of us to decide," the Hyuuga said, his already-flat expression turning sour. "All I know is that the head of my clan has requested an audience with them this evening and I'm to collect them."

"Awfully last-minute," Takeru said.

A subtle, dry huff. "Are they not at _home?_"

Takeru sighed. "Let me go look. But don't blame me if they don't want to go with you."

"Neither of them have a choice in the matter. She's requested to see them _tonight_. May I remind you, Uchiha, that she is the _head_ of our clan? She holds a fair amount of power in this city and will likely take more… forceful measures if I'm not enough."

Takeru scoffed. "Fine, whatever. Just wait a moment." He went down the hallway, to his father's room first, and slid the door open slightly.

Sasuke was laying on his back, on the bed. The lights were off.

"Father."

Sasuke didn't respond, but his eyes glimmered red in the darkness where he turned his head.

"There's a messenger from the Hyuuga clan to see us. He says the head of his clan wants to meet with you tonight. And he means _tonight_."

"Why."

"I have no idea. Then again, that Hyuuga clan leader isn't the most _reasonable_ woman, I hear." Takeru leaned against the door, slightly. "Do you suppose you should see what she wants before she declares war on our house?"

Sasuke grumbled. "Should say what she _wants_ if it's so _urgent_."

"Not everyone is as eloquent as you, Father. Do you need some time to prepare?"

"I'll be right out." Sasuke began to sit up, so Takeru closed the door and began upstairs, and to the door at the end of the hallway.

Hajime was sitting upright on his bed, reading, with Karai curled up against his chest. She was asleep, and breathing lightly.

"Oh, how cute," Takeru said, his voice curling with unfitting sugar.

"What do you want, Takeru." Hajime kept his voice soft.

"You and Father have been summoned for an audience with the Hyuuga clan head tonight, and there's someone to get you."

Hajime paused. "What for?"

"Hell if I know. You must have done something to piss them off. Either way, it sounded pretty urgent."

Hajime swallowed, setting his mouth into a firm, neutral expression.

(His guard against the exponential increase in his heart rate.)

He put the book down on his bedside table, and carefully picked himself out from under Karai, leaving her asleep on top of the covers.

Takeru watched him from the top of the stairs as Hajime entered the foyer. Sasuke was putting on his shoes, and his expression only wrinkled when he saw Hajime reaching for his boots as well.

"Where are _you_ going," he asked.

"…with you? Weren't we both summoned?" Hajime said.

"I wasn't aware."

"Our clan head desires to speak with both of you, so," the Hyuuga said.

Hajime glanced annoyedly up at Takeru, who snickered with his hand over his mouth.

"Fine. Let's get this over with," Sasuke said.

The three of them left, without any further words.

They walked in a line, heads facing backs. Their steps were slow, and measured.

(The Hyuuga messenger felt uncomfortable and ill at ease. He knew that the clan head was prone to irrational, and sometimes violent, whims. And the suddenness of this request was not a good sign.)

(Sasuke felt annoyed, and suspicious.)

(Hajime felt terrified.)

The entire way over, all Hajime could think of was a reason why the Hyuuga clan would want to talk to him _and_ his father, but not his mother.

It had to have been about Ninako, it had to, it had to have been, they must have found out…

…but why would they bring his father into this? And, again, not his mother? Surely both parents would be involved if it were a matter of them being together.

Maybe it was something else.

He hoped it was something else.

He would give anything for it to be something else.

_Anything._

There was no relief; they walked on, closer and closer, their shadows forming columns to the east. The sun was just beginning to set over the trees and traditional residences of the area. It was a radiant, yellow-orange sunset, like the glow of burning buildings in the distance.

The gate of the Hyuuga compound loomed like a gallows, when they reached it.

They went through. The messenger led them through the maze of houses into one of the many sliding-door buildings, where they took off their shoes and were instructed to wait.

Seconds passed like minutes passed like hours.

Hajime kept his fingers folded tightly into his palms. His nails made white indentations into the skin.

Sasuke blinked slowly, saying nothing, doing nothing.

And they were called in.

The meeting room was a great, tatami-floored thing. Framed calligraphy hung on the back wall: the kanji read "Forever Pure" and "Lineage of the Sun." It was bare, otherwise, and smelled very clean.

At the center sat Hyuuga Hanabi, the head of the clan. Her kimono was firmly-fitted, and the color of charcoal, of ashes.

Hajime immediately feared her. He had heard enough about her from Ninako to dislike her, but actually _seeing_ her up close was like the difference between reading about a wolf and staring one down in the middle of the forest.

Like Ninako had told him, there was absolutely no kindness in her eyes.

Her sister Hinata was with her, at her right side. She had her hands in her lap, and her moon-like eyes were downcast.

To Hanabi's left, however, was Ninako's father, a man named Neji. Hajime had met him enough times to recognize him; Ninako had introduced him, once, when they ran into each other at a festival. He had his forehead covered, just like his daughter, and his expression was severe.

Hajime got a horrible feeling in his stomach.

Oh, _no_, this_ was_ going to be about her, wasn't it. He tried not to wince; he couldn't show anything, couldn't betray anything.

Ninako herself wasn't in the room with them, though.

But if she wasn't, then why was _Hajime_ there? Why _her_ father?

But before Hajime's thoughts could explode out of his mouth, his father spoke.

"I expect you'll tell me why you've called me here on such short notice, Hyuuga."

Hanabi, like his father, dispensed with formalities and got right to the point. "I trust you are aware of the relationship that your son, Uchiha Hajime, has with one of our Branch members, Hyuuga Ninako?"

"I know that they're on a team together. _So far as I know_, that is the _extent _of their relationship." And Sasuke's eyes slid sideways, with those words, slicing into Hajime's already-twisted stomach,

"Hm." Hanabi tight expression did not change. "Then I assume it will come as a surprise to you that their relationship has gone well beyond that of a _working_ one."

Sasuke's eyebrows lowered further, and Hajime, now praying for death with each passing second, could see his hands tightening on his knees.

"Is that so," he said. "Well, I personally do _not _approve of anything beyond friendship, and I expect that your clan feels the same, Hyuuga."

Hajime resisted every urge to close his eyes, but he kept them fixed on the floor instead. He could feel his father's glare on him, anyways.

Ninako, Ninako, he was so sorry, Ninako.

"Is that really all you wanted to tell me, however?" Sasuke continued. "Because I don't feel it's exactly _important_ enough for me to be dragged away from my _family_ for the sake of terminating a silly little relationship between children."

Hajime saw something shift in his peripheral vision, and he glanced up to see that Hinata's head had lowered further, and Ninako's father was trembling with what appeared to be anger.

"Well, Uchiha Sasuke, things tend to get fairly serious when these… silly little relationships produce _children._"

The silence seemed to stretch like skin pulled from underneath a fingernail.

"…what exactly are you saying, Hyuuga," Sasuke finally said.

"Hyuuga Ninako is pregnant, Uchiha Sasuke. And your son, Hajime, is responsible for her condition. I thought to meet with you about what is to be done about it, seeing as you _are_ the head of _your_ clan."

Sasuke was silent for far too long.

"I was not aware of this," he finally said.

And neither was Hajime.

Her clan had found out about them.

Because she was… pregnant?

_That_ was what all this was about?

"I didn't expect you to," Hanabi replied, coolly. "I don't believe that this makes any difference, however. Whether or not you are prepared for it, our mutual problem must be dealt with."

Why hadn't she told him?

"_One_ of our options is for _your_ family to take responsibility," Hanabi continued. "It will go into Konoha's records as a motherless Uchiha; my clan cannot and will not acknowledge its existence in any way, shape, or form, otherwise."

Was this why she had hesitated?

"In addition, Hyuuga Ninako will be forbidden from working with, meeting, or even _contacting_ your son, if that is any consolation, Uchiha Sasuke," Hanabi said. "We want to ensure that there are no further _accidents_."

Was this why she had even wanted to elope in the first place?

To run away?

To keep _this _from happening?

"And what if I refuse to take in this… _thing_." Sasuke's disgust was rough and plain in his throat.

"We'll have it killed, of course," Hanabi replied. Her lip curled, slightly. "My clan tries to prevent… _mistakes _like this from coming into existence. We are very good at getting rid of them when we fail."

Hajime felt like his heart had exploded, blood leaking into his chest and tightening where it dried.

"Then why are you even asking me about this," Sasuke said. "I think the solution is obvious here."

Oh _Ninako_, why hadn't she _said _anything?!

Hajime's fingers ached, begging to bury themselves in his hairline, to seize his father, to seize Hyuuga Hanabi, and demand to know why he had no say in what was to become of his own…

…his…

…his child.

(The fact hit him bluntly, there.)

He… he had a _child…!_

But Hajime was still, locked into place by ceremony and the sheer force of personality that both his father and Hanabi possessed.

And Hanabi spoke again, her face tightening. "Hyuuga law requires that, in… certain circumstances, with regard to situations such as ours, that I must confer with the head of the non-Hyuuga parent's clan to discuss the possibility of adoption as a method of disposal. This has nothing to do with the fact that Uchiha Hajime happens to be your son, Uchiha Sasuke, but simply-"

"He is not my son."

And Sasuke stood up, turned around, and left.

Leaving Hajime alone.

For a while, Hajime was still.

His brain struggling, and failing, to process the last few minutes, and everything within it.

He started to hyperventilate.

The three Hyuuga across from him stared. None of them seemed comfortable.

Ninako's father was taut with rage; Hinata seemed almost on the verge of tears.

And Hanabi, whose distance and calmness had remained untouched the entire time, had a crack of sympathy in her mouth.

"Puh-please don't… don't decide anything yet, I, I have to… go speak with my father, excuse me…!"

And Hajime stumbled to his feet and ran out of the room, his throat dry and his heart galloping.

He found his father barely outside of the Hyuuga gate, storming away at a furious walking pace.

Hajime managed to catch up. "DAD! Dad, WAIT!"

Sasuke said nothing.

"Dad, where are you GOING? Come BACK!"

"Don't talk to me." Sasuke's hands were swinging, violently, at his sides.

"No, Dad—Dad, seriously, please, let me explain!"

"There's nothing for you to explain."

Hajime attempted to dash ahead of him, but Sasuke just pushed him aside.

"Dad, I—I honestly had no idea that this had even—I never meant for this to happen, I—Dad, stop, stop and just—DAD, LOOK at me!"

But Sasuke continued walking on, his body resisting every weak cling, every attempted step ahead of him.

"When we get home, you are packing your things, and you are getting out of my house. I don't care where you go."

His voice was low, and quiet, and very, very dangerous.

Hajime's breaths became even shallower, even more frenzied.

"What? Dad, no, you can't be serious, you—please, Dad, I had no idea, you have to just—DAMN it Dad, will you just LOOK at me, PLEASE!"

Hajime grabbed Sasuke's shoulder, every scrap of strength concentrated in his hand.

And Sasuke turned around, his eyes spinning, the terrifying atom-fractal of his Mangekyou whirling across his pupils.

"Don't. Touch me."

Hajime couldn't breathe. His heart was beating so fast he could feel it in his hands.

"_You_ are _filth_. And what you have done is a betrayal of everything I have worked for, everything I have _sacrificed _so that my clan might _survive_. You aren't fit to even _speak_ to me. Just _looking_ at you disgusts me…"

And Sasuke turned around, and kept walking.

The hand that had touched Sasuke's shoulder almost felt like it was burning.

Not from any technique or illusion, no.

From rage.

Years and years of learning how to distance himself from this man, from all the pain he inflicted on Hajime, on everyone around him, so that anger would not poison his mind and his reasoning and his mood.

Well, there it was.

When Hajime next ran forward, it was to punch Sasuke square in the face.

He missed, of course. But that didn't stop Sasuke from returning the favor.

Their fight continued well away from the Hyuuga compound, and into the more residential areas of Konoha.

Lightning crackled from within the dust clouds, fists connected with skin and bruised, fire blossomed and burned.

The brawl left behind a trail of blood.

Most of it was Hajime's. Without his brush and ink he wasn't much of a match for Sasuke.

Bystanders screamed and ducked out of the way, patting out the fires that were left behind and calling for help as the tangle of destruction moved down the streets, the men chasing and grabbing and throwing each other further and further.

By the time chuunin guards made it to the longest-lasting scene of the fight, Sasuke had tired of the bullshit, and disappeared, leaving Hajime disheveled and bleeding.

Of course, he resisted detainment. "No, I can't—I can't answer your questions, I have to go home, I have to—damn it, let me go, I can't!"

With a desperate clutch of energy in his hands, Hajime formed the signs for a flash bang, and threw the orb of chakra to the ground for the temporary cover of blindness it would provide.

He had to get home.

He ran so fast that his muscles screamed, but he ignored them.

His mother and Sasuke were already yelling at each other when Hajime made it to the gate.

And there was a pile of Hajime's clothes and possessions on the front step.

They had been thrown from the door.

Oh, hell.

Ino was stumbling down the stairs when Hajime entered the foyer. "Hajime! There you are—what in the world is going _on?_"

Hajime was still struggling to catch his breath, leaning against the foyer closet, his chest dry and crackling. His mouth stung from a split lip.

Ino came closer, and her cold hands touched his face. "Oh, no, you're bleeding—Hajime, please, what happened, your father just came home and he's _furious_ and he says it's to do with you but he won't say _why-_"

A tumble of books went thumping down the stairs. Sasuke had kicked them out of his way; he was carrying another armful of Hajime's clothes.

"Mom, I'm… Mom, I'm so sorry…" Hajime's head hurt too much.

"Get the fuck out of my way." Sasuke pushed his way between them, and threw the clothes out the door. Black shirts and pants crumpled into heaps on the ground.

"Sasuke, PLEASE, what is going _on_ here?" Ino pulled on his shirt to try and stop him, before he could go back up the stairs. "What did Hajime DO?"

Sasuke wheeled around. "What did he do? What did he DO?!" His voice was roughening. "This worthless piece of shit went behind my back and undermined everything I've ever WORKED FOR. Oh, not only was he sleeping with his teammates, but he got that _Hyuuga_ PREGNANT."

"That Hyuuga…?" Ino's voice got very quiet, and she pressed her knuckles against her lips. "Oh, Hajime, you don't mean that Ninako is…?"

And Sasuke, who had begun up the stairs again, muttering in frustration, turned back around.

"You _knew_ about this."

Ino immediately covered her mouth. She shook her head.

But Sasuke was coming back down the stairs again. "You KNEW about this!"

Ino was waving her hands in front of her, in a feeble attempt to keep him back. But he still came.

"I, I, I didn't know that she had gotten _pregnant_, but-!"

Sasuke shoved her against a wall, by her shoulder. "BUT YOU _KNEW_ ABOUT THIS. YOU KNEW THAT HE WAS WITH THAT GIRL!"

Ino's eyes were glassy with fear. "Y-yes! Yes, I _knew!_"

Sasuke let go of her shoulder, snarling, and stormed back up the stairs again. Ino clutched her injury for a moment, sucking in her breath, before following him.

Hajime, succumbing to his emotional and physical exhaustion, slumped against the closet door, and listened.

"Sasuke, please, stop! Calm _down!_"

"Calm down? Calm DOWN?" Sasuke scoffed, then inhaled, deeply, to shout, "How the HELL am I supposed to CALM DOWN?! My clan has been VIOLATED!"

"_Your_ clan?" Ino said. "Hajime is _my _son _too_, Sasuke!"

"Your _child,_ maybe. But not mine." From the sound of it, Sasuke was ripping ink paintings off of Hajime's bedroom walls. "He's not _my_ son any more."

(Karai had long since abandoned the room, Sasuke shouting her out of it upon his arrival home. She'd taken refuge with Nadeshiko, and was pressed up against her, shivering and crying on her bed.)

(Nadeshiko couldn't bring herself to hold her sister, though, too afraid she'd squeeze too hard in return.)

"Oh shut UP." Ino's voice began to snap. "I'm not going to let you disown your oldest _son_, Sasuke!"

"Oh, really?" His tone sharpened. "Because, Ino, last I checked, you weren't head of the Uchiha clan. I make the decisions for this house."

Sasuke began back down the hallway, past Inou's room, back down the stairs.

(Inou was hiding at his desk, wondering why his eyes were leaking with tears, hearing all of this.)

"_I _am the head of this clan."

He was a quarter down the stairs now.

"_I_ decide how things are run in this house."

Halfway, now.

"And _I_ declare that Hajime is no longer an _Uchiha_, and must therefore _leave._"

He threw the scrolls out the door and brushed his hands against each other after the act.

"TAKERU!" he barked.

The door to the living room slid open, and Takeru peeked out.

(He'd been listening. Of course.)

(And relishing every moment.)

"Yes, Father?" The remains of a smile were still smeared across his face.

"_You_ are now my heir. I always felt you were more deserving of it, anyways," he added, with a cold glance at Hajime, who was still crumpled against the foyer closet.

But before Takeru could respond, there was Ino.

"YOU CAN'T _DO_ THAT, SASUKE."

Sasuke sighed. "Ino, I have told you _before_." He sounded merely annoyed, now. "_I_ run this clan, _I_ decide things."

Ino was coming down the stairs, shaking her head. "No, Sasuke. No. You can't do that. Takeru can't be your heir."

"Give me one good reason why." Sasuke had his arms crossed.

And Ino walked right up to him, her shoulders squared, her head pushed forward. "Because he isn't your _son_."

Everything fell silent.

"…what are you talking about." There was no annoyance present in Sasuke's voice, not any more.

"Oh, what do you _think_. You mean you never _noticed?_" Ino said. She laughed, though it was laugh more of bitter disbelief than anything. "Sasuke, after Hajime was born you wouldn't even LOOK at me, much less TOUCH me. I had to go to fucking SHIKAMARU for comfort. _He_ at least made me feel _somewhat _wanted! And even THEN!"

"…what are you _talking_ about?" Sasuke's face was creased, troubled, confused.

"Are you _serious?_ Takeru isn't YOUR CHILD, Sasuke, he's _Shikamaru's!_ Are you really that _stupid?!_" Ino's arms flew downward, her face wincing afterwards from the pain in her shoulder. But, still, she continued on. "You honestly haven't suspected anything? For nineteen years, you never even questioned it? He looks nothing LIKE you, for fuck's sake!"

Sasuke blinked a few times, recoiling.

(This was the first time in over twenty years of marriage that he had ever seen his wife truly _angry_.)

(There were decades of paranoia and fear in that voice, and they pierced his veins and paralyzed him.)

(The things she was saying only made it worse.)

"Takeru. Can't. Be. Your. Heir." Ino's mouth curled with each word. "And I know… you wouldn't choose Karai, or… or her sister." She was starting to run out of breath, and her sentences shivered. "So… let's be rational here. Let's just… calm down and talk this over."

But Sasuke didn't answer, despite her raised hands, dangerously close to his arms. He was looking around, now, his eyes spinning, faces flashing through his mind.

He saw Hajime, by the closet, his head barely raised to look at him. And the boy was very much his son: they had the same angular eyes, and narrow, handsome features. Inou, in Sasuke's memory, was the same; he lacked Hajime's high, Yamanaka cheekbones, and looked even more like his father than his older brother did. And though Karai's features were starting to soften with femininity, she looked so very much like Sasuke, when he was her age.

And with her mother's thick eyelashes, Nadeshiko looked like…

No.

And besides, with her hair loose and grown long, as it was, the illusion of resemblance was gone.

But then he looked at Takeru.

Takeru, whose eyes were small and narrow, whose face was just a little too wide.

Takeru, his bright one, his most beloved.

Did not look like Sasuke at all.

An illusion of resemblance.

Sasuke ripped his eyes away from the boy, standing in the hall with a broken, bewildered expression that he was obviously trying to hide.

And he left the house.

Ino stood, trembling, alone, in the foyer, for a moment, before she took a deep breath in and straightened her back.

"Hajime," she said, approaching her son with a hand on his shoulder and another on his head, "go outside and get your things, and pack whatever isn't dirty into a bag. I'll help your sister."

"What…?" Hajime said.

"Just do as I say, all right?" Ino said. "Everything's going to be okay."

She went up the stairs, and Hajime, in a delicate, half-alive manner, began to gather his rejected possessions from the front yard.

Ino went to Nadeshiko's room next. "Nadeshiko, go help your little brother pack, and then get your own things. We're going to Grandpa's house."

Karai was trying, poorly, to wipe away her tears and compose herself. "Wh-why are we doin' that, Mom…"

"We're just going to stay there for a little while, it'll be fine," Ino replied. "Come on, Karai, I'll help you." She reached out a hand, and Karai took it.

But as Ino ushered Karai into her room, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

Takeru was standing behind her, his face amateurishly molded into a casual expression of mere curiosity.

"Mother, those… things you said to Father. They weren't… true, were they?"

Ino's expression hardened. "Just pack your things, Takeru," she replied, and went into Karai's room.

And Takeru was left alone.


	104. Slavemaker Ant

_Chapter 104 - Slavemaker Ant_

* * *

Sasuke had to take a walk.

Even though there was no walk feasibly long enough for him to work off the amount of stress inside of him.

What the hell was happening?

He walked quickly, desperately, as if the ground behind him were crumbling.

What the fucking _hell_ was _happening?_

Everything, it felt like everything was falling apart. Whatever order that had once belonged in the world was rusting at the stitches and dissolving, one by one.

First Yakata had been taken from him. And even before that, there had been the dizzying whirl of snake-identities and the prison that was his house, and all of the deserved and the undeserved paranoia and that sexless monster in the rain, illuminated by blue fire.

And then Karai, that worthless, weak little girl, fooling him into believing she was competent and then going off and helping Inou. Inou, that weak spinner of minds, worthless, all of them worthless excuses for Uchihas, disappointing him at every turn.

(And that hadn't been Itachi, that hadn't been Itachi, that _hadn't been Itachi_, that was just a madwoman and a coincidence.)

And then Hajime! The average one, the one that had at least gotten _somewhere_, going and messing around with Hyuugas and impregnating them with bastards and those stupid fucking old-power Hyuugas trying to_ foist_ the problem _off_ on him, the disrespect, the absolute nerve of them and that _boy_, did he not even know who he WAS?!

And now Ino! That unfaithful bitch, talking back to him, keeping secrets, and, and…

…and Takeru wasn't his son.

No, that had to have been impossible, it had to.

(But Takeru looked nothing like him.)

(Shikamaru—him, why HIM!?—absolutely.)

No, no, no.

Sasuke began to run.

No, no, no, none of this was even possible, he was the head of his clan, _his_ clan, he had children that were not disappointments or failures and they obeyed him and he had a wife that obeyed him and everything was fine but it _wasn't_.

His children _were_ failures—the ones that _were_ his children anyways—no, but Takeru was his son but he _wasn't_ he was that fucking _Shikamaru's_ but that was impossible—but his children were failures and they didn't obey him and they kept secrets, all of them kept secrets.

But this was his clan, _his_ clan,_ his clan. _

This wasn't supposed to happen.

Sasuke was a capable leader.

He was in _control. _

But maybe that was just an illusion. Maybe he was just fooling himself, like he had fooled himself for _nineteen years_ about Takeru—but he'd never _thought_ about it before, but Takeru was his son, he was, Takeru smiled like him and was so smart and so talented and he breathed fire like an Uchiha was supposed to.

But he wasn't his son. And Sasuke had been too ignorant, no, too _stupid_ to notice.

Sasuke let out a yell of frustration, and the emptiness of the Uchiha memorial swallowed it up entirely.

This wasn't supposed to happen. He was in control. This was his family, and he decided what happened with it. This was his right, this was his _duty_.

But all these secrets, all these lies, all these disappointments.

All these things right before his eyes, but he was too fucking _stupid_ to notice.

Sasuke kicked a rock and it zoomed away like an arrow. He heard it hit and splinter something in the distance.

Why was this happening, why was any of this happening.

Because he wasn't a good enough leader?

No. No, no, because _they_ weren't good enough _Uchihas_, that was it. _They_ were the disappointments, not him.

If they were good Uchihas they would be faithful and obedient and talented and they would listen to him and not throw fights and have secret relationships and damn damn _damn_ what the _hell_ had Sasuke done to deserve this?!

He'd only run the clan like he was supposed to. He was _supposed_ to be strict, _supposed_ to be unyielding, _supposed_ to demand perfection, and reward it where he found it. That was how things were supposed to be done, because the Uchiha clan deserved nothing less, because his clan had once been great and now it had fallen, and it was Sasuke's sole responsibility to bring it back up to the level of glory it had once possessed.

He didn't have anyone leading him, after all, so Sasuke was only doing his best with what he knew.

Besides, if his father were still around, surely he'd have instructed Sasuke to do the same as he was doing now.

(If he had even truly been confident enough in Sasuke to declare him head of the clan, anyways.)

Sasuke was only trying to preserve the man's memory, to respect him and make him proud.

And Sasuke had sacrificed _so much_ for his clan. He had spent hours training with his children to make them strong, he had _had_ children in the _first_ place, he had gone so far as to find a respectable woman he could tolerate for the purpose—did any of them appreciate that? No, no, no, of course they didn't, they didn't understand just how _much_ he had sacrificed, just how much respect he deserved.

None of them respected him. He probably meant _nothing_ to them.

Well, he would _make_ them respect him.

Because, ah yes, this had happened once before.

With that greatest of failures, Nadeshiko.

He had done _everything_ for her. He had taught her everything he knew. He had spent _hours_ with her going over every technique, praising her, _improving_ her. She could have been the fucking _Hokage_ by now if she had only stayed obedient!

But, no, she went and threw his gifts in the dirt and spit on them, in the name of_—weakness_.

The nerve of her. The _nerve_.

Sasuke had done nothing wrong. She was the one that didn't respect him, that didn't obey him.

(Though, why had she still turned out like that, if he'd really done everything for her?)

No, he was mistaken. He'd not been blameless.

He'd been too soft on her, too loving.

And for the ten years after that, he was the undisputed head of the clan.

…but this, what was happening now, was more than just one little girl. This was his entire damn _family_.

Well, he could make _them_ behave again too!

(But Ino had betrayed him years ago, and he'd never noticed.)

He would have order, and control!

(But Hajime had known Hyuuga Ninako for almost as long.)

This was _his_ clan, damn it, and he would make it function again!

(But Inou and Karai had always underwhelmed him, no matter how hard he pushed them and trained them.)

(But there was nothing he could do about Takeru.)

The illusion of his control was fading fast, like an afterimage.

And the more he tried to fight against it, the more apparent it was.

They didn't respect him because he truly meant nothing to them.

Even though they were _everything_ to him. They were his _clan_. His very reason for _existing_. Everything he _did_ was for their sake.

He was losing control of his very life.

Sasuke started to panic.

No, no, no, he was incapable of panicking, that was just an illusion too, everything was fine.

He wasn't losing control of his life, he wasn't in freefall, he was fine, he had absolute control over everything, he was fine.

He just needed to clear his head, and then he was going to return home, and he was going to deal with his problems.

He would leave Karai and Inou to think about what they had done, and after the chuunin candidates had been announced he would decide on a further course of action.

He would confirm with the Hyuuga clan that he wanted Hajime's mistake taken care of. They were already ensuring that he wouldn't see that girl again. But it wouldn't hurt to shame Hajime further. Perhaps Sasuke would start looking for an acceptable wife for him. Someone that was certainly not a Hyuuga or a Yamanaka or a fucking Nara, just _someone_.

And he would put Ino back into her place.

(And he would not think about Takeru.)

(There was no space in his mind for him.)

Sasuke took a few, long, deep breaths. Yes, everything was going to be fine, he was fine, perfectly fine.

But when he returned home, the house was completely empty.

There was nobody in any of the bedrooms, nor the bathrooms, nor the living room or kitchen.

His family was gone.

His grip, already loosened and weakened, was gone.

"Fine. I suppose that's how it's going to be, then," Sasuke said, to the void.

And he calmly took off his shoes, and went down the hallway and into his bedroom, and he sat on the edge of the bed.

For hours.

His family was gone.

But he would be fine.

* * *

Of course, Naruto heard about all of this. The chuunin that had tried to break up the fight between Hajime and Sasuke had filed their report, and after reading it in the morning—Naruto seemed to be going to work earlier and earlier than usual, lately—he decided to go handle Sasuke personally, before any of them did anything else.

The Uchiha house was quiet, as expected, as Naruto approached it. But ringing the doorbell did not bring anyone out, and since the door was unlocked, Naruto let himself in.

"Uh, hello? Anyone home?" he said.

No answer.

Naruto began taking off his shoes. "Hello-o? Sasuke? Ino? Anyone there?"

Nothing.

Naruto's face wrinkled. "_Weird_…" He closed his eyes, trying to get a feel for the area.

The only chakra in the house was Sasuke's, extraordinarily dark. He was in his bedroom, so Naruto made his way there, and peeked his head inside.

"Hey, Sasuke…? That you?"

Sasuke was sitting on his bed with his back facing the door. He didn't say anything.

"Sa-asuke…?" Naruto dared to enter. "What's going on? I heard there was a fight last night, y'know."

"None of your concern," Sasuke replied.

"Uh, it sorta _is_ my concern, since there was a fight and it was all out in public, y'know," Naruto said. He tried to keep his tone light, but Sasuke's emotions felt so _wrong_ that he barely managed to keep even his faceup. "What happened?"

Sasuke shot a sideways glare at him, shifting his position slightly. The red of his Sharingan seemed agitated. "My clan is gone."

Naruto swallowed his surprise. "Gone? Uh, what d'you mean?"

"What do you _think_ I mean. They decided that I was useless so they left me behind."

Naruto was directly beside Sasuke, now, and he was halfway to sitting on the bed with him. "Sasuke, what the heck does that mean?"

"What I _mean_ is that they're so perfectly fucking content running their own lives with absolutely no concern for _me _and the _clan_ that they decided it was better if they were no longer in it. So after going behind my back and keeping secrets for _years_, they finally just _left_. _That_ is what I mean."

Sasuke was literally filled to the brim with a sick blue-orange mix of frustration and anger and rejection. "So… if they left, then, where did they go?" Naruto asked.

"I don't know and I don't fucking care," Sasuke grumbled. "They can go live their own lives without me if that's so much _easier._"

"Sasuke, hey." Naruto tried to put a hand on his shoulder.

"DON'T _TOUCH_ ME." Sasuke jerked away and scooted to a further end of the bed.

Naruto waited. He put his hand back on his own leg.

"So is this why you were fighting with Hajime last night?"

"He started it," Sasuke replied.

"What was the fight about, Sasuke."

Sasuke sniffed disdainfully. "He's got some Hyuuga girl _pregnant_. Apparently they were in a _relationship. _He should have known better, honestly, he _knew_ that it wouldn't work out, but _no_, no consideration for his _own_ family…"

A horrible feeling gripped Naruto's stomach. He tried to ignore it (and tried even harder not to think of Hinata). "So you, uh—did he get into a fight with you because you didn't approve, y-y'know?"

"He took offense to me disowning him."

"You _disowned_ him?"

"If he doesn't value or respect this family enough to make the right decisions, then he doesn't deserve to be a part of it."

"Sasuke, that—don't you think that's a little… much, y'know?" Naruto said, almost squeaking near the end.

Sasuke shot him a withering look. "You have no right to tell me how to run my clan. It was my decision. He took offense. And he reacted, like the _child_ he is."

Naruto closed his eyes, gathering his composure. "And your family followed?"

"Apparently. I don't care. _They_ obviously don't care."

Naruto's response was more a reflex than anything. "Sasuke, your family _does_ care. You mean a heck of a lot to them, y'know."

"If I mean that much to them then they wouldn't have left me. Ungrateful, ungrateful, fucking ungrateful…" He started to mumble. "Everything I fucking do for them and this is what I get…"

Naruto sighed, watching Sasuke shake his head. "I'm gonna try and find your family for you, all right? You… cool off."

Sasuke's reply was a grunt.

Naruto left the house, after that. And he grappled, for a while, with the right thing to do.

He wanted to find Sasuke's family, he wanted to find out what had happened, he wanted to talk to Hinata.

But he decided, eventually, that the best course of action would be to go back to his office, to go about his business as usual, meeting with the other Kages and the Taki clan and other guests.

His chuunin would find the rest of the Uchiha family. And news would trickle in from there.

But even though they were eventually found, the word never really made it to Sasuke.

Sasuke didn't notice.

He remained in his house, alone, for days.


	105. Magpie Cuckoo

_Chapter 105 - Magpie Cuckoo_

* * *

Ino had gone with her family to her father's house.

Inoichi had taken them in without a moment's hesitation. Karai and Nadeshiko shared a room with their mother; Hajime, injured and in need of space, got Inoichi's room; Inou and his grandfather set up futons in the living room for the rest of them. And after the children had finished setting up for that first night, though most of them were unsettled and not willing to sleep, Inoichi made certain to get some privacy so he could hold his daughter and hear everything from her.

Ino hugged him for a very long time, midway through her explanation.

"I'm so scared, Daddy," she whispered into his shoulder. "What if he comes here and _does_ something, I don't want him to do anything to the _kids_, you already saw what he did to _Hajime…_"

"If he takes even one step inside this compound then I'll have him spending the next two weeks thinking he's a housecat," Inoichi replied.

The response brought out no laughter, but Ino at least felt comfort in this promise of her family's protection.

(She'd been too terrified to turn to them before, because surely they thought little of the woman that married the Uchiha, the war criminal.)

(Nobody would want to help her. They'd just tell her, "I told you so." That they saw it coming.)

A night's rest was enough for Ino to neatly fold away her own, insubstantial troubles and focus on more pressing matters.

Hajime needed her.

Inoichi took up breakfast duty, in the morning. And Nadeshiko and the younger children ate ravenously, in the kitchen, though Takeru took a plate and ate apart from them all by the sink, since there wasn't a bedroom for him to retreat into.

Hajime was still sleeping. So once Ino had eaten her fill, she went inside to check on him.

The boy was curled under the blankets, his face away from her. She sat next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Sweetheart, are you all right?"

"Do you think I'm all right, Mom," he replied.

She stroked his back, and his body tensed. "Where does it hurt?" she asked.

"Everywhere."

"Why don't you sit up and show me. I'll help."

"Mom, leave me alone…"

But she managed to coax him upright, eventually. And she started with his arms, the yellow light through the window-shades mixing with the green of her healing hands.

When she got to his back, Hajime finally spoke. "She didn't even tell me, Mom…"

"What's that, honey?"

"Ninako, she… she didn't even tell me that she was…" His head hung lower.

"Oh, honey…" Ino stopped healing him to begin rubbing his back instead. "You mean you didn't know?"

Hajime shook his head. "No, they… her clan head told me last night, she told me I either had to take it in or… or they'd get rid of it…"

"You mean the… baby?" Ino was almost whispering.

"Yes, but… but they didn't even ask _me_ what I wanted to do, they just kept… talking to Dad, and you can probably guess what _he_ wanted…"

Ino pulled her breath in, struggling with the right words to say. "Hajime, what do _you_ want?"

"I don't know, I don't know." He was shaking his head again, his eyes closed tightly. "I wanna talk to Ninako, but… but they said she's not allowed to see me again…"

"What? But you _should_ talk to her, I mean, if she didn't tell you what was going on…"

"But I _can't_, they'll keep me from seeing her…" Hajime let out a whining moan, like a child about to cry. "But I want to know how she's _doing_, and, and if they went to me and Dad then obviously she doesn't have a choice and… Mom, what do I _do…_"

Ino shushed and stroked his back further. "You should go and _talk_ to her. Your grandfather and I can go with you and convince them; you _do_ remember that your grandfather is the head of _his_ clan, yes? They'll listen to him."

"…Mom, you don't need to do that…"

"We'll do it if we need to," Ino replied, firmly. "What's important for you is that you get your chance to go back there and have your _say_. Because I get the feeling that… your father sort of kept you from that. It's only fair."

Hajime sniffed, and rubbed one of his eyes roughly. "Mom, I'm so confused…"

Ino leaned in against his shoulder and pressed her head against his cheek. "I _know_, honey. And I can only imagine how _scared_ you must feel, too. But I want you to forget _everything_ your father said last night and think about what _you_ want. We're going to get through this. All right?"

Hajime sniffed again and thought for a long while, staring at his lap.

"…I'll go talk to them. Alone," he said. "But… if I need you or Grandpa's help, then I'll come get you."

He tried to smile. It was the first smile she'd seen out of Hajime in several days, small and shaking, but present.

"But… but don't worry about me too much, though, Karai and Inou need your support too, Mom…" he continued.

Ino sighed deeply. "All right, Hajime. Are you feeling better?"

"I guess."

"Good. Come have some breakfast now."

Hajime shook his head. "No, I'm… gonna get dressed and go see Ninako."

"What, already? Hajime, you should _rest_ today," Ino said, pressing almost urgently on his shoulders.

But he shook his head again. "If I wait it might be too late. I need to go now."

"…well at least have some toast, all right?" Ino replied. "For your nerves."

"I will, Mom."

And Ino kissed him on the cheek. "I love you _so_ much, honey. It's gonna be okay."

Hajime just nodded, shrugging her aside, and waved her out of the room so he could get dressed.

He grabbed a slice of toast on his way out. Nobody said anything to him when he got on his boots and left, though many eyes followed him.

He had to stop several times along the way, to take several deep breaths, to regain his courage.

Come on, he could do this, he would just walk in and demand to see her.

But what if they said no?

They wouldn't say no. It would be okay.

He walked on.

Stopped.

But, but what about after that? What would he _say_ to her?

That he was sorry? But he wanted answers!

He… would know what to say when he saw her.

A couple more steps.

A dead halt.

But what about the baby?

He had to almost gasp for breath to keep the panic from rising too high.

He…

Had two options.

It could be gotten rid of—though would it be aborted, or was it too late for that?—and that only made him feel terrible for Ninako in every way possible.

Or he could take it in.

But…

But he wasn't _ready_. He was barely 22! And it wasn't like he had _planned_ for this, he and Ninako had been _careful, _and…

But if they got rid of it, it would be like nothing had ever happened between them.

But it had still _happened_.

Hajime would remember.

He took a few more breaths.

He had to talk to Ninako.

He couldn't decide this all by himself.

He had to talk to Ninako.

Because if he didn't, he wouldn't know what to do.

He took his last deep breath as he approached the Hyuuga compound's gate. And he wandered in, gathering his courage, looking to see if there was anyone he could talk to, anyone that could get him in to speak with Ninako, wherever she was.

"Excuse me, young man."

The adult Hyuuga women all seemed to speak the same, so sharply and politely. Hajime turned around.

It was Hinata, the clan leader's sister. She had a perplexed expression on her round face. "What are you doing here?"

"I, uh… I want to talk to Ninako," Hajime replied.

"If I'm not mistaken, you're forbidden from seeing her, Hajime-san," she replied.

"I… I _know_, but I don't care. I _need_ to talk to her."

Hinata smiled, gently, sighing. "I had a feeling you'd say that. Come with me, I'll take you to her."

Hajime swallowed and followed the woman. His heart felt more like it was in his throat than in his chest.

She took him to a house in the corner of the compound, near the building where he and Sasuke had been taken the night before.

"Through the courtyard," Hinata said, almost whispering. "We don't want to raise a fuss."

And they passed through the courtyard, populated by willows and wild, pale-colored flowers. With a hand gesture, she indicated for Hajime to take his shoes off, and led him with quiet feet down a hallway, to a room.

"I'll keep watch outside. I'll let you stay as long as I can manage, unless something happens," she said, her hand on the sliding door.

"Th-thank you," Hajime said, and when she opened the door, he awkwardly stepped inside.

Ninako was curled up on her side in a white sleeping kimono, on top of her futon. But as soon as the door closed, she rolled over, and gasped.

"Hajime?"

"Hey," he replied, feeling incredibly stupid afterwards.

Ninako, of course, didn't care. She got up and ran to him and threw her arms around him, clinging to him tightly, tighter than any of the other, desperate embraces in his memory.

(And Hajime became uncomfortably aware of her belly pressed against his. But he didn't say anything.)

"Hajime, what are you _doing_ here?" she said, from below his ear. "Hanabi-sama said you weren't allowed to _see_ me again."

"I know, but I don't _care,_" Hajime replied. "Her sister let me in, but… but I would have found you no matter what."

"Aunt Hinata?"

"She's outside, she said she was going to keep watch."

Ninako covered an eye and part of her forehead with her hand. "Oh, thank goodness, thank goodness…"

"Ninako, though, are you all right?"

"Oh, I'm fine, I'm fine." Ninako waved the hand that wasn't on her face at him, to offset the tight sadness in her voice. "Are _you_ okay? I… heard about what happened when you were called to talk with Hanabi-sama, because my dad and Aunt Hinata were there…"

"I'm _fine,_ Ninako…" Hajime said.

But Ninako put a hand on his face, and her thumb brushed over the scab on his lip. "You're _hurt_. _Please_ tell me my family didn't do this to you…"

"No, it… was my dad." His head lowered. "We had a fight last night, but it's nothing you should be worried about, it's nothing, I'm fine."

Ninako looked up at him, sucking in her lips, blinking far too much. She lowered her head before long, but it did nothing to hide her tears.

"Hajime, I'm so sorry, I'm so _sorry_…" She started clumsily wiping at her eyes.

Hajime gently laid a hand on her shoulder. "Ninako, _please_, it's all right…"

"No, no, it's _not_," she replied. "I can't imagine how much trouble you're in, I'm so _sorry_…"

Hajime took her in his arms again, pressing her head against his chest. "All that matters is if _you're_ okay. I'm fine. I can handle this."

Ninako rubbed her eyes into his shirt, sniffling, apologizing quietly.

"…I just want to know why you didn't _tell_ me, Ninako," he continued, after a while.

Ninako hiccup-swallowed, pulling herself out of his arms. She kept her eyes down. "…to be honest, I didn't even know if I was really…" Her mouth fumbled with the word. "P-pregnant or not until maybe last month… I was still bleeding, so I thought maybe it was just in my head, but then I started feeling something… m-moving _inside_ of me last month and I got so scared, I didn't know what to do…"

Last month… "Was this… when you got sick, at Karin-san's house…?" Hajime asked.

"Around then, yeah…" She sniffed again. "I had no idea how… far along I was, because I wasn't really gaining weight, but… but then m-my mom and _Hanabi-sama_ pulled me aside and asked if I… if I honestly thought that I could k-keep it… My mom, she, she waited because she thought I was gonna g-get rid of it on my own, but…"

"But how did _she_ know?" Hajime said.

"…she sensed the… the chakra system. Of the…" She swallowed. "Of the baby, from where it was growing. And she… she told me she wanted me to…" She inhaled a few times, quickly. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I have to sit down…"

Hajime followed her to the floor, his knees touching hers where he sat.

"I just… I don't know if I'm ever going to _see_ you again after this. To keep another 'm-mistake' from happening, that's what Hanabi-sama said…" Ninako was starting to really cry again. "I wanted to keep it, so… so at least a _part_ of you could stay with me, but I can't, I'm not allowed… I'm so stupid, I'm so _stupid_…_"_

"Ninako, please…" Hajime leaned forward to put a hand on her hand.

"Do you know what she told me?" There were hiccups of air between her sentences now. "She told me, I had to get rid of it _now_, or else they'd… they'd take it after it's born a-and drown it…"

("And I don't need to tell you which is less painful," Hanabi had concluded.)

"But, but Aunt Hinata, she… she told me that they'd let it live if _y-your _family took it, then they'd… then it would be allowed to _live_. But they had to ask y-your _dad_ and after I heard about it… Hajime, I'm so sorry, this is all my fault, I'm so _stupid…_"

He put another hand on her hand. Trying to stay composed, for her sake.

"I can't… I can't force this on you, _neither_ of us are ready, but… but if it'll make your life easier, I'll have them a-abort it, it'll be like it never happened, and…"

Hajime let go of her hand, and after he moved his legs to be more comfortable, he reached forward to embrace her around her shoulders.

"Ninako, it's… it's _okay_. You're not stupid, and this _isn't_ your fault. It's _mine_ too," he said. "If you… if you want our child to live, then I'll take it. I don't care what my dad says, I'll take responsibility. Especially if… it's the only thing left of us, after this."

Ninako buried her face in her hands, pressing her forehead against his shoulder.

"Hajime, no, you don't have to, I'm just being stupid…" she said. "This is a-all my fault, I'm so sorry…"

He held her tighter. "Stop… saying that. It's my fault too, but at least I can _do _something about it…"

"No, no, you don't understand…" She left his arms, and wiped her eyes clear. "H-Hanabi-sama, she told me… if, if I ended up _having _it then it would be _deformed_, she said. It's… it's why we don't have half-Hyuugas, because something always goes wrong when we… when we have children with _outsiders_…"

A very cold and very painful feeling entered Hajime's stomach. His hands rested limply at his sides.

"I wouldn't have cared, if it were… disabled or misshapen, I would have raised it anyway," Ninako continued, her arms holding each other. "Because it's… my punishment, I'd have _taken_ it-"

"Ninako don't _say_ that," he said, because he couldn't say anything else. "This child, it… it's not a… punishment. All right?" His voice creaked. He couldn't cry, not in front of her…

"Hajime, you don't deserve this, you _don't_…" she said. "This isn't your fault, your dad's already hurt you enough…"

But Hajime shook his head. "I don't _care _what… what _he_ thinks, or what he might do to me… Besides," he added, his voice much lower, "he's not really my dad any more…"

She looked up. The edges of her eyes were blood-in-the-water red. "Hajime, what do you mean?"

"I more or less got disowned over this. Frankly," he added, his voice gaining strength, "I don't think it's so bad. He's out of my life now. I can… I can make my own decisions."

She looked back at him, her head slightly tilted. "But your family…"

"It'll work out." He tried to stretch a smile across his mouth. "So, Ninako, when's our baby coming?" he said, with a plastic parody of brightness.

She closed her eyes tightly, a barrier against the tears leaking down her cheeks again. "January," she replied. "I'm supposed to be due in January."

"Then I'll be ready by then. I promise." He leaned forward, and pressed his forehead against hers. "I'll make sure that… that our kid gets more than enough love to make up for the both of us. I won't let you down, Ninako. I love you."

An unsure hand began wandering above and over Ninako's lap, and it came to rest on her stomach. Her skin under the kimono felt warm, and the flesh curved slightly under Hajime's palm.

"I love you so much," he said again, much more quietly, "and I'm so sorry that I did this to you."

He felt one of Ninako's arms hook itself over his shoulder, and her other hand joined his at her waist.

"No more apologizing," she whispered. "And I love you too."

They did not let go of each other for a very, very long time, not saying anything, just trying to remember the smells and shapes of each other, because both of them knew that they would probably never get the opportunity again.

But eventually, the door behind them opened, and they separated.

It was Hinata, still. "Hajime-kun, you might want to leave soon, I don't want you to get caught," she said, softly.

"Ah, right, right, thank you…" Hajime mumbled. He leaned forward and gave Ninako a very tender kiss, with his hand beneath her jaw. And he stood, and Hinata closed the door behind him.

This was the second separation.

(And the one that felt like the longest.)

* * *

"I'll be sure to tell my sister of your decision, and have the child given to you, when it's born," Hinata told Hajime, on their way out. "After all, you are technically the head of your _own_ clan now, if what you said was true about your father and what happened last night… So there will be no need to call upon him again."

Hajime was somewhat taken aback. "You would really do that?"

"Consider it done," she replied, with a painting-like smile.

Hajime had to swallow to keep himself from welling up. "Thank you… Thank you so much…"

"I think I should be the one thanking you," Hinata replied, looking forward. "There are very few men who would have been as brave as you at this age, in this situation."

Hajime looked down, in modesty, in shame.

But as he and Hinata neared the gate, the uncomfortable weight of ice in his stomach was regurgitated. "Ninako said… the baby will be deformed, when it's born…" He kept his eyes to the ground. "What… did she mean by that? I mean," he added, an excuse, "so I can prepare…"

Hinata kept her own eyes down, as she thought.

"I can't say," she replied. "But _any_ sort of care will be more than enough, I think. You should be fine."

"…thank you, then," Hajime said. He bowed, and began on his way home.

Hinata turned back into the compound, and began on her way to her sister's residence.

Though she wound by Neji's house, first. For, sure enough, he was there in the courtyard, sitting beneath one of the willows. Trying not to listen, or worry.

"The boy came back," Hinata said, standing beside him, by the trunk. "Uchiha Hajime."

"I know," Neji replied. "I saw you enter with him. What did he and my daughter decide?"

"He's going to take the child in, once it's born," she replied. "It will be spared."

Neji was quiet, for a while. A few leaves fell and floated by on the breeze.

"That boy," he said, shaking his head. "I never expected such a decent soul to come out of the Uchiha clan."

"The circumstances of one's birth can mean surprisingly little, sometimes," Hinata replied.

Neji, despite himself, smiled.

(Even though he knew he'd have to tell his wife of the decision, eventually. He did not look forward to this.)

(She wanted the mistake gone almost more than Hanabi.)


	106. Cleaner Fish

_Chapter 106 - Cleaner Fish_

* * *

Hajime barely had enough strength in his legs to return to his grandfather's house. And this became very evident when, as soon as he made it into the kitchen, he collapsed into a chair.

Karai was the first to attend to him. "Hajime? Brother, what's the matter?" She put a hand on his shoulder, and his skin was cold and trembling. "MOM!"

Ino appeared. "Hajime, you're back? Oh, honey, are you all right?"

"I'm… I'm fine, Mom, just… a little overwhelmed," he said.

"Well, come on, let's get you to the couch," she said, offering a shoulder to get him to the living room. "Come on, now."

Takeru was the only one in the living room, spread out with his head against a couch arm with a magazine. Ino had forbidden him from leaving the house, at least for now, for fear of Sasuke running into him.

He left before Ino could tell him to get out, glaring at her like she was vermin. Ino kept her eyes lowered.

She set Hajime down on the couch. "Karai, give your brother and me some privacy, we need to talk," she said.

"All right," Karai said, and left.

Hajime thought it wouldn't have made a difference—he didn't mind Karai, truly—but his sister's absence made things considerably easier for him, in telling his mother what had happened.

"So you're—you're going to take responsibility?" she said, once he had explained enough.

Hajime nodded. He had his hands clasped between his legs, to keep from shaking too badly. "When it's born, yeah."

"Oh, Hajime…" She ran her hand down his back again. "And is this what she wanted?"

"She—she wanted to keep it in the first place, but they won't let her, so… so I am. For both of our sakes." His forearms began to quake, and Ino could feel spasms running up and down his back. "…Mom, I'm so scared, though, I don't know what to _do… _There's no way I'm _ready_ for this…"

Ino put her arm around him, hushing him. "Don't worry, don't _worry,_ I'm here for you, all right?" she said. "Besides, I know you're..." She swallowed. "You're going to be a _terrific_—father." An uncomfortable forced smile made her speech quicken. "You were so good with Inou and Karai when they were little, anyways, and you'll have me to help you with everything else."

Hajime didn't say anything, just leaning against her shoulder, miserably, for a very long time.

They told the rest of the family at dinner. Ino did most of the explaining.

"Sometime in January, Hajime is going to be taking in a new member of the household. And his… son or daughter is going to be a little… _different_, so it might be a bit more difficult than usual to take care of." Ino's voice was practiced and convincingly smooth. "So I'm going to need _all_ of your help to make sure that things go well, okay?"

"Different _how_," Takeru said. He had his arms crossed at his seat, and his foot balanced on his knee. "Is it gonna be retarded or something?"

"Takeru!" Ino hissed. "Please!"

"Or maybe it won't have arms, or eyes. I mean, that's what I heard happens when you cross-breed like this." He wasn't looking at any of them. "Either way, I'm not helping with it at all. It's not my problem that Hajime was stupid enough not to use _protection_. Really, older brother, even _I _know that."

"_Takeru!_" Ino had her hands on the table. "Please have some _compassion_."

"Why should I?" Takeru replied. "It's his fault, and it was preventable. I have no sympathy."

From her seat next to him, Karai squeezed Hajime's hand, keeping her head down.

Ino stood. "Takeru, leave the kitchen. I want you in the living room."

Takeru got out of his chair. "Fine."

And as he passed behind her, he whispered, "You whore."

Inoichi grabbed him by the arm before he could leave the room. "Apologize to your mother." His voice rumbled with age and anger.

"I'm not sorry, because it's true," Takeru replied.

Ino, standing in place by her chair, had turned sunburn-red, and was gasping for air. Her skinny shoulders moved up and down with every desperate breath.

"_Apologize_ to your _mother_," Inoichi said, again, gripping his arm tighter.

Takeru's expression lowered, and he glared back at the rest of the family. "Fine, I'm sorry," he mumbled. "I'll get out of your hair."

He removed himself from his grandfather's grip, and left the house.

"Takeru!" Ino called out, weakly.

"Ino, don't bother," Inoichi said. "He'll be back. He has nowhere else to go."

(And this wasn't particularly true. But both of them knew that it was unlikely that Takeru would return "home.")

(Because that meant returning to Sasuke.)

Ino took one last deep breath in, sighed, and sat back down.

Karai was quick to change the atmosphere. "Don't worry, brother, I'll _definitely_ help," she said. "And, hey, I'll be the same age as you were when _I_ was born!"

"…ah, I guess you will be…" Hajime said.

(He was also only one year older than his parents had been when he was born.)

(Neither of these facts brought him comfort.)

And the conversation continued on with Inou adding in a half-hearted word of support, and Karai bringing up the subject of baby names, which Hajime brushed off as best he could.

But all Ino could hear was Takeru's voice.

_You whore, you whore, you whore._

Time passed quietly, otherwise. The city had settled into the business of pleasing the tourists, since the Kages were at the business of deciding which of the chuunin candidates deserved promotions, and settling international issues on the side. This usually took several days.

Chuunin guards had stopped by earlier that day to confirm that the Uchiha family was in Inoichi's care. Both Ino and Inoichi asked that they not tell Sasuke where they were. Ino refused to go into details as to why, but Inoichi mentioned, quietly, that there had been a domestic violence incident, and that quickly shut them up.

"Daddy, you didn't have to say that, Sasuke never—hits me or anything…" Ino said, softly, once they were gone.

"You came to me for a reason, darling. And I want him as far away from you as possible for as long as possible, all right?" he said.

Ino just lowered her head, feeling unnecessarily shamed.

Takeru drifted back, here and there, mostly for meals. But he slept elsewhere, and was out of the house most of the day.

(Like Sasuke, he liked to take walks when he was frustrated, though he distracted himself with books and women otherwise.)

Karai seemed to be healing quickly, though Ino had a feeling she was just putting on a good face for Hajime's sake. And Inou was quiet as ever, but he at least joined them for lunch and dinner, and watched TV with his siblings.

Once Nadeshiko started going back to work, Ino knew that the doldrums had truly set in.

And her issues began to unravel. Much to her discontent.

She didn't want to be bothered, her problems were so small and mostly her own fault, there was no reason for her to be stewing over them.

But she was losing sleep; night after night she found herself at 3 AM with a mug of tea in the kitchen of her father's house, and she'd wake up on the living room couch with a blanket thrown over her, with the television still on.

(_You whore, you whore, you whore_.)

It was with a great reluctance that Ino picked up the phone one afternoon and dialed the Haruno residence, on a day that she knew Sakura had off.

"Hi, uh—Sakura? Are you free today?"

(Sakura had heard pieces of the upset that had trickled through the city, though Naruto had advised her to give Ino her space, in case something happened.)

"Of course, Ino, what is it?"

"Do you want to—meet for lunch or something, I've just been stuck inside the house and I could use the… time out."

Sakura, of course, agreed.

They met an hour later at a coffee shop. And Sakura was immediately worried.

There were deep creases under Ino's eyes, and she hadn't put on all of her makeup, only bothering with eyeliner and lipstick.

Sakura didn't even bother touching her coffee, though Ino sipped at her tea with trembling hands. The cup rattled whenever she put it back onto its saucer.

"Ino, what's the matter?" Sakura said, when she couldn't stand it any more. "What was it that you wanted to talk about?"

"Where in the world do I start…" Ino said, rubbing one of her temples. "Well, um… Well, Sasuke… he, um. He disowned Hajime, a few days ago."

"_What?_" Sakura said. "Why, what happened?"

(Even though she already knew, to some extent.)

"He… he got a girl pregnant. And they'd been together for a while already, but Sasuke had no _idea_ and when he finally found _out_ he just… he just exploded, started throwing Hajime's things out of our front door, and we fought and…" Ino lowered her head. "I just… he eventually stormed out of the house, so I took the kids and I left, and we're living with my father right now."

"You—you _left_ him?" Sakura said.

"I know, it was really selfish of me, but I had to…" Ino replied. "It's not permanent, anyways…"

"Selfish? No! No, no, no, Ino, that was the _right_ thing to do, if he was terrorizing your family like that," Sakura said. "Has he been bothering you since?"

"No, I don't even know where he is," Ino said. "I've been too busy making sure that the kids are okay, especially Hajime…"

"Well, are they?"

Ino nodded, weakly. "Hajime… his girlfriend is a Hyuuga, and they're not allowing her to keep it, so he's going to raise it after it's born. And I'm going to… help, of course, I _have_ to, but it's just all so _sudden_ and I can't really…" She couldn't bring herself to say more, and drowned the silence in another shivering sip of tea.

"A Hyuuga…?"

(Sakari had been very worried and fidgety lately, and she said it had something to do with one of her teammates.)

(A Hyuuga, female, on the same team as Hajime…)

"You don't mean Hyuuga Ninako?" Sakura said.

Ino nodded, again. "Yes, her. That poor girl, Hajime's utterly beside herself, I can't even imagine how _she_ must be feeling…"

"This whole _thing_ is awful, Ino. I'm so _sorry_, is there anything I can do to help?" she said. "Do you need food made, because I'm sure Lee would be-"

But Ino was shaking her head. "No, I don't need… _charity_, I'm just… I'm being selfish and hysterical, aren't I," she said, reaching for her tea again.

"Ino, hardly!" Sakura said. "I can't imagine how stressed you must be right now, with this."

"I should be able to handle it," Ino said. Pale-golden tea spilled onto the saucer from the force of her putting it down. "I've handled worse…"

"_Worse?_" Sakura said.

"Forget I said anything, sorry," Ino said. "Sorry for wasting your time."

She stood, but Sakura grabbed her arm. "Ino, sit down and talk to me. You are _not_ wasting my time. What _else_ has happened?"

Ino closed her eyes, almost wincing, before sitting again.

"Just… Sasuke was a little upset by the chuunin tournament results, is all…" she said, her voice high, a mocking imitation of nonchalance.

"_Upset?_" Sakura said. "Why would he be _upset_, your children made it into first _and_ second place!"

"Oh, you know how he is, he's always got _something_ to be upset about, it's nothing…" Ino said. "There was just a minor argument, nothing big, I got through it… This is no worse, I should just stop letting it bother me…"

"Ino, come on…" Sakura said. "Stop… _denying _these things to yourself. Things are bad enough that you've left your _husband_. You _should_ be bothered!"

"Sakura, please, we're in public…" Ino whispered, lowering her body closer to the table. "I don't want people talking about this…"

"What, the fact that you finally… stood up for yourself for once?" Sakura said, a ribbon of anger ripping into her voice.

The glass-like look on Ino's face in return made Sakura instantly regret her words.

Ino looked like she was about to cry. She held her forehead up with one of her hands. "What the hell happened to my life…" she said, shaking her head. "I mean, for pity's sake, Sakura, I'm going to be a grandmother before I'm _forty-five!_"

"Well, um." Sakura looked around. Nobody seemed to be staring. "Well, we both married and started having children relatively early, so I suppose that's to be expected from our own children…"

Ino's hand moved from her forehead to her eyes, and her shoulders began to shudder rhythmically.

"Ino, Ino, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm not trying to make you cry, I swear…" Sakura said. She reached across the table to put her hand on Ino's free arm. "Please, it's going to be okay…"

Ino just shook her head. "No, no, no… Not with Sasuke, I don't even _know_ how things can be okay with him… I mean, after what he did to _Inou_ and then _Hajime_, and I have no idea what he could do to _Takeru_ now that he knows…"

"Wait, Ino, what are you talking about? What did he do to Inou?" Sakura struggled with Ino's tear-infected words.

But Ino kept going. "He hasn't even tried to _find_ me, he must be so _angry _at me if he doesn't even want to _find_ me… I'm such a bad wife…"

The last five words pulled on Sakura especially hard. "A bad _wife?_ Ino, don't _say_ that, how are you in any _way_ a bad wife?"

"Oh, it's just… I can't hardly say or even do anything without making him _angry_, and I've done everything I can to keep the children happy, too, but…" She took her hand away from her head, now, and was shaking her head more severely. "I can't do enough, nothing is enough…"

"Ino, that's not your fault, that's _his_," Sakura said. "Sasuke's always had… anger issues, but have they been getting worse?"

"I _know_ that, he just has a temper, it hasn't been getting _worse,_" Ino said. There was a snap of her old voice, for a moment, but it quickly disappeared. "I just… I don't even want to think about what he… what he could _do _to me if I tried to go back _now_, but I know he'll just get angrier if I keep hiding like this, I don't know what to _do…_" She began crying again.

Sakura stroked Ino's arm with her thumb, a troubling and painful anxiety building in her chest.

Her suspicions were slowly being confirmed, and more.

"I have nothing to complain about, absolutely… nothing at all…" Ino was mostly talking to herself, now, sniffing deeply when she breathed. "So why is everything so _awful?_ I married the man of my… my _dreams_, didn't I? And I have a nice house, and money, and children, and just… Where did it all go _wrong?_ Why can't I just be happy with that? Why am I so… _fucking_ ungrateful?"

Sakura couldn't say anything in return, and she doubted that Ino would have let her.

"I just don't know what to _do_, Sakura…!" she sobbed, quietly. "I don't even know why I'm talking to you, it's not gonna solve anything…"

"…well, it's a start," Sakura replied. "Talking helps."

"Shut up," Ino said, and sniffed again. She wiped one of her eyes, and saw the smear of eyeliner left behind on her finger. "Oh, damn it, look, my makeup is _ruined,_ I must look like a _mess_, ugh, what if somebody _sees_ me…"

"Ino, you look _fine_," Sakura said. "Just take deep breaths and calm yourself down, you're going to be okay. Just keep talking to me, it's all right. I'll stay with you as long as you need me."

"No, I should go, somebody might hear…" Ino began out of her chair again.

But Sakura kept her grip on Ino's arm, and she stayed. "We can go somewhere else if you want more privacy. But I _want_ you to talk to me, okay? And, Ino—_Ino."_ She pulled on Ino's arm again, to get her back into her chair. "Look at me. What you did, leaving Sasuke and going to your father's house—that was the _right thing to do_. It was very brave, and it was the best thing for you _and_ your children. Okay? And if Sasuke tries anything—ANYTHING—then he'll have to deal with me, _and_ with Naruto. We won't let _anything_ happen to you. Okay?"

Ino kept her head turned away. "You should stay out of this, I don't want more people knowing about this…"

"Ino, this isn't your fault, you don't have to worry about people _blaming_ you," Sakura said.

"No, word's already getting around. I know, I can _tell_. Everyone's talking about the wife of that Uchiha, fighting his own son in broad daylight. And there's me, the horrible wife that didn't stop this from _happening_."

"Ino, it's not your_ fault!_" Sakura said again.

_And why do you care so damn much about what other people think of you?! Jeez, woman!_

But Sakura remembered the last snap in the conversation, and how things had gone downhill from there. So she kept her mouth shut.

"Look, I don't even know why I did this," Ino said. "I'm going back to my father's. _Don't_ tell anyone what I said, I can handle everything on my own…"

And before Sakura could stop her, Ino slipped her arm out of her hand and left the shop.

Sakura paid the bill for the both of them, and went home. She gave Lee a very long hug when she got back, full of frustrated sighs.

"What happened with Ino-san?" he asked, when she pulled away.

"Nothing," Sakura replied. "Nothing happened. That's the problem."

The talk hadn't helped Ino much, either. The entire walk back to the Yamanaka compound, she was trying to keep her face from view, so nobody would see the smear of black around her eyes, and her burst-blood cell cheeks.

And her thoughts dove and made grasps at reason.

Where had everything gone wrong?

Surely, whatever the reason was, it was her fault. It always was, with Sasuke.

She went to her old bedroom, once she arrived home and had washed her face. It was the middle of the day, so neither of her daughters were inside, and she loosed her hair and laid down in her bed like she had done when she was a younger girl.

She drifted to sleep with a familiar notion floating through her mind, almost comforting in its consistency.

Twenty-three years ago, he had asked her if she wanted to help rebuild his clan.

That was how he had proposed.

Some nights, more than others, she would waste no time in re-thinking her answer, and coming to the same conclusion.

But this afternoon took much longer.

She was asleep before anything that satisfied her came to mind.


	107. Yellow Rattle

_Chapter 107 - Yellow Rattle_

* * *

Sasuke was hospitalized, after the war was over. A lot of people were, but Sasuke was kept particularly long for a few reasons.

The first and most obvious reason was his injuries.

But the second and more important reason was the risk that he posed to the general public.

He was too broken, physically and emotionally, to be kept in the prisons. When his injuries finally healed, nobody knew how long it would be before he was mentally healthy enough to return to society, as it were. So he was kept, to his discontent, for months.

For better or for worse, he received very few visitors.

Of course, Naruto visited him, and often. And Kakashi would stop by on occasion, mostly to monitor his mental state.

Sakura rarely stopped by, truthfully. She usually only visited in the company of Naruto, to make things easier.

(No matter how many evaluations they performed on him, she could never forget that he had nearly killed her, without remorse or hesitation.)

(That, and the healing, scarred remains of the heart she had once kept for him, ripped away by his actions.)

Nobody else really wanted to spend visiting hours with a war criminal and a psychopath.

Well, except for one person.

"I'm just so _happy_ Sasuke-kun's back!" Ino chirped, one afternoon, while she and Sakura were out together. "He's healing so well, I'm _so_ glad."

Sakura stared back, incredulously.

Ino, in the wake of the war, had bounced back with astonishing speed. And with that return to normalcy came the restoration of her Number One Crush.

(Truthfully, Ino almost missed Sasuke more than Sakura did, during his absence, if only for one reason: she hadn't seen how much he had changed.)

(While Sakura's trust and adoration had slowly been chipped away by each subsequent meeting between her and Sasuke, the Uchiha had remained utterly perfect in Ino's memory.)

(Before the war, when he had been declared a Missing Nin, she had cried because she couldn't imagine any good reason _why_ they would do such a thing, when Sasuke was otherwise a good ninja and a decent person. Misguided, yes, but not _that_ bad…)

When she wasn't busy with missions and assisting in her father's shop, Ino spent her time visiting Sasuke. She brought fresh flowers for him with every visit, and later she peeled apples and packed snacks for him to eat.

Sasuke was, initially, sullen and silent about the whole business.

But, one afternoon, as Ino was leaving, he said, "Thank you."

Ino gushed about it to Sakura, of course. "Can you _believe_ it, Sakura? Oh, I'm so _happy."_ She clutched her arms to her chest, wiggling a little. "I wonder if he'll be open to dating once he gets out of the hospital…"

Sakura looked vaguely appalled. "Ino, how can you be thinking of… _romance_ with him after what he's done?" she said. "Sasuke doesn't _care_ about that stuff, not any _more_…"

But Ino just scoffed dismissively. "You're just jealous that he actually talks to _me_," she replied.

And Sakura paused, stung, because what Ino said was true.

So she changed the subject.

Eventually, Sasuke was recovered enough for release—after many appeals to the elders by Naruto and Kakashi and mostly Naruto. It was a warm spring day, when he was set loose, and Naruto couldn't have been more excited.

He'd gotten Sasuke an apartment in the same building as him—they'd be neighbors, finally!—because his old home had been demolished in the Day of Pain, and nobody had bothered to rebuild anything on the Uchiha property.

(Though the land itself remained empty, almost respectfully, almost fearfully.)

And he was going to spend the rest of the afternoon helping him move in, and then he'd take Sasuke out to dinner, and it would be just _great_.

Sasuke, however, surprised him.

"I think I'd like to go take a walk with Ino," he said. "I'll meet up with you later. Don't _worry_, dumbass, my apartment's not going anywhere…"

Ino, standing almost shyly behind Naruto, turned bright red. She was holding a loud bouquet, filled with yellow and pink flowers, and thin red blossoms that shivered and waved like fireworks.

"Oh, sure… You guys have fun, y'know!" Naruto replied, grinning, his confusion masked with his smile.

Sasuke and Ino didn't hold hands as they went along, but Sasuke walked close to her, closer to her than she'd ever remembered.

And he actually started a conversation, if only once: "Are those for me?"

"Huh, what?"

"Those flowers."

"Oh! Oh, yes, of course, they're for your new apartment…" Ino said, holding the flowers closer to her face. "I filled it with all sorts of things for good luck. And, um, these, because they reminded me of you…"

"Which ones?"

"These." Ino freed a hand to touch one of the thin, firecracker blossoms; the petals shrunk back and into tight buds as her fingers brushed it. "They're called sensitive plants; they're very pretty, but you have to be careful with them to see their true beauty."

"And that reminded you of me?" Sasuke said.

"Yes, somewhat," Ino said, her face growing redder.

"That's nice," Sasuke said, and that was about it for conversation, for the rest of the walk.

But for Ino, it was absolutely more than enough.

Sasuke took the bouquet from her as they parted ways, and set it in a milk bottle on the window above his sink, because he didn't have any vases yet. Naruto spent way too much time poking the sensitive plants instead of moving furniture around like he was supposed to, so Sasuke had to almost drag him to dinner at Ichiraku.

Sasuke presented Ino with a fistful of wild violets upon their next meeting. "They're purple and they reminded me of you, I guess. Since you wear purple all the time."

Ino took the flowers with a difficult smile.

(Violets reminded her of her mother.)

"Thank you, Sasuke-kun. Where do you want to go today?" she said.

"Wherever," Sasuke replied (which, Ino learned in time, was his default response for these things).

Ino tucked the violets into the waist of her skirt, and she walked with Sasuke for a while.

"So Ino and I are dating, I guess," Sasuke announced, during one of his many shared meals at Naruto's apartment, a short while later. "I dunno how these things work."

"Huh, okay," Naruto replied, with a mouthful of ramen.

Word, naturally, got around quickly.

Nobody expected it to last. At all.

After all, this was _Sasuke_. Even though he was supposedly "better now," he was still stuffy and insensitive, and an absolute diva when it came to missions. Kakashi refused to let him take part in anything higher than C-rank for the time being, which made him very grumpy indeed. He also refused to work with anyone but Naruto, if at all, and barely talked to anyone besides him.

However, Ino seemed to be making an exception of herself. The gossip was thunderous the first time she was seen out with him—her arm linked in his.

Uchiha Sasuke, willingly walking arm-in-arm with someone? Unthinkable!

But their linked-arm walks evolved into restaurant dates, and Ino very-publically giving him bento lunches and kisses on the cheek when she ran into him at the Hokage Manor, between their respective missions.

Yes, _kisses_. Though Sasuke never kissed her back, nor hugged her, he received them without complaint. Which was more than one could say about how Sasuke received hugs of friendship from Naruto—usually with a cat-like tensing of the shoulders—and other intimate gestures.

And the relationship that nobody thought was going to last, well, lasted. For three years.

Of course, there were reasons for this happening.

The first reason was the lack of competition. Sakura had long since given up on him—she'd recovered to the point where she could talk to him, however uncomfortably, but she hadn't made much more progress beyond that. Most other girls were either in similar mindsets—(pardoned) war criminal, (cured) psychopath, et cetera—or were discouraged because of reason number two: Ino.

Ino was very affectionate, and very open about it. And she was definitely the type of girl that would hunt down and personally ruin any woman that would dare come between her and her man.

There was also the fact that Sasuke seemed flat-out disinterested in any other women, but people just chalked that up to his personality and general lack of warmth. Since he seemed to like Ino enough.

(Though there were people—a _lot_ of people—that assumed this lack of interest was due to a preference for men, and the uber-feminine Ino was being strung along as his cover story.)

(Though Sasuke's equal disinterest in the same sex—his putting up with Naruto aside—kept this from gaining much credibility.)

But the third reason—and possibly most important reason—was babies.

What thoughts and ambitions Sasuke had for the future were almost entirely concerned with the business of restoring his clan. And that involved acquiring a wife with which to have the children that would make up the new generation.

And Sasuke wasn't terribly picky. Ino had stayed with him and showed no sign of leaving, so his choice was obvious.

In Konoha, the legal age for marriage, and just about everything else, was twenty. This was a holdover from old laws that sought to reduce the number of orphans in the world: if you could stay alive long enough, you were obviously competent enough to settle down and start having kids.

So on a September evening, on Ino's twentieth birthday, Sasuke proposed while sitting across from her in his apartment, alone, holding her hands in his.

"Would you help me in rebuilding my clan, by joining me as my wife?"

Ino had thought this was utterly romantic, at the time.

And, of course, she had accepted, with a big squealing mass of yes and many unreturned hugs.

Sasuke didn't want to wait. "We should have it done next month. We've been together long enough, anyways, so it would be silly to delay it at all."

But Ino resisted. "No, no, we have to plan this out! We have guests to invite, and I have to get a dress…"

"There aren't many people I want to invite," Sasuke said.

"Oh, we'll only invite Naruto and Sakura… and Kakashi-san, for sure, and Shikamaru and Chouji, and maybe their families too…"

"Just a few people. Please," Sasuke said.

The whole thing ended up a lot larger than Sasuke was comfortable with, once Ino's family had caught wind of the proposal. There was the whole issue of the clan's designated heir marrying an outsider, and the fact that Sasuke hadn't come to Ino's father, the head of the clan, to ask for her hand before proposing, as was proper.

"I'm not… sure how these things are supposed to work, really," Sasuke replied, after he had been called for a small audience with Inoichi. "So I'll state here and now: I want to marry your daughter. Will you let me?"

"Sure, though that was a bit unnecessary, Uchiha-kun," Inoichi replied, which caused Sasuke to grumble at himself.

As for the issue of inheritance, Ino brought up a solution: "Well… Sasuke and I want to have a lot of kids, so why don't we just name one of them an Uchiha heir and another a Yamanaka heir?" she said. "That takes care of things, right?"

Inoichi had to suppose that was a solution. Though he was more than a little uncomfortable with the idea of his little girl, barely out of her teens, talking about becoming a mother.

Sasuke managed to talk them out of a big ceremony. Normally, it would have been a huge, glitzy affair, with the entirety of the Yamanaka, Nara, Akimichi and Sarutobi clans in attendance, plus or minus other influential clan representatives and guests.

But in the end, only close friends were invited: Sasuke and Ino's teammates, of course, and their dates and plus-ones.

The wedding plans struck the rest of the Yamanaka clan as a bit standoffish, definitely odd, and possibly rude. Public opinion of Sasuke over the passing years had improved to the point where most people didn't despise him that much any more, and the fact that he was getting married was something to be happy about for many. That he would reject guests and well-wishes was disappointing but, at the same time, to be expected.

(This didn't stop Naruto from trying to throw Sasuke a bachelor party. This involved kidnapping him and taking him to a club by force. Sasuke was not amused.)

They were married in December, in a small ceremony at the Yamanaka compound. Cups of sake were exchanged, and vows were made, and tears were shed.

They were to spend their honeymoon in their new house.

Sasuke, to put it simply, was extraordinarily well-off. Being the last Uchiha in existence, and being the son of the head of the clan before its demise, he had _quite_ a bit of money waiting for him, once all the legal snags were worked through. And he used that money to have a house built on a far corner of the Uchiha grounds, in the time between his proposal and the actual ceremony. He didn't feel like waiting.

"This actually works out quite well," he said to Ino, as he was showing it to her near the end of construction. "I'd have had you stay at my apartment if we'd gotten married right away, which hardly seems proper, doesn't it."

"Oh, yes, of course, absolutely," Ino replied, breathlessly, too caught up in her rapidly-materializing fantasy of being a housewife with an enormous kitchen and everything. Spending their first few months of marriage in a two-room apartment, next-door to _Naruto?_ Heavens, no, that was unthinkable now!

The house was quite spacious, indeed, with a second floor that was more of an attic than anything, lacking any sort of rooms, beyond a bathroom walled off in the corner.

"We can partition it off once we start having kids," Sasuke explained. "And if we have too many for the second floor we'll just expand on the first."

"That's so _smart_," Ino replied, and she tugged him on the arm in a sideways-hug. "You think of everything, Sasuke."

Sasuke just smiled slightly, and brought her downstairs to show her the beginnings of the garden and courtyard in the back.

The place was fully-furnished and operational, and both of them insisted on spending their first night there, rather than the Yamanaka compound.

"We'd like our privacy, thanks," Sasuke said, and Ino tittered in reply.

Oh yes, they _would _need their privacy.

Ino had literally been dreaming about her wedding night for months, if not years. It was the subject of many a, ahem, _private fantasy _since she was a teenager. And once the engagement ring was on her finger, she figured that gave her a free license to start actively planning it. And that involved talking at Sakura. Extensively.

"What sort of underwear should I wear? Do you think he'd like red? But red makes me look like I've got a rash…"

"You could always… ask him?" Sakura replied. "I don't really think it matters much, since... well, it'll be _off_ eventually."

"_Sakura!_"

Sakura shrugged. "Honestly, Ino, I have no idea why you're asking _me_ what you think Sasuke would like to see."

Ino just continued. "Black might be nice, that's classic…"

Sakura sighed.

(She almost wanted to ask if Ino and Sasuke had actually _done_ it with each other before, but something burrowing and uncomfortable in her chest kept her from saying anything.)

Ino, eventually, decided on purple, with black lace. Because Sasuke seemed to gravitate towards those colors, in whatever gifts he gave her. And she put the lingerie on with care, after the wedding, since she felt it would be a little weird wearing stuff like that underneath her wedding kimono. She and Sasuke were both changed out of their formal clothes, once the necessary post-ceremony celebrations were over, since Sasuke didn't want to walk all the way back to their house in five layers of clothing, and Ino didn't either.

Their entrance into their house as Mr. and Mrs. Uchiha was fairly understated. Sasuke turned the lights on in the kitchen after they both took off their coats; he scratched his scalp, and went to go use the bathroom.

Ino took the opportunity to get ready. "Sasuke, dear?"

"Mm?" She heard his voice from down the hallway.

"Come to bed, please?"

"Mm."

She was standing by the bed, in front of the door, when he returned. The lights were lowered; her legs were crossed at the ankle, and she had her hands on her hips. Her hair was undone, and falling in flaxen waves to her thighs.

Sasuke, however, didn't seem to notice. He went to the closet, where Ino had already lovingly folded most of his clothes into separate drawers for him and her, and exchanged his pants for pajama bottoms, keeping his long-sleeved shirt on.

"Sasuke?"

"Mm?"

"You're… going to bed already?" Her smile was strained.

"Yeah, I'm tired."

"But, um… Sasuke, this is our wedding night…" Her confident pose began to crumple. "Don't you think we should celebrate?"

"Celebrate?" Sasuke paused, his eyes flicking to the ceiling. "…oh. Right…" He began taking off his pants, folded them, and tossed them on the floor by the left side of the bed.

Ino watched, and waited, trying not to feel… underwhelmed. Sure, watching Sasuke—her _husband _now, she reminded herself, as if to further the excitement—strip was wonderful in so many different ways, but he was slow and almost sleepy as he did it, which impeded some of the sensuality of the act. He got on the bed, still in his boxer shorts, and lay against the pillows, on top of the sheets.

"Well, come on," he said, after a while. And Ino wanted to smack herself—of _course_ he was waiting for her.

She got on the bed as well, and crawled on her hands and knees over him until she was straddled on his hips. She kissed him on the mouth, first—which shocked her, in some corner of her mind, since she'd never kissed him anywhere but the cheek before then—but this was her wedding night, and she was going to go all-out.

It took her several kisses for him to kiss back, she found. And no matter what she tried after that, his reactions to her touch seemed sluggish, delayed.

"Sasuke, are you okay?" she asked him, near his shoulder. "Are you too tired?"

"No, let's keep going," he replied, so quietly she could barely hear him. His cheeks were incredibly red. "It's okay."

So she kept going.

To Ino's bafflement and frustration, it took a very long time for Sasuke to get aroused. But once he was, they turned over and dispensed with the underwear and started going at it.

Ino tried to enjoy it.

But the entire time, all she could focus on was Sasuke's face, his heavy, strained breathing, his hands clutching the pillow behind her for dear life.

Everything seemed to indicate that he was in serious pain.

After a torturously long time, he climaxed. She didn't.

And Sasuke got off the bed, and picked his boxer shorts up where they'd been thrown aside, and put on the folded pajama pants, the discarded shirt. He returned to bed with a sour expression, and he flinched when Ino out her hand on his shoulder.

"Sasuke…?" she said, softly. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he said. "Just tired. You should put your pajamas back on. That… underwear didn't look comfortable…"

"Ah, of course, I shouldn't sleep in them…" She got off the bed herself, and picked up her panties—the bra hadn't come off, but she removed it by the closet and dropped it in the hamper. She returned to bed in softer clothes to find Sasuke already curled up under the blankets in the fetal position; he'd turned off the light on his bedside table.

She crawled in beside him, and rested her head on his raised shoulder.

She felt him twitch, slightly, at her touch, as if he weren't expecting her.

"Goodnight, dear," she said. "I love you."

"Goodnight," Sasuke replied, and said nothing else for the rest of the night.

Ino was awake for a long time, utterly tortured.

Was it… supposed to have gone like that? Since she'd had experience with _herself,_ certainly, and she knew what it was like to be _satisfied._

_That_ hadn't been satisfying. And it couldn't have been for Sasuke, either, not with that reaction.

What had she done wrong?

She chalked it up to inexperience. This was _her_ first time with a man, after all, and… well, she had to suppose that it was Sasuke's as well, since she couldn't see where he'd have had many opportunities to practice, before their marriage, either with Ino or with other women.

(Ino had, haltingly, brought up the possibility of them being more intimate during one of their later dates. Sasuke said that he didn't feel comfortable "committing like that" before they were of age, and that he didn't know if he was responsible enough for it besides. Which Ino found endearing at the time, though it seemed more unusual and awkward as time went on.)

Well, practice, that was it. They would both get better with practice.

It wouldn't take long for them to get to a point where Sasuke didn't look like he was being… well, _murdered_ when he was with her.

Relieved and far more at peace with this reasoning, Ino laid back and finally got some sleep.

She woke up the next morning and threw herself without hesitation into her new role as Mrs. Uchiha, devoted wife of Sasuke.

Sasuke went to get the rest of his clothes and furniture from out of his apartment in the morning, so Ino took the time to cook him lunch, for his return. And Sasuke seemed to appreciate the toasted cheese-and-tomato sandwiches she'd put together, which cheered her up significantly. She spent the rest of the day with him deciding where to put the remainder of the furniture, and preparing dinner.

Sasuke went immediately to bed, that first night, without much of a word about it. But the next night, as Ino was changing into her pajamas, he said, "So, should we… try again tonight?"

"Oh! Oh, of course, are you not tired?" Ino replied.

"Yeah," Sasuke said.

Things weren't much better; Ino's nervous, laced-up idea of intimacy had been replaced by anxiety over performance.

And, as always, there was Sasuke's face.

At least it seemed to go by faster, that time. They were still practicing.

The next night, Sasuke refused, again. But the night after, he asked, again. And things didn't improve much, again.

This continued from pattern into routine. Ino would wake early to make matching lunches, for the both of them; they would go out for missions or shopping or outings with friends, usually separately. And they would reunite for dinner, which Ino would cook. And every other night, they would have sex.

Ino began to worry when, after being with him one night, she felt him get out of bed, some time after they'd said goodnight to each other. He left the room and, a short while later, she heard the hiss of the shower. Sasuke returned after a very long time with wet hair.

Things weren't going well, clearly.

She began to scour magazines for solutions to her problem. She cooked dinners with shellfish and herbs that were supposed to be aphrodisiacs, but if they were working, she sure didn't feel it, much less Sasuke. She brought home a bottle of red wine, and offered a glass to Sasuke to loosen him up, but he refused—he wasn't much of a drinker, she remembered, after the fact. She offered to give him massages immediately beforehand, to stimulate his blood and chakra, but that only seemed to make him even more tense. And when she offered to try new positions with him, so things might be more comfortable or pleasurable, she received a hasty, groaning, "No, no, no, don't."

The best she could do was to at least _sound_ like she was enjoying herself, so Sasuke wouldn't feel bad.

Luckily, her problems were solved, at least momentarily, when her health took a turn for the uncomfortable sometime in February. Exhaustion and nausea kept her confined to bed for entire afternoons, and not recreationally.

Of course, after a while, she wondered if she was pregnant. And her initial denial—it was far too early, she and Sasuke had barely been married for two months!—was smashed into oblivion by the simple facts of the matter: they _had_ been having sex literally every other night, without protection. It was _bound_ to happen.

When she missed her period, she decided to take the leap and buy a pregnancy test.

It came back positive. The second one did, too, and the blood test at a local clinic confirmed it. (She avoided the hospital because she didn't want anyone she knew—i.e. Sakura—finding out just yet, if it were really true.)

She had to tell Sasuke.

And she told him while they were on the bed together, after the rest of their evening rituals.

"Are you feeling better tonight?" Sasuke said.

"Oh, yes, much better," she replied.

"Mm. Good. I was thinking we could give it another try tonight."

"I… don't see why that would be necessary, actually," Ino replied, and she could feel her cheeks warming.

"Why?" He sounded almost hurt.

"Well… Sasuke, just from the amount of sex we're having right now," she said, with quick comfort, "we're obviously… trying for a baby, aren't we?"

"…I suppose, there's no other reason," Sasuke replied, stiffly. "I don't really want to wait…"

"Well." Ino propped herself up a little. "I went to the doctor today, and they said that… I'm pregnant already."

Sasuke's mouth fell open slightly. "Are you… serious?"

Ino nodded. "Yes. Mind, it's really, very early, but I suppose it's happened!" she said.

Sasuke's face remained blank, unreadable.

"…Sasuke, is this too soon?" she added, softly, leaning over to him. "Because if you're not ready yet then-"

But he shook his head, and something like a smile appeared. "No, no, this is… _wonderful_ news," he replied. "The sooner we begin the better. When will it be born?"

"Mm… sometime in September? Really, Sasuke, it's very early-"

"Then we'll have to get ready," he said. "Get its room prepared."

"Well—Sasuke, there's always the chance that… something might happen, before that," Ino said, softly.

"It won't. Nothing will happen," Sasuke said. His eyes began to wander, his smile growing. "A child by September. This is… wonderful, absolutely wonderful…"

Ino rested back against the pillows, sighing, drinking in Sasuke's understated joy.

"No more… sex, then, I don't want anything to happen because… of you overexerting yourself," he said, when he finally came back down to earth. "You need your rest, too."

"Oh! Oh, that's… fine," Ino replied, smiling back. "I'll be all right, Sasuke, I promise, I'll take care of myself."

"Both of you," Sasuke said, and he nodded. "Come on, let's get some sleep, all of us."

"All right, all right," Ino said, almost laughing. "Goodnight. I love you."

"Goodnight," Sasuke replied, as he always did.

They decided not to tell anyone until Ino got through the first trimester. "Since that means we're out of the woods," she replied. "It'll be safe."

"Yes, all right," Sasuke replied, impatiently. He was practically bouncing during every conversation they had together, since he'd found out about the baby. He seemed to find opportunities for preparation at every instance, which Ino gently waved off, telling him to wait a little longer.

Ino quietly ceased with her more strenuous missions, otherwise, manning the flower shop instead. And she delighted—to her amusement—in each pound she began to gain, in the small rise of flesh beneath her navel that began to strain at the waistband of her dresses.

Sakura was the first person that Ino told, after she made it to April without incident. She planned to break the news to her over a cup of tea, since the air was growing warm and all the local cafes were setting out their outdoor tables again.

However, Sakura's news far outshone Ino's.


	108. Meat Flower

_Chapter 108 - Meat Flower_

* * *

A year before the marriage of Sasuke and Ino, Neji had been betrothed to a Hyuuga woman named Hasami during the clan's great New Year celebration; since this was when the whole clan got back together, it was the optimal time to announce arranged matches. And Neji didn't seem to mind her so much, since they had an amicable relationship to begin with, if distant.

And since good things obviously came in threes, Lee began to wonder if he was to be the next of his peers to take the step into the great summer of adulthood by joining a woman in marriage.

And, of course, he had only one woman on his mind: his darling, beloved, Haruno Sakura-san.

Obviously, the time was ripe.

Lee began to prepare, fervently seeking advice on formulating the Perfect Proposal Plan.

Because, after all, a proposal was a Very Special Thing, and he had only one chance to get it right. Lee was adamant about not making _any_ errors.

His research was, of course, ludicrously thorough.

A proposal had to be MEMORABLE. Acceptable means of proposal included, to his surprise, offering the ring to the beloved within something she herself enjoyed. Though the use of food invited caution, for he did not want her to eat or drink the ring. Flowers could perhaps be a substitute, though Lee wondered how he would be able to present a ring through a bouquet of flowers, and there was also the problem of which flowers would be best suited for the proposal…

…well, frankness was also an acceptable path, just asking her directly. Which Lee latched onto immediately, for he was a forthright young man, and he did not want to conceal his feelings. Besides, he was brave! He would ask her without flinching or looking away!

Though he still needed for it to be memorable. And this caused him a great deal of pondering and consternation.

Destiny, it seemed, was on his side, however. Because before Lee could explode with despair, Naruto appeared.

"Hey. I hear you're lookin' to propose to Sakura-chan," he said, unblinking, unflinching. His face was stern.

Lee, from his lonesome, contemplative perch, gulped at his expression. "That is indeed my intention," he said.

And Naruto's face snapped from a scowl to a jubilant grin. "Dude, let me totally help you."

Their collaboration was _most_ fruitful.

And on the first day of spring, after a cold, torturous winter of waiting, the cherry blossoms burst into bloom.

And Lee and Naruto put their plan into action.

Sakura heard about it, before she saw it. She reported in to her shift at the hospital, and found herself the target of giggles and people asking her, repeatedly, what she thought of it.

"What do I think of _what?_" she said.

She was told to go outside, and look at the Hokage Cliffside.

There was a message written for her, in bright pink paint, each letter ten feet tall.

This was what it said:

_HARUNO SAKURA-SAN  
I LOVE YOU AND WANT  
TO SPEND THE REST OF  
MY LIFE WITH YOU  
WILL YOU DO ME_

She had an immediate suspicion that this possibly Lee's doing—nobody _else _called her Haruno Sakura-san—and that Naruto was definitely involved.

She went to go talk to Kakashi, her ribs hurting from all of her restrained laughter.

Kakashi, feeling very put-upon, confirmed it, and explained that he had caught them before they could write the last two lines:

_THE HONOR OF  
BEING MY WIFE?_

Naruto had fought against his intervention hardest. "C'MON! A little more desecration won't hurt, y'know!"

Kakashi told him that he was twenty, not twelve, and that he and Lee were to spend the rest of the day cleaning the proposal off of his and everyone else's faces.

"So it was… a wedding proposal?" Sakura said, softly, after Kakashi finished.

"Seems like," Kakashi replied. "I didn't mean to humiliate you, since… well. But the elders would throw a fit if it stayed up. Duty over sentimentality."

But Sakura responded that she wasn't hurt at all—it was more hilarious than hurtful, though now it seemed more sad than anything.

"You should have let them finish," she added, "_then_ had them scrub it off. Because now everyone's talking about how much Lee wants me to _do _me."

Kakashi just shrugged. "You should probably go talk to him about this before the end of the day."

"Oh, I'll be talking to him, all right," Sakura replied.

She waited until her shift was over at the hospital, however. Duty over sentimentality.

Plus, she needed some serious time to think.

The sky was turning a pale blue from the distant, approaching sunset, when she finally went to the Cliffside. The message was little more than muddied, pink scribbles at that point, streaking down from the top of the cliff.

She called out from the nearest roof. "Hey, Lee!" There was no response. She leaped nearer. "Rock Lee!"

Lee was on a rope seat, his green sleeves rolled up around his elbows. He had a sponge in his hand, and his head was lowered, in the absolute depths of despair. "Do not look at me, I am an absolute failure of a man…"

"Lee, come on. Get down here, I wanna talk to you," Sakura replied.

(Naruto, on his own, nearby rope-seat, leaned over closer, to listen.)

"No, I shall _not_ come down. I am not even worthy of looking upon your face," Lee replied.

"If you don't come down I'm gonna make you come down, Lee," Sakura said.

So Lee came down, but he kept his face away from her. "I do suppose I owe you an apology, Sakura-san," he said. "This is the greatest waste of time in the entirety of my twenty-one years, and of your twenty. Scrubbed away by the very hands that created it…"

"Oh, come on, Lee," Sakura said, "it's not that bad."

But Lee shook his head. "No, it _is_ that bad. I was only allotted one chance in my entire life for a proposal of marriage, and I have utterly wasted it." Large tears were beginning to well up in his large eyes. "I keep wondering, perhaps I should have woken earlier today, or perhaps I should have tried a different method, but now I see that I was doomed to never be your husband, right from the very start."

"Lee…"

"That is my cruel, lonely destiny, I suppose. Where I cannot succeed, I must be struck down before I can fail further… I suppose that is less painful…"

"_Lee..._"

"I apologize again, Sakura-san. But you will be happier with a husband that is not as terrible a failure as I am."

Sakura sighed, deeply. "Lee, stop saying that. You really think you only have one chance to… propose to someone?"

Lee nodded. "Yes, that is law."

And Sakura was silent for a long while, which caused Lee's head to dip down even further.

"…well, that means I have one chance, too. And I haven't used mine yet."

And Sakura got down on one knee, and took Lee's hand, smiling with what was almost amusement at his snot-and-tears face. "Rock Lee, I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you do _me_… the honor of being _my_ husband?"

And Lee started bawling.

"Yes, _yes_, of course, _yes_, oh, yes, now it all makes _sense_…" Lee sniffed loudly, and wiped his face off on his forearm. "No wonder my attempt failed, you are so singularly wonderful, Sakura-san, that anything less than _you_ proposing to _me_ would do you no justice…"

Sakura stood and gave him a very, very big hug. "C'mon, silly. You want me to help clean the rest of this off?"

"Nope! I'll do it!"

Naruto, above them, had the most enormous grin on his face.

"I'll just get a couple clones made and we'll have these rocks clean in no time, y'know. You guys go have fun!"

And they did.

"We went out and bought a ring, after that," Sakura said, recounting the whole thing to Ino over their tea. "Nothing too fancy, but… _look!_" She shoved her left hand forward, where a small band of silver gleamed. "Can you believe it? I never expected that… you know, after being just _friends_—I mean, really _good _friends, but still—for so long he'd just spring this on me, but… well, I figured if I told him I'd propose _later_ it wouldn't make sense, and I… didn't want to reject him, you know? I figured I'd just… _go_ for it and figure out the details as we went along, you know?"

Sakura looked down, thoughtfully, turning the ring around on her finger. "I think all I needed was some time to think and consider _his_ feelings for once and… take my head out of my ass and realize just how much he _really_ meant to me. Or something." A spontaneous laugh jumped out of her mouth. "Jeez, Ino, I'm sorry, you're the one who called us together, didn't you have something to say?"

"Oh, no, that's fine," Ino said, her smile empty. "I'm very happy for you, Sakura. Lee is a very good man."

Sakura grinned. "No, but really, what was _your_ news?"

Ino inhaled.

Everything seemed so much smaller now.

"Well… Sasuke and I are having a baby."

Sakura gasped. "What the—_already?_"

Ino nodded, shrugged. "Well, he—_we've _both been… sort of eager in bed, from the very start," she said.

"Wow, I never… pegged Sasuke for a sex maniac," Sakura said.

"He is not a—_sex maniac!_ He's just… very attentive," Ino replied, shortly. "Goodness, Sakura, _where_ do you get these _ideas_."

Sakura pursed her lips cheekily. "Well, either way, it's certainly saying something when you're barely four months married and you're already _expecting_. When's the baby coming?"

"September. Sasuke's already thinking of names," Ino added, with a laugh. "Hajime for a boy, and Hatsumi for a girl. He _really_ wants a boy, though."

"Not surprised," Sakura replied. "He's really excited?"

"He can barely _restrain_ himself," Ino said. "He's already bringing up nursery furniture to me, and planning out how we're going to set up the room."

Sakura laughed so hard she almost snorted. "I wish I could see this, it sounds hilarious."

"It's _cute_," Ino replied. "He can't wait to be a father."

"And how are you feeling?" Sakura said. "Nervous, overwhelmed?"

"I'm just fine," Ino replied.

She came away from her meeting with Sakura feeling almost vindicated, snatching back the attention she felt her announcement deserved.

Of course, she felt happy for Sakura too, but she wanted someone to feel happy for _her_, and to a greater extent than Sasuke was.

Sasuke's excitement over preparations gradually faded, though, once they had the crib and the changing table and other furniture delivered and put up on the second floor. He wanted nothing to do with the baby clothes or the decorations or the prenatal checkups—after a while, all he wanted was for the baby to finally arrive, so he could stop fussing over whether or not they'd prepared enough and actually get to raising it.

And, of course, he didn't attend to her, physically. Ino supposed that was fair, since, with her growing belly, intimacy would be… difficult. Though she was somewhat disappointed that the most she would receive from him would be the occasional hand on her wrist or her stomach when they sat together on the couch to watch television, and his hands on her arms when she greeted him home from work.

Ino made up for the lack of attention with shopping trips out with Sakura. Lee's family was taking care of the preparations, since they wanted a traditional ceremony, unique to their clan, and Sakura had no objections to this. She recounted to Ino the joyful bizarreness of her meetings with his family; they had emigrated to Konoha from a small country near the Land of Earth when Lee was a very small child, and had taken their language and traditions with them.

"Apparently, since _I _was the one that proposed, _Lee_ is technically the bride, and _I_ am the groom. So he's going to be taking _my_ last name, isn't that interesting?" she shared, one afternoon. "I _think_ I managed to talk them out of putting Lee in a dress, though the wedding costumes look so strange, I can hardly tell the difference between them."

"Sounds fascinating," Ino said, holding up a onesie. "Look at this, isn't this cute?"

"Adorable," Sakura replied. "You know, I'm thinking of learning Zonguen so I can talk to Lee's mother more easily, she has such a difficult time with language."

"Go for it," Ino said. "You're smart, you'll figure it out."

Their wedding was in the summer. And, of course, Ino and Sasuke were both invited.

It was a very loud event, both in color and sound. Lee's parents' house was decked out in shining golden banners with red calligraphy stamped upon them, and red lanterns hanging from every ceiling beam, and there was a great deal of singing and dancing, with firecrackers set off in the courtyard every now and then. The only silence during the entire thing was when Sakura and Lee exchanged vows, the both of them wearing red robes, heavily-embroidered with golden birds and green dragons, and black vines.

"We're leaving after dinner," Sasuke told Ino, leaning in and almost shouting to get the message to her. "This is wearing me out."

Ino was tired, as well, but she at least wanted to be polite and socialize.

She managed to get in her congratulations to Sakura before Sasuke lost his patience, and before Sakura could be pulled off by Lee to receive words from Neji and his own, heavily-pregnant wife. Ino tried not to stare, and tried even harder not to feel spiteful.

It was even more difficult not to feel frustrated when Sakura came to her house for lunch, a week or two later—Ino wasn't in the mood for going out—and breathlessly recounted how wonderful her honeymoon had been.

"Why the hell didn't we date seriously _earlier_," she said, almost gasping. "I can barely keep _up_ with him but it's _wonderful_."

"Wonderful. Good for you," Ino replied, slicing firmly into the chicken breast she was preparing for a salad.

Sakura seemed not to notice.

(Sakura _also_ didn't seem to notice that her own daughter was on the way until maybe two months before her arrival the following March, not thinking anything of the inconsistent bleeding throughout, since her periods were usually irregular, which was common for many ninja women.)

(Sakari was conceived during this most enthusiastic honeymoon, and she carried very small. Sakura didn't even have to buy maternity clothes until Kenji came along.)

Eventually, Sakura's overenthusiastic glee over her honeymoon faded, and she went back to work.

And Ino waited for the baby, trying not to let her impatience and her need for attention overwhelm her, and seizing every ounce of joy she could with tight fists.

Hajime arrived, as expected, in early September. Sasuke was gone on some sort of mission when Ino's water broke in the kitchen, so rather than waiting for him, she walked to the hospital, alone, and checked herself into the maternity ward. Though she denied it, the staff could tell that she was terrified.

Sakura, once she found out, said she would go get him herself, which Ino much appreciated.

"He'll be back before you know it, I promise," Sakura said.

But when she finally found him, on city patrol with Naruto, he seemed indifferent to the news.

"Come back and get me once it's born," he said. "I'd rather be doing something productive while I wait."

Sakura grabbed him by his collar and pulled him very close, baring her teeth.

"No, you are coming back to the hospital with me, and you are going to _support _your _wife, _who is having your _child_," she said. "And if you don't, I'm going to knock you out and take you there myself."

"…yeah, Sasuke, you should probably go do that," Naruto added, waving a hand. "Come on, dude, it's your kid, y'know!"

"…fine, I'll go," Sasuke grumbled.

Ino was moaning through a contraction when he and Sakura finally arrived.

Sasuke didn't want to go in.

So Sakura slapped him.

He went in, with a red cheek and a bruised ego.

Ino, in a hospital gown, her hair slightly wet from perspiration, gasped out a smile from the bed. "You came…!"

"Yeah, I'm… here," Sasuke said, quietly.

"Do you need anything, Ino?" Sakura said, butting in, uncomfortably close to and behind Sasuke.

"My back… _really_ hurts…" Ino said, leaning forward, and trying to smile through a wince.

"Well, let's have Sasuke rub your back, then!" Sakura said. She nudged him forward quite forcefully.

Sasuke stumbled, looked back to glare at Sakura, and sighed, defeated. "Sure, I'll… rub your back."

In the few hours that passed, Sakura managed to also goad him into getting Ino some ice chips to suck on, and to also hold her hand so that she had something to squeeze whenever a contraction hit. After a while, he didn't need to be reminded about the hand-holding, getting out of his chair to be by Ino's side, and eventually just dragging the chair over to the bed, so he wouldn't have to make the effort.

But once it was time to push, he had his eyes shut tight and his head lowered, and it seemed fairly certain from the distressed humming noises he was making that he would have been covering his ears if Ino weren't squeezing his hand for dear life. Sakura ended up doing most of the coaching, standing behind the midwife, offering encouragement and assurances that it was almost over.

And, finally, there was a baby.

"It's a boy! Ino, it's a boy!" Sakura cried, near to tears.

"A boy… just like… we thought…" Ino was gasping for breath, her face shiny and flushed. The midwife put the baby on her chest and she let go of Sasuke's hand to cradle him with her hands on his back. "Oh my goodness, look at him…"

A towel was produced, and the midwife began rubbing the baby off. He began to cry.

"Look, Sasuke, a boy… Hajime, it's our Hajime…" Ino's voice was airy, almost delirious.

"You wanna cut the cord?" Sakura offered him.

But Sasuke shook his head, slowly, then quickly, his eyes still closed. He was taking deep breaths. So Sakura did the honors.

Ino took her time in cooing over Hajime's fingers and toes, and the bare streaks of black hair on his lumpy head, which were quickly covered by a blue hat. He was taken away, with her permission, to get properly cleaned and measured and wrapped up, while they delivered the afterbirth. Sasuke stayed near the nurses, during that part, observing with an almost child-like curiosity as Hajime's footprints and handprints were taken.

In time, Hajime was returned to his mother. But Ino held him only for a moment, before she asked, "Sasuke, do you want to hold him?"

Sasuke's mouth fumbled with words before he finally, weakly nodded, and took the baby from out of Ino's arms with an uncharacteristic delicacy.

An open-mouthed smile slowly and subtly began to grow. And he began swallowing and blinking far too much, his right hand playing with the edge of the blanket, where one of Hajime's hands had come to rest.

"He's, uh. He's perfect," he managed to say, sounding like he was clearing his throat. "Uchiha Hajime. Our first." He cleared his throat again. "Wow."

And perhaps it was Ino's exhaustion and the own tears in her eyes, but she could have sworn that Sasuke was crying too.

They took Hajime home a few days later, after receiving far too many visitors for Sasuke's comfort. And he was placed into his new crib, where he promptly fell asleep in the company of a green dinosaur plush doll, one of the few contributions from Sasuke to the nursery.

He woke up about an hour after that, and Ino immediately went to tend on him.

This became the norm, and Ino did not mind at all. Taking care of Hajime gave her something to do, which was more than she could say from when she was pregnant with him, and all the activity improved her mood like nothing else. Whenever he woke in the middle of the night, she would go upstairs and pick him up and feed him or change his diaper or rock him, depending on the cry.

She got particularly good at figuring out what Hajime wanted after his mind was joined to the Yamanaka network of consciousnesses, when he was a week old. Inoichi and Ino very, very gently entered his mushy, developing mind, and opened it just enough for it to have the capacity for later inter-family telekinesis. This was a painless ritual, and Ino kept the link from closing by periodically reaching out into Hajime's mind to sense his wordless thoughts. This also got him familiar with her presence, so that if he were to learn the Yamanaka arts later in life, Ino could train him most easily.

Sasuke, of course, stayed out of the business of diapers and bath time. And though Ino breast-fed Hajime, she had formula set aside for if Sasuke wanted to have a try, though he never did. But he held Hajime plenty, when he was home. This usually happened when the baby was awake, and laid out on the living room floor on a blanket with cloth blocks and his dinosaur while Ino got work done in the kitchen. And Ino took glorious pleasure in seeing Sasuke's attempts at stoicism while Hajime drooled on his lap.

Autumn became winter. They shared their first New Year together as a family, and had Naruto and Sakura and Lee over the day after for a meal, and there was much laughter over Sasuke's obvious grumpiness at Naruto's refusal to never not be holding Hajime.

By all definitions, things were good.

Ino's menstrual cycle returned, which was the biggest confirmation for her that things down below had finally gotten back to normal. And Hajime was sleeping through the night, among other milestones.

So she asked, one Saturday night, if Sasuke was feeling good.

"I'm feeling fine, why?" he replied.

"You wanna have sex tonight?"

"…no. Why would you even _ask_," he replied.

His hard tone surprised her, and she took a while to reply. "…well, it's just, it's unlikely that Hajime will interrupt us, and I'm in the mood, so…"

"Well I'm _not_. Goodnight," Sasuke said, and he flopped over sideways, pulling the blankets with him. His back, facing her, seemed like a mountain.

"…I'm sorry, maybe another time…" Ino said, quietly.

"Good _night_," Sasuke said again, from his side of the bed.

Ino waited a few days, before asking again, figuring that perhaps he was just overwhelmed with work that particular day.

But the next attempt fared no better. "No, I do not want to have sex right now, go away," was Tuesday's reply.

"Is there… any particular reason why…?" Ino asked, her voice straining.

Sasuke's eyes flicked over her, for a moment.

"No. I just don't want to. I just want to sleep," he replied.

So Ino left him to sleep. Even though she did not.

That flick of the eyes.

It had to be her. Her body.

She had to admit, she wasn't in the… best of shape. Her silhouette had recovered some, in the months since Hajime's birth, but the skin underneath was still a far cry from its usual smoothness, and the stray fat around her hips made even _her_ feel somewhat disgusted.

…well, she would fix that. She was a _pro_ at that.

She fell asleep, smiling. She'd fix things.

Ino took to the new diet and exercise regimen like a woman possessed. She cooked meals of steamed vegetables and brown rice, and lean fish; Sasuke raised no fuss, so she took it as a minor victory. She strapped Hajime to her chest with the baby carrier while she did chores to the music on the radio, for extra resistance, which Hajime seemed to enjoy. The same went for the dozens of walks she took during the week—to the market for groceries, to Sakura's house, to the park, to nowhere in particular. Hajime always went with her, kicking his feet in the baby carrier or napping in the stroller. And every night, after her bath, she rubbed lotions on her skin to make it smooth and tight again.

Before long, she was looking _fine_. She could even argue that, with what the pregnancy had done to her breasts, she looked even _more_ amazing than usual.

…but Sasuke still wouldn't sleep with her. And though he was perfectly civil during the day, when it came to the bedroom, he would scowl at her like she was a heap of rotting meat and ignore her unless she talked to him.

This troubled her to no end. What was she doing _wrong?_ Because surely it was her fault; Sasuke would _say_—he always _did_ say—if he was too tired, or if he wasn't feeling well. This wordless avoidance dug under her skin and stayed, and itched ceaselessly.

Ino turned to outside sources for their opinions, leaving Hajime with Sasuke or, more often, her father, for excursions like breaths of fresh air.

"Well, in _my_ opinion, you look _amazing_, Ino," Sakura told her, cradling her mouse-haired Sakari, the tiniest baby Ino had ever seen, in the crook of her arm. "Seriously, I don't think Sasuke appreciates how hard you work. You ought to let him know."

But that didn't help.

"You look perfectly fine, Ino, _honestly_," Chouji, humbly single, told her, while barely fitting onto a café chair. "You shouldn't worry so much about your _appearance,_ it's really bad for your health…"

That didn't help, either.

"He's gotta be insane," Shikamaru informed her, over mixed drinks in his kitchen. "I mean, _I_ wouldn't say no."

And Ino, upset enough and frustrated enough and maybe slightly drunk enough, replied, "You wouldn't?"

Shikamaru, swirling the ice cubes around in his glass, lowered his expression. "What's that look on your face for."

"Well, if you wouldn't say _no_… Why don't we go for a quickie, right now?"

"…right _now?_"

"Yeah. No-strings-attached sex, Shikamaru, what do you say?" Ino leaned over the counter.

"…aren't you _married?_ Because that seems like way too much trouble than it's worth."

Ino sighed, unbecomingly. "I don't care, come _on_. I haven't had sex in over a _year, _I'm _dying_." She pouted. "Please, Shikamaru…"

Shikamaru considered, for a moment, his eyes to the ceiling.

"Just a quickie, huh?" he finally said.

"_Please_," Ino replied.

"Eh, I guess," Shikamaru said. "This had better not become a recurring thing."

"It won't," Ino said.

Ino, after the act, after the buzz of the martinis had worn off, felt sick to her stomach, despite the warm flood of post-coital tingles stretching into her joints. She left immediately, which Shikamaru didn't mind, because he had fallen asleep with his pants still unzipped.

She almost forgot to pick up Hajime from her father's place, on the way back home.

What the hell had she just _done?_

That was… cheating, wasn't it? She'd had sex with Shikamaru, because Sasuke wouldn't.

But that was only because she was desperate, because she was drunk, because she was upset, because…

…but she had still _done_ it.

She dropped off Hajime in his crib and, immensely grateful that Sasuke was not yet home, went into the bathroom and hosed herself off with cold water.

It had merely been an act of… weakness, of desperation. She was _disgusting_ for it.

(But she had needed it, oh, she had _needed_ it.)

(Compared to sex with Sasuke, sex with Shikamaru felt _incredible, _though truly rather sub-par when considered after the fact. She had actually _climaxed_, how long had it been since _that _had happened for her?!)

…no, stop, she had to stop that thinking, that was wrong, she wasn't supposed to cheat on her husband.

(She would not become her mother.)

She shivered from the cold water, but took it as punishment, only drying herself off once she felt she was truly remorseful. Afterwards, she redid her hair and makeup, went to check on Hajime, and got dinner started.

When Sasuke returned, however, so did the thoughts.

It was less out of primal need and more out of nagging curiosity that caused her to ask him, that night, if he wanted to sleep with her.

"Why do you keep _asking_," Sasuke replied, "I don't _want_ to. Leave me alone and go… satisfy yourself in the bathroom, if you're so eager. You can do _that_, can't you? I won't care."

He sounded so, so disgusted at the end of that sentence.

"…I'm sorry, forget I asked," Ino replied. "Goodnight."

Sasuke didn't say anything, just settling further into his side of the bed.

Her anger and frustration began to grow again.

What was wrong with her? No, no, no, what was wrong with _him?_ What was _his_ problem? Shikamaru obviously didn't have a problem.

(Though she also got angry at herself. Why did she even_ care _about this so much?)

(The obvious answer was because she felt it was unfair that her husband, the man who was supposed to love her the most, over all women, didn't love her enough to have sex with her.)

(That hurt.)

Because of this, when Shikamaru called her one afternoon, saying he was bored and, yeah, he'd said he didn't want this to become a recurring thing, but one more quickie couldn't hurt, she accepted.

It wasn't like she had any feelings for Shikamaru.

(Not like her mother had feelings for other men.)

He was just a means to find the satisfaction that Sasuke wouldn't give her.

Besides, it wasn't like she was going to leave Sasuke for him. _Hell_ no.

(She wouldn't, couldn't do that to Hajime, even if Sasuke became… unbearable.)

("_I'm sorry, Inoichi, you're _nice_, but you're so… _boring.")

And _nobody_ was going to find out.

(She would not become her mother.)

(She would not allow people to talk about her like that.)

Shikamaru was fine with all of these conditions. There were few things in the world he hated more than when girls he just wanted to casually sleep with got all emotionally invested, and clingy and whiny. Which seemed to happen far too often.

Ino promised that this wouldn't happen with them.

"It had better not," Shikamaru replied.

Their arrangement worked well for a surprisingly long while.

One or two afternoons a week, Shikamaru would call Ino, or the other way around, and Ino would drop off Hajime at her father's flower shop, saying she was going to be shopping, and would return soon. And Inoichi, ceaselessly fond of his grandson, would never refuse.

The sex was always quick, passionless, wordless, and usually on Shikamaru's couch or bed. And Ino would clean herself up afterwards and leave without much ceremony while Shikamaru napped the encounter off.

To Ino's surprise, Sasuke's mood seemed to be improving, all the while. He returned to fondly saying goodnight to her, when they turned in, and would lean his head in for her expected kiss, whenever he got home from work, and he would smile at her.

Hey, whatever worked.

Ino wondered if, maybe, Sasuke just had a really low libido and hated expending energy when he didn't have to. After all, he'd had no problem with her right after they'd gotten married. Or maybe he was like an animal that only went into heat at certain times. That would certainly explain the painful-sounding grunts and groans…

Whatever the reason was, he seemed happier just sleeping beside her and not with her. And Ino was satisfied with her own situation on the side.

And then she missed her period.

And a store-bought test confirmed it.

Rather than filling her with dread, however, this discovery just filled Ino with annoyance.

She had _told_ Shikamaru that she wanted him to use a condom, but he said that it was too much trouble. As usual.

Well, there was no need to fuss. Chances were that it was a false alarm, or she would miscarry and be able to pass it off as her period. And if that didn't happen, then…

Well, hopefully she wouldn't have to resort to that.

She really had no cause to worry.

Until, one night, Sasuke told her that he wanted to begin trying for another child.


	109. Witches Weed

_Chapter 109 - Witches Weed_

* * *

"Hajime's over a year old, now, so we'll be able to handle another infant," Sasuke explained. "Any earlier would have been too much of a hassle."

"But, uh, Sasuke—_now?_"

He was telling her this in bed. And his shirt was off.

"Of course, why are you hesitating?" he said. He smiled a little. "I figure you'll enjoy yourself."

Ino bit her lip.

"Well… if you want to…"

"I do. Come on, let's get going."

Ino didn't know what made her more uncomfortable: the fact that Sasuke now seemed almost certainly only interested in sex for procreation, or the fact that, the one time she actually hadn't felt like it, _she_ hadn't said no. The imbalance of both facts burrowed into her ears and made her feel dizzy and nauseous as she tried to sleep, after they were finished.

The night after the next arrived, and Sasuke asked again. A faint panic began to grip Ino's stomach.

Her options, in terms of getting rid of her mistake with Shikamaru, were becoming severely limited.

There was always the hope for a miscarriage, morbid as that was. Sasuke would… _probably_ be sympathetic, and they could always try again without suspicion.

And though there were always clinics she could visit, and though Ino knew it would be safe, she feared Sasuke's suspicion and his anger, if he ever found out, through some way or another. They'd never really fought before—sure, they'd had their _arguments_, every couple did—but she couldn't imagine how furious with her he would be if he knew. Even if she told him that it was because she wasn't ready for another baby, or some other, false reason, she would still have done it without his permission, without at least _talking_ to him about it, and that didn't seem fair to her.

And she was too scared to talk to him about it, anyways, because he would have probably said no. He wanted a big family, he wanted children, and… well, so did she.

She just didn't want _this_ child. Because it wasn't _Sasuke's._

(No matter what, she wouldn't dare tell him about Shikamaru. Even though there was no love involved, even though she was otherwise utterly devoted to Sasuke.)

With each night that passed, especially the nights that had her laying beneath Sasuke as he moaned with exertion, her stress level rose.

When Shikamaru called one afternoon, she told him she wasn't feeling well, and wouldn't come by.

(She wouldn't dare tell _him_ about this, either. She could handle this on her own.)

"Fine, whatever," Shikamaru replied, and hung up without much of a goodbye.

Ino had to do something.

So one day, she dropped Hajime off at her father's shop, and went to the library, where she flipped through books of herbal remedies and poisonous flowers, searching for plants that would induce bleeding or uterine cramps.

If it worked, this would be a blameless option. She would have sympathy, and she could tell Sasuke that they could always try again.

But even after she found the plants, and ground them into a fine powder in the kitchen, she wrapped them up and kept them in her purse for days.

Fear paralyzed her. Fear of the pain, fear of something going wrong, fear of discovery.

Especially because Sasuke was starting to get impatient.

"This didn't take nearly as long with Hajime," he grumbled, almost to himself, as they were getting ready for bed one night. "I thought you were ovulating."

"E-excuse me?" Ino replied.

"You usually get your period right about now," Sasuke said. "That's why I wanted to get started earlier this month, so we wouldn't have to waste as much time trying. Take a test if it's late."

The next day, Ino flushed the medicine in her purse down the toilet.

That was the nail in the coffin. He—he paid enough attention to her that he knew when she got her _period_. She felt almost violated by this, by the almost invisible control that seemed to come with this knowledge, and the terror of what else he could have possibly known about her, without her awareness.

There was no way he wouldn't be able to notice. Even if she took the medicine now, she feared she had waited too long, and that the resulting bleeding would be too severe, too painful—and who was to say that he wasn't aware of how heavy things were supposed to be, either?

She had only one option: to act as if nothing was wrong. She would pass the child off as Sasuke's. After all, it would probably _look_ like him… enough. Since Shikamaru had dark hair and eyes, and the rest could be waved away as… her side of the family. It would come a month "early," but that wouldn't raise many eyebrows.

So the next day, she told him that a test had come back positive.

"That's fantastic," he replied.

His smile was absolutely no comfort whatsoever.

The months that passed were much like her months with Hajime. Though the growing child seemed almost gleeful in causing her pain, especially once it was big enough for her to feel inside of her. Little feet jabbed her in her ribs and made the muscles in her chest and stomach seize up, and though she didn't get much morning sickness, her appetite was almost nonexistent, and her limbs grew bony as her belly swelled.

Sasuke offered some comfort, both in his presence and his absence. He did most of the work in moving the baby furniture from Hajime's room to the new room he had partitioned off, and setting up Hajime's Big Boy Bed. Hajime, toddling about and already speaking quite a lot, pestered his father constantly and asked plenty of questions about the preparations. Sasuke, blessedly, had much patience for the boy, and answered most of them.

He was, as usual, never present for her checkups. So he was not there to hear the doctor say that the baby was perfectly developed for eight months, when Ino was only supposed to be seven months gone. She had the sex confirmed, however: a boy. And like with Hajime, Sasuke chose the name.

"Takeru. Like a rising sun. Sort of has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?" he said, while they were together in the new nursery one afternoon.

"It's a lovely name, Sasuke," Ino said, quietly, pressing her hand against the mass, shifting from her hips to her back.

There was also, to some extent, Shikamaru.

He didn't seem to care about the state she was in. Though her visits with him were rare, during her pregnancy. Mostly due to her lack of interest, her personal discomfort, and her guilt. Shikamaru seemed to do well without her, at any rate.

Outwardly, Ino seemed otherwise fine. Her conversations with Sakura and Chouji and her father did not betray any of the dread she felt about Takeru. She was, by all accounts, a typical young mother, anxious over the upcoming trial of managing a toddler and a newborn at the same time.

But Takeru seemed intent on cementing his status as her own, personal problem child. His restlessness in her womb and embargo on her hunger were a mere prologue to his dramatic first entrance: he was nearly born on the kitchen floor.

Ino hadn't been feeling well all of that morning, nauseous and achy, but when the first contractions hit she was frightened to find that they were far too close together for early labor. The pain very quickly brought her to her knees, and she began yelling for someone to help.

Sasuke, enjoying a book in the living room, was drawn to her by Hajime's own cries; hearing his mother in such distress frightened him, badly, and he ran in search of his father for comfort.

"Mommy hurt, mommy hurt!" Hajime blurted out, in between tears, pointing to the kitchen windows.

Sasuke was very fast. "Ino, what's the matter, is it the baby?"

"It's… it's way too early… Sasuke, help me…" She doubled over, her face red and wrinkled from the intense pain.

"The baby's coming?" Ino nodded, and Sasuke put Hajime down and got on his knees beside her. "Can you call your father?"

Ino nodded again, sucking in her breath through her teeth.

"Have him come over and watch Hajime, then we'll go to the hospital," Sasuke said. "Do you want me to pack your things?"

But Ino shook her head, violently, every muscle in her body tensing with the onset of another cramp. "No, no, it's coming, it's coming now, no, this is way too fast, I can't…"

"Ino, the baby's… not coming now, just calm down and call your father."

The contraction subsided, and Ino took the clear, almost cold absence of pain to breathe in, deeply. "All right, I, I'll _try_."

_Daddy, please, come quick, the baby's coming and we need you to watch Haji—_

But her concentration shattered as her uterus seized up with a strength that made her shriek. "Sasuke, I can't, I can't, it's coming now, we have to get to the h-hospital, I tried—Sasuke, please, please, plea-ase!" Her voice stretched and grew higher as the pain reduced her to little-girl sobs. Her eyes shut tight, and hot, stinging tears leaked down her face.

And she suddenly felt strong, firm arms under her legs and back, and she realized that Sasuke was now carrying her.

In another moment of blind clarity, she stammered, "Sasuke, where's… where's Hajime…"

"I'll get him once you're at the hospital. Don't worry. You and the baby will be okay."

Ino reached up and clung to his neck and his shoulders, because the comfort in his voice was not enough. And she felt the bend of his chin and his cheek against her arms, like an embrace in return.

In the severe and violent darkness of her pain, she heard Sasuke arguing with the hospital staff, and his refusal to let her go until he was certain that she would be given a bed and treatment. He did not want her to wait. And, eventually, she felt him lay her down on a bed, and she heard the nurse trying to ask her questions, like when the contractions had started, and if her water had broken yet.

But she could not respond, because all she wanted to do was push, at that point. Her body was screaming for it, aching to eject the source of the pain.

To resist was death.

And she already felt like she was dying.

There were calls for the midwife; a shout of "She's crowning!" accompanied a host of cold, uncomfortable fingers between her legs.

Someone was trying to make her stop, to only push when instructed, but those voices were distant and murky.

She wanted the creature out of her, and they would not stop her.

And, eventually, Takeru slid free, and she felt someone pull him away from her. There was a horrific, dry screech—his first cry—and someone put a towel and then his wriggling, slimy body on top of her.

The pain, finally, lessened. And Ino managed to find her breath, and open her eyes.

She couldn't imagine how disgraceful she must have looked. Her dress and apron were wet with blood and amniotic fluid, and her face was undone. And the child on her chest was skinny and shuddering, now, with very long monkey-fingers that curled and uncurled in the unwelcome air.

"Looks like… he couldn't wait any longer."

Sasuke's voice, strained but amused, drifted to her from across the room. His head was lowered, away from the mess, but Ino could see him smirking uncontrollably, his hands in his pockets.

Ino just leaned back into the pillows, barely holding Takeru, waiting for the final twinges of pain to disappear with eyes closed against everything else.

They managed to clean her up by the time Inoichi arrived, with Hajime, breathless and worried and confused. And Sakura came shortly afterward, still in the scrubs from the surgery she had been assisting with. The whole ordeal had barely lasted a half hour, which gave Sakura no small amount of shock.

But soon the dramatics of the earlier part of the day were shoved aside, and proper attention was given to the baby himself.

"I'm so excited for Hajime to have a little brother," Sasuke said, holding Takeru, an unusually warm smile on his face. "Though I don't want to favor him more, because he's the oldest. They'll receive equal attention."

"Sounds like a good idea, Sasuke," Naruto, who visited the day after, replied.

Taking Takeru home wasn't nearly as joyous an event for Ino as it had been with Hajime.

There were the usual trials of late-night wakeups and diaper explosions, which Ino took responsibility for, without complaint or even a word. But she did not—_could_ not—hold Takeru like she held Hajime, spontaneously and with great tenderness. She only held Takeru if she had to, and fed him from a bottle, instead of from her breast. Her lack of weight gain seemed to have affected her milk, anyways, so she couldn't have fed him that way, even if she wanted to.

(Even her own body didn't want to nurture him, she would sometimes think, darkly, to herself.)

But Sasuke, to her astonishment, made up for this.

Her husband was _very_ affectionate with Takeru, holding him and bouncing him on his lap during almost every free moment, and even feeding him from his bottles and later jars of baby food during dinner. A nickname developed: "Bright One," and sometimes "My Little Light."

"I don't want him to feel like he's inferior, just because he was born second, you know," Sasuke explained, to nobody in particular, while balancing Takeru on his hip one evening. "He's just as good as his brother. I want him to know this from his father."

(And this _obviously_ wasn't because Sasuke had regrets about his own childhood.)

Most importantly, he didn't suspect anything. Hell, he loved Takeru just as much as—if not _more_ than—his first (and biological) son. And whatever physical differences Takeru had—his eyes were small and almost sleepy, like Shikamaru's, most-noticeably—he didn't seem to notice.

And to Ino's relief, the paranoia fueling her depression lessened from a roar to a quiet simmer.

(Though it never truly left her, sometimes flaring up when she was feeling particularly hateful or scared, but it at least became bearable.)

(Sasuke's ever-increasing favor was a fine dampener, as well.)

And then, after a few months, she found could finally _breathe_ again. The great, dark fog that had fallen over the world following Takeru's birth lifted. Ino seemed, suddenly, to notice that it was spring—had time really passed that quickly?

But with that return to clarity, with that return to genuine smiles and gossip with Sakura, came despised and undeniable urges, and the inescapable plainness of Sasuke's disinterest in her.

Ino forced a condom on Shikamaru, the next time they got together. "I don't care _what_ you say, I don't want to make a mess."

"…sure, whatever," he replied, ripping open the package with thoughtless, nimble fingers.

She sometimes wondered why she didn't just invest in some sort of toy or vibrator, after a while. But none of those would be able to replace the irresistible spider-crawling hands over her chest and the lips on the corner of her mouth, and her eyes.

The sex, she realized, after a while, wasn't what she really wanted. It was the contact, the _intimacy_ that she craved, that satisfied her, more than anything.

If she just wanted sex, she wouldn't be returning to Shikamaru's house every damn week.

She was glad she was so clear-minded about the whole thing. If she were younger, or stupider, she might have confused intimacy with love, and that would have been horrible for everyone.

She loved _Sasuke_. He had his flaws… but that was what love _was_: looking _past_ those. He was affectionate—in his own, understated way, which she'd long grown to adore—and responsible and a very good father. Sure, he wasn't incredible in bed, and he rarely embraced her or even held her hand, any more, but that wasn't why she had married him.

There was nothing she really liked about Shikamaru, beyond the astonishing efficiency of his intercourse. He drifted through his life, unremarkably, his only anchor being Kurenai's daughter, Benio, who seemed to bring out an unusually strong responsibility in him.

The affair—if she could even call it that, and she never did—continued flatly and became, after a time, as annoying and as necessary to satisfy as hunger.

Her children, both wanted and unwanted, grew.

And in the spring after Takeru turned one and Hajime turned three, Sasuke said they should start trying for their third child.

Ino, closing her eyes, resigned, took her clothes off and tried to enjoy what she could. The entire time she struggled to ignore the absent, phantom hands on her body, wandering where Shikamaru would have placed them.

The first battery of attempts failed, painfully. Ino bled for days, after going for nearly two months without her period; it felt like her insides were going through a meat grinder.

Sasuke's concern almost surprised her. He brought her herbal tea and heating pads, and told her, softly, that he didn't want to try again with her until _she _was feeling better. He kept the boys out of her way, otherwise, and made sure the house was quiet when she was sleeping.

It was the same with the second, and the third time, in the months afterward. And she sensed neither frustration nor anger out of him, for her body's failings. Just the expectation that, as soon as she was well, they would try again.

(Her bitter wish that this rotten luck had fallen upon her only two years earlier only made her feel more ill, so she avoided thinking about it and focused on recovering.)

Finally, in the autumn, they succeeded.

And when Ino found out that it was a girl, a few months later, she was elated. Especially when Sasuke seemed almost as happy as she was, about the news, which she did not expect, considering how much he gushed about being able to work with boys.

He'd even said, early in their marriage, before all of this, "I hope we don't have many girls. I don't think I'd be able to train girls."

Instead, he smiled. "Two boys are more than enough for now. It'll be good for you, to have a girl in the house for you to fuss over, while I'm out with the boys. I'll let you name her, it's only fair."

Ino felt almost overwhelmed by the freedom of this allowance, since Sasuke had chosen Hajime and Takeru's possible names with very little input from her—and whatever input she _had_ given was usually brushed off. She and Sakura got together many times to brainstorm. This was useful to the both of them, since Sakura was expecting another baby of her own, and since she and Lee decided not to find out what sex the child was, she had to come up with twice as many possibilities.

Sakura, eventually, decided on Kenji for a boy, and Mikomi for a girl. Ino was stuck on Inori for the longest time, but after consulting with her father and, eventually, Sasuke, decided that she would save a traditional Yamanaka name for her next child, whenever it came, since it would be the next Yamanaka heir.

("It can't be Takeru," Sasuke had debated. "We'd have decided it earlier if he were supposed to be. I'd have given him a different name.")

After all, Chouji wasn't married (yet—he was quite accidentally courting his future wife, Chun, around this time) so there wasn't a new Akimichi heir. And Shikamaru, to the Nara clan's absolute annoyance and frustration, showed no sign of settling down, either. So Ino felt it was best to wait.

(She figured that _she_ would have to ask Sasuke to try for a baby, should at least Chouji produce a child at that time. But given the reason behind the request, when it came—not lust, but a child—there was no way he'd say no.)

(Even if that attempt produced another daughter, Ino wouldn't be terribly disappointed. She was _ever_ so fixated on the name Inori.)

Her father suggested naming the child after a flower. "It's a very feminine thing to do. And besides, you _love_ flowers," he explained.

Ino tried to wave him off, but she couldn't deny how right he was.

There was so much wonderful _symbolism_ possible, with flowers. Naming a child after a rose, a symbol of love, was _so_ much more elegant and stylish than a plain and clumsy option like "Aiko."

So after many considered possibilities—Aoi, for hollyhock, for ambition; Touka, for wisteria, for a beloved daughter; Masaki, for jasmine, for grace—she decided on Nadeshiko, for dianthus, for affection, for aspiration, for talent.

And best of all, Sasuke loved the name too.

"Very traditional," he said. "Proper. A perfect name for an Uchiha girl."

Nadeshiko finally arrived in June, after a deliberately slow, though gentle, labor, that lasted almost two days. Ino spent most of it at home, only leaving for the hospital with Sasuke and the boys when things actually got somewhat painful. Sasuke insisted on bringing her, so as not to tempt history to repeat itself.

Ino was utterly in love with the girl, as soon as she was out of her and placed on her chest. Nadeshiko stopped crying quickly, and nestled close to Ino's heart, her eyes with their enormous lashes closed in photograph-like peace. And after Sasuke had gotten his time in with her, Ino marveled at the thick, dark head of soft hair she possessed, and her tiny, pink-tipped fingers.

The boys were let in, once Ino had taken a brief nap. And since he was big enough, Hajime was allowed to hold his new little sister with Sasuke's help, her body taking up most of his lap.

Of course, Takeru took offense to his not being allowed—he was two, and therefore old enough, in_ his_ opinion—so he smacked Hajime on the knee, and wrestled with his arms to free the baby. Nadeshiko would have fallen, had it not been for Sasuke's quick reflexes. But although Hajime began crying, and Takeru joined him shortly afterward, even more loudly, Nadeshiko remained asleep, and stayed that way for quite a while.

Her ability to sleep through anything continued well after she had been brought home, and placed in her rose-pink-and-tea-green nursery, joyfully decorated by Ino. The number of times she woke up her family in the middle of the night remained in the single digits for months, and even after she learned how to prop herself up and then sit up and then crawl—far earlier than her brothers did, though nobody really noticed—she never explored much further than the living room, and never got into anything, much less destroyed it.

(Hajime was guilty of both of those things, like so many babies before him, and Takeru even more so.)

But even if Nadeshiko _were_ a screamer, and an unsound sleeper, and a destroyer of books and electronics, Ino doubted she could have loved the girl any less. She delighted in how easily she could cuddle the child without fuss, and in Nadeshiko's gentle tugs on her skirt once she had learned how to walk, and in all the pale, soft-fabric dresses Ino could buy for her and dress her in. Sasuke, she supposed, was right—she _was _happy with a little girl to fuss over.

Though Nadeshiko didn't speak until she was almost two years old, and even after then, she was sparing with her perfectly-formed words. And this worried both of her parents, but Sasuke was the first to dismiss it. "It's all right if she's a late bloomer. She's an Uchiha, even if she _is_ a girl. She'll be exceptional when she's older, anyways. I know it."

And Ino nodded and agreed and pushed the worry out of her mind.

Of course, even with her light-filled life, there were still imperfections.

Hajime was starting school, and Sasuke's after-dinner training sessions with him had her worried that he was pushing the boy too hard and too early. She wasn't actually present for them, but she had Hajime's scraped-up knees and other injuries to take care of, and that told her more than enough.

(Though she stayed out of this, because little boys were rough-and-tumble types, weren't they? And she trusted Sasuke to not harm him intentionally.)

(Sasuke's short criticisms at dinner, however, she was able to do something about.)

(Except his insistence that Hyuuga Ninako not come over again, and the lecture he gave Hajime after he informed Ino of the decision. That was Uchiha clan business. And that wasn't her business.)

(Though she still encouraged Hajime to play with the girl at school as much as he pleased. That was just friendship, after all. And they got along _so_ well, anyways.)

Everything else was through faults of Ino's own.

Happy as she was, she still found herself awake in the bed she shared with Sasuke, wishing for his hands to be anywhere but beneath his pillow.

She was still visiting Shikamaru, though far less than she had before. Her visits now filled her with sadness, rather than guilt or frustration, in all the time that had passed. How pitiful it was, that she had to go to _him_ to fill in the one lacking part in her life, and how base that lack was in the first place. She was almost growing bored with him, but not enough to stop.

She was therefore surprised by how upset she felt when Shikamaru told her, in so many words, "It's been nice, but we're gonna have to stop doing this whole casual sex thing."


	110. Devil's Garden

_Chapter 110 - Devil's Garden_

* * *

Ino was pulling her hair up in Shikamaru's kitchen. It had gotten messy after their usual encounter on the sofa. "Excuse me?"

"I don't want my family to find out about this. It'll look bad," Shikamaru said.

Ino's face curled. "I thought… that was never a factor?" she said.

He sighed, like she was stupid. "This is so dumb… Look, they're keeping a closer eye on me because I got Temari pregnant, all right?"

"…what?"

Temari? Wasn't that… the Kazekage's sister?

"Yeah, and since she went behind my back and didn't tell me about it until last _week_, and she wants to _keep_ it for whatever reason, my family's wanting me to take responsibility so they can have an _heir _and… look, it'll just be a lot of trouble and it's better if we don't do this any more. I can't imagine the shit I'd get if they caught me with you."

"…and somehow… _my_ family doesn't count?" Ino replied, stooping slightly.

Shikamaru shrugged. "You found a way to work with it before this. But I got new problems to deal with. That's just how it is. It's nothing personal."

"…right, nothing personal…" Ino said. She grabbed her purse and rummaged pointedly for her lipstick. "You could have told me before we… went through with it today, you know…" she added, the tube poised by her chin.

Shikamaru just shrugged, again. "Hey, cut me a little slack. Sex with _you _is pretty great, and I wanted one last go."

Ino smeared the makeup on her mouth and snapped the cap back on the tube. "I'll be leaving, then. Good luck with your… family."

Shikamaru waved back, casually.

She wondered to herself, as she stormed through the snow, taking every long-cut to delay her return to her house, why the hell she was so _angry_ about this.

He was right, of course. It was only sex. She'd promised to not get attached, emotionally, and she… _hadn't_.

But he'd been out there… fucking _Temari_ on the side, and not even telling her. And he obviously hadn't used protection with her either—there was a hot pang of fear that Ino might have caught something from her, or—if he'd slept with _more_ than just her—but she took her own health into account, and since nothing had ever burned or broken out or itched, this was a baseless worry.

But surely she had deserved at least a little… clarity? Honesty, even? That she wasn't this exclusive situation for him?

(That she meant at least something to him?)

Of course, Shikamaru had the freedom to sleep with whomever the hell he wanted, and by all means she did too—except she was _married_ and he wasn't, except with any other man there might have been emotions and feelings, except Shikamaru was consistent and quiet and more reliable than any artificial method she might have used, otherwise.

And she would _have_ to resort to them, now, since Sasuke would obviously say no.

(Because he didn't want her, he wanted her even less than Shikamaru did.)

She stood, unmoving, as the snow fell in heavy, cotton-ball clumps, her breath floating around her in thin clouds.

…or, well, would he? Her persistence after Hajime had only driven him off, but maybe he had softened in the wake of their attempts for Nadeshiko.

She knotted her mind around these thoughts, as she finally began on a course home. Because her anger—and she shouldn't have been angry—over Shikamaru wouldn't get her anywhere.

(And neither would abandonment.)

She was silent all throughout dinner, blinking slowly, listening as Hajime tried to share how his day at school had been, with Takeru talking over him, and Sasuke chuckling at them both.

Ino sat in bed for a while afterward, once she and Sasuke had settled down for the night. He was preoccupied with a scroll of some sort.

A tight, winding ache had taken up residence in her stomach. A familiar feeling, though one she hadn't felt in many years.

She took in a very deep breath before, softening her eyes as best she could, she leaned over and kissed Sasuke on the cheek.

He jerked away from her. "Hey, what are you doing?"

"Can we sleep together tonight, Sasuke?" she said, pulling back.

"Aren't we already," he replied.

"No, Sasuke, I meant have _sex_. Or… can't we at least _cuddle?_"she added, when his face had not changed.

"…I'm reading," he replied, and shook the scroll tight. The paper rippled and snapped. "So, no."

"When you're done?"

"Stop asking," he replied.

Ino's mouth tightened, and she got out of bed and closed the door behind her on the way to the bathroom, where she turned on the shower.

(Sasuke thought nothing of it, except maybe a shred of disgust.)

He didn't know, however, that Ino had disappeared so that she could cry where nobody could hear her.

Everything felt hopeless.

Almost five years had been wasted, just so she could wind right back where she had started, just as lonely and just as unfulfilled. And she had come away from it with nothing but white-noise paranoia and a child that seemed to spite her with every ounce of its existence.

Sasuke was already asleep, with the lights turned out, when she wiped away the last of the tears, and turned off the shower, and smoothed her face with cold water.

She made the decision to at least _try_ not feeling sorry for herself in the morning, after Hajime had gone to school and Sasuke had gone to work. And in doing so, she called Sakura and made an arrangement for a lunch date, leaving Takeru and Nadeshiko with her father on the way over.

Of course, she stayed as discrete as possible, and said nothing of Shikamaru.

This was all about Sasuke.

"He wouldn't even _cuddle_ last night, when I asked."

Sakura's face lowered a little as she thought. "Did you two… fight?"

"No, it was just a normal night," Ino replied. "He's not really… ever been _intimate_, I just wonder if it's _my_ fault."

"You ever tried talking to him about it?" said Sakura.

(Trying to reconcile the lack of intimacy with what she assumed was a _very_ active sex life, considering the children and what she had heard previously.)

"Well, I've _tried_," Ino said, "it's just… well, it's _hard_, bringing these sorts of things up to him…"

Sakura pursed her lips and tapped her fingers on the outside of her coffee mug. "Well, I can only help so much…"

"I just want an outsider's opinion, really," Ino continued, as if she hadn't heard her. "I mean… Sakura, you don't… mind if I ask about _your_ sex life, do you?"

(Since much time had passed since Sakura's loud, honeymoon days, and Ino's newly-wed jealousy.)

Sakura's face flushed a tight pink. "I… _suppose_ I don't mind…" she said. "What do you want to ask me?"

"Well, um…" Ino's breath hissed through her teeth as she considered. "…does Lee… _allow_ you to ask for sex?"

Sakura's eyebrows lowered. "How do you mean?"

"Like… if you're in the mood, do you feel like you can ask him?"

"Well… yeah, of course. I mean, I'm his _wife_, after all."

"But…" Ino breathed in a little deeply. "But what if he's not in the mood? What do you do then?"

"Well…" Sakura said again, "first off, when I _do _ask, Lee's… _usually_ up for it. But he always says we'll find time later if he's too tired or something."

"And how often does that happen?"

"Not… often?" Sakura replied. "I mean, Lee gets sick once in a blue moon, so…"

"Ah, I see…" Ino said. "And does he ask you, too?"

"Yeah, though he's a lot happier when _I_ ask."

"Huh…" Ino propped her chin up on her palm. "So… how often do you two get together, then?"

"We try to set some time aside at least once a week," Sakura replied.

"Once a _week?!_"

Sakura's face, loosening as she grew more comfortable with the subject, suddenly frowned again. "Why do you sound so surprised?"

"Oh, it's… just that Sasuke and I haven't had sex since we were trying for Nadeshiko…"

Sakura's pause made Ino feel like she had done something wrong.

"…Ino that's… three years, at least," Sakura said. She reached across the table and touched Ino's elbow. "Is… everything okay at home?"

"Yes, yes, everything's fine," Ino said, quickly, waving her free hand. Though her eyes lowered, after. "…at least, that's what I hope…" She sighed. "I mean, that's why I want to _talk_ to you, to see what… _other_ people do about these things."

"Well, Ino…" Sakura pulled her arms back and wrapped a hand around her own elbow as she scratched her shoulder with the other. "I think… honestly, this isn't really my business, but I think that if you _want_ to sleep with Sasuke, unless he has a _damn_ good reason, you should be _allowed _to. I mean, you're his wife, for heaven's sake!"

"I know, I _know_," Ino replied. "Just… _I_ don't know, I feel like it it's not within my place to _ask_."

"…Ino, seriously, again," Sakura said. "You're his _wife_. If he's not letting you do things that you want to do—sex _included_—then that's not right, and you should talk to him about it. I mean, so you two can at least work out a compromise, you know?"

"Mm."

There was a still, settled pause.

"Is he… keeping you from doing anything else?" Sakura said.

And Ino opened her mouth to respond, on reflex, but she found herself thinking.

Sasuke was out of the house so often, and he stayed out of her way, in regards to how the house was kept. She cleaned, she cooked, and he recognized that as her duty.

But the children, now…

They had once been her responsibility, as well. But with Hajime now in school, socializing with outsiders, learning the ninja arts, Sasuke was starting to…

…interfere.

And every time she tried to reach out and reestablish some sort of reasonable medium, he pushed back, sometimes reluctantly and eventually yielding, but other times…

(_"Oh, come on. Don't you remember when we were still students? You don't want to coddle the boy, a few bumps and scrapes will help him."_)

(But active combat wasn't learned until much later. Hajime's injuries pricked at her heart.)

(Though she wondered if Sasuke's intense methods of training would, perhaps, force some discipline and respect into Takeru when he began school the next year. And Nadeshiko was still so young, but surely Sasuke wouldn't be so hard on a little girl? Especially considering what he thought of them, and how little attention he gave to his daughter, compared to his sons…)

"…no, just… in the bedroom," Ino replied, quietly. "Things are really quite well, otherwise. _Honestly_," she added, seeing Sakura's worried face. "He's wonderful to me and the kids, he's just… well, we've spent enough time talking about it."

"I suppose," Sakura said. She shrugged. "Well, next time you two get some privacy, talk to him about it. It's unfair if he's denying even _that_ to you. And, hey, remind him, if he doesn't feel like going full-out, there's always oral."

"Oral…?" Ino said.

"…oh come on, you know what I'm talking about," Sakura said. "Going _down_." She pointed a finger for emphasis.

Ino blushed furiously. "I could—_never._ Sasuke wouldn't do that, not in a million _years._"

"Never know until you ask," Sakura replied, shrugging again. "If you're still having trouble later on, come to me, okay?"

"All right, all right," Ino said. And they finished their drinks over far less explicit talk and left each other in sugar-high spirits.

Ino realized, after the fact, that the meeting had done nothing to alleviate her fears that Sasuke didn't _want_ her. But her mind, flipping through possibilities of solutions, inspired by Sakura, began brushing those away—of _course_ he _wanted_ her, he kept her around and was so _good_ to her.

He just… didn't want to have sex with her. For some reason.

(And she refused to use herself as an excuse any more. She was his wife and she was certain that he loved her, so.)

Old, whimsical theories began coming back, patted down by more logical ones. She considered his upbringing, and the things she had noticed about him in the years that had passed, and wondered if maybe he was just… old-fashioned. Since he only seemed to want to have sex to have children, maybe he thought it wasn't proper to have it for fun? She could certainly try re-educating him, if that was the case…

Though that possibility made her nervous. Trying to change Sasuke felt… _dangerous_, especially since he seized up against any sort of shift in routine or suggestion of hers, however minor. True, he was more lenient when it had to do with things she had direct power over, but his own life felt off-limits.

…well, she was his wife, wasn't she? She had a right. _She_ wouldn't raise a fuss if he'd suddenly asked her to do something like… this.

The whole matter was saturated with sighs and frustration. And Ino worked through it by cooking zealously, that evening, and scrubbing the dishes with far more concentration than usual—usually the concentration was to keep her from worrying about Hajime, but the matters at hand did the job automatically.

When she finally returned to her bedroom, in the evening, after tucking all the children in, and kissing Hajime and Nadeshiko on their foreheads, she was almost marching. Sasuke noticed. "You seem excited by something."

"Excited?" she replied.

"Did you have a good time visiting Sakura?" he continued, lightly. "You two seem to always have fun whenever you get together."

"Oh, yes, I had a _splendid_ time," Ino replied, with neon enthusiasm. "Though I'm thinking about something else."

"And what would that be?"

And she got on the bed in front of him, crawling forward on her hands and knees over the mattress. "I want you to sleep with me, Sasuke."

Sasuke's face lowered into what was almost a pout. "Not this again."

"I'm not going to let you brush me off," Ino said. "I'm your _wife_, you know."

"I _know_ you're my _wife_," Sasuke replied, with a smile, a touch of amusement. "But what does that have to do with… sleeping together without any… purpose?"

"Without any purpose?" Ino said. "Sex isn't just for having children, Sasuke."

"I know… _that_," Sasuke said, stiffly. "But we have to be responsible."

"We can be responsible _and_ still have sex, you know," Ino said. "That's what everyone _else_ does."

"Please stop talking. I don't want to talk about this." Sasuke got off the bed, and crossed his arms as he went out, presumably to go take a walk.

Ino sighed and went to sit against the pillows, her legs crossed.

This was only the beginning.

She asked, again, the next night. No, not asked—_requested_.

"I thought you weren't going to bring that up again, after last night," Sasuke replied. He had his arms crossed, again.

"Oh, come on," Ino said. "Can we at least talk about it?"

"I don't want to talk about it. Besides, we have sex more than enough, I think."

"The last time we had sex was three _years_ ago, Sasuke."

"Isn't that acceptable?" He turned her way, the question poised almost innocently on his face.

"Uh… well, not to _most_ people," Ino said.

"Well. I must not be 'most people,'"Sasuke replied, and looked away with an upturned chin, much like Takeru did, during his wordless tantrums.

Ino, not sure whether to laugh or stare in horror, chose to drop the matter for the time being, and resume the next evening.

Her questions, during every attempt, varied, since persistence on a single subject never seemed to get her different answers.

"If you're concerned about having us having another child too soon, then there's things we can do for that."

"I'm more comfortable with… abstaining. It's less of a hassle."

"Would you be all right with… oral sex? On either side."

"…that's quite unnecessary, thank you."

"Are you embarrassed by how long it takes for you to get in the mood? Because there are medicines for that, you know."

"No," Sasuke replied, his face growing far redder than it had the previous night, "why would you even—good _night_."

She giggled, in return, as quietly as she could. "Good night, Sasuke."

But then, the next night, she asked, cautiously, "Is there anything… I can change about _myself_ that would help?"

"This has nothing to do with you," Sasuke replied.

"Sasuke, what do you mean by that?" Ino said. "Are you telling me that, no matter what I did, you'd never sleep with me…"

(Her tongue tripped over the word "voluntarily.")

"…for _fun_, or that this is a completely different reason?"

"I don't see why you _care_ so much," Sasuke replied. "Unless we're trying for a child, I see no reason why I'd need to sleep with you. It's too much trouble and I'm not in the mood."

"But sometimes I _am_, Sasuke. Don't you think it's… a little unfair to deny me some pleasure simply because you think it's a little trouble? Especially because I've gone over-"

"The amount of importance you've placed on this is _really_ bothering me," Sasuke said, his eyes narrowed. "Why does this _matter_ to you so much?"

Ino felt like her body was shrinking, and so did her voice.

"…because I love you, Sasuke, and I want to _be_ with you," she finally replied. "I'm your _wife_, anyways, it's what couples _do_…"

"Is that the only way you can tell me you appreciate me, then?" he said. His voice was flat, almost hollow.

This surprised her. "Well—of course not, Sasuke, it's just… something I want to do with you," she said. "Because it _feels_ good, because…" She groaned in frustration, in the impossibility of asking if he didn't love her because, "Look, why _won't_ you? Is it really that much of a problem?"

"Because it's unnecessary," Sasuke grumbled.

"_Lots_ of things are unnecessary! But we still do them!" Ino replied, trying to keep her voice from rising. "Because it feels good, or it looks good, or it tastes good, or… whatever, we do them because they're nice, or because that's how we know we—care about each other!"

She tried to pull her voice back into her mouth, after that outburst. And she waited, faintly terrified, for his response, wondering if she had been too loud.

Sasuke was quiet for a very long time, his eyes downcast, his lips pressing and unpressing together.

"…if I sleep with you, will you stop worrying about whether or not I… care about you?" he said, finally, softly.

The great expanse of vulnerability that came with his tone, his words, swept over Ino like a wave.

But she answered, honestly, and without feeling the least bit selfish, "Yes, it'll… make me feel a lot better, Sasuke."

"Hmph. I'll… go get ready, then," Sasuke replied, and got off the bed to take off his pajamas.

That night, though he was no more or less passionate than he ever was, Ino felt that she and Sasuke truly made love, instead of clinical intercourse.

She held onto him with her hands around his shoulders, feeling a rush of warmth and pleasure with every touch and movement that she had never—ever—felt with Shikamaru.

It was the feeling of being wanted, distilled and made physical. And it made her mouth shake and her eyelids flutter, and she stretched out like a cat in the sun on the bed, afterwards.

Sasuke, however, was sitting upright, with his arms crossed over and propped up on his knees.

"…if you ever feel like… I don't care enough, tell me," he said, in the silence full of heavy breathing that followed. "I don't want you to feel… unnecessary. You are my wife, and you mean a lot to me."

Ino, hearing this, sat up and took her place beside him, resting her head on his shoulder. "I will," she said. "Thank you, Sasuke. I love you."

"You're… welcome," Sasuke replied, his shoulder relaxing beneath her ear.

She did not ask to sleep with him, the following night, however. She had gotten her answer, and was satisfied with it, at least for the time being.

He didn't want to sleep with her because he didn't _want_ her. He just… didn't put the same importance on sex that she did.

And, well, she seemed to have gotten the point across. And—and he had even said this to her!—all she had to do was ask, when she was feeling unwanted.

The only darkness left in her heart was regret. If she had only been so persistent and forward with him at the beginning, she wouldn't have had to waste all those years, all that pain and paranoia and blackness.

She would have two sons with the same father, perhaps, too.

Though finding out that she was expecting again, later that year, seemed almost a humorous response to the shadow-thought.

(Especially considering that the child had to have been conceived around Valentine's Day, on the night of Ino's great upset.)

Sasuke, however, took the news with what was almost an air of discomfort. "Do you… really think we can handle four children?" he said. "We didn't plan for this…"

"Oh, come on, Takeru's almost in school, and Nadeshiko's an absolute _angel_, she stays well out of my way," Ino replied. "_I_ certainly can handle another baby in the house. You don't have to worry about _that_. Besides," she added, smirking slightly, "it's helping to rebuild your clan, isn't it?"

There was a small, almost embarrassed smile in return, at that. "All right, then. We can handle four."

The child was utterly hers, from that first settled, victorious discussion onward.

(Though it had perhaps belonged to her far earlier than that, considering the nature of its conception.)

And Ino had already chosen her names: Inori for a girl, Inou for a boy. This would be her Yamanaka heir, no matter what Sasuke had to say about it. Chouji was expecting a child, after all, and—oh, how very rich—wasn't Shikamaru soon to be saddled with a child of _his_ own? This was perfect, almost destiny.

(The regret in Ino's heart was like a fine, heavy coal, fueling a fire of confidence that spread throughout her and made her bold.)

Sakura was, as usual, the first person outside of the family to learn about the imminent arrival.

(She'd had such a smile on her face when Ino returned to her before then, with news of Sasuke's compromises.)

And after the usual talk of names and due dates and preparations, Sakura asked her a most unusual question.

"So what are your plans for the birth?"

Ino tilted her head, her cheek resting on the upper side of her hand. "What do you mean by that?"

"Are you going to have it in the hospital or at home or whatever?"

"At the… hospital, of course, why would I want to have it at _home?_" Ino replied, her nose wrinkling a little. "I almost had Takeru in the _kitchen_, and that wasn't exactly a _picnic_."

"Ah, well… I'm just saying because that's what I did with Kenji. I had Shizune come over and she helped me and Lee out."

Ino's face was stuck. "You mean you _wanted_ to have your kid at home?"

"Yeah. Because let me tell _you_, having Sakari at the hospital was a _nightmare_," Sakura said. "I was stressed, I was in pain, and everyone was yelling at me, telling me what to do… I mean, I'm a doctor, for heaven's sake, I sort of know what to expect!"

(Though Lee, perhaps, had been more stressed than her throughout the ordeal, trying to coax Sakura out of the bathroom and back onto the bed so she wouldn't hurt herself, and receiving a string of very violent threats in response.)

(_"ASSHOLE, I'LL PUSH WHEN I FUCKING WANT TO!"_)

"So when Kenji came along I just went 'Screw it!' and stayed at home," she continued. "_So_ much more relaxing."

"…I can't imagine how that could be relaxing in _any _way," Ino replied, her body pinching inward with sense-memory. "I mean… no pain medicine? And what if something went wrong? I'd be worrying the entire time!"

"Not being strapped to a bed with your legs in stirrups is surprisingly helpful," Sakura said, scoffing. "And besides, I'm medically trained, and I had Shizune with me. That's more than enough, I think. Plus Lee got to catch the baby—it was so adorable, he was sobbing the whole time—and Sakari got to meet him right away."

"…you had _Sakari_ in the room with you?" Ino's mouth had joined her wrinkled nose in stretching with distaste. "But she was—four years old? I wouldn't dare!"

Sakura just shrugged. "Hey, the sooner she learns about these things, the better."

Ino folded her arms across her chest and frowned, looking away.

Sakura sighed. "Look, okay, I just thought I'd ask, since _I_ had a much easier time when I was at home and in control. But you've had… three kids at the hospital already? If that works for you, that's fine."

Ino didn't answer.

"…Ino, seriously, are you all right?"

Something in Sakura's words had tapped her, gently. "What? Oh, yes, I'm fine. Just… considering. I'll think about it."

Sakura managed a smile. "If you ever decide on it, I'd be more than happy to assist, all right?"

"Sounds great," Ino replied.

The entire way home, Sakura's words circled in her mind.

"_When I was at home and in control_."

The fire-confidence in Ino's body told her to seize the opportunity for this form of power, however small and temporary and… _strange_ it was.

She'd have never done it otherwise, but she was starving for control.

She wouldn't be helpless any more. She would take more control of her life, where she could.

She informed Sasuke of her intentions a few days later, once the possibility had had time to solidify and grow rational.

He reacted much like she had, a few days earlier. "Isn't that unsafe? What if something happened to the baby? You need a doctor."

"I'll have _Sakura_," Ino replied. "She's done this before, herself. It'll be a lot less trouble overall and we won't have to worry about leaving the kids alone in the house during the time I'd have been at the hospital, anyways."

"…I see," Sasuke replied. "You don't want the kids actually _present_, though?"

"They can stay if they want to," Ino said. "If you'd rather have them out of the house, though-"

"I'll figure something out when the day arrives," Sasuke said. "You take care of the preparations, then."

"Of course," Ino replied, smiling sweetly.

Her confidence, growing over the next few months, almost astonished her. True, there were still places where she had very little influence—Sasuke's training with the children, most-notably—but she figured out ways to undermine what she could not help. She taught Hajime basic first aid, so he could patch himself up when she was not around, and routinely praised him at the dinner table, so that Takeru's eager verbal smothering wouldn't have him feeling ignored.

Though Sasuke's insistence that she not tie back Nadeshiko's hair confused her. But when she asked, his reason, paired with a blush of embarrassment, was too adorable to deny: "She looks… cuter with her hair down. It suits her more. Pulling it back makes her look like a tomboy."

Seeing him have at least some interest in the girl was a delight to her heart, especially since Sasuke seemed to recoil so strongly against anything feminine.

Inou arrived a week before Takeru's fifth birthday. Sasuke left the house with both Hajime and Takeru shortly after she called Sakura to let her know that her labor was progressing.

"I'm taking them to the library. Or the movies. I'll keep them out of your way," he explained, as he was helping Takeru get his shoes on.

"And—Nadeshiko?" Ino said.

"Napping," Sasuke replied. "Didn't want to wake her up."

This was a weak excuse, at best, but Ino accepted it.

(As for Sasuke's related absence, she didn't even think she'd need him.)

(She didn't want him to be uncomfortable, anyways. His avoided-gaze involvement in the other births was clear in her memory.)

Sakura spent the next few hours with her on the floor of Ino's bedroom, rubbing her back for her and helping her breathe through her pain, and preparing blankets on the floor for when the messier business began. Nadeshiko stayed out of their way until near the end, when Ino was in transition and making a fair amount of noise.

The little girl poked her head in the room, holding onto the door with both hands. She didn't say anything, but the fear on her face was plain.

Ino was on her knees in a bathrobe, breathing heavily. "Oh, sweetie… did I wake you up…?"

Nadeshiko shook her head, though she hastily rubbed one of her eyes with a closed fist afterwards.

"Do you want her here?" Sakura said, leaning in, almost whispering.

Ino almost replied, though an intense cramp stole her answer, and she rocked back and forth, moaning through it.

Nadeshiko had wandered by the bed, almost hiding behind it, by the time it was over. "What's wrong with Mother?" she asked.

"Nothing's wrong, dear, she's just having a baby," Sakura replied. "She's fine."

"Oh," Nadeshiko replied. "Having a baby hurts."

"Only… a little, darling," Ino replied, managing a strained smile. "It's okay."

"Do you want me to go 'way?" Nadeshiko said.

"You can… stay here if you… want, honey," Ino said. "Just don't bother… Sakura, okay?"

"Okay," Nadeshiko replied. And she sat, with her knees drawn to her chest, behind the corner of the bed, watching with dark, earnest eyes as the women continued their work.

Inou arrived not very long afterward, red and wailing. And once Ino was sitting back up, with him squirming, wetly, in her arms, she called out, breathlessly, "Nadeshiko, come… meet your new brother…!"

Nadeshiko did not stand, but instead crawled, cautiously, to her mother's side, her hair falling over her shoulders. "That's a brother?"

"Yes, your little brother," Ino replied.

Nadeshiko blinked, slowly, almost analytically. "He looks dirty."

"Well, he's brand new, Nadeshiko-chan." Sakura was laughing, getting warm towels in her arms for Inou to be wrapped in. "Most babies aren't terribly clean when they're first born."

"Oh," Nadeshiko replied. "He's very small."

"Yes," Ino replied, "he is."

"He's a _little_ brother."

"Yes, Nadeshiko."

Nadeshiko didn't say anything else, sitting back on her haunches with her hands pressed together by her ankles. She watched carefully as Sakura helped clean the new brother off, and listened as his raw cries became soft murmurs.

Sasuke came home with Hajime and Takeru in the evening. Ino was sitting in bed eating a plate of sweet curry that Lee had prepared and Sakura had brought with her. Nadeshiko was doing much of the same on the floor next to the bed, where Inou was laid out on a blanket. Sakura had stepped out a while back to have the placenta disposed of at the hospital, and the blankets laundered.

Sasuke opened the bedroom door enough to lean his head in, but nothing else. "Is it over?" he asked, quietly.

Ino nodded, setting her plate aside on the bedside table. "Come in and meet your new son."

And Sasuke went through his usual ritual of holding the child, observing every feature, and letting his joy leak through, subtly, unabashedly. Takeru and Hajime were wrestling near the door, neither of them sure of whether or not they were allowed to enter.

"His name is Inou," Ino said, after a while.

"Inou?"

"He'll be our Yamanaka heir. Chouji had a daughter a few months ago, and I heard Shikamaru did too. He'll have teammates to continue the tradition."

"All right," Sasuke said. "That sounds excellent. Takeru, Hajime, come in and meet your new brother."

The boys nearly fell over each other in entering the room, and Takeru got to hold him first. Nadeshiko just continued, quietly, eating her curry, holding her spoon like it was a precious object.

The years that followed, in the wake of Inou's birth, were some of the happiest in Ino's memory.

(And they were that much more painful to look back on, considering how unbearable everything had now become.)

Inou was not as quiet as Nadeshiko had been—which was more of a comfort than a problem, all things considered—and he grew up in an environment of soft things and flowers and storytelling. Since Takeru began school during his infancy, he was left with his mother and his sister and not often in the company of his brothers. As he grew and learned to walk, he did not rough-house, instead pressing up against people, avoiding conflict, and listening.

Sasuke treated him much like he did Nadeshiko. He was the third son, and the elder pair of the three were more immediate to him, in terms of attention.

Ino did not mind this at all. Inou was _her_ son, first and foremost.

These were the times of little discoveries and soft, subtle love. Ino walked in on Nadeshiko reading to Inou in her bedroom, the boy clinging to his blanket while Nadeshiko balanced the book on her lap so he could look at the pictures. She did not disturb them, only wondering, when, exactly, Nadeshiko had learned to read, or if she was merely repeating words associated with the pages from when Ino read to her from the book.

She did not feel afraid to ask Sasuke for comfort, any more. Whenever she felt the obnoxious ache of need winding up in her stomach—and it seemed so much less persistent than it used to be—she knew she could lean over in bed, ask him quietly, and enjoy an evening of his usual, almost mechanical lovemaking. (She would ignore the sighs that usually came after her requests, however. She knew he didn't need it as much as she did.)

But then, one evening, Sasuke was fidgeting, and Ino, of course, asked him what the matter was.

"Well… I've been thinking. Four is sort of an unlucky number. I think I'll feel more at peace if we have five."

Ino had to think for a while about what, exactly, he was saying.

"You… want another child?" she eventually concluded.

"Yes. Do you suppose we could manage that?"

"There's… no reason why we can't?" Ino said.

"Ah, good. We should begin trying tonight, then."

Ino's answer was almost automatic, but then she paused.

Wondering if, perhaps, she could test even this.

"…maybe on the weekend, Sasuke. I'm not feeling up to it tonight."

"…ah. All right. Rest up, then."

"All right, Sasuke. Love you."

"Goodnight," he replied, his voice warm.

Ino went to bed almost giggling, gleeful in her control even here.

(Remembering how weak she had been, before Takeru was born. She hadn't said no then, and she hadn't when they were trying for Nadeshiko, either.)

(But she had power again.)

This was, of course, the year that Nadeshiko entered the academy. And her astonishing progress had Sasuke in an almost euphoric daze.

(Of course, she would come home from training with her father and brothers, and later not even that, with the usual scrapes and burns, but they never seemed as severe as Hajime's or Takeru's had been.)

Karai was born at home, like her older brother. None of the other children were present, since Sasuke had taken them out of the house to train as usual, as if nothing were really going on without them.

(Though Hajime seemed reluctant to leave. Ino comforted him by saying she didn't need his help, especially since he looked so uncomfortable.)

One month later, Nadeshiko graduated from the academy, with her brothers. There was a great and noisy celebration in the house, over this, with lots of food and far too much singing from Naruto, in Sasuke's opinion.

There was only one more year of peace, after that. And it was a glorious peace, golden in the way that the quiet past seems in times of war.

There was no comfort in the fact that Ino was not truly responsible for everything falling apart, after what happened with Nadeshiko.

But she still blamed herself.

Perhaps she could have talked to Nadeshiko, or her father more, and gotten her to come back sooner. Maybe she could have even convinced the girl to return to being a ninja, where her father couldn't.

None of that could have helped the loss of the warmth in Sasuke's heart.

His control over the family descended like a vice, in the wake of the incident.

He snapped at Ino for asking even the smallest things of him, calling her selfish, blaming her for their children turning out "so weak."

She fought back, at first. But before long it became too tiring to do even that, when the screaming matches lasted for eternities and the wind of his anger blew out whatever confidence she had, starting out.

(Besides, people might hear, especially the children.)

(Couples weren't supposed to fight. Not like this.)

She was reduced to wordless assistance, sneaking around and healing and mending when Sasuke wasn't looking.

He ignored her, otherwise, in most ways.

In a dark sort of blessing, her needs dried up around the time that Sasuke did.

(She felt almost sick to her stomach, imagining being with a man like that.)

Of course, she would have slept with him if he'd requested, fearing the fight that would doubtlessly ensue for her rebellion.

But there were no more children after that.

-/-

Ino awoke to the sound of a door opening, and she sat up, as if spring-loaded.

It was Karai at the door. Her body shrunk back at her mother's reaction. "I'm sorry, Mom, did I wake you up?"

"Just… taking a little cat-nap, dear, you're fine," Ino replied. "What is it? Is it time for dinner?" The light through the window was thick, and golden. It was still late afternoon, at least.

But Karai shook her head. "No, Mom, it's… there's an ANBU at the door. With news for us."

"An ANBU?" Ino stood up. "Why, what for?" A knuckle rose to her lips. "Is it your father?" she added, quietly.

Karai shook her head again. "No, it's… Yakata-kun," she replied. "He came back."


	111. Interlude: Witch Boy

**INTERLUDE**

**WITCH BOY**

* * *

"Hey, witch-boy! What are you doing?"

The gang of children behind him sounded so, so loud. He tightened his grip on the basket in his hands, resisting the urge to run or to cover his ears.

"C'mon, answer us!"

"Yeah, give us an answer!"

"Where you going, witch-boy?"

But he did not reply, just continuing to walk, ignoring them as best he could.

A rock collided with the back of his head, and though it was not a big one, a hand leaped up to smother the pain that it caused.

"Ow! St-stop it, please…"

"Tell us what you're doin'."

"Yeah. We don't want you messin' things up."

He could hear a soft scraping noise as one of the boys in the gang grabbed another rock off the dirt road. Their footprints came closer and faster.

"I'm, I'm just… just going home, that's, that's, that's all… N-now, now leave me alone, please…"

The leader stepped in front of him, and he had to stop. He kept his eyes in the basket, which was full of radishes he had recently and reluctantly acquired.

"…please let me… let me through, Shimon…" he mumbled.

"Where'd you get those burns, witch-boy? Someone try to burn you, huh?"

"I just, I just wanna go home, please…"

"They send you back 'cos _they_ thought you were a freak _too_, huh?"

"Even that weird _shinobi_ didn't want you."

"Yeah, _weird._"

He didn't say anything, just tightening his grip on his basket, and making another attempt at getting past them.

"Hey, hey, we didn't say you could _leave_ yet."

"My, my mama's expecting me, I, I, I have to, to get these to her… She, she sent me out…"

His voice was getting quieter and quieter.

"Oh, what's that? Did you steal 'em?"

"N-No, I got them from, from Takeda-san…"

Her hateful stare still itched at the back of his mind.

"What'd you do to get them from her, huh? You curse her?"

"…Shimon, p-please, just, just let me through…" He tried walking forward. He kept his hands tight.

"I think we should take these back. I'm sure your mom would appreciate it, eh, Sou?"

"Yeah, those are _my_ family's."

(But Sou's real family had died in the landslide.)

(The landslide that he had seen coming.)

He shut his eyes tight. His arms were aching.

_Don't stand for this. Hurt them back. It's only fair._

He felt hands on his hands.

He let go immediately, and balled them into fists.

_That's right, don't stand for this._

But he ran instead of fighting. The basket fell to the ground, radishes tumbling everywhere.

"Hey, where are you going?"

"How the heck is he so fast?"

"Freak! Get back here, freak!"

But soon he could no longer hear them. But his heart was pounding.

The brown comfort of his home was in sight. And as soon as he was inside, he shut the door, almost slamming it, to keep everything else out.

"Mama, I'm, I'm, I'm home…" he said, his voice thick.

She was pouring dry rice into a pot. "Oh, Yakata, welcome home. Why are you out of breath?"

"I, I, I, I ran into… a little, a little trouble…"

"A little trouble? Sweetheart, what happened?" She left her work to kneel down to eye level with him.

"Just… just Shimon and, and some other boys, they, they took the… the radishes. I, I, I mean, I got them, Mama, I, I got them from Takeda-san, but…"

"Oh, Yakata…"

"I, I didn't meant to, to lose them, I just…"

"Hush, it's all right." She kissed him on the forehead. "Did Takeda-san give you any trouble either?"

"N-no, not really…"

"Well, that's good. She usually pulls through for us…" She went back to the hearth. "I'll go talk to her once your papa gets home."

"…just, Mama?"

"Mm?"

"…I, I know you… you an' Papa need my help now that I'm… back, but, but, but can I stay home for, for a little while longer?"

His mama's look back was tired. "I'm sorry, Yakata," she said again. "I didn't think… this would happen again."

He could hear the unspoken "so soon" at the end of the sentence.

"Of course you can stay home. I'll see if you can do things for me here in the house."

"Thanks, Mama…"

He stayed in the corner with his arms wrapped around his knees, the rest of the afternoon, watching her cook, waiting for his papa to return from the fields.

He had been home only a few days.

He hadn't told either of them anything about who he really was.

Then again, how could he?

It wasn't like… they knew who he was. He knew the story of how they'd come to be his parents: he'd been left in their care during a fierce blizzard by an even fiercer man.

And Takeru… had said that _someone_ had made him. So perhaps that man, the one that had chosen his parent-guardians, was his… creator?

Thinking about it in terms like that made him shiver.

His existence was unnatural. He was _supposed_ to be dead.

(And he deserved to be dead, what with everything he had done.)

But someone had brought him back.

Incomplete, he had to suppose. He didn't have any memories of his past life, nor much of anything else.

But.

But learning with Sasuke had gone so very, almost frighteningly swiftly. A blurred memory remained, as well, of an instinctual use of fire, and a light feeling in the head that accompanied it. It was like he had always known how to use these things, and was just getting used to them again, after a very long rest.

And.

He was having nightmares. And what scared him the most about them wasn't the content, but the clarity of them, and the dull, insistent feeling that these were memories, resurfacing in his mind.

He usually dreamed about people he knew. His parents, the elder, warped, screaming projections of the woman at the schoolhouse. His recollections of them were always diluted by the morning, and never terribly vivid.

But these.

He dreamed of things he knew he had never seen before.

(In this life.)

He dreamed of endless hallways of glass pillars, filled with water that glowed firefly-green, of a blue man that belonged with that water.

He dreamed of endless rooms full of bodies—dead bodies—human, but deformed by shadows or mangled limbs, he couldn't tell. There was blood on the walls, on everything.

He dreamed of crows and of snakes, and blinding, world-ending explosions, like the brightest lightning brought to earth.

But most often, he dreamed of himself, in confrontation.

His past life, his reflection, would stare him in the face with such red eyes, not saying a word. The presence was like a specter, clothed in black and hidden in red mist and rolling clouds. Distant, and yet so close.

The dreams were terrifying paradoxes, and always rested in his mind with unnatural clarity long after he'd woken up.

(And then.)

(There were the voices.)

(He fought against those hardest.)

(They scared him the most.)

But Satoko and Gishi, the people that had raised him so lovingly, knew nothing of this. And their love was unconditional, though not without pain.

Even before this, they knew their "son" was different. And this brought them nothing but trouble in the village.

His return seemed to have only made things worse.

Once, he had thought he'd have been relieved to return home. Not because he didn't enjoy his time with Sasuke, but because he worried about how they would be without him, if they would be lonely, or if tasks around the house would be more difficult.

Now, he almost wanted to leave again, so they'd be free of his damning presence.

(And safe from the corruption that might have been setting in, the danger he might become.)

(He still couldn't remember how he had gotten out of that forest. But he did remember what he had done to the fence.)

(And the voices.)

But Satoko, despite all this, seemed happy to have him back, and was worried and warm towards him. And Gishi seemed the same, even with his hard-skin personality.

So he would stay. At least for a little while.

Until he couldn't remain any longer. For whatever reason.

He probably wouldn't have to leave, he told himself. Things would probably get better. The harvest would conclude and they would all eat well and the winter would keep him indoors and away from all those other people. He would have an excuse.

(But this would never happen.)

His papa came home in the evening, and his wife told him, with a lowered voice, to stay at home for a little bit, while she went out to look for something.

They shared the room in silence. He sat back, listening to the muffled crackle of the fire in the hearth. His papa was whittling something.

Satoko came back a while later. "All right, let me get dinner started."

They were supposed to have eaten radishes with their rice, that night. But something must have happened.

He tightened further into himself, and did not eat much. They were supposed to have radishes, but because of him, they didn't.

_It's all right, you know. It was your responsibility, but you took a higher road._

"Yakata, is there something wrong?" his mama asked, seeing him bend over, clutching his arms, trying to drown the noise out.

"I, I, I don't feel so good," he replied, almost moaning. "I'm... I'm gonna go lie down…"

"You do that, sweetheart," she said.

Under his futon, in the other room, he heard them start a new conversation. His papa's voice rose in anger, at one point. They were talking about Mrs. Takeda.

In his effort at sleeping, so he wouldn't have to listen, he fell into another vivid dream.

He was looking at himself again.

"This is a defiled bloodline."

His voice was older, lower, harder.

"You, too, are entwined in its destiny."

The darkness around him seemed to get darker, and deeper.

His own face terrified him.

He woke very, very early the next morning, breathing heavily, with wet spots on the pillow beneath him, from his mouth and his tears.

He didn't fall back asleep again.

His papa went back to the fields, after breakfast. And his mama went to aid in rice-cleaning, or laundry, it wasn't quite clear.

"If you need something to eat, there's rice in the box, you know where it is," she told him.

He ended up leaving the house before he got hungry, however.

He wanted to fix something.

The Takeda family didn't live terribly far away. Just down the road, on the southern side of the village. Their house was the same size as everyone else's.

But even with that short distance, he was still caught.

Just like the day before.

But things went differently, this time.

"What are you doing back here, witch-boy?"

He kept his eyes down. "I, I, I'm here to… to replace the radishes I… I _lost_ yesterday…"

"_Lost?_" Shimon's expression was mocking enough to suggest his face. "You _stole_ those. You never lost 'em."

"I, I, I _didn't_… Takeda-san… she, she gave them to me, be, because my mama asked…"

"Her? She came by last night. Askin' for more. We can't spare more. Your family's not big like mine. We need it more."

(A twisting sensation accompanied the thought that, if he weren't around, the construct known as the Honbo family would need less.)

"But… but, what about the ones from yesterday… You, you, you guys took them, can I… can I have them back, p-please?"

"What in the heck are you talkin' about?" Shimon said. "We never took any radishes from you."

There were sniggers from the gang.

"B-but, but you _did_…"

"Even if we _did_, you don't deserve 'em back, witch-boy," Sou said.

"You should know better than to go askin' stuff of us," someone else said.

"Yeah, you should leave us alone, _or else_."

He had his eyes almost closed, to avoid conflict.

But then he felt a hand on his arm. "Actually, why don't we teach you a little lesson? Keep this from happening again."

He yanked his arm, but couldn't free himself from the hard grip. "N-no, no, please, I, I, I, I'll leave you alone, p-please, just…"

He was pulled very close. "Hm, so what'll it be? Anyone got any matches?"

But then words came out of his mouth that didn't feel like his own.

"_No_… you are… going to leave me… _alone._"

"…what's that you said?" Shimon replied, yanking his arm harder.

But he yanked back. "I'm… not going to allow… your _threats_ to… affect me. Besides… they're _baseless._"

The words came slowly, as if his tongue were dry and swollen.

They were not his words. They were not the words he was wanting to say. But he was _saying_ them.

And he was also pulling his arm out of Shimon's grip.

His senses began to blur around the edges. His arms were not doing what he wanted them to do.

He wanted to curl into himself, make himself smaller.

But instead, fingers were wrapping around Shimon's arm, and gripping harder than he'd have ever allowed.

"I think… _you_ are the one in need of a lesson," he heard himself saying.

He opened his eyes. His vision was over-saturated with color, and the outline of his feet seemed at once fuzzy and sharp.

His hand began to, slowly, move around.

He looked up.

The last thing he clearly heard was Sou, his voice quiet and echoing, as if he were very far away:

"What the heck is wrong with his _eyes?!_"

Whatever happened after that passed in a timeless, cloudy blur. He was aware of impacts, suggestions of contact, and noises like the wind during a storm.

But when the cloud passed, he found himself standing over Shimon. The boy was curled into himself on the ground, clutching his arm. His hand was bent in a position it shouldn't have been, and he was making anguished attempts at air.

Other boys were laying, on their stomachs or backs, nearby, moaning. Two or three were tearing down the road into the town. He could hear them as they went.

"WITCH-BOY! THE WITCH-BOY HURT SHIMON!"

"HE'S A DEMON! A DEMON!"

He had done this.

But he didn't remember doing this.

(Just like the forest.)

_Justice served_.

He turned and ran back home as fast as he could, and threw himself into the protection of the bedroom.

The protection wasn't for him, however.

It was for everyone else.

He stayed there, holding his knees in a vice-grip, even after he heard his mama come home. He was concentrating, fearfully, searching every thought, every memory, trying to stay aware of every single movement his body made.

He didn't want to hurt them, didn't want to hurt his mama and papa, he would stay in control, he just needed to wait.

But in the evening, the elder came.

This was during dinner. He wasn't eating, staying in the bedroom, still shivering and searching for any twinges of strangeness within him.

He knew it was the elder from the way his parents greeted them. "Furoku-san, what brings you here?" Satoko said.

"I'd like to talk to you about Yakata-kun, if that's all right," the elder replied. "I assume he's here with you?"

"He hasn't been feeling well lately," Satoko replied. "He's asleep right now."

"Oh, that's just fine. He doesn't need to be here."

His grip tightened as he strained to listen. Even though he already knew why the elder was probably visiting.

"Yoko-san and her husband came to me in quite a panic today. They say that your Yakata went into a frenzy and badly injured Shimon-kun, and a few of his friends."

"A frenzy?" Gishi said, already defensive. "What do you mean by that?"

"I suppose my telling will be a bit inaccurate, but from what Yoko-san and Shimon-kun told me, it seems that Yakata-kun went into some sort of daze and attacked him and some of his friends in the middle of a conversation, before running off."

"Yakata wouldn't hurt _anyone_," Satoko said. "You know him. He's such a shy little boy."

"I know, I know," the elder replied. "But there's another detail that worries me. Apparently, Shimon-kun said that Yakata's eyes changed color before he attacked."

He remembered what Sou had said, though the memory was as thin and echoing as the whole event, now.

"Changed color? What kind of nonsense is that." Gishi's voice became rougher. "That's impossible."

But he remembered. Gishi might have forgotten, but he remembered what Sasuke had asked, when they had met for the second time.

He had asked if his eyes had ever changed color.

And his eyes were always red in his dreams.

"Not always, Gishi. You forget where we come from." The elder had suddenly become very quiet, and very serious.

"Yakata isn't one of us," Gishi said, equally as firm. "His father was a ninja. He was just left with us."

"Of course. I forget, sometimes," the elder replied. "I understand that Yakata-kun has spent some time away, training with a ninja, in fact?"

"Yes, his uncle," Satoko replied, quickly. "Uchiha Sasuke-san. It was very gracious of him."

His shoulders shuddered at the name, and the lie. That was his brother. Not his uncle.

"I see," said the elder. "Since coming back, however, have you noticed any… changes in your son?"

"Well, he's been… more withdrawn than usual." He could imagine Satoko had her hand over her mouth, at this point. "And he's been having such _awful _nightmares, but that's not much to worry about, is it? He said he had a wonderful time at Uchiha-san's."

"More withdrawn?"

"He's having a hard time getting used to life back at home, is all. It's nothing to worry about, Furoku-san," Satoko continued. There was a quiet strength in her voice. "He's always been a quiet boy."

"I don't understand where all this is coming from, Furoku-san," Gishi added. "_You_ know Yakata. You know how the boys in town treat him. You know what I think? I think they were hassling him and he finally fought back, for once. Learned a thing or two from Uchiha-san."

"Gishi…" his mama said.

"He must not know his own strength, then," the elder said. "Yakata broke Shimon-kun's arm, you know."

_Of course I did, there was no other way he'd have left us alone._

"…I don't believe you," Gishi said. "Yakata couldn't do that."

"I have the word of six boys and a doctor," the elder replied, "that he _did_ do that. And I'm trying to be quite understanding, Gishi, but I find that extremely frightening."

"It must have been an accident." Satoko's voice was growing higher. "Honestly, Yakata would never…"

"Satoko, the boy's always been… different. And you're young, you probably don't remember, but in the… old days, there were children like him. The ones that were modified."

"He has _not_ been modified," Gishi said.

Yes he was.

"You can't say for sure, Gishi. You don't know where he _really_ came from. If his real parents were… allies of The Doctor. His father was a ninja, you told me, so…"

The Doctor was that great, faceless figure that so many of the older people mentioned, always with hushed voices, always to blame any sort of disease or deformation.

He was the reason why so many people couldn't have children, and when they _did_ have children, they were so-often unhealthy, or strange. Why fearful and incurable diseases would sometimes strike otherwise healthy people in the prime of their lives, or madness like bolts of lightning.

But Gishi interrupted.

"My _son_ is not one of _them._ What happened with Shimon was an accident, and I'm sure it wouldn't have happened if that little brat had just left my kid _alone_." He had gotten very loud. "I doubt it will happen again."

There was a hard, fire-crackling silence. He could hear the elder swallowing, wetting his lips and opening his mouth to speak.

"If that's what you insist. I recommend you talk to Yakata-kun about this when he wakes up, then, find out what happened from him. At least let me know that."

"Of course, of course," Satoko said, quietly.

"And… if anything else happens, perhaps you should consider finding somewhere else to li-"

"We'll talk to our son and tell you what he says," Gishi said. "Thank you, Furoku-san."

Another swallow. "Good evening, then."

The door out opened, and closed.

He considered, for a moment, leaving the bedroom, to talk to them, to tell them how his body had grown numb, how another him—the same him—the _true _him—had been controlling it, dealing out the punishment he was too cowardly to pay out in this life.

But that would have scared them.

They believed that he was their beloved, unusual, but otherwise normal son.

Not a monster.

He got under the futon and pretended to sleep, instead. In case they came in.

He didn't want to talk about this. Not yet.

If and when they talked to him about it, he would say it had been an accident, just like Gishi had said. He could say that the ninja training with Sasuke had thrown him off some, that he didn't know his own, new strength, and that he was sorry. That wouldn't scare them. That would be what they expected.

Satoko checked on him later, as he lay on his side, eyes closed, but still awake. She kissed him on the forehead, whispering to her husband that they would ask in the morning.

But even after the two of them settled with soft, cloth sounds into their futons beside him, and the sighing sounds of the evening filled the room, he could not go to sleep.

Or, rather, he did not want to go to sleep.

Some small, almost vibrating part of him was terrified of what would have happened if he did. Would it be easier to lose control, if he were unconscious? Would he do something to the defenseless, gentle people asleep on the floor?

And the nightmares, always the nightmares.

_Don't be afraid. You're okay._

He remained in the stark blackness behind his eyes for as long as he could manage. Soon, silence joined the blackness.

His eyes snapped open when an itching in his ear broke him out of his carefully-aware imitation of sleep. The light through the windows near the ceiling was pale and weak. It was barely sunrise. None of the roosters had crowed yet.

He realized, in noting how quickly time seemed to have passed, that he must have fallen asleep. But he had not dreamed, during that time, which came as only a slight relief. His senses, though drowsy, were clear.

But he wanted to check one last thing.

Satoko and Gishi were still asleep, curled into themselves, and he took care not to wake them as he crawled across the room to the box where Satoko kept her comb and mirror and ribbons.

He looked at his eyes with the makeup mirror. They were still black.

Sasuke's eyes were red, the same as his own eyes in his dreams. Though that color seemed natural, and permanent, and never changed.

(Though in the photograph that Sasuke had given him, of his former family—it remained in his bag, untouched—and in the photograph that crowned his list of atrocities, both his and his brother's eyes were black.)

He couldn't see how his eyes could have changed color.

He put the mirror away and began making a pot of rice porridge for breakfast, which Satoko discovered with almost disbelief when she finally got up.

The morning meal was quiet. He expected them to ask him questions, and he kept his answers poised behind his mouth, but they said not a word about Shimon, nor the elder and the things he wanted to know. And he was all right with this.

But then, as they were cleaning, the mob arrived.

There couldn't have been many of them, but the noise they were making seemed to come from the entire village.

"Open up! Open up and talk to us!"

"There's no use hiding!"

They were banging on the door.

Satoko froze. "Gishi, what's going on."

"Stay inside, I'll handle this."

For reasons he entirely understood, she kneeled between him and the door.

Gishi slid open the door, his shoulders squared. "Excuse me, but what is the meaning of this?" he said.

The head of the group was Shimon's father, Kaminari. He could be seen through the space of the open door, with out-of-focus colors that must have been other people, behind him. "Where's that boy of yours, Gishi?"

"He's inside with his mother, why?"

"Bring him out here."

"Why? Is this about Shimon?"

"Yeah, it's about Shimon," Kaminari replied, crossing his arms.

"He hurt my boy too!" someone said.

"He's a menace!" someone else said.

He tightened into himself.

"Furoku-san told us about what happened with Shimon-kun," Gishi said. His feet were firm. "From what I've heard, I get the feeling that you're all blowing this a bit out of proportion."

"You call a broken arm not proportional?" Kaminari replied, almost shouting.

"It was probably an accident."

"That was no _accident!_" A female voice, probably Shimon's mother. "His bones were snapped in half!"

He felt Satoko's hand on his shoulder. He was trembling, and winced at her contact.

"Whatever happened, it was probably an accident," Gishi said, again, his voice lower. "Yakata would never do something like that on purpose."

"Bring that boy out here. I want to hear him tell me that to my _face_. I can sniff out liars."

"You'll do no such thing, Kaminari," Gishi said.

"I'll do whatever the hell I want! Drag that little creep out here!" Kaminari lunged forward, his chest colliding with Gishi's as he tried to get inside.

"Stay out of my house," Gishi said.

"Bring him out or we'll _drag_ him out," Kaminari growled.

"Yeah, bring him out! Bring him out!" The crowd began to rumble and crash with voices.

"Get out of my house, and _away_ from my son," Gishi said. He pressed his hands against the doorframe, his arms growing rigid and restrictive. "I'm not going to let you hurt him or anyone else, just because you're angry."

"Hurt him? I just want that little snake to leave us alone!" Kaminari pushed himself against Gishi again, and the impact made Gishi cough from the stolen breath.

His own jaw was trembling, teeth rattling against each other, as he watched this, heard the angry people outside, crying for deserved blood.

He began to stand.

"Yakata, no, stay here," his mama whispered, grabbing onto his arm in a feeble attempt.

But he kept rising, and eventually got to his feet.

"Yakata!"

Kaminari didn't seem to notice his approach, too preoccupied with ramming Gishi in the chest with his shoulder.

He made sure he'd be noticed. He ducked under one of Gishi's arms, and started waving his hands at the people beyond. "St-stop! Puh-please, I'm, I'm, I'm _here_, what do you… what do you _want?"_

And they did stop. Kaminari ceased his assault, and the crowd grew silent.

"_I_ want to know why you hurt my _son,_" Kaminari said, drawing all of his intimidation into his skinny, sunburnt shoulders.

"It, it, it was an accident…" he replied.

The crowd—and he noticed now that there were at least twenty people present—rumbled with discontent at this.

"Yakata, get back inside," Gishi said, hoarsely.

"An accident? So breaking his damn _arm_ was an accident?"

He could feel Kaminari's steam-breath on his forehead as he bore down. "Y-yes, I was… I was only trying to, to, to _protect_ myself, h-honest…"

"_Protect_ yourself? From _what?_"

He didn't answer.

Kaminari straightened his back. "I knew it, he's a liar. Attacked my son for no reason."

"Kaminari, that's _enough_." Gishi's voice was gaining strength.

"Cursing our crops wasn't enough, now you have to hurt our children?" A woman's voice burst out of the crowd, like a popped balloon. Loud, rolling murmurs followed her, agreeing.

"Get out of our town!"

"Leave us alone!"

His breath was starting to quicken, and he stared sideways, away from Kaminari, away from the angry people.

_What a pitiful display. They're like rabbits, running at the first disturbance._

"I, I, I, I'm _sorry_, I'm, I'm so _sorry_…" he muttered.

"He hasn't done _anything!_" Gishi had left the doorway, and was standing between him and the crowd, now. "You leave _us_ alone!"

"Why don't we solve _both_ of our problems, Gishi, and you take your little brat and your wife and get the hell out of here!" Kaminari said.

There was an affirmative roar from the crowd.

"We're not going anywhere, this is our _home_," Gishi said. "I was born here, just like all the rest of you. I helped build this village!"

"The kid didn't!" someone called.

"He isn't even your _son_," one of the mothers added, spitefully. "I've known all along, he's really a demon, a… a changeling!"

_Resorting to superstition now, are they? How very typical._

"I don't care, he's my son to me," Gishi said. He put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm not gonna let anything happen to him, and I'm not gonna _leave_."

_Perhaps now…_

"If he stays he's only going to hurt more of _our _children!"

A familiar, dreadful feeling began seeping over his body. His fingers and toes grew numb, and then his arms and legs.

"He's barely been back a week and look at all the trouble he's already caused!"

The ground was exploding with ten million different shades of brown.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…" he said. He was starting to bend over himself, his arms crossed over his chest, fists clenched tightly into balls.

"Only because your little shit of a son provoked him!" Gishi snarled.

Anything to make sure his body was still doing what he wanted it to do.

"You take that _back_." Kaminari's voice curled, cobra-like, confrontational.

"I won't," Gishi said.

"Normal people don't break arms when 'provoked!'" That voice again; definitely Shimon's mother, but she sounded so far away.

"He's not normal! He's a freak, get him out of here!"

So far away…

"Witch-boy!"

So…

"Monster!"

"…normal, I… certainly am_ not_. But call me a monster again, and… I'll have to _correct_ you."

He could feel his head rising, his eyes opening, as if thick, cold wires were inside of him, ordering every movement.

"You're all… pathetic. But… I suppose you have an honest reason to… worry…"

His mouth felt like it was made of cotton. He wanted to choke, but there was nothing to choke on.

"Yakata, what are you doing…?" Gishi stepped away from the frozen conflict. There was a suggestion of Satoko at the door, her fingers wrapped around the frame.

But he stepped forward, fighting the movement. His legs felt stiff.

"You should all be… _ashamed_ of yourselves… Antagonizing me like this when I've… obviously suffered enough."

"Yakata…?"

He was approaching Kaminari. He could see everything so, so clearly.

"That… boy of yours attacked me. Tried to burn me. Though what I did was… not self-defense, entirely. It was… retribution. For the years of humiliation I suffered at his hands. And… I shall continue it here."

His hand reached out and grabbed Kaminari's arm. The man struggled, but somehow, could not break free.

"I did not… _snap_ your son's bones in half, you know. Those type of fractures look… _much_ different. Why don't I show you?"

Blurriness swept over his eyes like moss, turning everything into undefined, enormous bacterium full of the brightest, most painful colors. He could still feel what his arms were doing as he fought, desperately, against them.

There was a wet, muted crack. And a full-throated yell tore into the air.

The fungus-blur parted momentarily. All he could hear were the screams of the fleeing mob, and Kaminari's anguished cries.

"His eyes! Those are demon's eyes!"

"Save me, save me!"

"Don't kill me!"

_That should be enough._

A great and sickening sensation of lightness swept over him, and suddenly his body was his again.

People were running in scattered panic, fleeing in every direction away from the Honbo house, from him.

Kaminari was on the ground beside him, his eyes half-closed and his mouth slack. His wife was on her knees, her face red and contorted with sobs, cradling his head.

There was a great wound in his arm, where flesh was left exposed and raw, and bone splintered, piercing the skin.

And standing by the door of his house were his mama and papa.

Looking the most terrified of all.

And he knew what he had to do.

"St-stay away from me, please, I, I, I, I don't want to hurt you, I don't, please, I don't want to hurt you…!"

They didn't say anything. Gishi slowly walked back, in front of Satoko, who clung to his arm once he was close enough. Her eyes were glazing over, with horror, with tears.

"Get, get away from me, I, I don't, I don't, I… I'm sorry…!"

He ran away from the house, through the bird-migration of people, without shoes or any idea of what was going on.

Well, he had some idea.

The corruption.

He was becoming violent with less and less to provoke him.

And he couldn't control it. He could only remain barely aware, at best.

He had to get away. So he wouldn't hurt anyone else.

Where he would go, he didn't know. Somewhere else. Somewhere distant.

Just, anywhere but here, where familiar faces that had once looked at him only in disdain now twisted with utter fear, and screams.

Another town, perhaps, but what if he hurt those people too?

He didn't want to live alone for the rest of his life! But what if he had no choice?

Maybe all he had to do was… was tame his other self. After all, he'd never felt like this before Takeru told him the truth—or maybe he _had_, and he had just never been aware of it enough to define it. And Nadeshiko certainly lived with the corruption that had settled in, when she was far younger than him. Nadeshiko didn't hurt anyone else any more. He could be like her.

He just needed a quiet place. Somewhere they would leave him alone. Somewhere he couldn't hurt anyone, not for a while.

"Yakata!"

He heard someone calling after him. He ran faster.

"Yakata, hold on, stop!"

Whoever was chasing him was faster than him.

Hozuki dashed in front of him, and held a hand out to intercept him. "Yakata, where the hell are you _going?_" he said.

"I, I, I have to get away, I, I don't want to _hurt_ anyone, please, let me, let me _go_."

"No, no, slow down. What happened?" Hozuki was now standing in front of him, and his face was wrinkled, just like all the others.

"I, I hurt someone, please, for, for your own good, get away from me!"

He tried to push past the man, with that sword strapped to his back—surely he could fight, but _he_ didn't want to fight, he didn't know what he could do—but arms that were far more muscular than his sprang out and clasped large-boned fingers to his shoulders.

"Yakata, _stop_. What happened, did you hurt someone?"

"It, it, it was an accident, but I couldn't control it—let me _go, _I, I don't want to hurt you _too_." His body rocked, fighting against Hozuki's hands, keeping his own hands down and away.

"What couldn't you control?"

"The, the corruption, please, I'm, I'm _dangerous_, please get away from me!" His hands were rising.

"Dangerous? You?" There was no mocking, no humor in his voice. (Concern, maybe.)

"Please, I, I don't want to hurt anyone, I don't, I don't want to hurt _you_." His hands were at his chest now, but he at least was still in control of them, he could at least feel his fingers. "I, I don't want to hurt a-any more _people_."

Hozuki's grip tightened on his shoulders. "Kid, stand _still_." He looked up and away as a woman's scream sang out from nearby, like a gull's cry. "Look, do you need me to take you somewhere safer so you can calm down?"

"No, no, just… please, let me _go_, I, I, I, I _really_ don't want to h-hurt you, I, I don't know if I'll, I'll lose _control_ again…" He fought against the hands once more, but the grip was even stronger.

There was another scream. Someone began to hammer at the village bell, each strike sounding like a knife against a rock.

"Oh, for the love of—what the hell is happening?" Hozuki said, though it was not clear if he was talking to him or to himself.

The voice of a crier was his answer: "Find the witch-boy! Find him!"

His chest seized up, and his hands curled into claws that tried to cover his face.

"Aw, no…" Hozuki shook his head, exhaling so loudly that it turned into a growl. "Yakata, what the hell happened?"

"Please, I, I don't want to hurt anyone, I don't, I don't want to k-kill anyone, I'm, I'm sorry, I'm so _sorry_…"

"Stay with me and none of that's gonna happen. C'mon."

And Hozuki took his hand and they began to run for the forest.

"No, please, st-stop, where are we-?" but he caught himself, and tried to wrench himself away more strongly. "No, you, you can't take me with you, you'll, you'll get hurt!"

"Trust me, kid, I can more than handle myself. It's _you_ I gotta worry about." Hozuki kept his face forward, his brows low. "I know somewhere you can stay 'til this boils over. An' if it doesn't… well, let's hope it doesn't come to that."

"No, please, you, you can't take me with you, I, I might _hurt_ you, you don't…" He pulled harder, managing a firm yank on Hozuki's arm that jerked him back for a moment. "You don't know who I really, who I really _am!_ I'm, I'm… I'm a monster, okay? I'm, I'm a _murderer!_"

"You're not a monster." There was pain in Hozuki's voice, and he pulled stronger. He moved with purpose towards the hill that overshadowed the village, keeping between the trees. "Where was that door…"

He was hyperventilating again, now, struggling against each step. "Aren't you… aren't you, aren't you _listening_ to me?"

"I'm _not_ listening, because you're just freaking _out_," Hozuki replied, firmly. "I have to keep you safe."

"I don't… I don't _need_ that, I, I, I need… I need to get away, so, so, so I don't _hurt_ anyone else, okay? I, I, I don't… I don't want to be a _killer_ again, I, I don't want to _hurt_ people!"

And there Hozuki stopped, his hand spread upon an ivy-covered boulder. "What the heck do you mean, '_again?'_"

He managed to break out of Hozuki's grip, and cupped his hands together on his chest. "I, I, I used to be a, a bad _person, _Hozuki-san. A, a _really _bad person. My, my real name isn't _Yakata_. It… it, it's _Itachi_. _Uchiha _Itachi. My, my _past_ life, and, and, and," and his eyes were sliding sideways, and he was holding his hands so tightly they were growing numb, "and I killed a, a _lot _of people a long _time_ ago, and I think I, I, I might be st-starting _again_, so you, you have to get _away_ from me…"

And Hozuki, in the faded corners of his eyes, looked horrified.

"Yakata, what are you... _talking_ about?" He removed his hand from the boulder, but it felt limply to his side. "Who… _told_ you those things?"

"I, I found out who I… who I really _was _while I was… while I was in _Konoha._ Sasuke, he, he, he was trying to _protect_ me, trying to… trying to keep me from, from, from… but… but they found out, _e-everyone_ knows now, th-they wanted to _kill _me before I, before I killed _them_ and-"

"Who _told_ you?" Hozuki had gotten very close to him, now, and his hands were hovering over his shoulders. "Yakata, _tell_ me!"

But he didn't answer, his words now drowning in his choppy breaths. His eyes were now tightly closed, his legs stiff and hurting.

Hozuki breathed in, deeply, through his teeth. "Come on." His voice was stronger. "Come on, come with me. It's not safe here."

A hand reached for his, but he stepped back with barely-bending legs.

"Yakata, please, come on." Desperation. "_Please_. You can tell me everything, you need to tell me who _told_ you all that, just _please_ come with me."

But he took another step back, and another. He started turning around.

"You won't hurt anyone, I promise—Yakata, _stop!_"

But he was now turned around, and he was running, his eyes barely open. His joints felt like they were made of metal.

"Yakata!"

He couldn't remember ever running so fast in his life. But his legs did not burn, instead throbbing with an icy, hollowed-out coolness.

It wasn't until he opened his eyes fully that he realized he didn't know where he was going.

But his body did.

Hozuki was still running after him. "Yakata, come back! Stop! Stop, come on!"

He started to whimper, feeling, watching his arms and legs pump mechanically, now, at his sides, in a steady gait that was not his. He dodged and wove past trees, his bare feet crunching on the leaves, not feeling the pain of pine cones nor sharp rocks that drew blood.

_Where was it, where was it…_

And then the voice. He wanted to smash his hands over his ears but he couldn't. His horrified moans were dying in his throat.

And, finally, he stopped.

_Ah, here's the place._

It was a river, winding through the forest. It eventually ran to a reservoir that was used to feed the fields. He knew this. Leaves clotted at its edges.

He heard Hozuki arrive behind him. "_Yakata!_"

He did not turn around to face him; his eyes remained fixed on the river. Its waters were clear, and deep, and the bottom was muddy.

_Come on out, boy. I'm here._

"Yakata, please, I promise, I'm not going to hurt you, I'm going to keep you safe." Hozuki was out of breath, coming closer, slowly.

The lids of his eyes felt so heavy. It was unnatural and terrifying, especially with his heart beating so fast.

"It doesn't matter... what you've _done_, either now or-" Hozuki exhaled, frustrated. "Okay, none of that matters, all right?"

His head lolled, lightly, sideways. His vision grew half-focused and dim, though whether it was from his eyelashes or—or the corruption, he couldn't tell.

"I'm gonna take you back to Konoha, and there are people there who can talk with you about this. _Nobody's_ going to kill you. Okay?"

His head tilted to the other side and he blinked, slowly. His tongue ran over his lips once, wetting them, his mouth remaining slightly open afterward.

"That's… all right, Suigetsu, I think I'll find my way back there myself. You won't need to… _escort _me."

Hozuki's footsteps halted. "What did you just call me…?"

"Suigetsu? That… _is_ your name, isn't it?"

A bubbly wreath of euphoria wrapped around his brain and squeezed. And he smiled, and it was entirely his own action.

He turned around. "What, you… didn't think I didn't _remember_… did you?"

Suigetsu's mouth fell open with horror, and his barely-frantic breaths began to increase.

"Yakata, what the… hell is wrong with your eyes…?"

"Nothing at all," he replied. "They're perfectly… _fine_." He laughed again.

"No, you're… that's impossible." He was starting to step backward.

"I don't really believe in… _impossible_," he said. He swayed in a twisting motion, his arms swinging outward from the centrifugal force. "Chance, however… and luck, too, mm, I suppose." He giggled, ceasing his swaying. "I'm… a _very_ lucky boy."

"Who the hell _are_ you," Suigetsu was reaching for the sword on his back, "and what have you done with _Yakata?_"

"Oh, come now, _you _know who I am. I'm just going for a little _joy ride_." He leaned forward cheekily. "Or something like that. Now." He stood upright, poising a finger on his lips. "Where _is_ that dear boy?"

"No." Suigetsu had his sword, now, the blade resting on the forest floor. "No, it—this isn't _you_. You're not back. This can't-"

"This can't _what?_" he interrupted. "You're well aware of what I'm _capable_ of." Another giggle. "Honestly, this is quite old-_fashioned_ of me."

Suigetsu's teeth were drawn like daggers. His face was growing extremely red.

"Not this child. Not this _child_. You're supposed to be _dead!_" He raised the sword above his head.

And he raised a finger. "Ah-ah-ah, you, you don't, you don't _really _want to, to, to hurt _me_, do you…?"

And the sword fell with a thump to the ground again. "No, stuh… _STOP_ that! Stop it!" An arm whipped itself, uselessly, angrily, out.

He laughed good-naturedly, almost knowingly. "You really shouldn't hurt this child. _Really._ He's far too precious and you _know_ it."

Suigetsu seethed, his mouth pressed tight.

"Then I won't." He let go of his sword, stabbing it into the soft earth, and he pressed a fist into his palm. "I'm not gonna let this happen."

"Oh, and how do you plan on doing _that?_"

"I'll knock you out, you fucking bastard, and I'll take you back to Konoha and have you… have you _destroyed._"

"Suigetsu, sweet child," he replied, shaking his head, "you might want to formulate plans that are actually _doable_, for one. And for two, I won't let that happen anyways."

"I don't care," Suigetsu said.

He sighed. "When have you _ever_."

Suigetsu's eyes were narrowed with expectant pain as he ran forward. "I'm sorry…!"

But even before he could begin to effortlessly dodge the passion-stained blow, there was a wet sound, like ripping paper, like a gasp of air.

Something was coming out of the river.

Suigetsu stumbled forward.

He merely watched, smiling.

"There you are," he said.

The man emerging from the river was familiar, though his proportions seemed far more compact and correct, now that he was not being viewed through tinier, golden eyes. His movements were just as jerky, however. As erratic as his appearance.

And he lunged forward, and with an enormous, dripping, ashen hand, he reached for Suigetsu's neck.

"You, you tried, you tried to hurt my _master_, my master's, new, his new _body_."

Suigetsu began to liquefy, but the man's other hand shot out like a rake and sucked the water towards it, stretching the liquid flesh in a blue-transparent mass.

"You're scum, you're, scum, you tried to _hurt_ him."

"Darling, please take care of the scum for me?" he said, sweetly, his hands folded behind his back.

"I'm, I'm not, that's not my _name_, Master, I want you to, use my, name…" his servant replied, almost meekly.

"Of _course_, darling." That's right, during the negotiations the nights previous, in his exploratory snake-form, away from the safety of warm ears and minds, he had decided on a _new_ name with the precious creature, so that things would be easier, after gaining his initial trust. "I only say these things because I _love_ you, you know."

"Love and, you _told_ me, you gave me a, new name, a _better_ one."

"I_ know_, sweet child. Now… _Riverman_, could you please take care of this nuisance for me?"

Suigetsu was struggling to free himself from the amorphous prison of his own body, and what could be seen of his face was contorted in fear and anger.

"Of course, Master, of course, I'll, I'll do a good job…"

"I know you will. And afterwards, it's on to Konoha for the both of us."

"Konoha, again, like, like the, false, snake requested…" He pressed his hands together, Suigetsu's flesh oozing out through his fingers. "But you're, you're not, false, Master, you're my _true_ Master…"

"And the only one you'll ever need," Orochimaru replied.


	112. Man Child

_In the event of my death, I leave the entirety of my assets and estates, both owned and governed, to my wife, Uchiha Mikoto._

_Should she pass on before me, these assets are to be left to my youngest son and heir, Uchiha Sasuke. My eldest son, Uchiha Itachi, may only use these assets in assuring the safety and wellbeing of Uchiha Sasuke. He may not use them for any personal reason or interests._

_Should either of my sons be orphaned before coming of age, the Uchiha clan will collectively choose a guardian for them. If a decision is unable to be reached, for whatever reason, I leave this task to the current governing Hokage._

- Excerpts from Uchiha Fugaku's Last Will and Testament; last known revision September 10th, 8 BU (approximately one month prior to the Uchiha Massacre)

* * *

**ACT 13**

**BROTHERS**

* * *

_Chapter 112 - Man Child_

* * *

Naruto was in the middle of negotiations with the Taki clan, when the news came in.

Well, "negotiations." By that point, the serious talk had melted into easy conversation, since the issue of what was owed was quickly and eagerly dealt with, and all that was left was working out things like later visits. For fun.

The chuunin at the door was out of breath. "Hokage-sama, we need your help _immediately_," she said.

Naruto, mid-laugh, replied, "Why, what's up?"

"That, um. That boy, the..." Her eyes hovered over his guests, questions of protocol behind her uneasy expression. "The Honbo boy, the one that was supposed to be sent home last week."

"Oh! That kid? The one that was, um…" And Naruto looked around, some; Kiine's face, the one nearest to him, was caught with a half-open mouth. "…was at Sasuke's house before, y'know? What about him, is there a phone call for me?"

The chuunin's partner shook his head. "No, sir, the boy himself's come back. He's with another ninja, some guy with white hair, won't give us his name."

"Ah! What's the matter, why are they back?"

"I don't know, sir, but he wants to talk to you. The boy, I mean," the chuunin said. "And there's more to mention, but I think-"

"Best discussed on the way there, I gotcha," Naruto said. He began to get out of his seat. "Uh, sorry guys, but this is sorta important…"

"Who's the kid?" Kiine said.

"I'll explain later, if I have the time, y'know," Naruto said, nodding good-naturedly. "I'll try to be back soon. Otherwise… well, you'll hear from someone."

("I hope everything's okay," Mikan said, as they left.)

"So what else did you need to mention?" Naruto said. "You said they didn't say why they're back?"

"No, but that's not the only reason we're concerned," the chuunin replied. "The boy doesn't seem well, his speech is… slurred, I guess, and he seems delirious otherwise."

"Oh, man." Naruto put a hand on his chin. "Is he sick? Anyone been able to check for fever or whatever?"

"No, his guardian won't let us near him, much less touch or examine him. But he seemed fine with the idea of you coming down yourself to talk to them."

"Ah, gosh… I dunno what the heck would make Suigetsu-san do this," Naruto said, nodding, "but he _is_ real protective about that kid… I'll see what I can do."

"You know his guardian? This… Suigetsu-san?" the chuunin's partner said.

"Well, sorta." Naruto shrugged. "He asked to help Yakata-kun get home, I approved it, that's about it, y'know. He's from around the area and… oh, whatever, I trust him."

"Of course, sir…" the chuunin said.

"At any rate, I'll get down there, y'know. Where are they right now?"

"Holding station near the front gate. Hatsumoto and Yamada are keeping an eye on them."

"Right. Thanks, guys," Naruto said, and set off at a run for the gate.

The more timid of the two, Yamada, was waiting outside the guard station for him when he arrived. "Ah, Hokage-sama, you're here."

"Yep, I'm here. What's up?"

"Hatsumoto's inside, keeping an eye on the two. We figured since you sent the orders out for the kid, you'd be able to reason with his… guardian, or whoever he is." Yamada wound a finger around one of his black curls of hair. "Since… well, _I_ sorta have my doubts…"

"Huh? Why's that?"

"He doesn't look like the guy the kid set out with, I don't think," Yamada replied. "I was on-call and saw 'em go, and… yeah, this guy seems a bit… _different_, I dunno."

"Huh. Well, I'll go in and take a look for myself," Naruto replied, managing a diffusing smile. "I mean, I guess I'm more familiar than you, y'know."

"Right-o. I'll go in with you, then," Yamada said, opening the door for him.

But the man on the bench in the guard station with Yakata was not Suigetsu.

Yes, he had white hair, as described. But his was wild, uncombed, tamed only by an improvised-looking face-guard wrapped at the forehead. His clothes seemed to be nothing more than a sack of pale blue cloth given form and sleeves by straps around his waist and joints, and black pants. An inexplicable mass of matted, dirty fur made up the collar.

He held Yakata in his lap; his bloodless-looking hands cupped over the boy's back, his great shoulders hunched defensively. His head was down, keeping most of his face from view.

Yakata had his eyes closed, his head resting against the man's chest; his expression was not troubled or pained, and he was breathing lightly.

"Hey, Hatsumoto-san," Naruto said, whispering, to the man waiting by the door. "Yamada-san's filled me in on things; so this guy with Yakata-kun hasn't told us his name?"

"No, sir. He seems to think we should know his name _already_, actually," Hatsumoto said, dryly.

"Huh… Well, Yakata-kun seems to trust him, at least…" Naruto said, tilting his head. "Maybe this is his dad, or a friend from his hometown?"

"Again, sir, you'll have to ask, he won't talk to us…"

"No big. I'll see what's up."

As Naruto approached them, the man with Yakata looked up with a startling jerk of his head. His face seemed young and thin, despite his enormous frame, maybe only fifteen or sixteen years of age. One of his eyes was near-black from a dilated pupil, and the other, rose-pink.

"Who are you, are, you the Hokage?" he said. His voice was a hushed almost-whisper, and sandy around its edges.

"Yeah, I am. I'm here to talk to you and Yakata-kun," Naruto replied. He kept his hands out of his pockets, non-threateningly clasped at his stomach.

"You, what's your, name, what is it," the man continued. His head bobbed on his neck like an owl's, utterly mistrusting.

"Uzumaki Naruto."

"Uzumaki? You're an, Uzumaki? I knew, Uzumaki, knew them…" His voice began to lower with his head as the thought seemed to grip him. "Her, that red hair…"

"Of course you knew an Uzumaki." Yakata was speaking now, his voice muffled from where his head had turned to nestle in further against the man's chest. He sounded sleepy. "Mm, I knew you'd come by, Hokage-sama…"

Naruto chanced a step closer. "You feeling okay there, Yakata-kun?"

"I feel… very good, actually, thanks." He giggled, his shoulders rising slightly with the sound.

"You sure? You sound sorta sick, y'know." He tried to make this sound believable.

"Well, I'm… maybe a little roughed up, but I'm fine, _really_. I'm being taken care of very well."

"I'm taking, care of, him, I am, _nobody_ hurts my master…" The man had raised his head again to look at Naruto, wide-eyed, as desperate as his voice. He lowered his head again, however, at the slight motion of Yakata against his chest. "Taking, care of him, I _am_…"

"Who's this guy, uh, taking care of you, Yakata-kun?" Naruto asked.

"A very old and a _very_ loyal friend," Yakata replied. A hand rose, slowly, across the man's chest and towards his shoulder in what was almost a hug.

"From home?"

"Of course." He squeezed, and then brought his arm back down to his chest. The man's grip tightened, in reply, and a low rumble of what would have been contentment in perhaps a dog or a bear creaked out of him.

Naruto tightened his lips, watching this, Hatsumoto and Yamada watching on with him, thin, green silhouettes in his peripheral vision.

"So… Yakata-kun, why have you come back here? Is something wrong?" he finally asked.

"I want to talk to _Sasuke_." Yakata squirmed with the words, arching his back and crossing his arms over his waist fussily. His voice was a child's whine. "And Karin _too_. I have a _lot_ to talk about with both of them…"

"Well… Sasuke's sort of busy right now, y'know, and…"

And it was there that Naruto realized that something was truly _wrong_. Things had been strange, confusing, before then. But what was happening now was…

"…who do you know here in Konoha named Karin, Yakata-kun?"

And Yakata, turning around to face him more properly, opened his eyes.

They were a shade of yellow that did not belong on him.

"_My_ Karin. She's in the hospital. Do you not know her?" He began to sit up some, his sleepy face seeming to sharpen. "Red hair, glasses… She's one of my _favorite_ people… I want to talk to her. Please?"

Naruto swallowed.

"I'll… look into it," he said. "For now, why don't we have you and your friend moved someplace nicer than this while you wait?"

"Oh, that'd be _lovely_. Can you? I'd love that." Yakata drew his knees up to his chest and giggled again, his smile too curled to suit his face.

"Yeah. I'll be back in a bit. Hatsumoto-san and Yamada-san will take care of you while I'm gone, y'know."

"Mm, good, good…" Yakata replied, and yawned. "By the way… why do you keep calling me that?"

"Calling you… what?" Naruto replied, midway through taking a step backwards.

"_Yakata-kun_. I really thought you'd recognize me by now, even with this new body…" the child's voice whined again. "Then again, I'm rather sleepy right now… Perhaps I'm not acting like myself…"

"Who are you?" Naruto said, knowing the answer, yet not wanting to hear it.

"Orochimaru. Of course." The boy giggled again. "Long time no see, hm?"

Naruto did not reply, instead stepping back further to fold in with Hatsumoto and Yamada.

"Keep an eye on these two until I can get some ANBU to take them to the underground cells," he whispered. "And keep. Calm. Y'know."

"A-Absolutely, sir," Yamada replied, because Hatsumoto was too terrified to answer.

Naruto decided, by the time he got back to the Manor, to send the ANBU down with as little information as possible: escort the two targets to the lower cells and keep them well-guarded until further instructions. And of course, the orders were carried out without question. The boy—whoever he really was—was entirely cooperative the entire way, as was his companion, mistrustful and unidentified and twitchy though he was.

But beyond that, Naruto had absolutely no idea of what to do.

Wasn't Orochimaru supposed to be dead? Karin had confirmed it, and this was after the whole ordeal with _Ooda_. And _that_ was a factor too! What would be done or said about this if this really were Orochimaru, after the previous hoax?

He wanted it to not be true, but the boy, Yakata's eyes, the new lilt that his voice seemed to have, and the strange companion with him only seemed to confirm this.

…but Orochimaru was supposed to be _dead! _Gone away! For good! What had brought him back, and how in the world had he found Yakata, at that…?

Naruto's mind felt like broth boiling up from underneath a pot lid, hitting the stove below and sizzling into a hard crust. The amount of information and indecision that had come from this single intrusion into Konoha was—it was too _much!_

But he had to do something. He was the Hokage. This was his duty.

…though he honestly doubted that any of his predecessors had ever had to deal with anything like _this_.

…well, okay, yeah, the Third had to deal with Orochimaru coming back in the flesh and trying to destroy every man, woman, and child in Konoha. And the Fourth had to deal with a time-and-space-shifting maniac that also did horrible things with foxes. And the Fifth had a man with seven sets of eyes and a terrorist organization under his command that _also_ wanted to destroy Konoha…

…but this was different. This was a small child, the clone of an infamous Uchiha, seemingly possessed by a man who'd been, for all intents and purposes, dead for the past twenty-seven years. And he had a follower with him, of sorts, which meant there could possibly be more.

He considered turning to Sakura. Because, hell no, he couldn't talk to Sasuke, not in his state. And the members of the council and the elders were all preoccupied with their own matters, and the Kages… this was Konoha business, for now, he didn't want them involved. And turning to Karin, that wouldn't be fair, not at all...

In his office, arms crossed severely over his chest as he thought, Naruto came to the conclusion that he didn't know enough to act further, that this was his responsibility as the Hokage, and he would get as much done on his own before he asked Sakura for help. This was what he had done when Ooda had showed up, and he'd do better this time.

He found the man in Yakata's body speaking quite jovially with the guards in his cell. "You know, I'm _not_ here to hurt you. I _honestly_ want to get through this with as little bloodshed as possible, hmm?" He was giggling practically every other sentence. "I just want to _talk_ to some people."

"And the false snake, master, him, the false…"

"Of course, dear, we'll find out about him, too." He reached up to stroke the man's arm; his guardian was standing above his chair, now, his lap seemingly tired of.

"Hokage-sama." One of the senior ANBU greeted him as he entered the room outside the cell. Naruto recognized her voice as Ten Ten's, but didn't say anything.

"Hey, any changes?"

"None," she replied. "We'd have alerted you if anything had happened."

"Yeah, I figured. I'm gonna go in and talk to 'em for a bit, y'know, you got a note-taker on hand?"

"Yes. Be safe, sir."

"Hey, you know I will," he replied, and was let into the cell.

"Oh, _hello_ there," the child in the chair said. He drew his knees up to his chest cheekily. "You came _back._"

"Yep. I got some questions, y'know," Naruto said. He remained standing.

"Ooh, _questions_. Questions for questions, then?"

"Only if they're not too unreasonable," Naruto replied. "First off, are you really Orochimaru?"

The boy rolled his eyes. "What, you don't _believe_ me?"

"Just wanna make sure, y'know."

"Well, I _am_," the boy, Orochimaru, replied. "I'm not entirely integrated into my new _body_, yet, but it's working well enough. Quite a discovery I made, hm?" He laughed.

Naruto waited until he was finished before continuing. "And how did you _find_ this body you're in, right now?"

"I honestly don't remember, this whole thing's been like a _dream_," Orochimaru said. "I just remember, after coming to and wandering about for a while, seeing this child and thinking that I just _had _to have him. He's an Uchiha, isn't he? Looks _so_ much like dear Itachi. Is this his _son_ or something, by the way? I never expected Itachi to be a sower of wild seeds, but you can _never _tell with some people…"

The man behind him shuffled his feet, almost nervously. He was muttering something under his breath that sounded like "Uchiha… Uchiha…"

But Naruto was still stuck on Orochimaru's words. "Itachi… isn't around, Orochimaru," he said. "He's passed on."

"_Really_." Orochimaru leaned forward, against the table, putting his legs back down on the ground. "What killed him?" His yellow eyes widened, almost in delight, as he breathed in, smiling. "Ooh, or was it _Sasuke-kun?_ I seem to remember them fighting… Could you bring Sasuke-kun down here so I can ask him?"

"No," Naruto replied.

"Oh, _please?_" Orochimaru said. "Come, now, you're the Hokage, you can do _whatever_ you want. I want to talk to _Sasuke_." He leaned against the table's surface, now, resting his head on his arms, smiling sweetly.

"No," Naruto replied, "Sasuke's busy right now."

"But you're the _Hokage_," Orochimaru said again, "aren't you? He can't say no to _you_."

The mutterings of Orochimaru's companion were becoming much louder. "Damn, Uchihas, damn Uchihas, always, think they can do whatever they want, so disrespectful, fucking, disrespectful…"

Orochimaru lifted his head. "_Please_ do not interrupt," he said, not even looking at him.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Master, I'm, sorry…" He lowered his head, but continued to mumble. "Just, the injustice, the, disrespect, how _dare_, they, no better than, Uchihas, do they not even, know…"

"_Riverman_." Orochimaru's tone, even borrowing the child's voice, was an intimidating snap. "Calm yourself."

This seemed to do the trick, sending his companion, the apparent Riverman, into inaudible consonants to himself with a further-lowered head.

"So, Sasuke?" Orochimaru returned to smiling, folding his hands on the table's surface.

"I'm sorry," Naruto said, keeping his voice low and his face fixed, "even if I wanted to, Sasuke's not talking to _anyone_ right now, y'know. Not even his family. So, again, no."

This seemed to set the Riverman off again. "Uchiha, Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke, that was the Uchiha wasn't, it, that was, him, the curse sealed guy a _fucking Uchiha,_ isn't he fucking haughty, sons of, bitches they're still, _at_ it aren't, they…!"

Orochimaru finally turned to him, while he was still speaking, and reached a hand up into the fur of his collar. "_Behave_, special one."

"Uchihas… special, I'm, special, yes, you told me, I'm… I'm sorry, Master, I won't, again, I, special…"

Orochimaru's smile, as he returned to Naruto, was a pleased one. "Well, if you can't manage my dear _Sasuke-kun_, then why not Karin? She's _here_, isn't she? I mean, I do believe I _saw_ her… unless I'm just hallucinating again…"

Naruto didn't reply, watching as Orochimaru's borrowed face grew somewhat troubled.

"Oh, come on, you have to tell me if I'm _crazy_ or not, dear," he finally said. "Is she really here?"

"Why do you want to see her?" Naruto said.

"So she _is_ here," Orochimaru said. "Well, I just wanted to _ask_ her some things… just like I want to ask _Sasuke…_ though I have _more _in mind with him…"

"And the false snake, master, him, the false, the one who impersonated, you…" came a soft, raspy chorus from behind him.

"Oh yes, that _too_," Orochimaru said, leaning forward against the table. "Apparently, my _friend_ here came across a young man that resembled me _quite _uncannily. A false snake, as it were. And I'm inclined to believe he's telling the _truth_. Do you know anything about what he's… _referring_ to?"

Naruto's silence was more to do with his confusion than his resistance.

"…no, really, what is he talking about?" Orochimaru continued, waving his hand by his face. "I'm not being _sarcastic_, you know, I'm genuinely _curious_ about this boy."

"I… have no idea what you're talking about," Naruto said.

"Liar, liar, he's, lying, he's lying, Master he's LYING." The man behind the chair lunged forward, bracing his hands against the table, leaning over the boy. "HE'S HERE HE CAN TELL HE KNOWS HE KNOWS HE KNOWS-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hey, calm down, I'm just _confused_, y'know!" Naruto, despite himself, took a step back, raising his hands. "I don't know what the heck a 'false snake' is, so there's nothing I can tell you! Honest."

(Though he had an idea.)

(But the unsettling, constantly-shifting, constantly hostile emotions coming out of that man were enough to stay his words.)

"If I did know, though, what would you want to do…?" he added.

"Make him, pay," the man said, his head lowering, almost covering the boy's head. "Make, him suffer."

But Orochimaru poked his head out below him, and nestled his nose and mouth into the curve of his shoulder. "Calm _down_, special one. Calm down, now. I don't mean to do anything _that_ extreme. I just want to see who the fellow _is_, you understand. I'm truly very curious about him."

Naruto took a few, even breaths, waiting for the hot, blue-colored anger to die down from the room.

(Though nothing could be felt from Orochimaru, except for black, slimy contentment, wound around a thin, almost invisible fear.)

"I don't want either of you causing trouble, and I don't want you hurting anyone. And you're staying down here until further notice, y'know."

"Why do you think I would _want_ to hurt people?" Orochimaru replied. "I just woke _up_. I'm trying to _enjoy_ myself. Get myself re-acclimated. That sort of thing." He tilted his head with the laugh that punctuated his sentence. "_Nobody_ wants to do work on their _vacations_."

Naruto pursed his lips. "You taking this kid's body doesn't exactly help you, y'know. He has a family and people that are very concerned about him, and they wouldn't want to see him used like this."

Orochimaru laughed for a long time, after that, an airy, almost delicious thing. "_Concerned? _This boy's _'family' _can't _stand_ him. They think he's a _monster!_ I'm honestly doing him a _favor_. Making use of a life and a body that would have otherwise been _wasted_."

"And how do you know… that?"

"Well, I _saw_ how they treated the poor child. And other things, like how he was treated at Sasuke-kun's house… Oh, which _reminds_ me… if this boy isn't his son, is this dear Itachi's _reincarnation?_ I never thought I'd even consider such things, but this boy is _so _remarkable, and from what I've _heard _and _seen _in him_… _Well, I can't think of _anything_ else…"

"I don't think… I have an answer for that, y'know," Naruto replied. He put his hands in his pockets. "I'm gonna go talk to some other people. You two stay here."

"Will you come back?" Orochimaru said.

"Probably."

"Then don't take long, dearie-dear." He waved sleepily at Naruto as he backed out through the door, the ANBU opening and closing it for him.

He had to find a quiet, isolated place after that to fight off his shivers, before going to Sakura.

Sakura was called to his office with a brief explanation of things from an ANBU. He didn't want to waste time, either in having to get her himself or in having to explain what had happened. She'd know it was important, if she had to be summoned.

She arrived in his office with sweat shining on her forehead. "Naruto, what happened to Yakata-kun? What's wrong?"

Naruto was standing by the window, his arms getting stiff from being folded into each other too long and too tightly. "Orochimaru got to him," he replied.

"_What?!_"

"I don't know, okay? Apparently he's still alive or he came back or something, and he's… taken over Yakata-kun's body." His arms wrapped into each other even more tightly. "And he's back in Konoha because he wants to talk to Sasuke and Karin-san, y'know."

"But, that's…" Sakura's hurried breathing roughened with agitation. "That's impossible, he can't have found-"

"I know, I know, I know, though from the sounds of things, he didn't actually target Yakata-kun or anything, he just chose him as his… vessel or whatever 'cos he looked like an Uchiha, y'know. He, uh… doesn't know where Yakata-kun actually _came_ from…" Naruto added, quietly, drawing closer to Sakura. "Ain't much of a comfort, is it."

Sakura was staring at her hands, her eyes nearly closed. "You have him detained?"

"Yeah, he's in a cell with his buddy, some weird guy that's giving me _seriously_ bad vibes. But I got ANBU in there, they're keepin' an eye on them."

This did nothing to soften Sakura's face. "Have you told anyone he's back?"

"Who, Orochimaru?"

"Or… Yakata-kun, since it's his…" She exhaled with a groan. "I know Ino would be worried about him, though Sasuke…"

"Let's not tell Sasuke for now," Naruto said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "He's not in a good state of mind right now. I doubt he'd even let us in his house, at this point…" he added, trying to smirk about it. "But if you want to tell Ino-san, you can. I think it's fair to let her know, anyways."

"…and what about Karin?" Sakura said. "This… concerns her in a lot of ways, so…"

"…if you wanna tell her, again, it's up to you. You're closer to her than I am, y'know, an' you're a better judge of how she's doing."

Sakura lowered her face again, grimacing. "I can't believe this is happening…"

"I know, I know, it's nuts, but we'll get through it, all right?" Naruto said. "We at least gotta keep things stable 'til the other Kages go home. This is our business. I mean, especially since Orochimaru seems… well, sorta agreeable for now. I'm more worried about the guy with him, t'be honest."

"You mentioned him before. Who is he, exactly?" Sakura's voice brightened with the shift in subject.

"No idea. Orochimaru's calling him 'Riverman,' or something. They seem to have some sorta… master-servant thing going on, I dunno," Naruto said. He went to his desk, where a folder of notes and instant photographs rested. "Whoever he is, though, this Riverman guy is _seriously _unstable, has mood swings all the time, talks weird, and he's got a _lot _of anger inside of him that's bothering me."

Sakura joined him at the desk, her fingers sliding the notes aside to look at the photographs. "That's… weird, he looks almost… familiar," she said.

"Really?"

"Yeah, but I can't… place where I've seen him before." She picked up one of the photographs, bringing it close to her face, studying the thin, stretched features of the man. "Maybe he's a Sound ninja?" She began skimming the notes.

"I dunno, it's a possibility. I mean, one of 'em found Ooda-kun, so I guess they're still kickin' around up there," Naruto said.

Sakura, however, barely heard him, reading over a line of the notes a second, a third time, tracing it with her finger. "He mentioned a 'false snake'?"

"Huh, what? Oh, yeah, he seemed pretty fixated on that, y'know," Naruto replied. "Why'd you pick that out?"

"It's just… I heard Ooda-kun mention that the man that hurt him—that Sound ninja—kept calling him that, when we were healing him the other week. False Snake. You don't think that they're the same person, do you?" she said.

"It's a possibility?" Naruto said. "Or maybe they're like those clone-things in the war? Shape-shifters an' stuff."

"I hope not," Sakura said, lowly, her free fist tightening from the echoes of memories. "At any rate, I could always show Ooda-kun the photographs, see if there's any similarity."

"Good idea. Um," Naruto continued, fidgeting a little, "so you're going to Karin-san and Ino-san to tell them what happened to Yakata-kun?"

"Karin, yes, definitely. But Ino… I think it's best if you just send someone to tell her that Yakata-kun got into some trouble and he's… safe here, at least. The Orochimaru bit might be a bit too much; we have to keep up hope, anyhow…"

"Yeah. It'll be okay. I'll keep the country going, keep the Kages happy, and you take care of the people that need takin' care of, y'know," Naruto said, clapping her on the back. "I'll be back in the evening, but you know how to get to me in case something happens with Karin-san, okay?"

"Okay." Sakura took the folder and tapped it against the desk to neaten it. "I'll keep in touch."

Naruto returned to the day with a note to the Taki family apologizing for the postponed meeting, and another meeting with the Kages before dinner, as scheduled, as if nothing were going wrong.

Sakura's venture into her duties was far less easy.


	113. Missed Connection

_Chapter 113 - Missed Connection_

* * *

The walk from Naruto's office to Karin's room on the first floor of the hospital was a far more painful and far longer-seeming one than when Sakura had had to summon Karin only a few weeks before, and with almost identical news.

How could she tell her this? The option of simply _not _telling her seemed grossly unfair. It would be like keeping the news of a son's death in a war from his mother.

(Though Yakata wasn't her son, Sakura had to remind herself.)

(Though Karin cared as much as a mother, she didn't have to be reminded. Sakura knew this.)

The sheer impossibility of the current situation kept the words stirring around in Sakura's head, unable to settle or clump together into sentences. She entered Karin's room feeling tongue-tied and foolish, her joints hard and tight, like knots.

"Oh, hello, Sakura." Karin's voice was smooth, from where she was writing at her table. "What brings you in?"

Sakura grimaced, trying not to let any fussy noises escape. Her darting eyes saw a huddled mass of blankets—Ooda—reclining on a cot, placed by the window, where the sunlight could easily be felt.

Karin, of course, noticed her discomfort, after that. "Sakura, what's wrong, did something happen?"

Sakura nodded, reluctantly. "Karin, I have some… bad news."

Karin's pen began to droop, where she held it. "What sort of bad news?"

A flurry of openings scattered themselves across Sakura's consciousness. Resisting every urge to not begin with _"You're not going to believe this, but,"_ she said, "Orochimaru's returned."

Karin's eyes flicked to the cot in the pause between her answer. "Returned how? I thought he was sealed away."

"I don't know. And he hasn't told us. But that's not… the worst part." Sakura lowered her head, her chin almost touching her chest.

Karin's chair creaked as she sat up, listening, alert. "Sakura, what _is _it? I can handle it, tell me."

"…he found Yakata-kun, and he's using him as his vessel." Sakura kept her head down.

Karin took a long time to respond.

"Karin…" Sakura attempted.

Then: "No." Karin's voice was very soft. "No, not _Yakata_…"

"It's… been confirmed. He didn't… actually single Yakata-kun out, he doesn't know who he is or where he came from, but…" Sakura's voice broke. "Karin, I'm so _sorry_…"

"No, no, don't be sorry, what's important is that he's… that he's back, and that we have to figure out how he got out and what he's planning on doing, okay?" Karin was speaking too quickly; her pen rattled slightly from the movement of her trembling hand, still clutching it.

Attempts at comfort and pity smeared themselves across Sakura's mind, and into nothingness. "Right, that's definitely the most pressing issue…" she said. "Do you have any idea… how he could have gotten out, what methods he could have used?"

"In terms of breaking the seal placed on him, I have… _no_ idea." Karin leaned forward, propping her forehead up against her hands, thinking. "Only possibility I can think of is if Sasuke himself broke the seal, and I can't… _imagine _him doing that."

"Mm…" Sakura joined her at the table, partially to avoid the awkwardness of her continued standing, and partially on account of her weakened knees. She put the folder on the table between them. "And I don't think any part of him survived through Kabuto… I mean, especially considering what he said, stuff about 'waking up,' and his mental state…"

"Are those… transcripts?" Karin said.

"Notes and photographs, yeah."

Karin opened the folder and began to read, the middle finger of her right hand tracking words with her fingers.

(Sakura had kept the photographs to the back.)

(But Karin still got to them.)

Sakura wanted to speak, to say something that would wrench Karin's attention away from the pictures of that boy in the chair, eyes dyed yellow and mouth curled into a needle-thin smile. But no words came.

All she could do was watch as Karin flipped through them, the anguish barely contained in her tightening features.

"That man he's with, who is he?" Karin finally said. Her voice sounded squeezed.

"Orochimaru's been calling him 'Riverman,' apparently," Sakura replied.

"Like the folk tale?"

"I… don't know?" Sakura said. "I don't know who he is, but he seems sorta… familiar, almost. Do _you _recognize him?"

Karin adjusted her glasses with one hand as she brought the photograph closer, squinting. "There's… _something _in his face that seems familiar… but otherwise I can't say that I do."

"Ah… Well, we're thinking he's maybe a former Sound ninja, from some of the things he's said."

"Sound ninja? Not an active one, I wouldn't think. What sorts of things was he saying?"

"Calling…" Sakura's mouth twisted with the sour words. "…Orochimaru his 'Master' and being utterly obedient to him. It's in the report."

"Hm." Karin put the photograph down with the others in the folder. "Well, it's _possible_ that he's an ex-follower, okay. There are plenty of _those_ drifting around, still devoted… Orochimaru had _quite _a cult of personality, after all. Sort of had a way of… getting people around his finger."

"Mm." A small silence followed. "Um, well, also, you saw in the reports that he's asking about a… 'False Snake'?"

Karin halfheartedly spread the papers out, away from the folder, in an imitation of searching. "Mhm?"

"And I just… remember Ooda-kun mentioning that, when we were healing him. And I think that Orochimaru's asking about him, too. Do you think… that man that Orochimaru's with is the same one that hurt Ooda-kun?"

"…I don't know, but I hope not." Karin ended the sentence with a hard note in her voice, like a nail.

"Well, we could… always ask him, show him the photographs…"

"I don't want to wake him. Not for this," Karin replied, immediately. "He's been through too much, okay."

"…I understand," Sakura said, feeling almost shrunken afterwards. "Still… if this False Snake they're talking about is Ooda-kun… well, they said they want to talk to him-"

"Not on your _life_." Karin didn't even let Sakura finish her sentence. "I would never, ever let that happen."

"…Karin, we weren't going to. Especially with the threats against him," Sakura replied, gently. "Naruto and I are going to do everything we can to make sure Ooda-kun remains safe. All right?"

Karin's glare remained hard and narrow. "If you say so," she said. "At any rate, this is barely enough information to go by. I can't draw any conclusions about who this Riverman is or even Orochimaru's general state."

"Well, they did show up only an hour or two ago…" Sakura said.

Karin spread the papers across the table a little more widely, eyes zipping left and right as she read. "And so far Orochimaru hasn't given you any idea about how he came back?"

"No."

And Karin took a deep breath in, then out. "Well, if you let me in to see him, I could assess his chakra. That might tell me _something_; how long he's been back, how long he's been in… Yakata's body, if the integration is reversible, even…"

Sakura sat up slightly. "Well, that's—reversible? You mean you can do something about this?"

"_I _can't, okay," Karin said, lowly, sharply. "But if Orochimaru's chakra hasn't completely overrun Yakata's system then there's a chance that Yakata might be able to fight the influence and get his body back."

The stuttering, shifting-eye memory of the boy did not fill Sakura with any comfort. "And if it's… not, could you at least give us an idea about Orochimaru?"

Karin sighed again, heavily.

(Feeling no comfort from her careful, relayed memories of the boy as well.)

"Yes. I can. And maybe that man he's with, too, if I recognize his chakra signature or his personality tics, okay."

"All right," Sakura said. "When you're ready, you can come to my office and we'll go to his cell."

"No," Karin said. "We're going now."

She closed the door very quietly behind her, when they left the room, after bending down over Ooda's sleeping body and resting her forehead against his cheek in a sort of kiss.

(Had he stirred even once, she would have moved the conversation to another room.)

(He did not deserve to get tangled up further in his "father's" crimes.)

The only time Karin hesitated was in seeing the boy draped over the lap of his companion, one bare, brown blood-smeared foot propped up on the table. His eyes were half-open, ever-yellow, and he was smiling sleepily, watching the foot on the table sway to and fro. His companion was docile; his head drooped low into the matted folds of his collar, utterly still.

(_This is not your child he is not your child you just made him that doesn't make him yours._)

"Karin, are you okay? Do you need to wait?" Sakura, beside her, put a hand on her shoulder.

Karin breathed in, and out. "No," she replied. "Let's go."

Orochimaru perked up almost immediately upon the opening of the door, and even clapped his hands a little once he saw who it was. "Oh! Oh! Sakura-chan, is it? And you brought _Karin!_ Karin, my _dear_ Karin, my _favorite_ child, how _are_ you?"

Karin remained at the door, standing, with Sakura. "Is that you, Orochimaru?"

"Indeed it is. Don't you recognize me?" He tilted his head in an unfitting expression of sweetness.

"Yes, I do," Karin replied, tonelessly. "What do you want from these people, Orochimaru?"

"Oh, darling, that tone does _not _suit you at _all_," Orochimaru said, frowning. "Don't you remember anything I _taught_ you? A lady angered must remain _passionate _in her words, or she'll only be taken _lightly_."

Karin didn't say anything. But she reached for Sakura's hand, and held it tightly. Sakura held it back.

"As for whatI _want_… well, one of the things I wanted was to know how _you_ were doing, dear. And seeing you, now…" He shook his head, almost sorrowfully. "Child, what _happened _to you and that _beautiful_ body of yours?"

"I grew up. That's all," Karin replied. "I don't feel like playing catch-up, okay, so why don't you tell me what, _exactly_, you're doing here in Konoha?"

Orochimaru rolled his eyes. "Well, all right, I suppose, since you haven't seen _me_ for almost as long… I've got some unfinished _business_ to attend to, you see."

"What _sort_ of unfinished business?"

"Well, catching up with certain individuals, getting back to postponed projects…" He waved his finger in the air, as though pointing to thoughts floating about in the cell. "Though, first, I think I deserve to repay this child for lending me his body. That's the _main_ reason I'm here, dear Karin."

"Repay him _how?_"

"Well… hm, I suppose you wouldn't know this, Karin, dear, but this child was a ward of _Sasuke's._ And I know you remember him. _Sasuke,_ you know?"

There was a low, chest-rumble from the Riverman.

"Yes," Karin replied, "I remember Sasuke."

"Well, Karin, you would not _believe_ the mistreatment this child experienced there. Trained until he had scars and _bruises_, poor thing, and I'm not even _mentioning_ the _awful_ environment of that home—ruled with fear and an iron _fist!_ And _then_, outbreaks told he was the reincarnation of a _killer?_ If the poor dear weren't so timid, there'd be no _way _he'd have ever had _any _sort of fitting retribution. It would have been downright _unjust!_"

Karin's hand squeezed Sakura's to the point of trembling.

But her voice remained firm, her face neutrally fixed with anger. "And how, exactly, do you know these things?"

Orochimaru tapped his temple with an index finger. "I've been going through the child's memories recently; there's not much _else _to do. Things were sort of jumbled up, at first, but I'm _starting_ to get a better idea of the poor dear's background, since I'm settling in. It's enough to make you want to _cry_."

"Then you should know that he probably has a family that would be horrified to see what you're doing to him, Orochimaru," Karin replied. "People that care about him."

"You know," Orochimaru said, "that's what _Naruto-kun_ told me. Funny." He paused on the thought for a moment, looking at the floor. "I'll just tell you what I told _him,_ then._" _ His eyes locked with hers. "_Nobody_ cares about this child, and he _knows _it. Except for a sociopathic teenaged girl—who doesn't really _count_, I don't think—the poor child's probably never even felt real _love _from_ anyone. _And you _know_ I empathize with that, so I'm fixing things a little for him, sort of as _penance_ for his little sacrifice. Making the world a little more _right._"

Karin's jaw was quivering as she struggled to keep her mouth shut, to concentrate instead of succumbing to her emotions.

(_He isn't yours he isn't yours and he was loved he was loved as much as you would have loved him Suigetsu told you so-)_

"Honestly, finding out he was tied to _Itachi_ only made me _firmer_ in my resolution. Tell me, Karin, do you have any idea who _made_ this child? Since I'm _sincerely_ hoping he's more than a flimsy reincarnation or whatever. I'd _love _to have my _own_ Sharingan, for once…" His mouth curled with pleasure.

_(Wait what happened to Suigetsu no don't ask don't ASK-_)

"What did you do to Suigetsu?" Karin blurted.

Orochimaru blinked. "Suigetsu? The Hozuki? Why do you ask? This is a bit of a swerve in questioning, Karin, dear…"

Karin could feel her face growing hot. She twisted her mouth into a displeased curve. "Sakura… told me that Suigetsu was acting as the boy's guardian. I'm guessing he wasn't doing a good job? I mean, if this child's been so unhappy, as you say."

"Ahh, I see, I see," Orochimaru replied, nodding, knowingly. "Well, I had him killed. He was _rather _getting in the way. Why, were you two still acquainted?"

"Somewhat, okay," Karin said, spinning the anxiety in her voice into sarcasm. "Who else are you, uh…" She swallowed to mask a wince. "Planning on taking _care_ of?"

"What, for the boy's sake? Well… I at _least _want to speak to Sasuke… and certain members of his family, definitely… and that false snake fellow, _definitely_ him."

The body-throne of his companion began to stir. "Loathsome wretch… Dared to come, by earlier…"

Orochimaru looked up, placing a hand on the man's lowered head. "Riverman, my sweet, I told you to remain _still _and _silent_."

"That, rotten… still, silent… still, still, and… silent…" His voice disappeared with his movements.

"Riverman, huh?" Karin let go of Sakura's hand so she could cross her arms over her chest, half-armor, half-placebo. "I don't think I know this new… friend of yours, Orochimaru. Who is he?"

"You don't know, me, you, impudent WOMAN how could, you, not KNOW?"

The Riverman's face snapped up to face her, and both of his eyes, wild and wide, were the color of burnt-pink flesh. His mouth was bent in a wolf-like snarl, as he shouted, "YOU SHOULD KNOW ME, YOU SHOULD, KNOW ME! I'M NOT INSIGNIFICANT BECAUSE I'M, SECOND."

But as soon as his roar had subsided, almost artificial-seeming insecurity seeped into his face, and the very features seemed to shift, pale angles catching the light where there were not angles before. "Don't, you, you should know, remember, me, you, should…" His head turned this way and that, as if searching for walls closing in that did not exist. "Why don't, you…"

A second scream, but this time, his eyes were black.

"WHY DON'T, YOU REMEMBER ME!"

Orochimaru finally reached up, rising out of the chair slightly to cradle the side of his head into the man's shoulder. "Darling, sweet, _special_ one, calm down, calm _down…_" The high cadence of the young boy's voice twisted and spiraled with his comfort. He turned to Karin with an apologetic expression. "You'll have to forgive him; he's got _such_ a temper…"

"But she, she should remember, me, she should…" the Riverman murmured, his frame sinking deeper into the chair at each of Orochimaru's light touches to his face, his neck.

Karin, her feet rooted to the ground for her survival, just swallowed and tried to process the chaotic swirl of chakras that had surged inside and around the man during his outburst, and the visible shifts in facial structure, in eye color that accompanied them.

This was not normal.

"That's fine," Karin said, "but I still want my question answered. Who _is_ he?"

And Orochimaru, sidling back into the comfort of the Riverman's lap, put his finger on his chin. "Not that it matters, but I'm actually not terribly _sure_ any more."

This did nothing to help keep the Riverman calm.

"...but, but, Master you know who, I, am you KNOW, who I am you, recognized, me you made me, come on don't you."

The Riverman was hunched over, face as close to Orochimaru's face as he could make it, bracing himself.

"Remember, your own sensei's master don't you remember YOUR OWN HOKAGE."

The hand bracing himself now making dents in the aluminum, and horrible squeals where his nails hit metal.

"Master please tell me you remember, me, please you said you, had, promise don't you, remember…"

Orochimaru blinked, eyes flitting to the long dents on the table in front of them.

"…of course I remember you, sweetheart. There's no way I could have _ever_ forgotten, not after all you've _done_ for me."

And Orochimaru leaned in and kissed him, gently, on the cheek. "Now be a good boy and calm down for me, now. You're not useful to me angry."

"Not, useful, not useful, not, oh, I'm… sorry, Master, I'm sorry…"

"There, there, it's all right, no harm done…" Orochimaru cooed. "Well, Karin, are you satisfied? My dear friend is a bit of an _enigma_, and that's all we _have_. For all intents and purposes, he is my _Riverman_, and that's all that matters, _I_ think."

Karin, carrying the memory of his chakra signatures with her, said, "Fine. So, then, I suppose that brings us back to Sasuke and his family."

"If you want," Orochimaru replied, casually.

"What did you want to talk to them about? More catching-up, like with me?"

"Perhaps a little, but only that," Orochimaru said. "The ultimate goal, however…"

And he grinned widely, but there was no smile in his stolen eyes. Only madness.

"…is punishment. And I won't rest until I find out who in the world my _lovely_ little doppelganger is, either. I'm a… man on a mission, you see." He giggled, his laughter squeaking with youth. "It's very exciting to have goals again, after nothing but dreams…"

Karin turned to face Sakura. "I think I'm done here."

"All right." Sakura motioned behind her, and the ANBU behind the door opened it.

"Aww, are you leaving me?" Orochimaru curled in nearer to himself, pouting.

Karin did not reply, beginning for the door.

"Oh, whatever. It's been a _joy_ talking to you, Karin. I missed you _so_. It's been _far_ too long."

Sakura put her hand on Karin's shoulder again.

"It's such a shame you're not as sweet a girl as you used to be. Nor as pretty. The Karin _I_ knew would have dropped everything to _help_ me. What _changed_, dear?"

Karin let them shut the door behind her, and she walked away from the room with purpose, not even daring to look back at the double-sided glass.

"Sakura," she said, once she was far enough away, "we need to get Sasuke and his family under protection _now_. I don't care how good the cells are here, okay, I have a feeling it won't be enough."

"You don't need to tell me," Sakura said. "Do you need a more secure room at the hospital for you and-?"

"What, do you have jail cells in _your_ basement?" Karin said. "My room is fine; the hospital is secure enough for me, okay."

"All right, all right," Sakura said. "Let's get you back, then, I don't want anything to happen."

"No, hold on."

"What?"

"Orochimaru's chakra? I was tracking it the entire time, don't you want to know?"

"Oh, yes! Yes, here." Sakura got out her notepad from her pocket. "I'll relay this to Naruto. What's the situation?"

Karin sucked in her lips before answering. "His chakra is weak, and there's not much of it, so he was either injured not long ago or was forced into… regenerating himself. Which means he probably came back very recently; I think we'd have known if he'd been in any battles."

"Well that's… comforting, a little?" Sakura said, jotting down the notes. "That he hasn't been around long enough to do much… _major_ damage."

"A little," Karin replied. "And as for… Yakata…" She closed her eyes as she breathed in, thinking. "…I don't know, okay. I felt… _something _apart from Orochimaru's chakra inside of him, but it was so hard to notice…"

"Does that mean there's hope?" Sakura's pen paused. "That Yakata-kun might break free?"

"…I don't know," Karin said again.

Sakura lowered her head in a half-nod. "All right. Let's move onto the… Riverman guy. Any idea?"

And Karin paused, closing her eyes as she thought, concentrating, dragging up the conflicting sharpnesses of his chakra.

"There was… something in him that I recognized. But it was hard to keep track of; it felt like he had two separate chakra systems, at times."

"_Two_ chakra systems?"

"I don't know how else to describe it," Karin replied, raising her hands with a shrug. "They always seemed to happen whenever his appearance shifted, though, okay. You noticed that, at least, didn't you?"

"Of course I did," Sakura said. "Does this mean he's some sort of experiment, then? A modified human?"

"Possibly," Karin said, "but none _I'd_ ever heard of. And trust me, I know about _all_ of Orochimaru's experiments. This isn't like anything he'd even _thought_ of. If he were an artificial construct, like a Zetsu clone, then he'd still have one uniform chakra signature. And if he were using immortality jutsu like Orochimaru is, then one of the signatures would definitely be dominant, okay, and we wouldn't be getting these physical changes…"

"So that tells us… nothing," Sakura said.

Karin was looking down, thinking further. "No, there's… one thing that caught me."

"And that is?"

"When he got angry about me not recognizing him, he mentioned… something about a Hokage?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

Karin adjusted her glasses. "Well, it's nothing I've observed before, but I'm wondering if maybe he's… an Edo Tensei summon."

"Edo Tensei? No, surely not," Sakura said. "Those all got sent away after the war."

"I'm thinking this one's from _before_ the war," Karin sad. "Set aside, or… one that Orochimaru lost control of, in trying to perfect the technique."

"As… interesting as that would be," Sakura said, uncomfortably, "why do you think that's a possibility? He doesn't _look_ like an Edo Tensei summon, he doesn't have those black sclera or anything, or cracked skin…"

"Well, the Edo Tensei is a largely under-researched technique. Understandably, okay," Karin added, glancing sideways. "The longest they've ever been used, from what I understand, is only a few days. And I'm wondering if, left alone for long enough—a couple of years, for example—the soul from the host body, used to bond the summoned soul to the earth, would start to… leak through, or merge with the summoned identity, and start to _change_ them."

"So… two souls in one body, you mean?"

"An indestructible body," Karin replied, lowly. "And from the looks of this Riverman guy, highly unstable, at that. Imagine your brain trying to process two entirely separate egos and ways of thinking at the same time, and your body shifting to try and accommodate, as a side-effect of the Edo Tensei."

Sakura just grimaced, in thinking about it.

"It's only a theory, but… from the amount of chakra he has, the nature of the chakra, his appearance… I can't think of anything else that Orochimaru is capable of," Karin said. "Besides, if he were a follower-turned-test subject, that would explain the extreme… devotion, okay." She swallowed the unpleasant words after she spoke them.

Sakura considered her options for a while, after this.

"So you really can't think of anything else he could be, can you…?" she said.

"If I could, I'd have told you by now," Karin replied. "Believe me, this is the _last_ thing I want him to be. I know how much trouble those things are."

Sakura turned to her notepad, jotting down a few things, her mouth fixed. "I'll… go to Naruto, then. See what he and Andou-kun can dig up about Orochimaru using the jutsu, and what he summoned with it. Is there anything… you can remember from Orochimaru's reports off the top of your head that you think might help? We have copies stored away, and-"

"Everything I know about the Edo Tensei from his notes is severely limited. He mostly wrote about wanting to learn it and then finally learning it, and how he wanted to use it, okay. I'm sorry," Karin said. "He never mentioned who he wanted or managed to summon."

"No need to apologize," Sakura said, without smiling. "I'll take you back to the hospital, then, before I go to Naruto."

"Oh, that's fine, you can go straight there, I'll be okay," Karin said, standing.

But Sakura grabbed her arm. "Karin, I don't want anything happening to either you _or_ your children. Let me escort you. Please."

She managed a smile, at that, and Karin gave in.

(When Karin got to her room, and once Sakura was gone, she went in search of Shingetsu and hugged him as tightly as she could, trying not to cry.)

("Mommy, what's wrong? Why you so upset?")

(After all this misfortune and pain, what she wanted most was for Suigetsu to be there.)

(But he was gone, much as her mind wanted to deny it, to believe that nothing had happened to him, that he was okay.)

(She didn't tell their son this, however, just holding him tighter, feeling his lukewarm hands, just like his, clinging to her neck.)

Sakura left shortly afterward to report Karin's findings. Naruto was in the middle of a casual gathering of Kages in one of the lounges, at the time, and she tried to be as discrete as possible.

"Just, whenever you're free, I have some new information, about things, you know, with our… visitor," she said, after Naruto asked her what was up.

"Our visitor…?" His eyebrows twisted. "Ohh, you mean _that_ guy! Yeah, let's take this to my office, y'know."

"_What_ visitor?" Gaara, pouring himself another cup of tea, said.

"Just, uh… a friend of ours that's havin' some trouble, no big deal," Naruto said, with a smile that was just a bit too wide.

"Anything I can help with?" Gaara continued.

"No, no, not at all, it's fine, we can handle it," Naruto said, saving his hands. "I'll be back soon, y'know."

Gaara sipped his tea with suspicion, as he watched them leave.

Naruto closed the door behind him when he entered the office. "Okay, so what did you find out?"

And she told him, about Yakata's slim presence, about the Riverman, and Karin's theories on both.

Of course, Naruto remained optimistic about the former, but the latter brought out a rare, worried crease. "An Edo Tensei summon? Is she sure?"

"She says it's the only thing she could think of that would make a guy that looks and feels like he does," Sakura replied. "So we have to start thinking about ways to get rid of him. And, more importantly, figure out just who he's trying to _be_."

"Well… he mentioned something about a Hokage, right?" Naruto said. Sakura nodded. "Well… I don't think Kabuto summoned _any_ of the former Hokages during the war. Not the first or second, or even my dad, y'know. I dunno why he didn't. Maybe Orochimaru had already summoned them and he didn't have control over 'em?"

"It's a possibility. I mean, Karin said she thinks this guy was summoned _before_ the war, and was left alone long enough to turn… weird."

"Right, right…" Naruto nodded. "I'll have Andou-kun look through skirmish records and see if there's any instance of him using an Edo Tensei-summoned Hokage in a battle. And if nothing turns up… well, hey, we can just assume, right? Not like it matters," Naruto said. "We can just guess."

"Yeah… I mean, if I had to _really_ guess…" Sakura frowned, concentrating, remembering that uneven face. "I'd have to say that he's _maybe_ the Second Hokage? But I can't be sure; the resemblance comes and goes…"

"Right, and that gives us a rough idea of what he's capable of." Naruto nodded a few more times. "I mean, heck, the guy that was with Ooda-kun was a water-user, and he's probably the same guy, right? So that confirms it."

"I suppose," Sakura said uneasily. "Let me know whatever Andou-kun finds, though. And…" She rubbed her forehead out of sheer embarrassment. "And get some guards to protect Sasuke's family. Both Orochimaru and this… Riverman guy have targeted them."

"Absolutely, of course, I won't let any harm come to them," Naruto said, his voice firm. "That'll be the first thing I do, y'know."

Sakura sighed, with only a little relief. "Thank you. I mean, hopefully we'll figure out what to do before we'll need to use the guards, but…"

"It'll keep our stress down," Naruto said, smiling. "Knowing we have one less thing to worry about."

"Right. I'm… keeping the hospital together, at any rate. Making sure Karin's safe. I can manage that."

"You _so_ can," Naruto said. "Well, go on, I'll keep you informed."

"Thank you," Sakura said, and left.

As promised, Naruto sent out the orders for the Uchiha family's protection immediately after Sakura's departure, citing a temporary attack risk as the reason to be given, should any of them ask.

"Oh, no, please, don't tell me that Sasuke's done something…" Ino's voice became quieter and quieter.

"It's not your husband, ma'am," the crow-faced ANBU replied, as allowed by Naruto. "He's under protection too, until the threat passes."

(Though Sasuke chased out his "protection" with an application of chidori and plenty of yelling. They stayed near his house, regardless, keeping watch.)

"What sort of threat?" Inoichi, from behind, said.

"We don't know, sir. But the safety of your family is paramount."

Part of the terms was not allowing any of them to leave the Yamanaka compound. Inoichi temporarily closed his shop, to stay home. Takeru still managed to disappear, and stay unbothered as long as possible.

Sakura, at the hospital, made routine checks with the hospital's security staff whenever she had a moment free, just to reassure herself. She trusted her staff, but she trusted herself more, and vowed to personally defend the hospital and everyone in it—especially Karin, especially her family—if that was what it came to.

Once the orders had all been given and reported as successful, Naruto returned to his waiting friends.

"So, really, is everything all right?" Gaara said, quietly, once he got a moment in.

"Perfectly fine," Naruto said, with a ceramic smile.


	114. Lawful Chaos

_Author's Note_

Dear readers, I will take this opportunity to point out that Riverman made his very first appearance all the way back in Chapter 3. I hope this helps you with the mystery!

Also, thank you for all your support and reviews as of late, even with the story growing this long. I appreciate them like nothing else!

Cheers, and thank you!  
- Rii

* * *

_Chapter 114 - Lawful Chaos_

* * *

Andou's results came in late in the evening. He ran into Naruto's office, cheeks flushed, breathing heavily.

"I found something, I found something _big_," he explained.

Naruto made sure the door was closed, before they continued.

Andou spread the papers on Naruto's desk, so the both of them could look at them. "Before the war, there didn't seem to be any use of Edo Tensei at all," Andou explained. "_However_, I did find something that's _extremely_ relevant."

"What is it?"

"These are records from the Day of Crushed Leaves, thirty years ago," Andou said. "A quadrant of ANBU observed a duel between the Third Hokage and Orochimaru. And here—it says right here—Orochimaru used the Edo Tensei to summon both the First _and_ the Second Hokage, and used them to fight the Third!"

"So he _had _summoned them before…!" Naruto said.

"Yes, but I'm not finished," Andou said. "The Third Hokage dispelled them and also severely crippled Orochimaru using a sealing technique; the name given is… Shiki Fuujin."

Naruto's eyebrows lowered. "The shinigami technique? Huh... And then the Third died from that, right?

"Yes, it took his life," Andou replied. "The two summoned Hokages were then reduced to piles of ash, from the report, since they got sealed away. I assume they were cleaned up when the ANBU went to collect the Third's body…"

"So… whoever that Riverman guy is, then, he can't be the Second Hokage…" Naruto said. "Who the heck _is_ he, then? Looks awfully similar…"

"Maybe another Senju?" Andou said, helpfully.

Naruto shrugged, slightly. "Could be anyone, at this point. Can you go tell Sakura this for me?"

"Of course." Andou collected the papers.

"Thanks, buddy."

Naruto stayed at his desk for a while, however, trying not to let all the information overwhelm him. Trying to stay optimistic.

The news leaped in short hops from Andou to Sakura to Karin, the latter two briefly talking about it together in the hallway outside her room.

"Well… it was a theory," Karin said. "We're no more or less informed than we were before, okay."

"Back where we started," Sakura added, sighing. "At least, if he's an Edo Tensei, regardless of who he is, we can probably find a way to seal him away so he's not causing trouble."

"If we can get him away from Orochimaru," Karin said.

"Right…"

"If anyone could do it, though," Karin added, somewhat quickly, "it'd be Naruto."

"Yeah, definitely…" Sakura said, with a slight, half-felt laugh.

She slept in the on-call room, that night, after calling Lee and explaining that she wanted to stay at the hospital until the threat passed. Lee came by an hour later with a complete dinner for her, and several kisses and kind words.

Takeru returned to the house in the evening, and despite a short lecture from Inoichi, he showed no sign of wanting to stay in the house if he didn't want to.

Night fell, creaking in its darkness, over Konoha.

And in a cell, hundreds of feet below ground, the Riverman dreamed.

* * *

His first memory was of his mother.

Overheard. He never met her. She died giving birth to him. Some people blamed him.

But not his brother.

He was different. Both of them were different.

He had been born with pale skin. Like an outsider. White-old hair. Blood-colored eyes. They had no word for it but "different."

His brother belonged. And his difference was better. He was dark-skinned. Dark-eyed. He made things grow. He was beloved.

Beloved.

His first memory was of his mother. Throwing him out of the house in a drunken argument. An apartment overstuffed with children.

Maybe.

Or maybe she wasn't his mother. Some taken-in woman. Either way. He was out of the stuffy and sticky and crowded place and into the cold and open and empty place. Not freedom. But not worse.

His mother really was that angel-person. Not male but not female. Who told him he was special.

Special.

He wasn't special. He was different. The sun hurt his eyes and he got sick often.

His brother took care of him. He wasn't his mother. His brother. Yes. And he cared for him more than their father did.

Their father died young also. Joined the wife he didn't even talk about. He had never remarried.

Too young. Leaving such young boys alone to fend for themselves.

Not like the world cared. Another orphan on the street meant another pickpocket and another thief and another worthless piece of trash.

But he was special. Mother-Master said so.

She was the most beautiful person he'd ever seen.

Red hair.

No. Black hair. With such flowing robes. A man's body but a woman's tongue. And promises. Such promises.

He would be his mother. She would be his master. He would be there always.

And she belonged to his brother.

His brother was more of a mother to him than anyone else ever was. Who reassured him and comforted him and nursed him whenever he was injured after battles. Because he was always injured. His brother never was. His brother was special. He healed.

Their mother had only been sixteen upon her death. He wrote a law in her honor when the world began to gain form. No marriage and no children before twenty. No boys left alone. No brother-mothers. No miserable childhoods.

Didn't stop some people from throwing children away. No. It didn't.

The world needed more law. More control. His brother's dream of uniting the clans and forming great nations. A stupid dream. An unrealistic dream. Supported because it was a dream of law and of rules and of order and of stability in war.

But the Uchiha clan? Why them first?

Uchiha clan. Arm-breaker clan. Horrible clan.

The fox's clan.

How his brother had broken his back for that man. That worthless man.

There were better people to form allegiances with.

People that valued you.

Nurtured you. Called you special. Made you special.

Even with pain. With air in your arms. Broken arms. Surgery and pain.

Those were worthy masters.

Not equals. They would never be equals.

Why had his brother mourned so for that worthless fox? He was a lost cause. He had caused nothing but misery.

But his clan wanted peace. Wanted order. So did he.

He wanted her.

Beautiful and that red hair and those beautiful hands.

But she was his. So very his. She even mourned the fox like he did. She had no reason to.

For all the law he could create and for all the stability the way his brother got people on his side could not be compared with.

Clans. More and more clans. Joining across borders. Forming nations. Starting wars.

Always wars.

His Master said that there was a war and he wanted him on the front lines. She valued him so much trusted him so much that this most important job this role was his and his alone and two others.

Those two weren't as worthy. They hadn't been modified as much as he had. His Master did not care for them as much as he cared for him. They were just there for the sake of formality. Nothing else mattered.

Three students per team. Standard. Order. He took sick pleasure in seeing how others took his ideas. His influence spread.

He was not alone in his ideas.

His brother wasn't either. He preached of spirituality and peace. Soft and spreadable words.

His words and his ideas were hard and solid. Giving bones to his brother's flesh.

He used to think that he depended on his brother. Now he saw that his brother depended on him. He couldn't get anything done without his support.

Without him wouldn't his dreams have stayed dreams? Unformed and fetal settlements. Soon dissolved by dissent and by a lack of law.

And wouldn't he himself have remained fetal and bawling and drunk and incoherent in the wake of his unsuited duel with that Uchiha? Would he not have remained useless had he not been there to nurse him and support him and heal him?

He didn't depend on anyone. The three-man team was just for show. This was his mission. He was the leader. His Master loved him above all others.

Others were the ones that depended on him. He was strong and reliable and knew what he was doing. He built nations. He survived when others didn't.

Master loved his resilience.

But she didn't love him. She resisted him. She looked at him like he was disgusting. She loved his brother.

Shallow and fickle woman who only seeking power where it was immediately visible.

No wonder the fox lusted for the fox. His brother's match but not his equal. She had no sense.

But she was so beautiful and so intelligent and kind and yet so lacking in sense.

Master was better. Kind and intelligent and so beautiful and she told him he was special. Not different. Special.

She made him special. She valued this. He valued this.

Not in the way that other people valued things. Shallow value. Shallow love lacking in reason and in strength.

For no other reason could such wonderful people have loved such horrible things.

He loved order and he loved peace more than he loved her.

He loved his Master more than anything.

He had reasons for his love. He was loved and made special. He was special.

And it was reciprocated.

He knew this.

Though others lied.

She'd lied about feeling nothing. Of course she felt something. Of course she hadn't seduced his brother and not him because of power.

She'd lied about the Master not feeling anything for them. About them just being pawns and experiments.

What would she know? She was the pawn. She was the useless one. She was the one that was only taking up space.

His last memory of her was of a tree swallowing her up for her lies.

Master had come to them after the preliminaries. After the insects in his arms. After the agony. He said he was not angry. He had another task for them.

Master trusted them. Loved them. Valued them. He had gone to them specifically for the task.

And he had students that valued him. Loved him. Trusted him. To use the half-formed spirituality of his brother he said they carried his will.

They knew who not to trust. Uchihas couldn't be trusted. Ever. No matter what they tried to say to gain your trust.

Uchihas.

Had stolen his brother and his love from him.

Even his Master's love. Somewhat. He'd been charged to track the Uchiha boy. The last one. The arm-breaker.

Even now his Master sought the Uchihas. They mattered so much.

But he knew whom he could trust.

He knew what his Master's goals were. His goals were with the water-bodied man. The man he had stretched and shattered into oblivion.

He knew whom he could trust. He knew who shared his ideas. His Master knew his mind.

They were going to find the Uchihas. They were going to find where they lived and root them out and kill them.

This was what his Master wanted.

But his Master slumbered in his arms. They had to wait.

He accepted this uneasily. He knew what happened when people waited.

Brothers died. Loves lost. Laws lost. Hearts swayed and fooled and stolen.

Especially with Uchihas.

The silence of the place gnawed at him.

If he waited then the Uchihas would just continue to poison people. Ruin more lives.

He had a duty.

He roused his Master.

"Mm, what is it…?" The boy-body was loose and safe in his arms.

"We have to go, Master. Get, out, of here, now. We have to, go."

"What, already…?"

"The Uchihas, they, can't get away, they can't, we have to, go _now_, Master, we have to."

He held the tiny body gently and felt those little and new and still-loving hands move over his body.

"Now, dear?"

"Yes, now, we, we have to, we can't, stay, here we can't, or, or something might, happen, Master…"

He felt legs straddling his arms and moving to his back.

"Onward, then. I was beginning to get bored of this place, anyways."

With his Master on his back he rose and summoned waters from his mouth and wind from his hands. For the door. For the ones in masks that kept them unrightfully prisoner.

He had written the laws. He did not deserve this treatment. His Master didn't. Uncouth. Horrible.

They would pay.

And the Uchihas would die.


	115. Fortunate Accident

_Chapter 115 - Fortunate Accident_

* * *

The news of Orochimaru and the Riverman's breakout reached Naruto and Sakura at about the same time, though through different means.

It reached Naruto through chuunin in the usual way.

It reached Sakura through his victims, civilian and ninja alike, assaulted with wind and water and pale hands.

Sakura, however, was able to deal with her problems more simply and immediately. There were hurt people, and that was all she needed to know. She positioned herself at the front lines of the emergency room, healing deeper wounds and letting the interns and residents handle the rest.

Naruto, however, had a table of very important guests with him, and panicked chuunin that felt the issue at hand was more important than discretion.

"Sir! There's been an attack in the north-eastern district!"

Rotsuki had been caught mid-sentence, in his discussion on school reform, and he blinked a few times at the interruption. "Excuse me?"

Naruto stood. "An attack? What sort of attack?"

"A terrorist attack?" Gaara was quick to ask.

The pair of chuunin, flushed with haste, glanced amongst themselves, breathing heavily. "The, uh. The two prisoners, sir, from underground. They've escaped and are—they're attacking civilians, sir," one of them said.

"A prison break…?" Gaara said. "And only two? Who are these people?"

Naruto, however, had his eyes closed tightly in frustration and thought. "Gaara, please." He opened his eyes. "They're attacking civilians? How many have been hurt?"

"Well… it's mostly the larger one; the child's kept to his back. And there have been forty to fifty injuries so far, sir, counting the ANBU that were on guard duty. But no casualties," the other chuunin said, having caught her breath. "Chuunin and jounin have secured the attacked areas and are transporting the victims to the hospital…"

"…but we have no idea where the two of them are, presently, and we need to know what to do, sir," her partner continued.

"Naruto," Gaara said, remaining seated, but leaning forward concernedly, "who are these prisoners?"

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Kohriza added. Her plastic bracelets clacked together as she folded her hands on the table.

And Naruto took a deep breath, closing his eyes again.

"This is the Riverman we're talking about?" he asked the chuunin. "And Orochimaru?"

"Orochimaru?" Gaara said loudly. "Naruto, what-"

"Yes, sir, the two of them," one of the chuunin said.

"Right, okay," Naruto said. "Well, okay, so here's the situation." He turned to face the rest of the Kages, who were wearing varied expressions of shock. "Earlier the other day, one of Orochimaru's followers… infiltrated our city, along with Orochimaru himself. He found a means of resurrecting himself an' he's taken the body of a kid as his hostage, y'know."

"Wait, wait, hold on, you mean he's _back?_" Kohriza said.

"S'far as we know, yes," Naruto said. "We dunno how, but it's definitely him. Anyways, we captured 'em and had 'em detained, but obviously that's…. not worked out, y'know…"

"And _why_ didn't you tell us this was going on when the infiltration was first _discovered?_" Mei had crossed her arms.

"Because this is Konoha business, Mei-san, and they hadn't attacked anyone up until now, y'know," Naruto replied. Mei just continued to frown.

"Well, there's no reason why we can't help," Gaara said. He shifted his eyes. "I imagine that these two—Orochimaru and whoever he's with—are proving a handful for even jounin?"

"Oh! Um, yes, they took out an entire squadron of ANBU, Kazekage-sama," one of the chuunin said, jumping slightly from the sudden address.

"Then we could dispatch some jinchuuriki to take care of them, re-capture them."

"Absolutely not," Mei said. "I absolutely will not allow the use of _my _jinchuuriki."

"…Mei-san, I would never subject Kurunari-kun to anything like that," Naruto said, somewhat softly. "If anything, he can supplement a guard for Yuu-kun; he's too young to fight."

"As he should," Mei said.

"I'm still dispatching Morizuru and Kankuro," Gaara said, raising his voice. "And I'll go out myself, if that's what it takes."

"Gaara…" Naruto said.

"Naruto," Gaara replied, "this is a serious threat, and it'd be absolutely heartless of me to not offer my best help, so that this ends without any more bloodshed. Jinchuuriki can handle something of this level easily. _I_ can handle it."

Naruto's face folded into itself with anxiety.

"Hey, the same goes for me!" Kohriza piped in. "Kakeru-kun and Kemuri-san would volunteer in an instant to help, I _know_ it."

"And I'm certain that, no matter what I said, if Bee and Sachiko got word of this, they'd be jumping in whether I ordered them to or _not_," Rotsuki added. "So I might as well."

Mei stayed silent, firm in her resolution.

"…guys, I really don't want to see any of you hurt, y'know," Naruto finally said, quietly. "This is our business."

Gaara, now standing, put a hand on his shoulder. "It's better us than innocent civilians. I told you, we can take it."

Naruto smiled, slightly, unable to hold back. "…all right, Gaara, you tell me what to do, then."

"Right." Gaara straightened himself, addressing the chuunin again. "You two, have word passed around that we've got it under control. In the meantime, keep the civilian neighborhoods guarded."

"Actually, put the city on lockdown, y'know," Naruto said, taking a step forward with his words. "Get the sirens going. I don't want _anyone_ on the streets. It'll make our jobs easier an' keep people safe."

"Good idea," Gaara said.

There was a moment of tense, awkward silence.

"Well, you heard my order, go get it taken care of, y'know!" Naruto said, waving an arm. The two chuunin immediately scampered off. "Okay, Gaara, now what should _we_ do?"

"We'll handle this in groups," Gaara said. He turned to the table, to make sure everyone heard. "Per Mei-san's request, we won't be using Kurunari or Yuu—they'll stay where they are in the Mist embassy. Mei-san, you can go to them if you feel you're not safe enough here."

"I'm staying here, thank you," Mei said.

Gaara nodded tersely in reply. "Tonbo's too young, too, so she'll stay with her handlers. Kohriza-san, Kakeru and Kemuri can work together in a patrol unit, making sure that people are kept off the streets and engaging the targets if they're encountered. Sachiko can join them if she wants, Rotsuki-san," he added.

Kohriza nodded. "I'll go with them for a while, but if it's okay with either of you, I'm going to find and guard Naruto-san's syndicate guests. I dunno how well their bodyguards will be able to handle this." Her bottom lip was sucked in, apprehensively, as she finished her sentence.

"Absolutely, Kohriza-san, thank you for taking care of that, y'know," Naruto said; his stomach twisted with the realization that they'd completely slipped his mind, and his mind began to spin, trying to remember who else needed protecting.

"The other teams will be made up of Bee and BB, Kankuro and Morizuru, and myself and Naruto."

Hinata could defend herself, and Andou, and she had the rest of the clan behind her…

"In addition to keeping the streets clear and securing areas…"

And the hospital was heavily-fortified, Sakura had more than enough strength there…

"…we'll be taking a more direct approach against the targets…"

There were guards protecting Sasuke and his family, and they were strong enough, certainly, though Sasuke might need to be told what was going on…

"…and actively seeking them out."

Who else needed protection…?

"Naruto, we'll be relying on you to track them down, if you can."

His thoughts shattered. "Huh? Oh, yeah, absolutely, we can use radios to keep in touch."

"I'll just stick here with Mei-san, then, if Naruto-san's gonna be out in the field," Rotsuki said, raising his hand. "I'll be sure to help if anything comes near the Manor, though."

"Thanks, Rotsuki-san," Gaara said, when Naruto didn't. "Right, let's go get those orders out."

But before any of them could move, Naruto said, loudly, "Wait, before you go!" Every eye snapped to him. "Please, _please_ order your guys to be as gentle with the kid as _possible_. We want him captured alive and unhurt, 'cos we might be able to get Orochimaru out of his body, in the end. It's not his fault he got possessed, y'know…"

"…you heard him, guys. The orders are to separate and incapacitate," Gaara said. "Get your jinchuuriki back here at the Manor as quickly as possible so we can get into our groups and set out."

The only reply was Kohriza, nodding, saying, "Right."

Everyone left but Mei, who remained in the meeting room, looking out the window at the placid scene of destruction below her.

"I'll be back as soon as I can, promise," Gaara said, before he left Naruto. "Try tracking the targets down in the meantime, to give us an idea of where to go."

"Yeah, sure," Naruto said, and Gaara departed.

In his absence, the sirens began to go off.

Naruto went to the roof, and he turned his flesh into flames, to access the sea of stars around him.

He thought of what he needed to look for: contradictions, black slime, fear. And he closed his eyes, searching for them.

But his mind was wandering elsewhere, wrapped around the constant drone of the siren, a foreign and uncomfortable sound.

He knew he was forgetting something, something he didn't want harmed.

And in the shimmering fabric of souls laid out before him, his heart snagged over another contradiction, purple-and-orange, stuck within a cluster of agonized stars.

Yomena.

He knew that Gaara and the rest of the jinchuuriki would be waiting for him when he returned, puzzled and concerned and scared, or perhaps they would move on without him, out of urgency. He was fine with any possibility.

But he was not fine with the idea of abandoning Yomena again, no matter how she thought of him.

He could at least do this.

He flew.

The city zipped below him in a ragged tapestry of browns and greens and grays, framed by the ever-constant whine of the siren. He knew the area he had to reach: that residential district, with the tree under which Yomena was sitting, meditating, tracking, or whatever it was she'd said she was doing. Was that what she had been up to when the attack had happened?

Her chakra didn't feel weak, or terribly harmed. He hoped for the best.

Soon enough, he had found her. She was kneeling with a huddle of injured people lined up against a building, and attending to one of them, her hands glowing with faint violet-blue chakra—when had she learned healing jutsu? There was a fresh, wide scratch on her cheek, and the sleeves of her robes were torn, apparently forming the makeshift purple bandages on a few of the people around her.

"Yomena!"

Her head snapped up at his voice. "Hokage-sama?"

He doused the flames on his body, bending down to her level. "Yomena, what are you doing here?"

"I'm healing the injured, of course," she replied. She sounded slightly out of breath. "It's the least I can do."

"No, no, I mean, why aren't you evacuating? We're under lockdown, y'know!"

"I _understand_ that, Hokage-sama," she said, "and I was asked to leave by your chuunin after the attack, but I volunteered to stay and heal. There are too many people for them to handle."

There was a pinched, frustrated feeling of—was it pride or annoyance or familiarity?—that he felt with her words. But whatever it was, it gave Naruto a headache. "Yomena, that's not your decision to make, you have to stay _safe_."

"I can handle _myself_, of course. _Thank_ you." Yomena's expression grew narrow, and she returned to healing. Her red hair was coming loose, falling into her face.

"No, _listen_ to me," Naruto said. He carefully picked his way around the people in her care. "I'm _glad_ you're helping, but I can't let you get _hurt_."

"My country won't care if I get a few scrapes in assisting with damage control," she replied, still not looking at him.

"I don't care about what your _country_ thinks," Naruto said, "this is for _my_ peace of mind. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if something happened to you, y'know."

"Please stop," Yomena said.

"Yomena," Naruto said, leaning closer, "_please_. I don't have much time, and I don't care if you ignore me for the rest of your life, just listen to me _here_, okay?"

She didn't say anything.

"I know we don't know each other very well, but I ain't got much in terms of blood family and, I mean, I never _have_, so I dunno how much it counts, y'know, comin' from me…" He could feel his breath increasing, his mouth growing clumsier with each further word. "But you're my only _kid_, Yomena. Even if you don't think of me as your dad an' I never really treat you like a daughter or whatever, that's somethin' I gotta protect, y'know. That's somethin' that's as important to me as my country—my country _is_ my family, Yomena. And so are you."

The glow around her hands began to fade.

"So… so, even if you think what I said is total BS, I want you to keep that in mind, 'cos when I say I really don't want you to get hurt, hey, I _mean_ it. Okay?" He exhaled for a good long while. "Like I said, I'm really glad you want to help, but I want you to be _safe_. So if you wanna keep doin' good—and, uh, not wreck your clothes—you can go to the hospital and help with the healing there. It's safe there, and you'll probably be able to do more help, y'know."

She finally looked up. There was nothing in her eyes.

(But there was a small, cool, liquid sensation nestled in her chest that wasn't there before.)

"If that's what you believe will do the most good, then I'll make my way there immediately, of course," she replied.

He grinned. "Yomena, thank you _so_ much."

She raised a hand. "Please. Leave me to my duty, and I'll leave you to yours."

He nodded, standing, and checked in with the chuunin on duty in the area about their efforts, if the Riverman and Orochimaru had been seen recently—hey, he might as well—before springing back into the air and onto the rooftops, and towards the Hokage Manor.

Gaara was waiting for him on the roof. "Where were you?"

"Making sure that a… loved one was okay," Naruto replied, as lightly as possible.

"Ah. I see." Gaara handed him a small radio and an earpiece. "The rest of the teams have all moved out, I got it set to the correct frequency for you."

"Awesome, thanks," Naruto replied, fiddling with the earpiece to get it secure.

"So, any idea of where the targets are?"

"Ah… no, I was a bit preoccupied, y'know…" Naruto said. "But I'll get right on that and radio in once I got an idea so we can surround 'em."

"Excellent."

But before Naruto could search again, there was a burst of static from the radio.

"Yo, anyone there? We got a situation!" It was Bee.

"Bee? What's going on?" Naruto said, pressing on his ear to activate the microphone.

"Oh, Naruto, yo! You finally got back!" Bee replied.

"Not a moment too soon," BB added, with a minor crackle.

"What's the situation, Bee?" Gaara said.

"I think we found us our targets," Bee said.

"What, already?" Naruto said.

"Big pale guy, and a creepy kid with snake eyes?" BB said.

"That's them!" Naruto shouted. "What are you doing, are you observing?"

"That's the problem," BB said. "We found 'em wailin' on some guy in the street an' they ran off soon as we showed up. Pops tried to chase 'em down but they did some sorta weird thing where they dove into the earth an' got outta range. We're takin' the guy they beat up to the hospital right now."

"Aw, crap," Naruto said, wincing. "Hope he isn't hurt too bad."

There was a thin and sharp silence.

"I ain't so sure the guy's gon' make it, actually," BB said. Her voice barely cut through the radio hiss.

"…then hurry an' make sure Sakura gets to him," Naruto said.

"Who?" Bee said.

"Nevermind, I'll meet you at the hospital an' help from there, y'know," Naruto said. "Regroup. You guys okay, otherwise?"

"Fine as wine," Bee replied. "See you in a few."

"You want the rest of us to meet up at the hospital?" That was Sachiko.

"No, you and the rest stay in your positions, and radio in if there are any changes," Gaara said.

"Gotcha, sir!"

"Take care, all of you," Gaara said. He exchanged a worried look with Naruto, before nodding, and leaping off with him for the hospital.

They arrived before Bee and BB did, luckily. And in seeking out Sakura through the mess that was the Emergency Room, Naruto caught a glimpse of Yomena escorting a messy-haired father and son—wasn't he one of Sasuke's students?—toward a bed to be healed, and winked at her when their eyes met. She waved in return, hastily, and went back to her work.

Sakura, he found, was discussing strategy with Karin. "Karin-san? What are you doing here?"

"Huh, Naruto? I noticed there was some commotion with the staff and more agitation than usual in the Emergency Wing, so I thought I'd come up and see what I could do to help," she replied.

"But your health, and-"

"She can handle it," Sakura said, firmly. "I tried to convince her otherwise, anyways, and she wouldn't have it."

"I know my limits, okay," Karin added.

"What are _you_ doing here, anyways, Naruto?" Sakura continued.

"Bee and BB are on their way with an attack victim," Naruto said. He looked over his shoulder toward the wide entrance of the ward, where Gaara was waiting with his arms folded. "Me an' Gaara and the other jinchuuriki have been tracking down Orochimaru and that Riverman guy, and they almost caught 'em, but they got away."

"Oh, you set up a team?" Sakura said.

"Yeah, me an' some other jinchuuriki, like I said. You know us, we can take a few knocks," Naruto said, managing a smile. "Anyways, I wanted to make sure the guy got taken care of when he arrived, y'know."

"I'll make sure of that," Karin said, stepping forward.

"Karin…"

"Hey, you have your hands full, okay," Karin replied, gesturing a hand at Sakura. "Will you worry less about me if I'm just working on _one_ patient?"

"…I suppose," Sakura said.

"Naruto, Bee's here!" Gaara's voice threw itself over the chaos, immediately attracting the attention of the Hokage and the doctors. The three of them cut through it to meet up with them.

The young man in Bee's arms seemed very small, both on account of Bee's size and his injuries. His head was flopped forward unnaturally, resting on his chest, and the arm that dangled out of Bee's grasp looked twisted into an excruciating position.

"He's bleedin', bad," Bee said, crouching down some so that they could get a better look at him. "An' I dunno if he's breathing any more."

"Get me a cart!" Sakura yelled, turning around, facing whatever she had at her disposal. "Top priority, NOW!"

Karin, in the meantime, drew closer, her eyes narrowed in concern and appraisal. "What did he _do_ to this boy…?" she said.

Sakura's tone was well-interpreted, and a spare roller bed was snatched from somewhere and brought toward the entrance by an intern. Bee gently laid the boy down. There was a moaning gurgle; blood oozed from his mouth in sick, crimson bubbles.

Karin did not waste any time. "Internal bleeding, multiple limb fractures… did he break his back, too? Sakura, this boy needs surgery _now_."

But Sakura, instead of agreeing or arguing, gasped as she got a better look at the boy's swollen face.

"Sakura, what's wrong?" Naruto said.

"…that boy, that's… that's _Takeru,_" she replied.

* * *

Takeru had not been where he was supposed to.

He had, of course, been outside the house, since morning. He needed his space, and his privacy, and he knew he could get it. Not that he was doing much of anything during this time, he just wanted _away _from the rest of his miserable excuse for a family.

When the sirens began, he paused his walk, head tilted. He'd never heard _sirens_ before.

"Young man! Get inside, get _inside!_"

A chuunin was approaching, running. He wore thick, grandfatherly glasses with a chain on them, but couldn't have been much older than him. Calling him "young man?" _Please_.

"What's going _on?_" Takeru asked him, instead.

"The city's on lockdown, and—wait, you're an Uchiha, aren't you?"

The words burned like acid.

"Of _course_ I'm an _Uchiha,_" Takeru said, through his teeth. "What, it isn't _obvious?_"

"Of course not, just—you need to come with me."

"_Why_."

"Hokage's orders, young man, the Uchiha clan is to be under special protection until further notice."

Takeru rolled his eyes, sighing deeply. "I already _know_ about that order, you fool. Do you think I'd be out here on my own if I didn't think I could handle myself? I'm a jounin, anyway."

"Young man-!"

But Takeru disappeared, leaving the fool behind him.

Still, he considered going home.

Well, "home." To his grandfather's borrowed house. Though he'd wound by his true home on more than one occasion, he still feared his father's reaction, and did not dare go in.

…well, "father."

Though he doubted even that. Of _course_ he was an Uchiha. He took to every clan skill with ease, like he'd been born to do it, because he _had_ been born to do it. He was an Uchiha, there was no doubting this. And even though he didn't have a Sharingan, _none_ of his other siblings did. This was nothing to be ashamed of.

(Even Nadeshiko the freak didn't have it.)

That Nara Shikamaru was his father was just a lie that his mother had cooked up to try and win a stupid argument. A shrewish, low blow. Uchiha _Sasuke_, that was the only man that could be his father. Talented and strong, like him.

He was an Uchiha. Anyone could see that. That was his blood, his birthright.

He was an Uchiha.

"Uchiha…!"

There was someone behind him.

On instinct, his hand reached for a knife from the pouch on his hip, and he slowly began to turn around.

"An Uchiha, Master I, found one, finally…!"

The speaker, his voice jubilant and deranged, was very pale, and his features seemed distorted, like a parody of a person. He screamed untrustworthy, unhinged. Takeru's hand tightened around his knife.

But then a face popped up over the matted fur collar of the pale man's clothing.

And Takeru knew that face.

"…Takeru? My _goodness_, what a _delight_."

But there was something wrong with that face.

"…Yakata-kun?"

The pale man crouched down, and the boy disembarked. His eyes, as he approached Takeru, were half-closed, sleepy or pleased; the irises had turned a brilliant yellow, the pupils tightened to thin slits.

"Hello, Takeru," Yakata replied, too smoothly.

Takeru strengthened his stance. "What are you—doing here?" he said.

But Yakata did not answer, only walking, slowly, closer to him, smiling. The man behind him twitched, his eyes locked on the boy.

"There's, uh." Takeru, to his shame, had to swallow. "There's a lockdown, Yakata-kun, you should get to safety. My father wouldn't—want anything _happening_ to you, you know."

Yakata giggled.

The sound sent Takeru's stomach plummeting into his knees.

"Oh, Takeru, you just can't _help_ yourself, can you?" Yakata said, once he was finished. "You're just so full of _lies_ that they come spilling right _out_ of you every time you open your mouth, hm?"

Takeru wanted, badly, to take the knife in his right hand and throw it at the child—squarely between those eyes on that wretched face, or into his heart. But something held him—the fact that this was Yakata, or those eyes, or the unsettling man behind them both—and he kept still.

"And the lies you told this poor child… I should consider myself lucky that I came across you _first_," Yakata continued, drawing closer. He was barely three feet away from Takeru, now; Takeru could see the scratches on his knees, the blood on his feet.

"I don't—Yakata-kun, what are you _saying_—what's the _matter_ with you?" Takeru sputtered. His hands, shaking—what, no, he couldn't be scared _now!_—were struggling to hold onto his knife.

"You really do take after your father, you know," Yakata said. "Born to betray."

And Yakata took a step back, tilting his head, smiling with his mouth, but not his eyes.

"Riverman, my darling? Kill him."

Takeru threw his knife at the man, but it wobbled in the air and bounced, seemingly harmlessly, against his left shoulder.

And the man smiled, too, but there was a lust for meat in his mouth. His teeth seemed too large and too sharp to be human.

Even if Takeru's aim had been true, his hands steady and without fear, no amount of knives or fire or skill could have protected him from what followed.

(And Orochimaru just watched, savoring, enjoying every moment, as the boy was broken.)


	116. Benign Sickness

_Chapter 116 - Benign Sickness_

* * *

"Naruto, you need to get Ino and her family to the hospital."

Takeru had already been sent to surgery. Sakura had refused to allow Karin to even supervise, not with the amount of damage that had been done to the boy's body, not with the amount of good she could do with the minor injuries in the Emergency Room. They both agreed that this would be less taxing on her body.

(And beyond that, Karin felt hesitant about operating on any of Sasuke's children.)

"But Sakura, they're not-"

Naruto was following Sakura around the Emergency Room as she dashed from patient to patient, assessing and treating them at almost unreal speeds.

"Naruto, right now, my hospital is the safest place for them to be, and I can't keep going without knowing exactly how they're doing, I don't _care_ just _do_ it I don't have _time_ to argue so just _go_."

And he really couldn't argue with that. The hospital had Sakura and oodles of chuunin and jounin, both inside and around it, and though Sakura could definitely keep her head under stress, doing this for her would allow her to stay focused on more important things.

Besides, Ino had a right to know about what had happened to her son.

(And Sasuke did too. But Naruto would get to him after his family.)

Gaara and Bee and BB were still waiting outside the hospital entrance, on a lookout, waiting for further orders, since Gaara wasn't giving them.

"Hey, Gaara, I'm sorry, but I gotta take care of something," Naruto said, upon regrouping.

"Why, what's going on?" he replied.

"That boy Bee found, the one that got hurt… that was Sasuke's son," Naruto said. He turned to Bee. "You know, Sasuke, my friend?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know 'im," Bee replied.

"He and his family have been targeted by Orochimaru and the guy that's with him," Naruto continued, "and we need them somewhere safer _now_, y'know. Before his brothers and sisters or anyone else ends up like him…"

"Damn… Yeah, go get his fam'ly taken care of," Bee said. "We can go back to patrollin' if that's coo' with you."

"I'll radio in a position if I can track the targets after I take care of the Uchiha family, but yeah, thanks for understanding, guys," Naruto said.

"I'll be here when you're finished," Gaara said, nodding. "Go."

It had been years since Naruto had run so fast.

He followed the bright, knife-sharp anxiety of Ino to her place in her father's house, and knocked on the door. Inoichi answered. "Naruto-kun?"

"Inoichi-san, hey, is your family still with you?"

"Well, of course—I mean, Takeru's out somewhere," he added, shrugging, "but I expect he's… smart enough to seek shelter, with the sirens going off."

Naruto tried not to wince, and ended up closing his eyes. The skin on his cheeks tightened from the grimace he was trying to hide. "Well, we need to relocate you—I mean, Ino and your grandkids, the rest of your clan should be safe here in the clan compound."

"Does this have something to do with the… threat they're being protected from?" Inoichi said.

Naruto nodded. "We're going to have them taken to the hospital, where Sakura can watch over them until the emergency's over, y'know. S'about the safest place in the city right now, I imagine, there's guards crawling all over the place…"

"I'll go get her," Inoichi said. He paused in turning around. "Do you want me to come with them?"

"If you want to, Daddy." Ino's voice, coming from the living room, was soft. She appeared beside her father with a pale, worried face. "Naruto, are you bringing us there?"

"Yep." He nodded again. "I'll be going off an' getting Sasuke separately, but he'll be safe too, don't worry, y'know."

"But he'll be kept _away_ from my daughter," Inoichi said. His voice was sour.

"Daddy, please…"

"Considering Sasuke, I bet he'll keep to himself for as long as possible, y'know. Even at the hospital." He tried to smile, but succeeded in only bringing up one side of his mouth. "I'll make sure he doesn't cause trouble, though."

"Will you get Takeru, too?" Ino said.

Naruto closed his eyes, again, tightly, pursing his lips.

"…Takeru's… not in trouble, is he?" Ino's voice had gotten much softer.

"…he got attacked, Ino. And he's hurt real bad; he's in surgery right now…"

One of Ino's thin hands covered her mouth. "Oh, no… No, what _happened…?_"

"The… people that are targeting your family got to him, Ino. I don't know how, but-"

"It's because he was _out_, wasn't it? No, this is my fault, I should have been able to keep him here, no, no, no, no…"

"Ino, it's not your fault, I should have been firmer with him, Ino, sweetheart, _please_…"

But Inoichi's hands, wandering to her shoulders in reassurance, could not keep Ino from crumpling into herself, from crying.

Naruto, however, placed one of his hands over Ino's, his pink fingers resting where her pale ones covered her eyes. "Ino, listen to me."

Her head raised, slightly.

"We need to keep you and the rest of your children _safe_. This is _not_ going to happen again, okay? What happened was _nobody's _fault, but we can do something to help _now_, y'know. Okay?"

She sniffed, swallowed. "Okay…"

"When everyone's ready, we're heading to the hospital, and Sakura's gonna take care of you from there. You just let me know when you're ready."

"We can leave now." Hajime, his brows lowered and sturdy, appeared behind them. "I'll help."

"Hajime, get the rest of your siblings together, quickly," Inoichi said. His grandson nodded, and went further back into the house.

Naruto, in the meantime, was weaving signs with his hands, and soon had a small group of shadow clones at his disposal. Most of them would be for guarding the Uchiha family in taking them to the hospital.

But one of them was for Sasuke, and he sent it out in the direction of his house.

He burst in without any caution whatsoever, and ran into the hallway, seeking the bedroom first. Sasuke wasn't there, but instead sitting on the outdoor walkway, looking out onto the backyard and the empty laundry poles.

He opened the sliding door, in approaching him. "Sasuke!"

Sasuke looked behind him with jagged annoyance. "What are you _doing_ here."

"I gotta get you out of here."

"For what _reason?_"

"There's an emergency, Sasuke—you hear the sirens, right?"

"I'm not _deaf_." His eyes spun.

"Okay, okay, I know you're not." He raised his hands, shaking them slightly. "The thing is, there are people in the city causing a whole lot of destruction, and they've targeted your family. So we've-"

But Sasuke was beginning to stand. "If this is what my recent _guests_ were sent for then you really _are_ insulting me. I can take care of _myself._"

"Sasuke, I don't doubt that," he replied, backing away slightly—Sasuke was starting to _really_ stare him down—"but this is—bad. This is _really_ bad."

"If you don't leave in the next five seconds I'm going to _make_ you leave," Sasuke said.

"But Sasuke-"

"I don't care, I want to be _alone_.

"Sasuke-!"

One of Sasuke's fists was starting to glow and crackle with preemptive chakra.

"Sasuke, they already attacked Takeru, and nearly killed him! And we're sending your family to safety so nobody else has to get hurt, y'know!"

Sasuke's fist silenced itself. He stopped walking forward.

"So, just to be safe, I want you to be there with them, okay? I _really_ don't want you to get hurt, Sasuke…"

A conflicted sneer stretched across Sasuke's face. "So, not only am I too incompetent to protect _myself_, but I'm not worthy of even protecting my own _family_ now, is it?"

"Sasuke, no, that's not what I-"

"Because that's just fine, really," he continued, "since they want nothing to fucking _do_ with me." He started walking again.

"Sasuke, listen to me!"

"No, _you _listen. If you can do a better job than _me_ at taking care of and protecting _my own clan_, then, by all means!"

And he smiled like he was sixteen again. There was hurt and anger and poison in that smile.

"Continue being my _replacement! _Go right ahead! You'll fit right in!"

"_Sasuke!_ I'm not your replacement, what are you talki-"

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll be going."

Before he could do anything, Sasuke's fist began to sing again, and he thrust it through his body, and the memories meshed with the whole.

Naruto, who by then was en route with the rest of the Uchiha family, groaned, shaking his head. "Sasuke…"

"What is it? Did Sasuke do something?" Ino had dried her face, and walked beside one of his clones with a tense caution in her body.

"He's… being unreasonable. Basically told me to get lost."

Ino sighed. "Sasuke…"

"I'll probably track him down after I get you guys safe. Just to make sure, y'know?" Naruto said.

"Do you really think he needs _protection?" _Hajime said, from behind his mother.

"Considering what we're up against? It couldn't hurt, y'know," Naruto replied.

Gaara was still at the Emergency Room entrance when they returned, though BB and Bee had gone back to their patrol. The place seemed noisier, more crowded, even though barely any time had passed.

"You get them all right?" Gaara asked.

"Yeah, you seen Sakura?"

Gaara gestured with his left hand. "In the back, but she's been coming back and asking if you and the rest had arrived yet in between every patient."

Almost as if on cue, Sakura's pink head pushed its way through the tangle of nurses and patients and chuunin and towards them.

"Is he here—_Ino!"_

And Sakura ran forward and threw her arms around Ino's thin body, and she clung tightly. "Ino, I'm so _sorry_."

Ino held her, wordlessly, back, pressing her head into Sakura's shoulder.

"We're doing everything we can for Takeru," Sakura continued, when she pulled away. "I've had to divert a few people from other departments down here to help with healing, but I've taken nobody from Surgery, so this… mess down here won't hurt his chances."

"Sakura… it's okay. You don't need to tell me." Ino's voice cracked. She inhaled quickly. "Just tell us where you want us."

"The hospital lobby should be fine. Just stay near the entrance, where I can see you," Sakura said. "If any trouble comes here, I'm dealing with it _first_."

When she clenched her fist, her knuckles cracked.

Naruto followed them into the nearby lobby for a while, so he'd know where they were, just in case.

He didn't expect for Karai to call out, "Masao-sensei! Are you all right? What are you doing here?"

He followed Karai's face, then her eyes, and there, sitting on a waiting bench, was indeed Masao, with Murasaki leaning against him. Her chest was rising and falling rapidly, and he was holding her hand.

"Karai-chan?" he replied. "I'm… taking care of Murasaki. She's… in a bad way."

"…please, stop, I told you I don't _know_…" Murasaki murmured.

"Did her parents call you?" Naruto said, edging forward.

"How'd you guess, Sensei?" Masao said, with a wafer-thin smile. "They're staying home, on account of the civilian lockdown, but they wanted someone to bring her to the hospital before she hurt herself."

"…I don't know what's going _on_…" Murasaki fussed, squirming against Masao's shoulder.

"Do you know if Sanji-kun and Usui-kun are okay?" Karai asked.

"I'm sure they're fine, Karai-chan," Masao replied. "They're smart kids, they're probably staying inside like everyone else."

Murasaki was beginning to sit up more. "…no, no, I can't _ask_ them, Shusuke, tell them, please, I can't _ask_ them…!"

A winding tightness, like string or rubber, snapped through everyone present, at the name.

(Nadeshiko's eyes, already lowered, closed.)

"…you guys go on ahead, I'm gonna keep talkin' to Masao here, 'kay?" Naruto said, jerking his head sideways with a wink.

"Sure. Ino, you and your family can take these chairs here…" Sakura continued, her voice fading as she began going on about where she would be, if they needed her.

"So I'm guessing she hasn't gotten much better since the chuunin exams, huh," Naruto said, taking a place on the bench so that the girl sat between them.

Masao shook his head. "I've been trying to visit her when I can. Her parents are worried, and they want to see if there's any medicine she can take now to make things better, to at least calm her _down, _but…"

"…Shusuke, please, tell them to leave me alone…" Her head fell forward; her hair, tangled from lack of combing, fell into her lap.

Naruto pressed his lips together, and put a hand on Murasaki's back, stroking her hair gently, trying to inject as much calmness into her as he could.

"Murasaki, it's okay, just take it easy," he said.

But Murasaki's head snapped up, instead, and she looked back at him with exhausted, heavy eyes. "Sensei…! You're here… Please, please, help me, they keep asking me about what's going on, but I don't _know_, I don't know what's going on, _tell_ them, please, just get them to leave me alone…!"

And she leaned forward, clinging to his sleeves, digging her head into his chest.

"Please, Sensei, Shusuke can tell them, they'll listen to you…"

Naruto and Masao just looked at each other, exchanging pain. Naruto kept up his comfort, the only thing he knew he could do for her.

After a time, Sakura returned to her work. Gaara appeared under the archway that linked the Emergency Room to the rest of the hospital via the lobby in which they waited. He tapped his wrist, urgently, and Naruto lifted a hand and waved it apologetically back.

"It's okay, Sensei, I can take care of her from here," Masao said, seeing this. He began to pull her away from Naruto, but her fingers were still tightly wrapped into the fabric of his jacket. "Sakura-sensei told me that after the threat's over we can get her transferred to the psychiatric ward, if she hasn't improved."

Naruto began prying Murasaki's fingers off of him, one by one. "Thanks, Masao. I appreciate it." He got to the palm of her left hand, and held it. "Murasaki, listen to me, I have to _go_ now, y'know. Just keep calm, and things will be better soon, okay?"

It took several seconds for his words to reach her. And when they did, she lifted her head further, her mouth open, imploringly. "…Sensei, please, do something to stop this…"

"Come on, Murasaki…" Masao pulled her, slowly, backwards, towards his shoulder, and she began mumbling to him, about getting them to leave her alone, about Shusuke…

But as Naruto was crossing the lobby towards Gaara, something loud and roaring made itself known, and it was getting louder.

For a short time, everything stood still. Breath was held, and nurses stood in front of patients. From the corner of the lobby, Naruto could see Hajime standing in front of his sitting family, Nadeshiko with him.

Naruto's back bent, in preparation. A thin veil of sand appeared behind Gaara from the slim, zippered container on his back.

The noise got louder. And the threat, it seemed, was not from outside the hospital, but within it.

At the peak of the noise, a brown man with orange hair burst into the lobby, and paused for a moment in the center of the room, hunched, almost ape-like, breathing heavily. His eyes were black around their edges, and Naruto immediately recognized him: a Curse Seal victim.

Hajime, of course, went forward, approaching the man, quietly, his hands raised. Protocol.

But a small spark of recognition entered his face, and he lowered his hands. "Juugo-san?" he finally said.

The Curse Sealed man's head whipped toward him, but then his expression softened. "Hajime… Where is the doctor… Where is Karin…" His voice seemed amplified, far deeper than a voice should have been.

"Juugo-san, what's the matter?" Hajime said.

"Where is _Karin?_" Juugo slammed a fist into the floor of the lobby, and the stone tile cracked. As his arm retreated, however, he looked at his hand with horrified curiosity, and his shoulders hunched further. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that, my strength is not for hurting…"

Naruto stood forward, putting his arm up at an angle—_Stand down, Gaara, it's okay_—and approached him. "Uh… Juugo-san, was it? Karin-san's in the Emergency Room, but I really think you ought to, uh… calm down a bit first, y'know?"

Juugo's movements in facing him were as violent and sudden as before, but the brown muddiness of his skin began to fade slightly. "I want to help protect the hospital. I need to tell her it's okay. That Asaoto is okay."

"Juugo, you should go back to your _room_." Karin, slightly bent over, a hand on her stomach, appeared beside Gaara, and glared at him severely. "Let the staff take care of you. We don't need any more protection, okay."

(The aura with her, normally so gentle, pulsed out of her in red-harsh, heartbeat-like pulses.)

"Karin-san-" Naruto began.

But Juugo began lumbering toward her, and she toward him. "But, Karin, they told me that I can protect people, that I don't have to hurt anyone or run away any more, I want to help and do good…"

"That's true, Juugo, but…" She exhaled, sharply. "Now is not the _time_. If you want to protect someone, protect your _son, _okay? Asaoto needs you _most_, Juugo."

(Asaoto, who was huddled into a blanket in his room with Shingetsu, stress-born spines easing out of his shoulders, his brother trying his best to soothe him.)

"Can you calm down?" she continued, touching his arm.

Juugo nodded, slowly. The brown, bacterial spread of his skin receded further, one of his eyes returning to normal.

"Then go back to your room, and apologize to the staff for scaring them, okay?" she said. She leaned sideways. "Hajime-kun, do you think you could help him?"

But before Hajime could reply, Karin noticed something behind him, and she sucked in her breath.

Naruto saw it around the same time that she did.

But instead of ducking away, making himself less visible, Ooda stepped out and removed himself from the corner where he'd been watching Juugo. He was still slightly out of breath from chasing him down the hallway, trying to stop him.

(He saw all the people, in bandaged clusters, and the frenzy of the Emergency Room behind his mother, behind Naruto and the man with sand floating around him like a coiled snake.)

(And conversations, once thought dreamed, pressed back into sleep by a kiss on the forehead, oozed into reality, aided by disbelieved photographs.)

Karin cleared her throat. "Well, Hajime?"

"Oh, sure, I'd be… glad to," Hajime said, and he placed a hand on one of Juugo's massive arms, leading him back down the hallway and towards the Curse Seal ward. Rather than keeping his eyes on the floor or on Juugo, however, he focused on Ooda, who now stood against the wall beside his sister, Nadeshiko.

Karin moved with him, and grabbed the blanket around Ooda's shoulders to cover his face better as Hajime passed by them. "Ooda," she whispered, "what are you doing _out?_"

("Naruto, who is that man there?" Gaara, eyes narrowed with curiosity, said.)

"Something spooked Juugo, I had to follow him," Ooda replied, keeping his voice low.

("Uh, that's… uh, Karin-san's son, y'know," Naruto said.)

"Mom, what's going on here…?" he continued.

(Gaara's eyes narrowed further as he tried to focus, leaning forward slightly. "Her _son?_")

"Nothing, Ooda. Now get back to your room, okay? It's safer in there."

("Yeah, uh, not much resemblance, huh?" Naruto said. "Gaara, why don't we get back on patrol, y'know?")

But Ooda, unsatisfied, pulled the blanket back from his head and glanced around the room again, his mouth opening slightly.

"…this is because of _him_, isn't it? He's _back._ I knew it, I saw those reports you left on the table after you left with Sakura-sensei."

(Gaara's forehead lowered, now, with suspicion. "Are… you okay, Naruto?")

"No, Ooda, just… go, go back to your room." Karin leaned forward, her head lowering.

("Not… really? The city's kinda under _attack, _Gaara. We need to get going, c'mon." Naruto motioned his thumb over his shoulder.)

"No, I won't. They're looking for me, aren't they? That's why all of this is happening. People are getting hurt because of me, aren't they?"

("Well… all right," Gaara said, slowly.)

But then Ooda pushed past his mother, and the lies he knew he would receive from her, and he crossed the lobby, impervious to every stare, and put a hand on Naruto's arm.

"Naruto-san, please, tell me if this is true or not. He's back, and he's looking for me, isn't he?"

His bangs left part of one eye exposed, and the purple skin that bordered it.

Gaara saw, and stepped back with what was almost a wince. "Naruto, who in the world _is_ this person?"

Karin was almost lurching towards them, anger and desperation in her face.

"Gaara, uh, I told you, this is-"

"I'm a clone of Orochimaru, the Sannin. He made me. I'm one of his last experiments." He looked at Gaara plainly, eyes locking as he pulled the blanket away from his head and over his shoulders. "That's who I am."

(Once again, the room fell silent. Everyone heard.)

(Neither Naruto nor Karin had ever heard his voice so strong or so clear.)

"…and I'd appreciate it if you didn't ask any more questions, it's not a very comfortable subject for me…" he said, in his older, quieter, more shameful voice.

"…and, uh, Karin-san's his mom, like I said," Naruto added, clearing his throat. "She's been taking care of him, and we're taking care of _both _of them, y'know."

Gaara looked between the boy, his mother, and his friend, and swallowed. "Well, this is news to me."

"Yeah, it's… yeah," Naruto said. "It's definitely news."

"News I did _not_ want spread, okay," Karin bumped in.

"Mom." Ooda spoke before anyone else could. "It's okay, I don't care any more. If people know about me… that's fine. I don't care what they do to me."

"_Ooda_."

But he continued, as if she weren't there. "Naruto-san," he said, "please, clear this up for me. O-Orochimaru, and… and that man he's with… They're looking for a False Snake. Right?"

"Ooda, stop this right now and go back to your room," Karin said.

"That's… what they said, yeah," Naruto said.

"And the man he's with is a… water-using ninja, unstable, very loyal. He's probably the same man that… found me, my first time here."

"Ooda, _stop_." Karin jerked on one of his arms, under the blanket.

"We… can't be sure, Ooda-kun, y'know," Naruto said, haltingly.

"No, it's… him. I'm sure of it, I saw the photographs, it's _him_. I know they're looking for me. This… this is _my_ fault."

"So, what's really going on is… Orochimaru's trying to find a clone he made of himself?" Gaara, arms crossed, said. "And the man he's with is a tracker of some sort, for that purpose?"

"I don't see what else it could be…" Ooda said, his shoulders rising. "There's no other reason he'd be here…"

"Ooda, _listen to me_, and get back to your _room,_ okay!" Karin—almost snapping—said, her grip firm on his arm.

"_No_, Mom. I won't." He pulled his arm away from her, and closer to his chest. "I shouldn't hide from this."

"Ooda-kun, you _should _listen to your mom, y'know," Naruto said. "Gaara and me and a whole bunch of other people are working hard to find Orochimaru an' keep him from hurting you or anyone else. You're safest in your room."

"But he won't stop until he finds me, will he?" Ooda's chin tilted slightly downward, exposing more of his eyes. "Naruto-san, if this keeps going, it's only going to hurt more people and cause more panic. _Let_ him find me. Take me hostage. I don't care, as long as it gets him to _stop_."

"Ooda, NO!" Karin's glasses almost fell off from the force of her shout.

"Ooda-kun… You're not the only target, y'know," Naruto said. "The Uchiha clan's also been called out, _and_ your mother. And I refuse to let any of you get hurt. It's… a noble thought, but letting him take you hostage isn't gonna help anyone, y'know."

Karin, readjusting her glasses, scowled at the boy. "See, you hear him? This is bigger than you, Ooda. Okay?"

Ooda's chin lowered in thought. "I'm just one person, though. And… and _both_ of them want me, for different reasons. I'm more valuable to them, and less valuable to you. After all," he added, with a humorless smirk, "what does it matter to you, if something happens to me? Uchiha Sasuke and his family are worth far more than me, so they deserve the protection. I don't."

"So what are you suggesting, exactly?" Gaara said.

"He is not suggesting _anything_, okay," Karin growled.

"I'm _suggesting_ that… you use me as bait," Ooda said. "Draw them out. Let them know you have me, and that they can have me. That'll let you… capture them. Stop them."

"Hey, hey, we are _not_ using _anyone_ as bait, y'know!" Naruto said.

"Then what are we going to do?" Ooda said, his voice rising. "Just let them keep running around, causing chaos? And what about Yakata?"

"Who's Yakata?" Gaara said.

"I'll explain later," Naruto replied, whip-quickly. "Ooda-kun, _please_, we have a task force looking for them, and-"

"Orochimaru never let himself get caught by _anything_ if he could help it," Ooda interrupted. "He needs to be lured out by something he _wants_. And that's _me_. And since we both know that the Uchiha clan's too… precious to risk, I'm the best bait you've got."

"You are not _bait_, and you are staying _here,_ okay?" Karin's voice was dagger-pointed.

But Ooda continued, untouched. "Naruto-san, please. Let me be of some use to you, and pay you back for… attracting these people to Konoha in the first place."

"If you even _consider_ this, _either _of you, I will _castrate_ you in your _sleep_," Karin said, her eyes flicking between the two Kages.

Gaara looked like he'd swallowed something severely unpleasant. "Was that a… threat?"

"It'll be more than a threat if you keep this up, okay," Karin replied, lowly.

But Ooda put a hand on her heaving shoulder, his face creasing with worry. "Mom… please, you don't have to do this. This is my decision, my suggestion. Get mad at _me_, not them…"

"Oh, I _am_ mad at you," Karin replied, "don't think that I'm _not_. Why would you even _think_ of this, Ooda?"

"Because I have to take responsibility, Mom," Ooda replied. "They're only here because they want _me_."

"_And_ Sasuke, _and_ me, Ooda!" Karin said.

"But out of these people, which one is worth the least? I am. I'm… expendable."

"You are _not_."

"You really aren't, Ooda-kun," Naruto tried to add, but the conversation continued.

"I _am_, Mom. Nobody… _really_ needs me for anything. I'm just a…" He swallowed, his voice growing thick. "A freak that shouldn't exist. I only cause trouble."

Karin slapped him, and her handprint remained pink on his white cheek.

She hugged him, hard, after that.

"I'm not going to lose you _too_, Ooda…!" She was holding back tears. "First Suigetsu, and then, if I lost you…! Without you, what am I going to do?"

He was slightly limp in her arms, bent over and weak. "Suigetsu…? Mom, what do you mean…?"

Naruto touched his mouth with his fingers, inhaling sharply.

"I need you _here_, Ooda," Karin continued. "Not just… because of the clinic, or the children, but because you're my _son, _and I _love_ you. You're my most_ precious_ person, and nothing—_nothing_—could ever replace you, okay?"

Ooda wrapped his arms around her, resting his head against hers. "I know, Mom…"

"So don't do this, Ooda, _please_…"

He pulled away. "Mom… I _have_ to."

"_Ooda_."

"If I don't, then I'm going to have to live the rest of my life knowing that—that goodness knows _how_ many people were hurt because of _me_. That I let Yakata get… _absorbed_, lost forever, that-"

"Ooda, _stop_. Don't… say anything more, okay?" Karin took a deep breath, and crossed her arms, addressing the Kages. "Fine. If you go through with this, then I go with him."

"_Mom!_"

"What? Karin-san…" Naruto said.

"Ooda's not the _only_ thing Orochimaru wants," Karin said. "Besides, you get me out there, and I guarantee that we'll _both_ be kept safe."

"But the little one, Mom…" Ooda said.

"I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't think I could handle it," Karin said, turning her head to speak to him, before returning to Naruto and Gaara. "Well, can we get a plan together?"

"Karin-san, I'm sure we can think of something else we can do, y'know…" Naruto said.

But Gaara said, "How much combat training do the both of you have?"

"Gaara!" Naruto said.

"I've been trained since I could walk in both medical and sensor jutsu, and some combat, but I'm pregnant, so I'm not capable of much right now. Ooda mostly heals but he also knows self-defense, okay."

"Gaara, what the heck are you doing, man?" Naruto said.

"They're offering, and using them to draw Orochimaru and his companion out into the open is the best plan we've got. Otherwise we're just wandering blindly and letting them cause more collateral damage," Gaara replied. "We can place them in an open, enclosed area—the chuunin arena's probably our best bet—and station jinchuuriki and whatever other staff we have around the area for a speedy extraction. If we're careful, nobody has to get hurt, _especially_ not the clone or his mother."

"I'll do it," Ooda said, immediately.

(The only fear in his heart was for his mother, Naruto could feel, powder blue and almost soothing.)

(Karin, however, was red-stressed, spiking more and more with each heartbeat, though she had been like this even before this decision had been reached.)

And Naruto sighed, heavily. "All right, Gaara. If you can get this to work, I'll back you up, y'know."

"It _will_ work," Gaara said, smiling slightly at him before returning to Ooda and Karin. "Thank you, both of you, for your bravery. We'll keep you as safe as we can manage."

"Don't waste too much effort…" Ooda said, softly, earning a nudge from Karin.

Together, the four of them left the hospital, Gaara sending out orders over the radio to the other jinchuuriki to regroup at the chuunin arena.

("Naruto, so who's this Yakata that he mentioned?" Gaara asked him, before they went out.)

("The boy Orochimaru's holding hostage," Naruto replied.)

("Really? How does that clone-man know about him?")

(Naruto tried not to wait too long. "…his family and Karin-san's are close. She's known him since he was, uh, small, y'know. They're worried.")

("Then we'd better not wait," Gaara replied, nodding.)

(Naruto took very little comfort in the jade-green trust that came with his words.)


	117. Not Yourself

_Chapter 117 - Not Yourself_

* * *

Like the city-wide search before, the operation at the arena was divided up into groups. Jinchuuriki and jounin were posted, concealed, around the entire arena and surrounding area, ordered to stand down until the signal was given.

The signal would be given by Naruto, who would be standing with Ooda and Karin in the middle of the arena. From his encounters with them previously, he figured that he'd be seen as a relatively non-threatening force by both Orochimaru and the Riverman, and could use that to his advantage to not only incapacitate them, but also protect Ooda and Karin.

(And Karin's child.)

Sachiko and Bee, the quickest of the jinchuuriki, were stationed nearest to the arena, to jump in and extract Karin and Ooda at first response. The rest of the forces would contain and pursue Orochimaru, if he decided to try and escape.

The operation formally began with a message. The sirens stopped, and Naruto's voice boomed out of the speakers instead, sent over radio.

"_Orochimaru! We have the False Snake! We have your clone! He's waiting for you with me in the chuunin arena! Come meet us here so we can talk, y'know!_"

He repeated his message several times, once every minute. Silence was the only reply.

Ooda, having removed his blanket completely, stood in hospital robes beside Naruto, his hair as much out of his eyes as he could manage. He held his mother's hand, and his head high.

And then, they came.

They made their presence known, first, over the lip of the arena. Watching, observing, gauging the situation.

"Stand down. _Stand down_." Gaara's voice was low over the radio.

And then the Riverman jumped, and with his Master, he landed in the arena in front of the offering, and Orochimaru poked his head over his shoulder with an almost elated expression.

"Well, well, _well_," he said. "So you really _do_ have him! Let me down, dear, won't you?" He tapped the Riverman somewhere near his collarbone. "I want to get a better _look_."

Slowly, the Riverman bent down, allowing Orochimaru to disembark and draw nearer with quick, tiny steps.

"Now, Orochimaru-" Naruto began.

But Orochimaru held up a finger to interrupt, not even bothering to look back; his yellow eyes were fixed on Ooda's face.

"I know, I _know_, dear, you want to _negotiate_. You'll have to wait until I've inspected the offering." He giggled, his voice high in his head.

Naruto did not respond, just taking a deep breath, chakra circulating under his palms, preparing to pounce.

"Now bend down, dear, I want to see your _face_," Orochimaru said, beckoning to Ooda.

Ooda lifted his chin, instead, inhaling through his nose. Keeping his eyes away.

Orochimaru pouted. "Oh, _child_, don't be like _that_."

But Ooda continued to refuse.

In response, Orochimaru sighed exaggeratedly, and began running his fingers up Ooda's arm, tracing the outlines of his muscles. He craned his neck the entire time, trying to catch a glimpse of the features underneath his hair.

"Oh, you're _gorgeous_," he said, eventually, smiling widely, "but you really ought to either grow those bangs out or cut them, they're hiding that _beautiful_ face of yours."

"_Stop_ it," Karin said.

And Orochimaru stopped, a hand poised on Ooda's upper right arm, his smile shrinking.

"I'm here, my son's here, we're here to _talk_. So let's _talk_, okay?"

Orochimaru blinked a few times. "_Your_ son? _You're_ his mother?"

"I raised him, so, yes, that would make me his mother," Karin said, roughly.

"_Really_. And how did you _acquire_ such a _wonderful_ child?" Orochimaru continued, circling around Ooda's back, tracing the curve of his spine as he did so. "Did you _make_ him?"

"I was under the assumption that he was _your_ creation," Karin replied.

"Really? I don't _remember_ making a clone of myself…" Orochimaru said, taking his fingers off of Ooda to rest on his chin, thoughtfully. "How _curious_. Perhaps you're Kabuto's work? He was always such an _ambitious_ boy." He returned to Ooda, standing between him and his mother. "I suppose we'll just have to figure it out _later_. So, how have you been raised, my dear child? As much of a genius as _I_ am, I hope?"

"He's been raised perfectly well," Karin said, squeezing Ooda's hand. "And I'd like to think he's smarter than _you, _okay."

"_Really!" _Orochimaru said, leaning forward, sounding utterly delighted. "Taught in the arts of ninjutsu, I hope?"

"I'm a healer, nothing else," Ooda replied, softly.

"Oh-_ho_, so you're a _healer_, are you? Very good, _very_ good," Orochimaru said. "There's always much more capacity for innovation with the _body_ than the _battlefield_, I always thought." He leaned forward, smiling fondly at the Riverman, who was slumped over, half-standing, his slow breaths sounding almost like snores.

"Do you have any _more_ questions?" Karin said, almost groaning. She was holding Ooda's hand even more tightly now.

"Oh, hush, we'll get to our talks soon enough," Orochimaru said, waving a hand dismissively. "It's not every _day_ you get to meet your own _clone_. Almost like reuniting with an estranged _son_. It's my duty as a… as a _father _to see how he's turned out. Since you seem to be his _mother_, my darling Karin." He giggled for a long while at his own half-joke. "Mhm, mhm, yes, so. A healer—competent, I hope, we'll _have_ to talk further—and you'll have friends, I expect? A lover, perhaps? I _must_ know if we have the same taste in _men._"

Ooda's mouth stretched slightly in discomfort. "I don't have many—friends," he replied.

"Well that's all right, darling. Considering where you _came_ from, I _highly_ doubt there are many people sufficiently _intelligent_ enough to interest you. That is, if good taste, hmhm… runs in the _family._" He laughed more strongly at that. "Yes, yes, I should _hope_ you know your place above others, my darling…"

"I'd appreciate it if you… talked to me about all of this later," Ooda said, lowering his head, looking sideways. "I'm sure we can negotiate a time for that."

"Such a _diplomat_. Of course, my sweet, I'd be _glad_ to hurry things along if it means we get to _talk_ more later." He ducked beneath Karin and Ooda's clasped hands to stand in front of Naruto, who was poised behind them, and clasped his own hands behind his back. "So, _negotiations._ You've obviously produced what _I _want—at least, _most_ of it—so I might as well ask what _you_ want, hm?" He sounded like he was about to yawn.

"Yeah, we have some terms," Naruto replied. "First off, we want you and your friend back in custody, y'know."

"Aww, but that's so _boring_. I _hate_ it down there," Orochimaru said.

"It's the only place we'll have you where we can trust you," Naruto replied. "Either way, you'll be in a cell. Whether or not you'll be restrained an' whatnot depends on your cooperation, y'know."

From his place behind them all, the Riverman let out a long, threatening growl.

Orochimaru sighed, deeply. _"Fine,_ I'll get back into my room and _behave_."

"And your friend, Riverman."

"Yes, _yes,_ Riverman too. I won't let him plan any more _daring escapes_, either," he added, with a roll of his eyes. "Anything _else?_"

"We want you to leave that body you're currently riding around in, and give it back to the boy it belongs to, so he can return to his family," Naruto said.

"Oh, come _on_," Orochimaru said, huffing. "I've barely had any time to use it! I can't even use its _chakra_ fully yet."

"Give the boy his body back, Orochimaru," Naruto said, "or we'll force you out."

"By what _means_, my dear?" Orochimaru said.

"They have mind-divers," Ooda said, his voice unusually loud. "They can go so deep that whatever hold you thought you had on your identity… they can take that away from you, and leave you completely blank, or…" And his voice quieted. "Or, something worse."

Orochimaru paused, his fingers poised curiously on his lips. "Is that _so_." He swept his eyes over Karin and Naruto, and must have seen truth in them, because he sighed again. "Well, all _right, _but where am I to _go_ once I _evacuate_ this absolutely _lovely_ body I already have? I don't have terribly _much_ going for me at the moment, and I'd rather have arms and _legs, _thank you."

"We won't let you take another person's body, Orochimaru," Naruto said.

"Then you can _forget_ me giving this boy _up_, dear Hokage," Orochimaru said. "Without a vessel to ground me, I become a fair bit… _unhinged_. Lose my head. And goodness knows I can't keep control of my precious _Riverman_ in that state…"

Almost as if on cue, the Riverman growled again, his knuckles, dragging in the dirt, becoming paler as he clenched and unclenched his fists.

"And I get the feeling that _none_ of us want _him_ running around uncontrolled," he concluded, with a smile. "So, unless you have a substitute for me, I'm not leaving this boy."

Naruto had to close his eyes as he thought, considering barely-ethical options of prisoners, brain-dead patients, just anything to keep that monster in check.

But then: "You can have me."

Ooda spoke.

"Ooda…!" Karin tried to say more, but her voice squeezed into a cough-like gasp.

"It'll be like having your old body back, won't it? Isn't that the best thing you could hope for?"

"Ooda-kun, I won't let you-" Naruto began.

But Orochimaru held up a hand. "No, let the boy speak. I assume he's smart enough to make his _own_ decisions."

Ooda looked back at Naruto, a bittersweet smile on his face. "It's okay, Naruto-san. This would be best for all of us. Orochimaru, can… no, he _should _have my body. Nothing else would be fair."

Orochimaru's boy-smile widened, his golden eyes practically glowing with pleasure. "Oh, I'm _quite_ fine with this."

"I won't _allow _it." Karin sounded like someone was squeezing her chest, and that the words were only barely coming out.

"Oh, I understand, Karin, darling, I really _do,_" Orochimaru said. "It would be _awful_ having to say goodbye to a _son_." His face folded into a gruesome sketch of sympathy, but very quickly replaced itself with a gasp of realization. "Oh, _I_ know. If you don't want to be apart from him, why don't you stay _with_ me? You get to be with your son—in body, at least—and we can otherwise return to how things _used_ to be. Talking about everything we've done, even making new discoveries…"

"I would _never_," Karin said, and she pulled away from Ooda's grip to bring her face closer to his. "Even if you _did_ take my son—and you _never_ will—there is no way I will _ever_ go back to you, okay? I have my _own_ life, and I'm _not_ going to live it in a _cell_ with you and some… freak bodyguard!"

"…watch your, mouth, woman, difficult, stupid woman…" the Riverman mumbled, clenching his fists again.

Orochimaru's face grew flat, his child-eyes half-closing with disdain. "…Karin, didn't I always tell you to watch that _temper_ of yours?" He sighed, shaking his head. "Such an_ ungrateful_ child, after _everything _I've done for you."

"You did _nothing_ for me but use me as your _guinea pig," _Karin said, her voice tight, wince-like.

"…you know, I'm beginning to wonder who has the faulty _memory_, here," Orochimaru said, beginning to pace around her in small circles, "since I seem to recall _raising_ you as my _own_ and teaching you everything I _knew_. Encouraging you, even trusting you to run one of my _largest_ facilities on your _own_. No mere _guinea pig_, I would imagine. You were _never_ on the same level as _them_, my dear, _precious_ Karin."

"_Stop_ it," Karin said.

But Orochimaru continued. "Honestly, I could _well _have used you as nothing more than a blood bank, or a surrogate, or sent you out into battle with my latest modifications, but I didn't. I treated you like my very own _daughter_. I nurtured you, I groomed you—I even _loved _you. Everything you _are_ is because of me."

"_Stop_ it!" Karin said again, hunching further into herself, baring her teeth.

"And you've forgotten all of it! Or you never _appreciated_ the sacrifices I _made_ for you. How much I _risked_, how much I _debased_ myself in bringing a _filthy_ little girl up to _my_ level in an effort to make her _great_." He stopped to make a disgusted noise. "If you think _nothing_ of the gifts I gave you, then I _shudder_ to think of how you've _mistreated_ my own _clone, my _own _child_. After all, if you've shown _me_ this much disrespect, then how much _abuse_ could you have heaped on the poor boy?"

Before he could continue, Ooda had grabbed him by his sleeve, and pulled him away.

"…stop talking to my mom like that. Right _now_."

Orochimaru's face remained lax, untroubled, as he leaned away from Ooda's grip on Yakata's clothes. "I'm _sorry_ dear, does it _trouble_ you hearing all this? You really shouldn't let it bother you; the simple truth of the matter is that most people, from the dirtiest beggar to the mightiest Kage, are far too _simple-minded_ to be worth any _effort_. As our forefathers wrote, they're best as _tools._ Surely you see what I mean, don't you? We _are_ of one _mind_, after all." He smiled, smoothly.

Ooda, his grip already trembling (from exertion, from panic, from the not-brother child he was restraining), breathed in harshly through his nose. "No, we aren't," he said. "I'm _nothing_ like you."

Orochimaru merely shook his head, continuing to smile. "Whatever you _say_, my darling. It won't matter in a short while, anyways, since your _generous_ offer of your body will have you thinking _clearly_ in no time. Now, would you let _go_ of me? This outrage over that pitiful creature you call 'Mother' is _such_ a waste of precious time. Besides, it's useless getting angry over the _truth_."

A moment later, a glass-violet blur of light streaked through the air, and Ooda had whirled the two of them around so that he stood immediately between Orochimaru and his mother. A sharp dagger of lilac-colored chakra was concentrated over his palm, and was poised near his face, ready to slash; in the movement, the knife-sharp edge had cut Orochimaru's cheek, and it was bleeding.

"You stay away from me, and you STAY AWAY from MY _MOTHER!_"

His voice rang throughout the arena, echoing faintly.

"And you will _never_ have my body, _or _my mind," he added, in a far-softer hiss. "I am myself, and _nobody_ else."

Orochimaru, looking faintly dazed, leaned back further, Ooda's hand curled deeply into his shirt. The blood from the cut on his cheek was oozing toward his mouth, and his tongue snaked out to lick some of it away. He closed his eyes with the action, and when he opened them, he swallowed with obvious pleasure.

"Well, then, I do believe these negotiations have been a _failure_," he said. "Riverman? Kill the woman, capture the boy."

"Of course, Master," the Riverman gurgled, a wide, animal grin on his face.

And the Riverman lunged.

Naruto got to him before he could get to Karin; she stumbled, barely missing them, and fell to the ground, too quickly to brace herself with her hands. Naruto hit the Riverman in the stomach with a swirl of chakra and wind, but the impact felt dry, almost shredded, rather than wet, like it was supposed to; fabric and what looked like paper began to fly away from him. The Riverman howled.

Orochimaru, smirking even more widely, jerked back violently, tightening the grip of the fabric painfully around Ooda's fist. On reflex, Ooda let go, and ducked in front of Karin with his chakra-scalpel poised, his breath quick with fear and adrenaline.

Orochimaru, however, went not for her, but for the Riverman, who had blown Naruto across the arena with an immense, unnatural blast of air, seemingly summoned out of nowhere from his hands. In one smooth, fluid motion, he grabbed onto the Riverman's furry collar, and had mounted his back a moment later, clinging to the fur with both hands, keeping his head low.

"Go on, dear, obey your orders!" he shouted, almost gleefully.

But the Riverman didn't seem to hear, charging for Naruto again. The hole in his belly from Naruto's attack seemed to have mended itself, skin and clothes both, but his anger was no less intense for it. A high, eardrum-piercing howl began to surround both of his hands, and jets of air strong enough to dig into the earth below them surged forth from his palms.

Naruto, having recovered from the initial blast fairly quickly, attempted to counter the second blast with a wind release technique of his own, but it was devoured, sending him careening up and into the high wall of the arena.

"Stop this _nonsense_, Riverman!" Orochimaru said.

The Riverman was summoning forth torrents of water from his mouth, without a single hand sign. The air around his hands had not ceased, sending bullets and arrows of water and ice at Naruto. He managed to dodge a few of them, but several knife-like projectiles had embedded themselves in his arms; Naruto kept himself attached to the wall as he ran.

"Get Ooda-kun and Karin-san _out_ of here!" he shouted.

Gaara barely needed to be told. With a jerk of his hand, Sachiko and Bee zipped onto the field, their stances wide where they landed.

Ooda still had his chakra-scalpel out, though at Sachiko's insistence, he dismissed it. Almost immediately after, he turned to Karin. "Mom, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for that to happen, I'm so sorry…!"

"Ooda, it's… okay, let's just get… augh!" Karin, who was struggling to stand, doubled over, her knees unable to support her.

"_Mom!_" Ooda was on the floor with her almost before she was. "Mom, what's the matter, are you okay?"

"No, no… please, not here, just hold out a while longer …" Karin groaned.

"Ma'am, are you injured?" Sachiko asked, kneeling down with them. "I smell blood."

"Just… just get me to the hospital, I'll… ungh… I'll be fine…" Karin said. Balancing herself against Ooda's shoulder, she tried to stand again, but was crumpled-up again before she could straighten up entirely.

"Ma'am, you're bleeding!" Sachiko said, covering her mouth with her sleeve.

And indeed, where Karin had fallen, on the dirt, a large, rust-colored patch of blood had been left behind.

Karin's wince tightened. "No… please, little one, not now…"

(And Ooda, immediately, understood what was going on. What he had taken originally for fear—for him, for Orochimaru, for everything—shrank into reality: his mother was in labor, and had probably been so for a long time. And something was now going very, very wrong.)

"You need to get my mom to the hospital!" Ooda pleaded, trying to get her back to her feet. "She's… her baby's coming too early, and if she's bleeding this much—the placenta might have started to detach, or a uterine rupture, or-!"

"Kid, kid, cut the medical talk an' let me take her, 'kay?" Bee said, putting forth his massive arms. "We'll get her to the doctors, don' worry."

Ooda swallowed thickly, tears gathering in his breath. "Please, we, we have to hurry…"

"We _will_ hurry," Sachiko said, gently, putting out her hands as Bee effortlessly cradled Karin in his arms. "Come on, now, I'll be carrying you."

Ooda rubbed his eyes with his forearm before bending over and letting Sachiko pick him up. A moment later, they were in the air, and on their way to the hospital.

Naruto, catching a glimpse of their leaving, smiled a little, before dodging another barrage of water and ice. One of the spikes had dug into the space between his collarbone and shoulder, and it stung horribly. He'd take it out—he'd heal quickly—but did he have time? The Riverman—and Orochimaru, now squealing fitfully at him from his perch on his back—was darting around the arena, dodging the blasts of fire, steam, and sand from the other jinchuuriki, as well as Naruto's wind.

"Enough, _enough!" _Naruto managed to hear, as they passed nearby. "You miserable _failure!_ They've gotten away! Useless boy!"

And suddenly, the Riverman's attacks ended, and his hands ceased with their jets of air, instead clinging to his head as he ran in blind panic. "Master, I, but I, Master, but, I…!"

"Shut up and get us to the roof again!"

Naruto, nearest to them, gave chase, and was level with them by the time they reached the roof of the arena, where Orochimaru's voice had turned from a scream to a harsh purr.

"There, there, you can still do good. You want to _destroy_, yes? Destroy the Uchihas?"

"Uchihas, yes, they, they need to, be, eradicated, for peace, for, destroyed…!" He was nodding with the intense enthusiasm of a child.

"Good, then, do _exactly_ as I say, and _maybe _you'll make up for your little _mistake_ down there…" Orochimaru was stroking his face from where he lay, draped across his shoulders.

"Orochimaru!" Naruto's chest burned with each breath. "Stop this!"

"I'd rather _not_," Orochimaru replied. "I've got _things_ to do now that I'm here, and I'm no _longer _in the mood for negotiation, seeing as your bargaining chips have rather… ambled _off_."

"You're outmatched, Orochimaru," Naruto continued, drawing closer. "And you're surrounded, y'know."

"No, no, I believe _you_ are outmatched, and we are _not_ surrounded. At least, not where _we're_ going. You know, Hokage," he added, sitting up on the Riverman's shoulders, as if he were a palanquin, "the first time I planned to destroy Konoha, I had a small army of _idiots_ at my command, and the wonderful addition of two former _Hokages_ to my number for emotional _heft _and demolitions later on. Unfortunately, the idiots were as successful as expected, and my Hokages were banished by a suicidal old _man_ that didn't understand the value of _life_."

"And your point is?" Naruto said.

"My point is," Orochimaru replied, "that if you're going to get something done, you must _always_ do it yourself. And I am _surely _going to enjoy knowing that I ripped your _beloved _little village apart with my own two hands. Riverman, darling, make him hurt before we leave."

The Riverman did not even reply, this time, his eyes merely widening as he charged towards Naruto, his hands thrust out in front of him like two claws.

Before he was propelled through several floors of concrete and rebar and deep into the ground, Naruto saw, in the palms of the Riverman, two black, festering holes, from which the endless wind came.


	118. Clamorous Silence

_Chapter 118 - Clamorous Silence_

* * *

Karai had already been fidgeting for a while when the first wave of the injured from the chuunin arena operation began to filter into the hospital.

(Bee had come first, of course, carrying Karin and shouting random names that began with "Sa" in an attempt to get to the doctor that Naruto seemed to trust so much. And Sakura, eventually, came, and rushed off with mother, son, and both jinchuuriki to get Karin to the maternity ward.)

(Bee had long ago taken off the blood-stained jacket he'd been wearing when he'd brought in Takeru, and his bare arms were wet and shining with red-brown blood by the time he finally made it to the hospital.)

They were mostly jounin, posted around the arena to chase after Orochimaru and the Riverman. There was very little to distinguish them from the other posted ninja who had been injured earlier, for similar reasons, beyond the fact that they all mostly came in together and were suffering similar injuries—general battery, impalement by ice, the like.

But then Gaara entered with Naruto, arm slung over one of his shoulders, the latter complaining and insisting that he was _fine_, that they had more important things to worry about than his health.

("Naruto, you went through at least twenty floors worth of concrete, and then some. I want you looked at," Gaara said, firmly, as they walked further into the lobby.)

That made Inou start to worry. And his worry was a far deeper one than his sister's.

Karai had simply been fussing about why Hajime was taking so long in the Curse Seal ward, and was mentioning it practically every five minutes by that point, with their mother offering her weak assurances that he was sure to come back any second now.

But Inou was a listener, an observer. He had carefully taken in as many words as he could of the conversation between Ooda and his mother and Naruto and the Kazekage, and had worried somewhat as they set out. Seeing the obvious failure of their plan—especially seeing Karin carried in, obviously injured in some way, which tugged residually at him—was making his heart pound.

Naruto's injuries were the last straw. He bowed his head, closed his eyes and stretched his fingers apart, forming the diamond-sign near his chest.

Karai, her foot jiggling and occasionally touching his leg, noticed what was happening not long after. "Brother, what are you doing?"

"I'm trying to figure out what the heck is going _on_," Inou replied, his eyes still closed.

"What do you mean?"

"Why we're under lockdown, who the heck's hurting all these people—I mean, I have an idea, but—ugh, will you just shut up and let me _concentrate?_" He opened one eye at the end of his sentence. "I can't gather information if you keep _talking_ to me."

"Sorry," Karai said, and snapped her eyes back to her knees.

Inou sighed, inhaled, exhaled, and began to drown out the static.

He knew what he would be searching for. Jounin and chuunin—the ones that had been debriefed—and this most recent rush of people was sure to give him _something_ good to listen to. And from there, well, anything to build on what he'd heard already: things having to do with Orochimaru, Ooda, Yakata—why had they mentioned Yakata, anyways?—his family. Anything.

He figured it would give him some degree of comfort. More information meant less unknown, and unknown things were scary, so that meant less fear, right?

(And some part of him wanted to know what sort of creature was capable of nearly killing his most-talented older brother and doing damage to _Naruto_.)

(Since his father was still out there, unaccounted for.)

He closed his eyes tighter, and the opal-sparkling inner image of his chakra sphere began to spread.

Not long after, he began to receive the nearby.

—_Hajime seriously should be back by now that big man can't have hurt—my fault all my fault I'm such a horrible mother this is all my fault it—please let nobody die today please let nobody die today please Yakata-kun be safe please let—Hajime please come back soon, brother, Hajime please—what am I going to do if they need me, should I leave Murasaki in the—stop it stop it stop it stop it I can't stand it any more I don't know anything stop it STOP IT—die today please Yakata-kun be—_

Inou took a deep breath, ironing over his emotional attachments with concentration. With his exhale, he widened his reach.

—_I can't do this I can't DO THIS stop it STOP IT STOP—who the hell WAS that guy I've never seen anyone MOVE like that before—is the Hokage gonna be okay I wonder, that was a pretty bad—we're doomed we're doomed we're all gonna die what are we gonna do it's just like the stories Dad used to—ow ow ow this fucking hurts can't someone heal me already—was that guy really a clone of Orochimaru? Wish I could have gotten a better look at his—_

Inou's face soured. This was _useless!_ They knew as little as he did.

Then again… Maybe the people in the emergency room knew more? Sakura-sensei surely knew something, right? And Naruto, _definitely_.

His reach could make it. He exhaled again, moving his hands up, closer to his forehead.

—_multiple lacerations, remember your training, chakra first then stitches, one-two one-two—make it stop make it stop make it STOP—Sasuke where hell ARE you?_

His concentration slipped in his excitement at recognizing the inner voice—Sakura's! He surged forth with more concentration, trying to stay focused on her.

—_you fucking stupid idiot too stubborn to take Naruto's help, of fucking COURSE, you utter DONKEY, can't you take help from others for ONCE, it's not like it's admitting weakness, we're in a fucking EMERGENCY SITUATION you FUCKHEAD—_

…wait, was that _really_ Sakura? The Sakura he knew—through family meals and other meetings—sure as _heck_ didn't talk like _that_.

…at any rate, she wasn't saying anything useful. Just worrying about his dad.

He had to go further.

He tried to find Naruto, or the Kazekage, but all he could hear were the thought-echoes of a conversation they were having with Sakura, which was similarly unhelpful—just more information he already knew. Though he did wonder, for a moment, why Sakura seemed to be having a _much _different conversation from them, mentally.

He just continued to worry, which only made him more irritated and impatient.

Which meant he was going to go further. Even if it meant losing control. If he learned at least _one_ thing, he'd gladly put up with his mother's frenetic worry at whatever loss in conscious or bleeding he'd get afterwards.

His breath felt cold and sharp and clean in his nose.

He pushed away every familiar voice, out of his sphere, silencing every other useless voice with mental distance. At any mention of his father's name, or Orochimaru's—though he would have done the same for Yakata, surely—he sucked the voice into him, magnifying it over all others, to make sure he didn't miss anything. For a while, unfortunately, all he got was Naruto (Sakura's inner, apparently endless tirade, he had to mute after a while).

But then, through a sea of muttering pain and confusion, there came:

—_thing destroyed Sasuke's home, Mother, didn't you hear him—_

Inou's heart jumped against his collarbone, and he eagerly clutched at the voice, deep and hollow and vaguely familiar.

—_have to do SOMETHING, we have the CAPACITY! Mother, we HAVE to intervene! Let me go, I'll DO it!_

_I refuse to listen to plans of action from clan-killers. And if we are to send someone, it will not be YOU._

Inou's nose wrinkled, opening his mouth a little; this was an entirely new voice, female, responding in conversation to the previous one. And it did not echo, like the thoughts of a conversation, but was clear as day.

He continued, irresistibly, to listen.

_But MOTHER._

_But what._

_You heard what that creature did to Takeru! What it's doing NOW! If it got to Sasuke—he could DIE, Mother!_

_I'm well aware._

_And the child it has with him, that—the boy! He's an Uchiha too, isn't he?_

_What is your point, Itachi?_

Inou's eyes snapped open. Itachi…?! Surely not…?

Once again, his concentration slipped, and he scrambled to refocus on the strange conversation. He found himself listening to a third voice when he returned, the deepest yet.

—_reasonable, Mikoto. Itachi wants the clan preserved as much as we do…_

_If he cared so much then he'd have done more to preserve—or, heaven forbid, RESTORE—the clan while he was still alive._

_We both know that there was very little he could have done in his position at the time._

_That's a pathetic excuse, and that's the last I want to hear of this subject. And I want no more of your "suggestions," Itachi. Emergency or not, the clan will not acknowledge them._

_So you're going to let your only living son get killed by a monster, then, is that it?_

_Itachi-san, please, calm down—_

A young voice, one that couldn't have been much older than Inou's own.

_And in addition to that, you're going to let my—that, that BOY, the only thing LEFT of me, get ABUSED and CORRUPTED like that?_

_Sasuke can handle himself, and unless the boy is strong enough to fight off Orochimaru's influence on his own—like your brother did, let me remind you—then he's not worthy of being considered Uchiha in the first place._

Inou's breath was increasing, his jaw shuddering slightly from his teeth clenching together.

They were talking about Yakata, right?

What was Orochimaru _doing_ to him?

(But that didn't scare him the most, didn't cause him to start shaking.)

(It was because the conversation felt all too familiar.)

(The woman saying these things sounded like his father. _Exactly_ like his father.)

A hot circle of anger added itself to his concentration, smoking out his confusion, masking it. It felt comforting, almost a reflex, and it only strengthened his concentration.

_So it's not even worth the effort, is that what you're saying?_

_Do I even need to answer?_

_Then why are you bothering Murasaki-san so much?_

"_I really don't know where he is, Mikoto-sama, I really don't, I'm sorry…"_

_Because we haven't found him yet. _

"…_I want to help you, but please, I can't do this…"_

_We still don't know where he is!_

_And that's because we made the mistake of asking someone with obviously limited capacities first._

"…_I'm sorry, I'm SORRY…"_

The new speaker—female, soft, apologetic—sounded strangely loud, echoed. But the smoke of his anger did not erase it—he found he recognized the voice, long before the other speaker—Itachi—confirmed it.

Murasaki…?

He creaked an eye open, chancing a slice of concentration to see what she was doing.

She was mumbling, as usual. But her words were perfectly synchronized with the conversation he was listening in on.

_Murasaki-san, please, you want to help us, don't you?_

"_Anything, I just want to do something useful…"_

_Then let one of us use your gift, someone Sasuke trusts, he'll listen to them and get to safety—_

_Silence, boy._

—_or you could get help from someone living, I know—wait, I know exactly who to ask! Murasaki-san, please, allow me!_

_You will get away from her immediately, traitor. And you will not listen to him, Murasaki._

"Oh come _on, _shut up and let Itachi talk to her! Seriously!"

The words jumped out of Inou like sparks from a fire. And he remained seated, but felt like he was standing, all of his anger moving into his stomach.

"He's got a decent plan, so why don't you let him use it?"

…_can that boy hear us?_

_Inou?_

_What's that half-breed doing?_

"_Uchiha-kun..? What are you doing…?"_

"Inou…?" His mother's voice, and the quietest yet.

_He can't seriously hear us, can he?_

_Another one like Murasaki-san?_

His shoulders were rising up and down in grand movements. "Yeah, I… I _can_ hear you! I dunno who you are or how but—just listen to Itachi, okay? If you wanna know where my dad is, freaking find him already!"

"Inou, what's going on…?"

"Uncle Itachi… that's you, isn't it? If you can do something, _do_ it. And I don't care who tells you otherwise, Murasaki-san, just—just go with him, do what he says, he knows what he's doing!"

He had his eyes closed, but he could feel his mother putting her hands on his shoulders, shaking him slightly; there was only a suggestion of her voice, now, asking him what was wrong with him.

_Inou… but, I can't—_

"Nobody's stopping you! Come on, you wanna protect your—_our_ family, right? _And_ Yakata-kun!"

There was some sort of reply, but it wavered from his mother's shaking.

So Inou stood, his eyes open only enough to get him to where Murasaki was sitting—now upright, with her hands in her hair—so he could stand before her, so she—so _everyone_—could get the message.

"If you can do something, do it! Because nobody else knows what to do!"

A diamond-like memory spun into the front of his thoughts.

"Save my dad like you saved _me!_ That _was_ you, wasn't it? I know you and Murasaki can—can work together or something, just get _out_ there and _help!_"

His mother had joined him and was tugging on his elbow, trying to pull his hands apart. He yanked in resistance.

_Inou, I, but that wasn't—_

_Don't listen to him, Murasaki, you shouldn't waste your talents on something like that little stunt a few days ago._

"_But I, but I want to help…"_

—_Inou I can't—how in the world is that boy DOING that?—Mikoto, the boy has a point—I didn't ask for your opinion—_

"Come _on_, Itachi!" Inou shouted, his voice cracking from the effort.

—_sorry, but I can't, and that wasn't—offering my opinion anyways, and my opinion is that your course of action so far has been counter-productive—if the alternative you're offering has anything to do with the half-breed then you're more idiotic than I thought—_

Inou groaned; the voices were beginning to meld into one, his concentration was slipping, they were talking over each other.

Either way, he was losing whatever strange ground he thought he was making.

So he snapped his hands apart, and shouted into the void.

"The Itachi _my_ father always told me about was brave, and selfless, and would do anything, sacrifice _anything_ for his family! Obviously I'm talking to the wrong guy, huh!" His other senses were rushing back with dizzying speed; he became aware of the blood trickling out of one nostril. "Fine! If _you_ guys won't do anything, then I'll have to go take care of things myself!"

And with a whip of his arms sideways, Inou ran out of the hospital and toward home.

"Inou!" his mother shrieked after him.

But the first person to follow him was not Ino, but Nadeshiko, who ran with her hair whipping out behind her shortly after Inou had disappeared from sight.

_Don't worry, I'll bring him back safely_, she sent out to her mother, to her sister, and said no more.

"…I have to go with them," Karai said, quietly, not long after.

"Karai—why?" Ino's face seemed to have aged at least ten years in her distress.

"Nadeshiko—she's not a fighter, Mom, and I don't know if she'll be okay." Karai stood, and put her hands comfortingly on Ino's forearms. "Besides, Inou… If what he was saying was real, he'll need help."

"You're not leaving!" Ino said.

But Karai shook her head, sadly, and rose to her tip-toes to kiss her mother on the cheek. "Don't worry, Mom, we'll be okay."

She was gone even more quickly than her siblings.

When Hajime finally came back from the Curse Seal ward, a few minutes later, he found his mother sobbing hopelessly, alone, on their bench, and went to comfort her, and learn what had happened.

He stayed with her, instead of leaving to find them.

Not because he trusted them—he _did_ trust them, especially Karai—but because, after everything she'd been through, he couldn't bear to leave his mother completely alone.

* * *

Masao was still asking Murasaki if she was all right, if she had any idea what had happened with Inou, long after the boy had departed, after his mother quieted down—though she was still sniffling, denying that she wanted Sakura to be summoned.

(Which was a blessed thing, because Sakura had left Naruto and Gaara to sprint back to the maternity ward, to be with Karin, and would probably have punched a hole in a wall if someone had interrupted her.)

Murasaki was not listening, her eyes closed, her brow smoothed. Her palms were extended outward on her knees, like a bodhisattva. She was breathing evenly and deeply, her head slightly bowed.

Masao was about to accept this as an improvement in her condition, as a self-calming technique, when her eyes opened, and she spoke.

"Akirame-san, go get Naruto and tell him to keep everyone clear of the Uchiha compound, unless he wants any more injured forces."

Her voice was hard, forceful, unfitting. Masao blinked a few times.

"Murasaki…?"

"Please, do this for me, it's incredibly important. Sasuke's alone there, and the creature and the boy have nearly gotten to him."

His eyebrows tied together. "I—Murasaki, _what_ are you _talking_ about…?"

Murasaki sighed, and began to rise. "I'm going to get help for dealing with the creature, and at the same time get Sasuke and his children to safety. The help I have in mind, by the way, is more than enough for our problems. Which is why, again, I'm asking you to tell Naruto where I'm going and to keep people away from the area. There's going to be a fair bit of collateral damage. You understand?"

She began to walk away, not with her usual, sliding-step gait, but with sturdy, angular steps.

And the impossible, the dormant disease, came forward.

"…you're not Murasaki, are you?" Masao said.

And the person in her body turned back, and blinked, and smiled a very thin smile. "Please do as I ask, Akirame-san, and everything will be all right."

Masao swallowed, watching her leave, before heading for the Emergency Room, and Naruto, with the orders.

* * *

The Uchiha house had long since been demolished by the time the three youngest siblings finally came upon it.

For a while, all they could do was stare. Some of the foundation remained, and a skeleton of the first floor, the pillar-ribs that held up the second floor. But everything else lay in rough piles of splintered wood and paper and chunks of roofing.

Karai had her mouth covered with both hands. "Oh my goodness… What happened to our house…?"

"So he was telling the truth…" Inou said quietly, though not in reply. He had wiped off the blood from his nose on his black long-sleeved shirt.

"Who was telling the truth, Inou?" Nadeshiko said.

And Inou became suddenly very aware of his actions of the past five minutes—not like he hadn't been aware of them _before_, but the irrationality and impulsiveness of it all collided with his head like a powerful gust of wind. He fumbled with his words for a few moments, stammering. "…um, well… Don't… don't laugh or anything, because I'm being completely serious here, all right? But… but I think I found a technique that lets me… hear ghosts."

Nadeshiko and Karai (who had removed her hands from her face) stared at him for a moment, blankly.

"Don't laugh, okay? I'm being serious!" Inou continued.

"Why would either of us laugh?" Nadeshiko said.

"Yeah, bro, why would we?" Karai said. "I mean, wow, can you really do that?"

"…I guess, I mean, it sorta happened on accident…" Inou said.

"So you really were speaking with Uncle Itachi back in the hospital, then," Nadeshiko said.

"…again, I… guess, I mean, I have no way of knowing if it really _was_ him, but—but I'm sure!"

"So why were you… yelling at him, then?" Karai said, almost thoughtfully.

"…well, he said something about the house being destroyed," Inou said, "and he wanted to help or something? But this really awful woman kept insulting him and telling him to shut up, and I just couldn't take that, you know? Especially 'cos he was talking about Dad and—well, I _think_ he was talking about Yakata-kun? And they weren't letting him talk! He seemed like the only person that even _cared!_"

"So you came here to see if what you heard was true," Nadeshiko said, her eyes drifting over the wreckage.

"Yeah, it was the first place I thought to go…" Inou said. "Doesn't look like Dad's here, though."

"Thank goodness," Karai said, quietly. "But… if he's not here, then where _is_ he?"

"I have no idea," Inou said. "Itachi didn't know, either…"

"…we could always ask," Nadeshiko said.

"Ask _who?"_ Inou said.

Without a word, Nadeshiko flipped the palms of her hands outward, and formed the diamond-sign. "Whoever's around."

Inou's shoulders tensed. "Nadeshiko… I can't, I have no idea if I can do it again…"

"You can," Nadeshiko replied, putting down her hands, tilting her head. A rare smile was on her lips.

"Yeah, Inou, come on. I mean, we _believe_ you," Karai added, nodding her head eagerly. "I mean… what else can we do?"

"_I_ believe you," Nadeshiko said.

(The emphasis was faint, but coming from Nadeshiko, second only to her father in how much Murasaki bothered her, Inou felt a shuddering burst of confidence.)

"…all right, I'll _try_," Inou said. He closed his eyes, made the sign. "Don't… say anything, all right? And try not to think."

"Sure, bro," Karai said. Nadeshiko said nothing.

Whether it was the isolation, the confidence, the experience, the familiarity with the sensation, the "frequency"—Inou didn't know.

But he soon had someone to talk to.

—_trying to listen to us, see? _

_He's not like Murasaki, though, she doesn't have to use a technique to hear us._

It was a pair of voices; the first was rough and scratchy, the second, smooth and younger.

"Hey, hello! I can hear you!" Inou called.

_Ha! Check it out, the little guy did it again!_

_Inou-kun, can you hear us?_

"Yeah, I can hear you! Is Itachi there?" Inou said.

_Sorry, kid, he's not. _

_But he's getting help with Murasaki-san. He sent us to look after you, after that stunt you pulled, though._

"He's not here," Inou reported, with some degree of disappointment and embarrassment. "He's getting help, though?"

_Yeah, he said there was someone living that could take care of the problem, and then Fugaku-sama said some words, and Murasaki was able to let him use her body to get where he needed to go._

"Uncle Itachi's getting help with Murasaki!" Inou said. Karai's response to this was muffled, but enthusiastic. "So, who's he getting to help?"

_Haven't a clue. But he said it's someone that's helped out that child of his before. His name's Yakata-kun, right?_

"Someone that helped Yakata-kun before…? Well, okay," Inou said. He chanced opening his eyes, modifying his concentration to compensate, and saw what he expected—Karai listening with an intensely interested expression, and Nadeshiko's face molded slightly into worry.

_Yeah. Whoever it is, it's someone he thinks is more capable than Naruto-san or Sasuke-kun, so they must be good._

_Mhm. And he worries a lot about that kid, too._

_But he'd never admit it._

_Oh, no._

"He worries about Yakata-kun?" Inou said. "Does he, uh, know who Yakata-kun… is, exactly…? I mean, in relation to him…"

_What, that he's his clone? Of course, he's been watching over the kid since he arrived in Konoha with your dad. Heard everything when he went to go talk to your mom about it. Believe me, he was surprised._

_Yeah. Especially because he told me once that he never wanted to have children. I felt really sorry for him._

_Practically in tears, he was so stressed out._

"Right, right…" Inou said. "So, uh, by the way… if my uncle Itachi sent you two—there _are_ two of you, right?—to watch after us, then who _are_ you?"

_Oh, we really SHOULD introduce ourselves, shouldn't we?_

_Should have done so at the beginning. Sorry, kid, my bad. I'm Uchiha Shisui._

_And I'm Hoshigaki Kisame. We're friends of your uncle's._

"Friends of his? From before he, uh, died…?"

_Yep. Though Kisame-san was his partner after I sorta… we-ell, it's complicated. But yeah, we knew him when we were all alive._

_I didn't get to meet you until after I died, though, Shisui-san._

_Yeah, I know._

"The people I'm talking to, they're friends of Uncle Itachi's," Inou said. "One of them's an Uchiha named Shisui, the other is named Kisame."

There was some sort of response from both sisters, which must have been introductions, because Kisame was soon speaking in turn.

_Lovely to meet you too! However insubstantially._

_Your sisters can't hear us though, can they, Inou-kun?_

"No, I don't… think they can," Inou said. "I mean, unless—Nadeshiko, hey, try tapping into my head, like with telepathy." He closed his eyes in preemptive concentration after he saw Nadeshiko nod, strengthening the chakra spread out over the area.

_You trying something, Inou-kun?_

"_I can hear something…"_ Nadeshiko said, through two voices. _"It's quiet, but it's there."_

"Just trying to get us all on the same frequency, Shisui-san," Inou replied, eyes still closed. "Karai, join in if you can, I'll keep talking, though."

_You kids are just amazing, you know that?_

_Honestly. I don't get why Sasuke-kun rags on all that Yamanaka stuff you can do, Inou-kun. I think it's impressive as hell._

Karai shoved him gently on the shoulder—yeah, she was definitely getting the message. Inou tried to ignore his hot face and continued.

"Shisui-san, Kisame-san, so if Uncle Itachi's getting help, does that mean he knows where our dad is?"

_What, Sasuke? Yeah, Fugaku-sama sent out some people to investigate what happened to the house and to scout the rest of the area. Sasuke's at the Old Compound._

_But Orochimaru and that… thing he's with are making their way over. Probably already arrived, considering it's not too far from the house._

"_So Orochimaru did this to our house?" _Karai said.

_Yeah, him and that guy he's with._

"_And what has Orochimaru done to Yakata-kun?" _Nadeshiko's voice was the coldest that her siblings had ever heard.

Kisame took a while to answer.

…_he's done the same thing to him that he tried to do to Sasuke: Yakata-kun's a vessel for him, now._

"…_I see," _Nadeshiko said.

_But Itachi thinks it's reversible._

Shisui added this quickly, but firmly.

_I can only hope._

"So what should we do?" Inou said. "Has Itachi made it to our dad yet?"

_As far as we know, no._

"So what should we _do?_" Inou said again. "Do we stick here or what? Did he say anything about that?"

…_nope, he just said to have us watch over you three. Fugaku-sama—I mean, his dad, he's looking after your mom and your older brother._

"_Should we head back to the hospital, then?_" Karai said.

"…no, we should go see if we can help before Itachi gets to Dad," Inou said.

_Inou-kun, that's… a very brave idea, but I think Itachi's got this covered._

"I'm sure, Shisui-san, but… but we have to at least _try_, now that we're out here. I mean, what if Orochimaru hasn't found Dad yet? If we get to him before that, we can _all_ get to safety," Inou said. "And if Uncle Itachi and his help already made it there, he can tell us himself if he wants us to give backup or get out of there."

"_Brother… are you sure?_" Karai said.

"Hey, we all made it to the chuunin exam, didn't we? We're not _that _incompetent," Inou said. He smirked, until a prick of conscience pulled it back. "…Nadeshiko, you, uh, don't have to go with us, though. I know you don't…"

"_Whatever happens, I won't allow either of you to get hurt," _she replied. "_If you go, I go."_

_Just like their dad, huh?_

Kisame was almost laughing.

_More like the entire clan. Stubbornness is almost as guaranteed as the Sharingan._

Shisui was actually laughing.

_I'm sure Itachi would prefer you get back to the hospital, but… he also believes in your abilities, one-hundred percent._

_Just… be careful. These guys are dangerous. _

"_I promise, with me, they'll be fine," _Nadeshiko said, with sharp, clear conviction in her voice.

_We'll be with you, either way._

"I appreciate it," Inou said, his smile returning. "Don't worry, we probably won't need to fight."

_Let's hope so._

_Good luck, kids._

"Thanks," said Inou.

"_Thank you!_" said Karai.

Nadeshiko merely bowed her head, almost reverently.

And Inou pulled his hands apart, breaking the bubble. The organic hush of the living world flooded his ears shortly afterward, and he took a few deep breaths, to slow his pulse, to regain his composure.

"…so, uh, just in case we _have _to fight, we should probably come up with a strategy," he said, once he finished.

"Well, there _are_ three of us, so a three-man cell should work, right?" Karai said.

"Right," Inou replied. "Each of us doing different things. I mean, once we get there, we can shift things up a bit, but general stuff is good for now."

"Sure," Karai said. "So, what do you want us to do?"

"Well… Karai, you're small, and you're quick, so you're probably best as a distraction. We wanna fight as little as possible, so you should probably draw away any danger from Dad and the rest of us, or Uncle Itachi if he's there."

"Gotcha," said Karai.

"And Nadeshiko… you defend. If anyone looks like they're gonna get hurt, you jump in and keep that from happening. Carry them away if you need to."

"That's fine," she replied, softly. Her hands were closed into loose fists.

"And I'll… be surveillance. Be on the lookout for Uncle Itachi or Orochimaru or anyone else coming by, an' in the meantime I'll keep a mental link between the three of us, so we'll all know what's going on. Be each other's eyes and ears."

"Bro, are you sure?" Karai said. "Because I could-"

"Karai, come _on_," he interrupted, rolling his eyes. "It's what I'm best at, and it'll benefit us the most, besides."

"…well, you know best," Karai said, with a small smile.

"Yeah. So let's get going, all right? Before anything bad happens."

But Nadeshiko, instead of heading with them down the road, went into the rubble of what used to be their house.

"Nadeshiko, hey, what are you doing?"

She dug around without answering for a few moments more—easily pushing aside a chunk of roofing that had to have weighed several times more than her, in the process—before she straightened back up, a few bundles in her arms. She tossed two each to her siblings, keeping the others for herself.

"Weapons," she said, holding up her own pouches—a shuriken case, and a kunai case, from what probably used to be a cabinet in the courtyard, or someone's bedroom. "Just in case."

"Good thinking, sis," Karai said. Inou said nothing, just strapping his shuriken bag to the loop on his belt.

But before Nadeshiko did the same with her black, cropped pants, she took a piece of ribbon from her pocket and tied her hair back into something like a ponytail, at the nape of her neck, looping it over itself so that it was many inches shorter and thus more out of the way.

Doing this, she almost looked like a different person, especially with her eyes narrowed and far colder than usual.

"Let's go," she said.

And Inou nodded, and the three of them ran off together towards the Old Compound.


	119. Frozen Hell

_Chapter 119 - Frozen Hell_

* * *

Sasuke was sitting at the end of the dock on his lake, fuming, his thoughts tangled up into wire-hot anger.

Great, now not only did his family think he was incompetent, so did _Naruto_. And probably everyone _else, _at this point. After all, Karin and Suigetsu hated him, that freak of a "son" of hers as well, and somehow he doubted that Sakura's opinion of him had improved much lately, much less after this whole business.

Though, in the end, he didn't care so much about those people's opinions. Naruto's, however…

Freaking _Naruto_. Who would pull for him in any situation, who always _believed _in him, no matter how idiotic it made either of them look. Who didn't trust him enough to take care of _himself, _who didn't even care enough to visit him personally—he'd only sent a _shadow clone _to check on him! And beyond that, Naruto was taking _over_ for him, practically—after all, wasn't it Sasuke's responsibility as clan head to take care of his clan? That was his _chief_ responsibility.

He wrestled with options and thoughts for what felt like hours. Part of him wanted to go to the hospital or wherever Naruto wanted him—his family was there, weren't they?—and take back control there. Which mostly meant speaking, however briefly, with Ino, and keeping watch until the "threat" was over.

And what _was_ the threat, anyways? Someone that wanted to hurt his family? Who hated him enough to go after his _children? _

His thoughts paused, for a while, recalling something that Naruto had said.

About Takeru.

But he crumpled them up, tossed them aside. Whatever had happened to that boy was not important right now.

(Though some part of him groaned, like overstressed metal, that if he were a better clan head, he'd have been able to protect Takeru.)

(No part of him, however, felt fear or worry over the strength of the opponent. In his eyes, Takeru could have been able to take care of anything that came his way. What happened was otherwise Takeru's fault, of course.)

Anyone that would go after a man's family to get to the man was obviously a coward. Someone that wanted to butter up, to weaken their opponent before even trying to land a blow.

This planted a sneer on Sasuke's face, as he looked out over the waters. He'd be able to deal with someone like that.

He continued tearing down this invisible opponent, if only for the distraction, the mild entertainment. If they wanted to attack the Uchiha clan, much less _him_, then they were _bound_ to be _stupid_. One simply did _not_ try to attack the Uchiha clan. It was too powerful.

(…maybe not in its current incarnation. And that was Sasuke's fault. He wasn't firm, didn't exert his rightful control enough.)

(But after this, he _would_.)

And beyond that, they probably had an equally _idiotic_ reason for wanting to antagonize the Uchiha clan. After all, what had Sasuke done lately to piss anyone off that he hadn't dealt with afterward?

The whole thing felt increasingly absurd, just a waste of his time, and the city's resources.

Who could possibly be causing _this_ much trouble while remaining _this_ foolish?

"Sa-Sasuke-san…?"

His heart plummeted.

That voice…!

"Yakata…?"

He turned around, getting up as he did so, and indeed, the boy was there. He was standing on the shore by the dock, his hands tangled into each other against his chest, head down, eyes closed.

"Yakata, what are you doing here…?" Sasuke said, quietly, beginning to approach the boy. "Weren't you supposed to be home?"

"I, I, I had to come _back_," Yakata replied, his shoulders rising. "I, I couldn't go back _there_. Not, not, not after everything that happened _here_."

"Well, what… what happened, Yakata?" Sasuke said. He had reached the boy, and his hands were raised to touch his shoulders, but didn't. "Was there trouble back home? Tell me, come on."

His heart raced; the boy's clothes were filthy, and his feet and ankles were caked in smeared blood and dirt.

"Oh, it was… it was awful, just _awful…_" Yakata said, shaking his head. "So _awful,_ Sasuke-san…"

"Yakata, I…" And Sasuke swallowed. "Come on, let's get back to my house, we can talk there. All right?"

But Yakata, of all things, began to laugh.

"I'm sorry, I'm _sorry_, but I can't keep this _up_," he giggled. "I _have_ to interrupt here, because—Sasuke, _really_, you want to bring him to your _house_, and not, say, the hospital? Or Naruto? Since he _did _order the boy home…"

Sasuke took a step back. "Yakata…?"

"Your selfishness has always struck me as _childish_, Sasuke-kun, but you're positively bordering on _idiocy_ here!" Yakata continued. "_Shame_ on you, putting personal attachments over the safety of an _innocent_ child."

Sasuke could see his own chest heaving in his peripheral vision. "Yakata, what's wrong with you?"

Yakata's giggles transformed into throaty, loud laughter. "And, as usual, you're utterly _clueless_ when it matters most! Oh, I almost _missed_ you."

And once his laughter and his smile had lessened, he opened his eyes.

"It really has been too _long_, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke took another step back. "Orochimaru…?"

"What, you're _surprised_ to see me?" Orochimaru replied. "Dear oh dear, how _disappointing_."

"What have you done with _Yakata?_" Sasuke said, halfway to a yell.

"The same thing I'd planned on doing to _you_, of course," Orochimaru said, raising his hands, as if this were a most _obvious _answer. "Luckily, this child's will was _far_ weaker than yours, despite being an _Uchiha_. The integration is truly going quite smoothly!"

Sasuke couldn't say anything. His throat was going dry.

"Of course, even if I _hadn't_ found this beautiful child," Orochimaru continued, "I don't really think I'd have attempted the same to you _again_. You haven't exactly gone to _seed_, my dear, but… Well, you're just not my _type _any more." He giggled again. "Don't feel _hurt_, darling, but I really do prefer youth and grace to muscle and age."

"H-How did you _find_ him…?" Sasuke's voice, almost a cough, was quaking.

"What, Yakata-kun? Pure _chance_, really. And the gods must be smiling upon me, because I have made _such_ discoveries since taking up residence in his darling little mind," Orochimaru said. "I would _never_ have expected, not in a million _years_, to find Uchiha Itachi, revived as a child, in my grasp. And to also find that he'd been living with _you_ for a while? Well, _well!_"

"And you know this… how?"

"Come now, you really expect me to explain _everything?_" Orochimaru replied, rolling his eyes. "I have complete access to the child's _memories_. I went through quite a bit of yours as _well _when I was sleeping inside of you, actually, Sasuke-kun. Wonderfully _enlightening _entertainment."

A squirming sensation flicked subliminally between Sasuke's ears, and he grimaced. This only made Orochimaru smile more.

"Yakata-kun's memories especially. Oh, the things I've _seen_ from him, Sasuke, _Sasuke_, we _must_ have a talk." He began walking forward. "And I'm not even going to _touch_ your treatment of Yakata-kun for now, no, I think it's far more important to address how you've been raising your _family_. My _goodness_, Sasuke, do you have any _idea_ how much those children _despise _you?"

There were words caught in Sasuke's throat—"Don't come _near_ me!"—frozen by the young voice's harshness.

"Even seeing it through Yakata's eyes, I could see how much utter _contempt_ they had for you. Absolutely no respect at _all_." He closed his eyes thoughtfully, folding his hands behind his back. "And you repay it all with terror, do you? That's no way to maintain _control_, my dear. That's how you end up _gutted alive_ by the very people you seek to keep in _line_. I'm beginning to regret not _teaching_ you that…"

Orochimaru was very nearly within arm's reach of Sasuke, now.

"No, no, what you _should_ have done was shown them at least _some_ affection, so that they have something to look _back_ to, something that will get them thinking, 'Oh, it's all right, things aren't _always_ this bad!' But _no_, you treat your own children like you don't even want to be _around_ them. No _wonder_ they hate you."

And Orochimaru shook his head, and opened his eyes again. His head only came up to Sasuke's chest; his chin was slightly raised as he stared Sasuke down.

"You're really not just a horrible father, you're an utterly _inept_ clan leader, aren't you? You can't manage _anything_ on your own." He giggled again. "Somehow, though? I'm not _surprised_. You always _were_ such an _impulsive_ student. All action, no _plan,_ and worst of all, no respect for _anyone _else_…_"

Sasuke's knees felt weak.

"The more I think about it, really, the more I think of it as _mercy_ that I plan on killing your family. Not only to free them from having to live with _you_, but from keeping your utter _incompetence_ from spreading. I've already done the honors with that absolute _monster_ of a child of yours—what's his name, Takeru?"

Orochimaru was beginning to circle him where he stood, on the dock.

"I really _can _see why you adore him; he's _so_ much like you… though you never took such pleasure in the suffering of _others_ like _he_ obviously does. Poor, poor Yakata-kun, whose only mistake was stealing _attention_ from you." Orochimaru tilted his chin, drawing his face into a pout. "Really, the world will be _much_ better off without Takeru. _Trust_ me."

Sasuke focused on his breathing. Orochimaru noticed.

"…what, no passionate _outburst_ over the loss of your _favorite_ son? Where is that _rage_ of yours, Sasuke? I thought you would never run _out_." He stopped, resting a finger on his mouth, which twisted into a delighted smile. "Am I _scaring_ you?" His laugh, following, was even more crazed than the mouth it came out of. "I _am_, aren't I? Ha! I'm _outdoing_ myself today! Wonderful!"

"I'm not scared of you," Sasuke managed.

"Oh, sweet child, you _should_ be," Orochimaru replied, dampening his tone. "Especially now."

"Why."

His smile widened, thinly. "For one, I know for a _fact_ that you can't harm this body. After all, how could you bring yourself to hurt your _precious, beloved_ brother? And for two? I have a _friend._ Oh, Riverman, darling?"

The man emerged from the ground near the shore in a slow ooze of sand; his hair was white, and his eyes were black and fixed on Sasuke, despite his thin head lolling to the side, as if he couldn't remember how to set it upright.

"Even if you managed to get over your _emotional_ attachments to this body and _attack_ me, you'll have my _Riverman_ to deal with. And he doesn't particularly like Uchihas," Orochimaru said.

"Uchihas…!" the Riverman wheezed; one of his eyes began turning pink from his iris squeezing inward. "Master, when do I, kill Uchihas…?!"

"Soon, my pet, soon," Orochimaru said, over his shoulder. "So, Sasuke-kun, you see we are at something of an impasse."

The weak feeling in Sasuke's knees increased.

(Because he knew, underneath all of the middling anger that was struggling for supremacy in his consciousness, that Orochimaru was right.)

(He couldn't harm Itachi.)

"You're not only a_ hopeless, useless_ excuse of a person, you're completely _helpless. _…though, Sasuke-kun, you did do _one_ thing right."

And Orochimaru went up to him, chest-to-chest, and reached up to stroke his face.

"Without your help, _none_ of this would have happened." He retracted his hand to giggle. "That's right! You set me free from that _awful _seal of your brother's. And because of that, I've been able to achieve _so_ much!"

It was at this moment that Sasuke wanted, the most, to scream in response, but he couldn't.

_All_ of this was his fault…?

Actions began unraveling to their roots in his mind.

"I finally got a young, Uchiha body of my very, _very_ _own…_"

Orochimaru was here, in Yakata's body, causing all of this chaos, killing his children, because he'd gone and undone the Totsuka seal, to ease his paranoia, his irrationality, his craving for understanding and control…

"…I met _Riverman_, and was able to go on _such _adventures, and cause _so _much blessed destruction to Konoha…"

And his family was gone because of _his _actions. Ino had cheated on him for a reason, and she'd taken the family for a reason too, and that reason was…

"…I even learned that I had a _clone!_ Whom I shall most _certainly _be taking _home _with me…"

And even before that, his own children _hated _him, and acted against him because…!

"…and in regards to your family, I shall be doing the world a whole _heap_ of favors in _eradicating _you, won't I?"

Slowly, Sasuke fell to his knees, staring at the ground.

"Oh, _Sasuke_, don't feel _bad_," Orochimaru purred, leaning in toward him. His breath was warm on his cheek. "I really am _incredibly_ indebted to you. If I were in a more _charitable_ mood, I'd perhaps spare your _family_—minus Takeru, of course—after all, it's not _their_ fault that they've been stuck with you for goodness knows _how_ long."

And he licked Sasuke, tenderly, sliding Yakata's tongue from his chin to his cheekbone.

"…however, the most charity I am going to show _you_, you wretched _child_, is the suggestion that you not fight back, as it will make things less painful for _all_ of us."

Sasuke didn't say anything, his chin drooping. The saliva on his face turned cool in the breeze.

"…that's my boy," Orochimaru said, almost fondly. "Well, Riverman? Perform your duty."

"Gladly, Master," the Riverman replied. Sasuke could hear the blood-smile in his voice.

But he didn't do anything.

There was nobody to blame but himself for this.

The first punch hit him like a firecracker, the Riverman's knuckles colliding against his eye socket and cheekbone. Pepper-white pain filled his head.

But he didn't scream. He remained on the dock, kneeling, as the Riverman grabbed him by the neck and threw him. When he landed, which was painful enough by itself, the Riverman landed shortly afterward. On his chest.

"Uchiha, scum…!" he growled. "I'll, teach you respect!"

One after another, his fists collided with Sasuke's face. Left, right, left, right, smashing every conceivable inch of skin and bone with his enormous hands. There was blood, and involuntary, reflexive tears.

Sasuke did not withstand it. He merely accepted it.

When the Riverman tired of his face—which was turning a deep red, and would surely swell—he grabbed one of Sasuke's legs, and began to swing.

Sasuke's body fluttered through the air like a ragdoll, slamming deeper and deeper into the dry earth. He felt ice-like bursts of pain with each impact, which exploded into fire-aches in between each strike, and only spread. His head was ringing; blood was leaking out of his nose and his mouth and his ears.

After a while, the ringing and the impacts felt like the only sounds. Sasuke's eyes had winced shut.

Every now and then, there was high-pitched laughter, laughter that should not have belonged to a child's voice. A gorilla-like imitation from above, always louder, would follow.

Sasuke had to struggle to breathe. But after a point, he didn't want to; his ribs hurt too much.

(And concentrating on anything but the pain seemed… wrong.)

(This, all of this, was _his_ fault…)

(The blamed misfortunes of his family, the wanton destruction of the city, and Yakata, most of all _Yakata, _who was _perfect, _who deserved this misery the _least_…)

There was dirt and blood in his mouth. One of his legs—the one that Riverman favored when smashing him against the ground by the ankle—felt broken, or close to it.

Time stretched on for forever.

Sasuke waited for it to cease, for them to finally finish him off, or leave him alone to die.

But instead, out of the white-hot inferno of his pain, came another voice:

"Hey, Ugly! Get away from my dad!"

That was Karai's voice.

Sasuke felt the Riverman let go of him, and he tumbled to the ground and onto his stomach. He creaked an eye open to find that Karai had gotten on his tormentor's back and was aggressively punching him in the jaw and ear. Riverman stumbled and waved his arms around, roaring, trying to get the girl off of him.

No, this couldn't…!

"Nobody! Hurts! My! Dad!" Each word accompanied a punch, and even with the chest-rumble loudness of the Riverman's voice, Sasuke could hear her as clearly as if she were right next to him.

"K-Karai, no…" Sasuke groaned, trying to get to at least his knees. But his limbs felt like they were made of paper, and nearly useless.

A mint green-and-black blur zoomed behind the both of them, and Sasuke followed it with his eyes to see…

…no, it _couldn't_ have been… The gathered hair, the feathery-sharp face and features—just an illusion.

(Like everything else in his life.)

It wasn't him, but Nadeshiko, and she was trying to grab Orochimaru, to grab Yakata.

For a moment, she succeeded, wrapping her arms under his arms, her hands on his shoulders. But Orochimaru flipped and squirmed and kicked, screaming. "Let _go_ of me! _RIVERMAN!_"

The monster sped forward like a released rubber band, Karai still on his back, clinging to his shoulder for dear life, her legs flying out behind her.

Orochimaru wrenched himself out of Nadeshiko's arms by letting his legs go out from under him and using the momentum to swing, kicking backwards at her kneecaps on the way back. Nadeshiko tried to jump back, with him, but he slipped out of her arms and leaped, instead, up onto one of the Riverman's shoulders, nearly face-to-face with Karai.

"Get away from my _property_, girl," Orochimaru said, and dug his fingers into the Riverman's fur collar for balance as he swung and kicked Karai in the face with flexed feet, so that his hard, bare ankles hit her in the ear.

Karai landed near Sasuke; Nadeshiko flew towards the Riverman in the absence of her attack, and was making attempts at getting on his back.

"Hey, Dad, you okay…?" Karai managed to smile a little as she propped herself up.

"Why are you here…?" Sasuke moaned, in reply.

Karai was sitting up, now, and brushing the dirt off her shorts. "We're here to get you to safety, Dad, _duh!"_

"No, you shouldn't be here…" Sasuke said.

"Karai, what the heck are you _doing?"_ Sasuke could hear Inou behind him. "Get back out there, I'll take care of Dad!"

Karai nodded, standing. "Gotcha, bro." And she leaped up into the air, flipping around to avoid a swipe by the Riverman as she got near him. After landing, she ran up to the guilty arm and clung to it with mad tenacity.

Inou got down on one knee and worked his hand under Sasuke's shoulder, to get him on his back. "Can you sit up?" he asked.

"You need to get _out_ of here…" Sasuke groaned.

"We're not _leaving,_ Dad. Can you sit up?" Inou said again.

"These people are… dangerous, you shouldn't_ be_ here…" Sasuke continued, his voice tumbling out of him like sand. "I can't let you—augh…" He moaned after that, because Inou had tired of his talk and was gently pushing him into a sitting position.

"What, does that hurt? Dad, seriously…" Inou said, laying him back down.

"Just leave me alone, this isn't about you…" Sasuke's eyes were closed tightly, partially from pain, partially from shame.

(His own son, his _weakest son_, seeing him in such a state…?)

"Right, like _I'm_ gonna leave you _alone…_" Inou sighed deeply. "Look, help's on the way; Nadeshiko and Karai are keeping those two distracted until we can get you _out _of here while Uncle Itachi takes care of them."

Sasuke's eyes opened slightly. "Itachi…?"

(At this point, Karai had managed to get on the Riverman's shoulder again, and was dodging the giant's attempts at grabbing her as he reached backward, his arms seeming to dislocate at the shoulder with his effort; Orochimaru was crawling, spider-like, across his back and onto his chest, to avoid Karai's own reach.)

"Yes, he's-"

"Sis, cover Dad and Inou!" Karai shouted, shortly before the Riverman grabbed her by the fabric of her shirt and ripped her off his back. "Whoa!"

Nadeshiko was already nearby, but she flew into place a few steps away from her father and brother, her stance wide, hands clenched into tight fists.

(And when she looked over her shoulder at them, something like worry or heartbreak on her face, Sasuke saw a gleam of red in her eyes.)

"Get them!" Orochimaru ordered, returning to Riverman's back, ascending his shoulders like a saddle.

The Riverman charged forward, nearly plowing into Nadeshiko. She, however, jumped towards and away from him, hooking an elbow around his arm and taking him backward with her.

(Chakra-strengthened limbs. Her old techniques.)

Sasuke tried to sit up, to better see the impossibilities before him.

"No! Dad, lie down, you're injured," Inou said, pressing on one of his shoulders, forcing him back to the ground.

"That… that can't be Nadeshiko, who is that fighting…?"

The force of her hook-arm had sent the Riverman skidding through the ground for several feet. Orochimaru had leaped off of his back before the impact and was stumbling, regaining his balance from the clumsy departure.

And Nadeshiko was going straight for him.

"That _is_ Nadeshiko, Dad," Inou said, "and yeah, she's fighting."

Karai, seeing this, was making another go at the Riverman, to give her sister a better chance.

"But that's not…" He tried sitting up again, managing to get upright, but doubling over from the explosion of pain in his chest and back that resulted.

"Dad, take it easy!" But Inou's head whipped up not a moment later, because, "Karai, look _out!"_

The Riverman burst forth from the impact crater with far more speed than expected, both arms raised above him, fingers like claws; he clasped his hands around Karai's shoulders as they collided, and with the furious intensity of a destructive toddler, raised her above his head and threw her to the ground.

"GET AWAY, FROM MY, MASTER!" His irises had tightened to near-impossible pin-points, and it was with a primal, inhumanly fast lunge forward that he grabbed Nadeshiko back from her charge towards Orochimaru; around the waist with one arm, around the neck with the other.

"NOBODY, TOUCHES HIM…!" he roared, his teeth still clenched. "NOBODY…!"

He kept his arm around her waist, her arms pinned to her sides—and she struggled, but his rage-fueled strength was too great for even her—but he released his hold on her neck to grab the gathered bundle of her hair. He pulled, easing a low cry out of her.

"Pull off your, head, break, your neck," he muttered, tugging harder with each pause between his words. His head then snapped toward the lake, as if it had called for his attention. "Or, drown you, drown the, forest-burners, Uchiha girl, drown, yes, good…!"

He began to drag Nadeshiko to the lake shore by her hair, her toes trailing in the dirt, past Karai's body.

(Karai wasn't moving.)

Inou got to his feet, standing in front of his father, a square-sign prepared and aiming.

"No, d-don't!"

Orochimaru had spoken.

"Don't, don't, don't h-harm that girl!"

His words sounded like they were being pulled, with great effort, from out of his mouth.

The Riverman turned to face him, his lips distorted with confusion.

Orochimaru was already shaking his head, quickly, with his eyes closed, like a shiver caught from a chill. And his eyes were still yellow when he opened them again.

(But Nadeshiko had seen, for the briefest of moments, that they had been black when he'd spoken.)

"I see that she has a _Sharingan,_ and might prove useful to me," Orochimaru continued with artificial smoothness, as if the outburst had been planned. "Just… incapacitate her, so we can take her with us. All right, my dearest?"

(An inferno of hope blazed with green fire in Nadeshiko's chest.)

"Yes, Master, useful, she…"

(She felt the Riverman's arm drooping; in her laser-clear peripheral vision, the tendons and muscles under his paper-paste skin relaxed from the order.)

(And with it, the unbearable pain across her scalp lessened, and she knew to act.)

"I'm coming, Yakata."

With one swift, smooth motion, she reached into the pouch on her hip and chose a kunai, and tore it through her hair, and ran to the boy.

"_Stop _her!" Orochimaru was fleeing, trying at once to get away from Nadeshiko and nearer to Riverman.

But the Riverman was dazed, still holding the bundle of her hair in his fist, the two girl-related orders mixing and muddying in his already chaotic mind.

And Nadeshiko got to him, pulling the boy's body into a stronger hold—arms around the neck and waist, perfectly mimicked.

"Get out of this child's body. NOW."

Her voice was so full of anger that it hardly sounded like her own.

"_Riverman!_ _Help_ me!" he cried, in reply.

"But, the girl, she's useful, what, how can I, Master…?!" The black bundle of Nadeshiko's hair fell out of his hand as he stumbled forward, his rage gone.

"_Kill_ the wretch, I don't _care_ any more!" Orochimaru screamed, his voice tightening from Nadeshiko's arm around his neck.

"No, don't…"

Sasuke, one arm wrapped around his burn-aching chest, was reaching out with his other hand.

"Don't kill her, _please…_ Do whatever you want to me, just leave my family _alone…!_"

(Inou had never heard such suffering nor such desperation in his father's voice.)

(And Karai still had yet to move.)

"Dad, I'm gonna go check on Karai," he said, and darted away before Sasuke could say anything.

(Though, in a way, it was exactly what he wanted.)

"_Move_, you worthless heap!" Orochimaru's voice was squeezed to its tightest limits, before his yellow eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he fell, limp, into Nadeshiko's arms. She cradled him, gently, holding him close to her chest with one arm, and poising her kunai with the other.

"This boy is not your master. _Now LEAVE_."

There was fierce, protective anger in her voice, in her ruby-stained eyes. Her cut hair hung in uneven rags against her cheeks.

And Sasuke saw his brother in her face, and he saw his brother in her arms.

His stamina was diminishing rapidly, from the cold pain in his heart, from his injuries, and he slumped over onto his side.

As Inou tried to rouse his younger sister.

As Nadeshiko leaned back into a defensive stance, the Riverman roaring towards her, maddened by her actions.

All Sasuke wanted was to have the strength to get up, to get between them, to have the punishment directed towards someone deserving.

To protect them, like he was supposed to.

As their clan leader.

As their father.

And from the heavens there came a stream of hot, orange fire, drawing a burning line between Nadeshiko and the Riverman.

And as the Riverman reared back, shrieking like a wounded seal, a figure in purple landed beside Nadeshiko.

"For your sake, you will listen to my niece and get _away_ from my family."

It was Murasaki.

But Sasuke knew who it really was.

"Nadeshiko, you have the boy?" Itachi said, glancing over his shoulder.

She had to pause, catching her breath, or her disbelief. "…yes, he's unconscious," she replied.

"Don't let go of him."

Her grip around his back tightened. "I won't."

The Riverman was beginning to summon his namesake, pulling it forward from the lake, dousing the fires, soaking the land.

"Inou, grab your sister and get out of the way!" Itachi commanded; the bark of his voice was achingly familiar to Sasuke, even through Murasaki's soft throat.

Water was beginning to rise up to Inou's knees. He hefted Karai by the arm over his shoulder and made a feeble series of leaps away from the conflict, nearer to Sasuke.

"Nadeshiko, you do the same. You've done enough here," Itachi continued, while weaving signs with Murasaki's hands at a dizzying speed.

Nadeshiko gathered her other arm, still clutching the kunai, under Yakata's legs, and went to join the rest of her family.

"Uncle, are you alone?" Inou called out, over the whisper-roar of the water, over the lion-like rumble of Itachi's fireball, evaporating the waters into oppressive, thick steam.

The Riverman screamed back, his voice low and syrup-thick.

Itachi landed near them after the fireball; Murasaki's sleeves were darkening with dampness where they weren't yet singed. "You called, and I came. If nobody else comes, then I will do all I can to deal with this threat."

"But Kisame-san said you were getting help!" Inou began.

"Kisame puts too much trust in me," Itachi replied, his voice lessening. "Try and get back further," he continued, more strongly. "I'm going to draw him away from you."

"Uncle!" Inou called, but Itachi had leaped away again.

"Inou, trust him, he's doing all he can." Nadeshiko was still holding onto Yakata, though she was bending near the ground with him now, as if to set him down. "And he also has me, if that's what it comes to…"

"None of you… are going to fight…" Sasuke groaned. He was struggling to get up again, even though his body was as useless and as heavy as stone to him.

"Dad—stop!" Inou said. He laid Karai on the ground beside their father and started trying to turn him over onto his back again.

Sasuke put all of his effort into pushing Inou's hands away with one of his hands. "This is… my fault, I deserve this, get… away while you can…" His hand stopped obeying him, there, and dropped to the earth. His breath dripped out of his mouth in the effort to breathe.

"Father, stay with us, stay awake."

Behind Nadeshiko's voice, Itachi blew another fireball, provoking another inhuman roar.

"Dad, c'mon…!"

Inou, so volatile and loose with his own emotions, had tears in this throat.

Through his half-closed eyes, Sasuke saw, in the cloudy near-distance, his brother's fire illuminated for seconds at a time, the silhouette of what was now his body flitting like the shadow of an insect across a lamp.

"Leave. Be… with your mother." His eyes closed and closed. "Stay alive. _Leave me_."

Karai was stirring; he felt and heard her small body beside him as it crawled back into consciousness and half-standing.

"Uncle Itachi, _help!_" Inou cried.

Itachi was preoccupied.

Luckily, his thought-failed assistance wasn't.

Out of the ground burst a single arm-like tendril of roots and branches and vines and leaves, chaotic and singular, dissipating the steam, eradicating fire and water both. It stretched high into the air before bending, twisting downward, seeking out a target: the Riverman.

"…what _is_ that…?" Karai said, clearing the dirt from her eye with her palm.

The Riverman was pummeled to the ground by the arm-vine with such force that chunks of earth were sent skyward and rained down in every direction; he tumbled backward from the impact and into the lake.

Itachi, distancing himself from the new development, landed near them. The front of Murasaki's robe was torn from a failed grab, exposing her brown under-shirt, and her hair was lank with wetness.

"So it seems she made her decision," he said, quietly.

Before Inou or anyone could ask who "she" was, she appeared.

She was a great, brown woman, with broad shoulders and earth-black hair that reached well to her calves, waving behind her like a war flag; she wore the clothes of a peasant, brick-red gathered kimono and white pants. She made her entrance on another cluster of vines and roots, bursting forth from the entrance of the Uchiha compound, pushing her body along so effortlessly it appeared as if she were flying.

But she landed before them, her miraculous assistance disappearing into the ground, and was quick with her apologies. Her voice was very deep. "I hope I'm not too late, Itachi-san. I see now that my intervention is truly needed…"

"Not at all, my lady," Itachi replied, a dry smile on his face. "You're right on time."

"I do hope you're right," the woman replied, her face creasing with worry. She leaned over slightly. "Your family seems rather worse for wear."

"Uh… Uncle, who is this…?"

The woman blinked twice, her eyes settling on Inou, mouth drawing with familiarity, but soon settling into a smile of her own. "If I said I was the Woman of the Woods, young man, would you believe me?"

"…seriously?" Karai sounded halfway between awe and disbelief.

Nadeshiko was ignoring this, for the most part, getting on her knees to check on Sasuke, murmuring urgently. She cradled Yakata with one arm, touching Sasuke's face with the other.

This seemed to preoccupy the Woman more than Karai's response. "Itachi-san, you should stay with your family for the time being and tend to your brother. I will tend to mine."

"I'm sure you could use my assistance-" Itachi began, but the Woman raised an enormous, rough hand to pause him.

"Stay. This is now my conflict," she said, before turning to the lakeshore. "Tobirama, brother, come out!"

"…wait, did she just say-"

Karai's wonder was interrupted by the lake's surface beginning to bubble and rise like a fountain jet left under too much water.

And the Riverman reappeared. "Brother…!"

"Stop this destruction, Tobirama! You're undoing everything we worked for!" The Woman was rising, lifted up by a host of tangled trunks.

"But the Uchihas…! They, they're ruining _everything_, you, you wouldn't, know, you, _traitor!_"

Two pillars of water rose out of the lake and toward the Woman, but they splashed harmlessly against the growing wall of vines and wood she summoned to protect her.

"I made a _compact_ with the Uchiha clan to _protect _them, and I will_ not_ see them die out like our _family!_"

And she sent out two pillars of her own, directing them like a phantom puppet-master, enormous shadows of her arms.

The duel began, moving swiftly across the surface of the lake, and into other reaches of the Uchiha compound. The very earth was shaking.

"Uncle." Nadeshiko tugged on Murasaki's sleeve. "We need to get Father away soon. His injuries are severe and he's losing consciousness."

Trees were sprouting at excessive speed, following the trail of the battle, collateral ammunition in the struggle.

"Your father will be fine; I'm more concerned about the boy," Itachi said. "If he wakes up, will you be able to put him to sleep again?"

"…yes," Nadeshiko said, lowering her eyes.

"And are you all right, Karai?" Itachi continued.

"M'fine," Karai replied, shrugging. "I just got knocked out for a bit."

Itachi nodded. "Sit if you need to. We'll move when I'm certain it's safe, and no sooner."

There was a great crack in the distance, a tree being snapped in half at the trunk.

"When will it be _safe_, though…?" Inou said.

"When that monster is kept from doing any more harm," Itachi replied. "And that woman will surely succeed where I couldn't have."

"You're sure about that…?" Inou's voice was getting clearer, as his tears of anxiety dried.

The woman in question tumbled out of the growing forest-battleground, wrestling with the Riverman, her hands wrapped into his clothes.

He ended up on top, however, not attacking, but shouting with almost sob-like intensity. "YOU DON'T, UNDERSTAND, YOU WERE NEVER, AS, SPECIAL TO HIM!"

"He was just _using_ us!" She flung him off of her body and followed up her attack with another series of arm-vines. "We were nothing but _pawns_ to him!"

"NOT, HIM. HE WAS, REAL!" He countered with his own whips of water, surging forward out of his palms in pressurized jets. "MADARA, NEVER CARED."

"Leave Madara-sama _out _of this, Zaku!" She looked over her shoulder as she raised another wall of trees between her and him, her face seeming to gain a strange physical softness shortly afterward. "I'm sorry, Itachi-san, but it's very hard to keep him out of the way! You and your family should get to the hospital. I can take care of this."

"I'm not leaving until this is over," Itachi said.

"Uncle, please, listen to her," Nadeshiko said, from the ground, from Sasuke's still body.

"I need to see this completed," Itachi replied, sharply. "If you're truly that worried, then leave on your own."

"Itachi-san, stay with them." The wall of trees was creaking from the force of the Riverman slamming his body repeatedly against them. "Don't leave your family alone. This will be over soon."

She then ran, shoulder first, into the wall, which parted for her and allowed her to tackle the Riverman, driving him further away from the family.

"Well, I'm stayin' too," Karai said, in the loud silence that followed. "F'that guy hurts any more people I'm gonna be _real_ upset."

This brought another dry smirk to Itachi's face, though Nadeshiko just returned to Sasuke, to make sure he was still breathing.

The Woman was true to her word. Not long after her dive back into the battle with the Riverman, the ambient rumble from her struggle faded off, and she emerged from the forest with a weary expression.

"It's over," she said.

"How did you manage it?" Itachi said, stepping forward.

"I sealed him into a tree," she replied. "He's asleep, now, and will remain so unless I do something about it."

"Can we see?" Karai said.

"_No_, I'm takin' you all to the hospital now. Itachi-san, surely you agree with me here," she said, her voice gaining a sudden, rural casualness. "My brother's not gonna be hurting anyone any more, and I don't wanna see more harm done from neglect, now."

Itachi sighed, deeply. "You're right. Nadeshiko, you carry the boy. Karai, can you walk?" Karai nodded. "All right. My lady, could you take care of my brother? I'm at my limit and don't think I could manage."

"Gladly, Itachi-san," she replied, and bent down, picking up Sasuke as if he were a sleeping child. She chuckled shortly after, as they began making their way forward. "You really don't have to call me 'My Lady,' though, just call me Hashiki. I suppose that's proper, given I'm not tryin' to be a secret any more."

"But seriously, though, are you really the Woman of the Woods?" Karai jumped in.

"After seein' all that, do you still have to ask?" Hashiki replied, laughing. "S'what most people seem to call me, anyways. But, please, my given name is Hashiki. Okay?" Karai shrugged, figuring she had to agree.

With the exception of the artificial lake, where the fight had begun, the Uchiha compound had turned, for all intents and purposes, into a forest, and Karai gawked a little as they went along. "So, that Riverman guy…" she said, once they'd gotten out onto the street. "He's your brother, Hashiki-san?"

"In one sense of the word, yes," she replied. "He's a part of my life that I thought I'd lost a long time ago."

"Huh, okay," Karai said. "So, uh, who _are_ you guys, exactly?"

"Itachi…?" Sasuke, it seemed, had recovered enough to start speaking again.

Everyone stopped walking. Except Itachi.

"Brother, talk to me, please…"

Itachi looked over his shoulder, nothing but ice in his voice or face. "This isn't the time or the place, Sasuke. But even if it were, the last thing I want is to talk to you."

And he continued on.

(Something in Sasuke's body seemed to loosen, and he nestled miserably deeper into the arms of the strange woman that was carrying him.)

(He accepted the words like a knife to the gut, and shame ran out of him like blood.)


	120. Born Again

Itachi seemed in somewhat better spirits by the time they reached the hospital, though his breathing was now labored, and his steps were slow.

"I don't think Murasaki-san can take much more," he said, when he stopped at the entrance. "I'm sorry, but I have to leave."

"I'll make sure she recovers fully," Nadeshiko said. "We owe her very much."

"We do," Itachi said. "And… that—boy, he, um." The hard, harsh confidence of earlier seemed to be slipping away as much as his strength. "I want to ensure that he's taken care of, and…"

"I'm sure we'll find a way," Nadeshiko said.

"We've got everything under control, Itachi-san," Hashiki added, smiling.

"…well, all right. Go straight to Naruto-san, though, he should be with Akirame-san, I spoke to him before I left, and-"

Karai interrupted him with a hug around his middle. "I'm _really_ glad we got to meet you, Uncle Itachi," she said, her head poised (somewhat awkwardly) on Murasaki's ample chest. "And I hope we can talk again soon! But just _go_ already!"

Itachi sighed with mild embarrassment, and hugged her back. "I'm really glad I got to meet you too, Karai. You as well, Inou," he added, looking up from the hug. "The clan should be honored to have a genius like you in its ranks."

Inou blushed furiously. "I, uh—_thanks_," he replied.

"And Nadeshiko, before I go," he said, his voice suddenly getting very soft, "I just want you to know how proud of you I am. I always have been."

Nadeshiko closed her eyes. "Thank you, Uncle…"

Itachi's smile was warm, and he exhaled for a long time with his last hug to Karai.

And then he was gone.

Murasaki raised her head, her expression sleepy. Upon discovering Karai's hug, her own flavor of soft smile took root upon her face. "…I can assume that things went well?" she said.

"Very well," Nadeshiko replied.

"Oh, I'm so glad…" Murasaki said, before her knees gave out, and she fell on top of Karai.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Murasaki-san, you okay?" Karai managed to wriggle out from underneath her, and was soon offering her hand.

"…you'll have to excuse me, it's been so long since I've pushed myself like this…" Murasaki said, and laughed. "I think I'll need some rest."

"Up you get, Murasaki-san," Karai said, propping the much-taller woman up on her shoulder.

"Yes, let's get all of you inside," Hashiki said, cheerfully. "Erm, Itachi-san—I mean Murasaki-san—where's that Akirame-san you were talking about?"

"Oh, I know where he is," Karai said.

"He should be in the lobby with the others," Murasaki added, before her eyes widened slightly. "…how very odd, I think I could hear you just now…"

"Let's just get going," Inou said, leading the way with his flustered air still hanging about him.

They ended up finding the rest of their family first. Hajime was sitting with his mother against his shoulder, staring off at the way out with a mixture of anxiousness and misery. Upon seeing the group enter, he tapped her on the shoulder, and she looked up.

"Oh my goodness-!" was all she could manage before she was standing and squeezing Inou.

"Mom, hey-"

"I can't believe you're back safely, I thought something was going to happen, oh Inou, Inou I'm _sorry_…" She rubbed her face into his shoulder; Inou, for a moment, looked to the ceiling with adolescent distaste, before dismissing it and hugging her back.

"Mom, it's okay, we're back, we're fine, and we've got _Dad_."

Ino pulled away at that, and upon seeing Sasuke's semi-conscious body in Hashiki's arms, all the blood went out of her face.

"…oh my goodness, what _happened_ to him…?" she said, her voice barely rising above a whisper.

"...he got hurt, Mom. An' I think it was 'cos he was trying to protect us," Karai said, when no answer came.

Ino put a fist over her lips, a fresh tumble of tears coming out of her already-overcried eyes.

"We need to get him to a doctor. Yakata-kun too," Nadeshiko said, only a note of urgency in her voice, which had long since returned to its usual monotone. She moved forward from the group, nearer to the Emergency Room.

Ino, however, intercepted her. "Oh, Nadeshiko, your _hair!_ What _happened_ to it?"

Nadeshiko avoided looking at her. "It's… nothing, I suppose I'd have had to cut it soon anyways…"

"It was really cool, Mom, she cut her hair when that Riverman guy got a hold of it so she could save Yakata-kun!" Karai chirped, in addition.

This, of all things, made Ino laugh, though only once; it sounded more like a cough, or a hiccup. "Is that really what happened, Nadeshiko?" Her daughter nodded. "Well, then, after I give you a haircut, there's a story I'll have to tell you. But you get—everyone that help. Do you know where Sakura is?"

"We need to find Akirame-san, whoever that is," Hashiki said.

Ino blinked. "Right. Um… and who are _you?_"

"Senritsu Hashiki, ma'am," she replied. "Just helpin' where I can."

"Ah… Well… thank you," Ino said, and waved them away with a hand. "On you go, then." She went back to sit next to Hajime, as everyone made their way to the Emergency Room, since Karai couldn't find him in the lobby, and Murasaki said something about Shusuke knowing the way.

("Mom, you wanna go be with Dad…?" Hajime offered, after a while.)

(She said nothing, only beginning to shiver, fearing everything that could have happened, and everything that had.)

Masao, as expected, was with Naruto, who was having bandages wound over the holes left in him from the Riverman's ice shards.

Murasaki was the one that called out to them first. "Naruto-sensei! Masao! I did well!"

Masao blinked a few times. "Murasaki? Is that you?"

She smiled and nodded enthusiastically. "…I was able to do exactly what Itachi-san needed of me, everyone's okay!"

Naruto leaned over slightly to get a better look, and leaped off the bed once he saw Sasuke, ripping the roll of bandages out of the nurse's hand; it fell to the floor and began rolling away.

"Oh, dang, is that Sasuke?! Is he okay?"

"He should be, if he gets treated," Hashiki replied.

Naruto seemed, then, to notice that she was holding him. "Uh… Senrin-san? What are _you_ doing here, y'know?"

"It's Senritsu, actually," Hashiki replied, with a small chuckle, "and I've been helping these kids out."

"She _totally_ saved us, Uncle Naruto! She got rid of the Riverman!" Karai said, setting Murasaki down where Naruto had previously been sitting, by Masao. "She's the Woman of the Woods, too, did you know?"

"…what the _heck_ is she talking about?" Naruto said, his eyes thinning with confusion.

"Something I'm going to have to spend a long time explaining and picking apart with you later, I think," Hashiki said, bashfully. "I suppose this is a worthy reason to go public, though, helping the Uchiha clan…"

"…sure, just, uh, lemme know when you wanna do that!" Naruto said. "In the meantime, lemme see if I can get some help for Sasuke. Hey, you, yeah, treat this guy, not me, y'know!" he said to the nurse, who was trying to get the rolled-away bandage back near him. "I'll be fine by tomorrow, okay?"

The nurse's eyes dashed between the clearly-healthy Hokage and the clearly-injured Uchiha, and he quickly snipped the last strip of bandage, secured it with medical tape, and began directing Hashiki to a bed so he could start examining Sasuke.

"We have Yakata-kun too," Nadeshiko said. "My uncle thinks he should be kept asleep until we can find out how to… cure him. And I'd rather not have to knock him out again…"

"Sure, that—wait, your uncle?" Naruto said.

"Yeah, he, like… possessed Murasaki-san or something and used her body to defend us until Hashiki-san showed up," Inou said.

"…oh, yes, it's all true," Murasaki added, smiling pleasantly. "They needed help, and I was finally able to be of some use…"

Naruto and Masao exchanged looks of masked astonishment.

"…I'm gonna go see if I can find Sakura about this, y'know," Naruto said, cracking a smile. "Masao-kun, can you, uh, stay with everyone while I go see her about this sedative-thingy?"

"Yes, absolutely," Masao replied, waving his hand quickly—_Go get her, now!_—the clear message.

It wasn't very hard at all to find Sakura—he knew her emotional signature well enough that he didn't have to track her chakra—but she was extraordinarily preoccupied when Naruto got to where she was.

Sakura was tending to Karin, who was on her knees, half-standing, on a hospital bed. Karin's arms were wrapped around Ooda's shoulders and back, her head tucked into his chest. She was crying.

"Karin, hang in there, Karin, the baby's almost here, it's almost here, just hold on!" It almost sounded like Sakura was chanting a mantra. Her arms were covered in blood to the elbow, as were the front of her clothes.

Naruto ducked out, seeing this, his heart pounding. He swallowed, but stayed just outside the doorway, listening, waiting.

(And some part of him pleading, very suddenly and severely, for the safety of everyone involved.)

There were no beeping monitors, and none of the medical staff were really speaking but Sakura, but the oppressive worry coming out of that room, rising and falling with Karin's cries, was more than enough for him to track (however unwillingly).

He didn't know how much time was really passing, keeping his head bowed, his eyes closed, feeling nurses rush in and out with supplies, Sakura's insistent words that Karin stay with them.

(And every now and then, Ooda's murmurings would rise above things: "I'm sorry, Mom, I'm sorry, please, just hang _on_…")

"Where is that _transfusion_, damn it?!" Sakura snapped—when Karin made a wet noise in her throat, deep and choking. "Karin—Ooda, hold onto her!"

Naruto held his breath.

"Karin, just—just push, if you can, it's almost here, just—Karin, you can do it, it's almost over…!" Sakura seemed near to tears.

When it finally arrived, the baby wasn't crying, like it was supposed to.

"There we go…! Come on, little one, gimme a nice good cry—can we get the incubator ready?" Sakura's voice was gentle with hope. "And where the _hell_ is that transfusion?"

"Mom, it's here, you did it, Mom, it—Mom, no please, stay with me…"

But Karin's chakra was not fading, Naruto could feel—it was softening, relaxing. Weak, but not dying.

"Get that baby breathing; he's a month premature." Sakura seemed to have passed the baby off to another nurse, and her voice was getting back to its usual strength. "Let's get that placenta delivered. Relax, Karin, it's over, it's okay, your baby's okay."

Karin made some kind of moaning sound in reply.

"That'll—stop the bleeding, since it was a minor placental rupture, but if we need a transfusion—she's type AB, Sakura-sensei, but O will work just as well, and-"

"Ooda-kun, you relax too." Sakura was laughing—things really _were_ okay. "Just keep your mom supported. We're _almost_ done."

Naruto waited.

Then: "Oh, that's—a lot of blood. Someone get a bio cleanup kit and a pan for the placenta? And _where_ is that—oh, there we go! Get an IV ready for that blood, would you?"

Naruto was glad he wasn't in the room. It was easier to _feel_ that Karin was okay instead of having to manage it against whatever image he'd be getting if he were in there.

(And the baby, which still hadn't cried, was radiating healthy, electric-pink shock at the new coldness of the world.)

Sakura exhaled, loudly. "Let's get you laid down, Karin. You deserve a rest."

"And that transfusion, she-"

"We'll take care of it, Ooda-kun," Sakura replied. "You sit down, too. You've been a _magnificent_ help."

Finally, someone coaxed a cry out of the baby—wet and weak, but there.

(The relief out of both Karin and her older son was enough to make Naruto sigh with them.)

"There we go!" Sakura said, hearing this. "He wrapped up all right, Kenji?" There was some sort of reply. "Karin, you want to hold your son?"

Karin seemed to have lapsed into sleep in exhaustion, or satisfaction, or both.

"Ooda-kun, I suppose you'll be the first, then," Sakura said, with a gentle chuckle. "We'll let your mom rest. I trust you know how to hold him."

"Yeah, 'course…"

Naruto waited only a little more, before finally entering.

He paused for effect, in the doorway. "Hey… did I miss something?"

Sakura was taking off her blood-shining rubber gloves and tossing them in a biohazard bin. "Naruto?"

"Did Karin-san just… have her baby or something…?" he continued, looking around.

"Literally only a few minutes ago," Sakura said. "You _just_ missed it."

"Oh, man! Is everything okay?" There was still a fair amount of blood on the bed, though the soiled sheets were being cleared away, and Karin had a clean blanket put over her by Sakura's giant of a son, Kenji, who had apparently been assisting with things, while another nurse began prepping Karin's arm for an IV transfusion of blood.

"Yeah, there was just a… minor complication. But everything turned out all right," Sakura replied. "Ooda's got the baby, though."

Naruto grinned, waving at him. "Congrats on the new little brother, man. You did really good today."

Ooda, who was gently running a white finger around the edges of the baby's red, wrinkled face, smiled back sheepishly, keeping his face down. "Thanks…"

"So what are you doing up here, anyways? Any news?" Sakura continued.

"Yeah, _serious_ news," Naruto replied. "Some of Sasuke's kids went out on their own an' managed to get him to the hospital!"

"What, Sasuke? You're _joking_. Which of his kids?"

"Nadeshiko, Inou, and Karai. An' that's not the half of it."

Sakura began moving out into the hallway. "What do you mean?"

Naruto followed her. "I don't even know how to explain it, but… Murasaki helped them, somehow? She and the kids were sayin' things about how Itachi… possessed her?"

"…you can't possibly believe that," Sakura said, and sighed. "Naruto, you _know_ she's sick…"

Naruto shrugged, deciding not to tell her about his half-permission over her taking action. "I know, but the fact is, she got _Sasuke_ back. You can talk to her about the whole… Itachi thing later, y'know. What's more important is that… well, Sasuke got hurt, and-"

"What? Oh, _damn _it, is he receiving attention?" Sakura began hurrying down the hall.

Naruto pulled on arm to get her to slow down. "Yeah, some nurses are helping him, but you gotta hear this part, y'know!"

"What part?"

"They got Yakata-kun back too. Nadeshiko-chan has him."

Sakura gasped at this. "Is Orochimaru still… inside him?"

"…I dunno, probably," Naruto replied, uneasily. "Nadeshiko-chan said—well she said _Itachi_ said, but—that he should be kept asleep until we can figure out how to fix that, y'know. Can you help with that?"

"Absolutely," Sakura replied. "Where are they?"

"Emergency Room, I guess. Wanna go find 'em with me?"

"Is that even a question?" Sakura said, and jerked her head sideways.

Sakura entered the Emergency Room with a great, wide scowl, pushing the doors in her way apart with both hands. "Okay, where's Sasuke's family?"

"Somewhere over here," Naruto said, gesturing towards the general swirl of chakra and emotion that belonged to them. Sakura sped ahead of him and towards them, as if she could feel what he felt, and was beginning to check up on Yakata when he finally caught up with her.

"How did you knock him out, initially?" she was asking.

"Uh, Sakura?"

"A sleeper hold," Nadeshiko replied. "I don't know when he'll wake up again, however."

"Sa-akura."

"That's fine. If you'll come with me, we can get him restrained in an isolated room and then give him some sedatives."

Naruto tapped Sakura's shoulder, finally. "Sakura, hey."

She looked back at him. "Yes?"

"What about, uh, Sasuke, y'know?"

Sasuke, presently, was laid out on a recently-emptied bed, and being tended to by Naruto's former nurse.

"Is he dying?" Sakura asked the nurse.

"Uh—no, ma'am, I mean, he's got several fractures, and-"

"If he's not dying, then he's not a priority for me," Sakura replied, both to him and to Naruto. "Nadeshiko-chan, please come with me."

Naruto shot an apologetic look at Sasuke before he followed the two women out, though he wasn't sure if Sasuke even saw it.

(And he didn't. Sasuke had his eyes closed, and kept them closed.)

(It was the closest to being alone that he could manage.)

Sakura and Nadeshiko came to rest in the west wing of the hospital, near the psychiatric ward, where it was quiet and, most importantly, there were straps pre-installed on the beds. Sakura pulled away a stray nurse as she went, ordering medicines and sending him back away.

"Lay him down, now, gently," Sakura said, as Nadeshiko neared the bed. "Get his arms and legs spread. I'll restrain him."

Nadeshiko was incredibly delicate in her actions, handling the boy like he was made of spun sugar. "Don't hurt him, please." Her voice was barely above a whisper, as she began positioning his arms.

"I won't, don't worry," Sakura replied, and she tightened the strap.

Midway through securing his left leg, Yakata began to wake up.

"Get your hands _off _me, you filthy woman…"

It still wasn't really him.

"Ma'am, the medicine you sent for." The nurse was at the door, with a tray; a hypodermic needle and a tiny bottle of clear medicine were positioned on it.

"Right on time," Sakura said. She went to a drawer and got out a pair of rubber gloves.

"_Release_ me at _once_."

Sakura began dabbing at his arm with an alcohol-soaked ball of cotton.

Nadeshiko looked on, a sentinel-like neutrality on her face. The boy's eyes whipped to her, burning with yellow fury.

"When I get out of here, I'm going to take my _time_ in killing _you_," he told her.

Nadeshiko said nothing.

But Sakura said, as she was preparing the needle, "The only way you'll be released is if you leave this boy's body _immediately_."

"I'm never leaving. This body is _mine_."

"No, it isn't," Nadeshiko said.

He was laughing as he lapsed into unconsciousness.

"That should keep him knocked-out for a few hours." Sakura put the needle back on the tray. "I'll send out orders to have the medicine refreshed so he's kept under until we can… cure him. And if worst comes to worst, we can always put him in a medicated coma…"

"I understand. May I stay with him?" Nadeshiko said.

"Now? Well… yes, if you want to, but-"

But Nadeshiko had already taken a chair near the door, and placed it at his bedside. "Please let my mother know where I am. Thank you."

(The worry in her dark eyes was almost liquid.)

"…of course, Nadeshiko-chan. You need anything, just press the call button," Sakura said. Nadeshiko nodded, and Sakura left her.

Naruto had been watching from the door, and began walking with her back to the ER. "Is he gonna be okay?"

"Yakata-kun? Physically, he should be."

"But, uh, the Orochimaru situation, y'know…"

Sakura stared at the floor as she walked. "We could get Torture and Interrogation to do a mind-dive. See if Yakata's consciousness can still be saved, try and pull it forward…"

"At least try an' talk to him," Naruto added, as her voice faded off.

"Yes. The only way Yakata-kun can regain control of his body is if he fights off Orochimaru himself. It's a battle of wills, that's what Karin told me," Sakura said.

"So he's gotta want to fight. We'll have to help an' encourage him in any way we can, then," Naruto said.

"Mm." Sakura inhaled, deeply. "And if that doesn't work… well, we'll see what other options we have. I'll see if I can get a Hyuuga staff member to track and isolate Orochimaru's chakra, in the meantime; keep it from spreading, at least, so he'll have a better chance…"

"Whatever it takes," Naruto said. "We'll be able to help him, y'know. I _know_ it."

Sakura managed a smile.

(If Naruto believed, then at least part of the battle was won.)


	121. True Story

_Author's Note_

Double update this week on account of this chapter being so exposition-y. I figured you guys deserved it!

Enjoy, and review if you like!

- Rii

* * *

_Chapter 121 - True Story_

* * *

"So, uh, d'you wanna talk to Murasaki-chan?" Naruto and Sakura were re-entering the ebbing chaos of the Emergency Room. "Get some kinda story from out of her? 'Cos I think I'm gonna go talk to Senrintsu-san…"

"Oh, yeah. But I'll, uh, go check on Sasuke first, okay?" Sakura said.

"Yeah, please, totally do that," Naruto said, and watched her go.

Hashiki was waiting by the entrance of the ER, much like Gaara had been not long before. "Hey there. So you said you wanted to talk?" Naruto said, raising a hand in greeting.

"Oh, hello there! Yes," she said, stepping away from the entrance wall. "Though, is the Uchiha family all right, first off?"

"…well, they're all bein' cared for, right now, so they're _safe_ at least, y'know," Naruto replied.

"Oh, that's fine for now," Hashiki replied, sighing. "If they're being healed and taken care of, then they're in far more capable hands than mine."

"Yeah, about that…" Naruto said. "You mind if we talk for a bit 'bout your involvement in this little rescue mission that just happened?"

"Gladly," Hashiki replied. "Though it may take a while… Shall we go outside? There are some _lovely_ trees planted outside the hospital we could sit under…"

Naruto shrugged. "Sure, I don't mind."

Under the tree, her calf-length hair coiled around her crossed legs like a dragon, Hashiki seemed remarkably at ease, leaning against the bark of the trunk and taking a few deep breaths—not out of nervousness, but enjoyment.

(And Naruto could feel this—though her inner emotions were as soothingly brown and green as the tree and her smile.)

"Well, I s'ppose this all started at work this morning. When the sirens went off," she began. "The girls and I all heard it, so we stayed inside and wondered what was going on. And then we heard that announcement you made over the speakers, about Orochimaru and his clone and all that—well that just got us talking _more_, and it got me actually _worried_ because… well, I _knew_ Orochimaru, you see. I knew what he was capable of."

"You knew Orochimaru?" Naruto said.

She nodded. "A long time ago; I'll explain later if I can, all right?" Naruto nodded. "Hearing that he was involved and causing trouble in the city had me considering involvement from the beginning. I didn't want another Day of Crushed Leaves to happen, though I trusted you had the situation under control, Naruto-san. But then Murasaki-san—though she was calling herself Itachi at that time—showed up, and she got me going."

"So what'd Murasaki actually _say_ to you? An' why did she go to _you_ in the first place?"

"That was what I was wondering at first, m'self," Hashiki replied. "She just ran into the shop, calling me 'my lady' and going on about how the Uchiha clan needed my help, how the Will of Fire had brought her to me through this woman's body. I _tried_ to talk to her, but the girls at the shop were more concerned with… well, they were pretty convinced she was crazy, and trying to figure out what to do. Shoo her off, or take her in, or what have you."

"Uh-huh." Naruto, just imagining the encounter, felt uncomfortable and apologetic.

"I was on the edge of going up to calm her down, but then she told me that I rescued her… well, _his _son in the Forest of Death. And that… well, _nobody_ else could have known about that, and that got me to at least listen to her, see what she was trying to say."

"Her son, huh?" Naruto said. "Wait, I mean—Itachi-san's son… wait, Yakata-kun, you mean? He said you rescued him?"

"That boy, Yakata? Well, I _did_…"

"When?"

"A few weeks ago? Poor dear was stuck in the Forest of Death; I sensed him wandering around in there through my trees and excused myself from work to go investigate, and there he was. So I intervened."

Naruto could feel his eyebrows rising. "You mean _you_ got Yakata-kun out of there?"

"Mm. Though I tried not to make it obvious that it was me…"

"I, well… huh. Guess that's something else to talk about." Naruto crossed his arms under the tree, closing his eyes in thought.

"Oh, if you want to, I'd be glad to," Hashiki said.

"Sure, sure," Naruto replied. "So… somehow, Itachi-san saw that you did that, and used that to try and get you to believe him, even though he was… using Murasaki's body, y'know."

"That seems to be the case, yes," Hashiki replied. "Though the girls were making things difficult, and Itachi-san got frustrated and left. I went and followed, saying I wanted to make sure the poor girl didn't get _hurt_, though I really wanted to see where she was going, and what the situation was with the Uchiha clan. You understand, I haven't exactly… been open about my identity or my abilities, so I was unsure about intervening in front of people, rather than in my forest, or in secret… But then I saw…"

And her face grew hard, almost wooden.

"…well, I saw _him_. My other. And I knew that, if the world knew about him, they could stand to know about me. So I took care of things from there, and once things were… settled, I brought the Uchiha clan to the hospital, and that's where we are now."

"By _him_ you mean that Riverman guy, right?" Naruto said.

Hashiki shrugged. "One of the Uchiha girls brought up that name, so I suppose that's what they've chosen to call him."

"Right… So he's your _other?_ What's that mean?"

Hashiki sighed for a long while. "This is where things get complicated, I suppose. But he and I… are two halves of one whole, horrible past. In one sense, he's my brother, while in another he's merely another victim of Orochimaru's experiments."

"Orochimaru made you?"

"Accidentally, I suppose. He never _intended_ for us to exist, I imagine. But we were created, anyways, when he attempted to summon two Hokages and ended up losing them. He gained us, though."

"The two Hokages—wait, you mean the Edo Tensei?" Hashiki nodded. "Okay, so… how'd _that_ happen, then?"

Hashiki sighed again. "It's complicated, like I said. It took me a long time to even guess at where I came from. The best I can do is just try and… pick through Kin's memories, since Hashirama's memories have almost nothing to do with things…"

"Wha-? Who are-"

Hashiki laughed, interrupting him. "I'm sorry, I'll explain. My old memories aren't the most coherent things, and I really try my best to sort them into either Kin's memories or Hashirama's memories—from two different lifetimes, you see. Hashirama's memories—those are Senju Hashirama's, the man that was brought down to earth from the summon. And Kin—she's not _me _any more, but she's who I _was_ before the summon happened." She paused, appraising Naruto's expression. "I'm sorry, did that make any sense?"

"…just keep goin', I'll figure it out eventually, y'know," Naruto said, waving a hand, his face still creased with concentration.

"Okay, all right. So, about… thirty years ago, one part of me was a Sound ninja named Tsuchi Kin. Orochimaru sent me out as part of a three-man squad, to… more or less stalk Uchiha Sasuke. And I do remember running into you and your teammates at that time—I apologize for that, by the way, Kin wasn't the kindest girl…"

Naruto struggled to remember. "Sound ninja, stalking Sasuke… Yeah, I guess I remember," he said, though he was truly too preoccupied with her story to fully retrieve the gray-and-brown memories.

Hashiki smiled in return. "We were also asked to participate in the chuunin exams, to the best of our ability, but I didn't make it past the preliminaries, and neither did another of my teammates, Abumi Zaku. We had to return to Sound after that, for our failure—Zaku lost his arms, and needed surgery—but instead, Orochimaru decided to use us as summoning fodder. And when he came to us to perform the ritual, he said it was under the pretext of giving us a mission to… redeem ourselves." The wooden coldness returned to her face. "By the time I realized what he was really trying to do to us, it was too late; but poor Zaku went to him like an underfed dog, loyal to the end. He never really understood that we were just raw materials to Orochimaru, especially since we'd failed in our mission.

"The next thing I remember—and this is my first _real _memory, the first memory that's really _mine—_I'm waking up on the roof of a building I don't know, covered in ashes and paper, and my body doesn't want to move like I want it to. But I see Zaku by me, looking in worse shape than me, and I manage to drag him away so I can figure out what's going on. And when he wakes up he's spouting nonsense—his hair's turned white, he has his arms back, he's calling me 'Brother' and saying we need to get back to Orochimaru, to complete our missions. And I'm doing all I can to try and comprehend things—and some part of me is responding to his blabbering, thinking it's _true_, but another part is trying to shake some sense into him. But I began getting upset and… well, I lost control of myself, and my gifts."

"Gifts?"

Hashiki placed a hand on the earth, and raised from it a swaying narcissus flower. "My Wood Release." She kept her eyes on the flower for a while, as she talked. "I suppose when Orochimaru's summons failed, for whatever reason, part of Kin's soul stayed in the summoned body, and part of Hashirama's stayed as well. And early on… I suppose they fought to be in control, which made the Wood Release very difficult to handle. Even now, if I want to use it excessively, I have to let Hashirama's half come through a bit more strongly, so I can work with it best. It makes me a bit… _mannish_, but it's nothing I can't handle."

"Really! Huh," Naruto said. "But—well, you're in control of these parts of you _now_, right?"

"Oh, yes, though through no small effort…" Hashiki replied. "What happened that first day was that my Wood Release completely overtook my body, and I slept in a tree, or as a tree, for I don't know how long. I suppose that gave me some time to balance out a bit, so when my tree was felled later—there was a _great _explosion of some sort, everything was leveled—I felt like more or less _one_ person. Though it took me a while to gain back my humanity, after that…" She chuckled, embarrassedly. "The first thing I did after I woke up was to grow a new forest to live and sleep in. And from my behavior in the years that passed, I might as well have been an _animal_. But that's, blessedly, in the past."

"So I can assume this never happened with the other guy," Naruto said.

"Zaku? No, it seems not…" She sighed. "I don't know where he went after I went to sleep, but from what I saw in him today, it seems like he was only able to gain some semblance of balance between _his_ two halves. He never found a middle identity like I did, I suppose. Just wandering, not sure if he's Zaku or Tobirama at any given time. I can't imagine how tortured he must have been, having to live like that…"

"Yeah… So, what's this middle identity thing?" Naruto said.

"A person I decided to be, not quite Hashirama or Kin, but someone in the middle. And that turned out to be The Woman of the Woods, first—when people caught sight of me in my Forest I'd hear that name, and I sort of started… cultivating an image for that. Actively letting myself be seen in bits and pieces so that more people would believe, almost like it would make my identity stronger as a result." She chuckled. "My life as Senritsu Hashiki came later. And it's certainly thanks to my dear Go'on; he brought out the most humanity in me, and I'm so grateful that he's in my life."

"How's that?" Naruto said, suddenly seeming to remember that, yes, the strange, fast child Go'on _was_ her son. This seemed to answer a series of invisible questions at the back of his mind, though the answers weren't quite comprehended.

"Well… before he came into my life, I lived alone in my Forest, watching over the things that lived in there, and helping whatever humans that wandered in, especially around the chuunin exam—some part of me, probably Hashirama, felt compelled to assist anyone in need. But one night, I felt something just _outside_ the forest, very small and weak and alone, so I went to investigate. Someone had abandoned a baby near the fence—a newborn, with the umbilical cord still attached. I was immediately stuck on what to do. Did I take it in? Leave it somewhere in the city? Leave it alone to die? The last thing I just _couldn't_ do, so I took the child in.

"I nurtured him on my chakra for a while, but I knew I couldn't just keep on like this, so I decided after a couple of weeks to see if I could leave him at an orphanage without drawing attention to myself. For a few days I'd sneak out to do a little investigating—I'd leave the child with animals that I trusted—and see what steps I could take to ensure his safety. But the more I searched, the more I didn't want to be parted with the child. And eventually I made the decision to begin a second life. I'd still guard over my forest, but I'd take on a name and a job in town, so that the child would be able to get an education and proper care and be able to make a life for himself as he grew up. It was basically learning to be human again," she added, with a laugh. "All for the sake of my Go'on. But it was worth it, I think."

"That is… very interesting," Naruto said, his face frozen into something that was fascinated, yet trying to stay serious.

"It's certainly not the most conventional upbringing," Hashiki replied, shrugging good-naturedly. "And despite my best intentions, Go'on ended up spending more time in my forest with me than in the outside world, like I wanted for him. But he just _loved_ it in there; almost more at home with the trees and animals than our apartment and human neighbors. And when he began school, I'd call him in sick so he could stay with me in the Forest for the chuunin exams—it's very difficult to get in and out of there with all the guards posted around the fence, that time of year, and I couldn't bear to_ not_ be present with so many children in danger. It was quite interesting for him to be on the other side of the action, this year…"

"Man, I bet," Naruto replied. "Dang, this is all… ridiculous. But _really_ interesting, y'know. I'm amazed you've managed to live so quietly s'far, Hashiki-san."

She smiled, warmly, back. "Just means I've done a good job, I bet. And besides, after living through two lifetimes of violence, I'd dreamed so much of having a quiet life that it was almost easy to step into one, once I was given the opportunity."

Naruto laughed. "Sure, I got that. So, um," he said, suddenly seeming to remember, "you said you settled things with that Riverman guy. Y'mind, uh, elaborating? Did you use a sealing technique on him?"

"Oh, no, I used a tree," she replied. "He'll sleep in there for as long as I want him to. He won't be hurting anyone any more. Not as long as I can help it."

"Oh, cool," Naruto replied, the logistics of using a tree to seal away something floating oil-like over the surface of his thoughts.

"So, if you could answer a question of_ mine?_" Hashiki said, almost meekly, after a short pause had passed.

"Sure, shoot!"

"This Murasaki-san, who requested my services on behalf of Itachi-san—is she a priestess of some sort? Since the channeling she seems to be capable of doesn't seem like an ordinary ninja technique."

"Murasaki is… special," Naruto replied, stretching his mouth into a half-grimace as he thought. "In all honesty, this is the first time she's done this where I've actually _believed_ her. She's done it before, but… well, not like this, y'know. Maybe it's 'cos Itachi was with her this time. He's a guy I trust."

"Goodness. Should we get back to her, then?" Hashiki said. "She was a bit roughed up when I left her with the Uchiha family."

"Yeah, let's do that. And, later, can you take me to that tree where you sealed up that Riverman?" Naruto said, as he got to his feet. "I wanna check it out for myself, y'know."

"Absolutely," Hashiki replied. As she left, the narcissus she had summoned sank back into the ground, as if it had never existed.

"Oh, by the way."

"Yes?"

"Would you care if I shared your story to Sakura later? Or would you rather do it?" Naruto said.

"I don't mind taking care of it myself, but… who is that, exactly?" Hashiki said, with a politely befuddled smile.

"Oh, she's the chief of medicine at the hospital, an' my teammate. Pink hair. She's been really involved with this whole Riverman business, and the Uchihas, y'know."

"Oh, by all means! I expect the news of my existence will be sort of spreading around in the next few days, so it's probably for the best that someone who knows what they're doing gets the straight story first," she replied. Her face suddenly got very serious, and she stopped walking. "However, should the rest of your council find out about me similarly, let them know that I _refuse_ to be used for _any_ sort of warfare in the future. You understand? I'm through with that."

Naruto, of all things, beamed in reply. "I wouldn't even _dream_ of that, y'know. C'mon, let's keep going."

Hashiki's smile, in return, was as warm as the sun.

They returned to the Emergency Room to find Sakura with a strange, shocked expression on her face. She was standing in between Murasaki and Inou, the latter of which had his hands in the diamond-sign. They seemed to be excitedly exchanging words between each other, and judging from the pauses, they were seemingly in a conversation with an invisible third party.

"Hey, guys, what's going on?" Naruto said.

Sakura grabbed the front of his jacket. "Naruto. Are you hearing this?"

"Hearing what?"

"_This!_" And she shoved him forward. "I mean, either Murasaki's hallucinations are so strong that others can hear them now, or—look, just listen, okay?!"

"Uh… okay? Karai-chan, you mind explaining…?" Naruto said, nudging the girl, who was sitting next to her brother.

"Inou and Murasaki-san are talking with someone named Shusuke. Sakura-sensei was just listening in; you wanna hear too?" She tapped her head.

"…Shusuke?" Naruto's voice had gotten a note quieter.

"Yeah, I only sorta know who he is… But he mentioned you, so, I figured you knew each other," Karai continued.

"…well, yeah, sure, how does it work, y'know?" Naruto said.

"Here, lean in so I can put my hand on your head," Karai replied. Hashiki stepped back so that he could do this, standing next to Sakura, who seemed to be growing increasingly excited. Karai put her other hand near Inou's temple, and closed her eyes.

_Seriously, I can't believe this, Saki-chan, this is SO great._

It sounded like a voice from a television with the sound turned down low.

But he still knew it, and he began grinning.

"Shusuke? Is that you?"

_Whoa, Naruto-sensei?! Sensei?! It's me! It's me, it's me! I'm here! I've been here all along and—Saki-chan, Sensei can hear me now, too!_

"Calm down, Shusuke, he knows." Murasaki was laughing, and her face almost seemed to glow. It was the happiest that Naruto had ever seen her.

(And Masao, sitting nearby, wore a weak, pale expression, as if his happy shock had drained the life from him.)

Naruto wiped a hot leak of tears coming out of his eyes with his forearm.

_Okay, okay, I'm sorry, I just—man, after all these years, who'd have thought! Hi, Sensei!_

"Hi to you too, Shusuke." Naruto had to laugh to keep from choking up too much. "It's good to hear that you're okay."

"Seriously, can you believe this?" Sakura, hearing all this from nearby, was jumping in again. "Either we're all going crazy or—this is a _breakthrough_."

Naruto pulled himself away from Karai's hand, wiping his eyes again. "Yep."

He figured he'd have time to talk about Hashiki with Sakura later.

He had a student to talk to.


	122. Friendly Enemy

_Chapter 122 - Friendly Enemy_

* * *

The announcement that Orochimaru had been defeated and detained went out over the speakers later in the afternoon. Sakura ended up putting together the best public explanation for Hashiki's involvement: that she was a survivor of one of Orochimaru's experiments, and decided to bravely come forward and intervene once she heard the announcement over the speakers.

"That'll be enough to cheer the public up, I think," she said. "Murasaki-chan's involvement might be a bit too complicated to explain in broad terms right now, so we'll figure out how to handle that later."

Hashiki was fine with that explanation, anyways. "Painting myself as an ordinary survivor is probably for the best. I don't think it would be proper to say that an urban legend just popped up and decided to help you!" she said, with a laugh.

("You sure weren't kidding when you said she knows what she's doing," Hashiki added, quietly, to Naruto, afterward. "Was she your major competition for Hokage?")

(Naruto just laughed in reply.)

The involvement of the Uchiha children in the rescue of their father, it seemed, would be best kept as a private wonder for the staff that had been asked to protect them. What mattered most was the immediate in this aftermath, anyways, and that included taking care of the Uchiha family themselves.

And the first matter of business was Takeru. Naruto and Sakura found the family in the lobby (which had emptied quite considerably, with the injured treated and finally able to go home) later in the afternoon; Inoichi was there, and had brought them all dinner.

"He's out of surgery," Sakura explained. "He'll be unconscious for a while, but he's out of the woods, for the most part. Once he's awake, we'll be able to assess his pain levels and the full extent of the damage, so we can decide what to do about therapy."

"Therapy?" Ino said.

Sakura kept her eyes down for a few moments too long. "His back was broken, Ino. And with more surgery and physical therapy we'll probably be able to get him to walk again. But there's been… irreversible damage, and even with our best efforts, he'll probably never be able to work as a jounin again."

Ino didn't say anything, only exhaling, moan-like, and covering her eyes with her hands. Inoichi put an arm around her shoulders.

"But we're optimistic! He's alive, and the physical therapy we have available now is excellent," Sakura continued, stretching a smile over her mouth. "Thirty years ago, injuries like this used to be a life-or-death matter, even with Tsunade-sensei, but now it's much easier to recover from. All things considered, Takeru will probably only need a wheelchair for the first year of therapy. Less if he heals well and sticks to a consistent regimen…"

Ino didn't say anything, exhaling again.

So Sakura reached forward and held Ino's hands in her own. "He'll be _okay_, Ino. And I'm gonna be with you every step of the way with this, okay?"

Ino nodded a few times and took a hand out of Sakura's grasp to rub at her eye. "And Sasuke, how is he?"

"Oh, he's… recovering well. He has some fractures in his ribs, arm, and ankle, and he's got a nasty concussion, but he's resting and will be free to leave in a few days, I'm sure…"

"Oh, that's… great, I'm glad." Ino's voice wavered.

"And the rest of us aren't that injured at all, Mom!" Karai added, tugging on her mother's collar from where she sat beside her, smiling. She had a bandage on her forehead and another on her cheek, for the leftover bumps and scrapes from her encounter with the Riverman.

(Hajime's lip still hadn't fully healed, and he had an angry bruise on one side of his brow. But those weren't from the Riverman.)

"You have to stay optimistic, Ino," Sakura added. "Everyone's being cared for, and nobody's in danger now."

"For now…" Ino said, quietly.

"Hey, hey, that Riverman guy isn't going anywhere, y'know," Naruto said, waving his hands. "Actually, I'm gonna head off with Hashiki-san in a bit to check out the, uh, seal she put on him, just to make sure, okay?"

"Ah, sure…" Ino said.

(Though both he and Sakura knew who she was really worried about. Almost everyone present did.)

"I think the best course of action for now is for you all to go home and get some sleep," Sakura said. She put her hands into her pockets, adding an air of professional opinion. "I imagine you're all exhausted."

"…well, um, Sakura-sensei… we don't really have a home to go back _to_ right now…" Karai said, quietly.

"Karai, what do you mean?" Hajime said. He, of course, was sitting

"The Riverman destroyed our house, while he was looking for Dad. Not… Grandpa's house, ours."

Ino's head just lowered slightly.

"…sorry I didn't mention anything earlier…" Karai continued, more quietly.

"I'm really sorry, you guys," Naruto said. "I'll see if there's any way I can help with that, I promise."

"And you can stay with me as long as you need to, sweetheart," Inoichi added, rubbing Ino's shoulder. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Mm…" Ino said.

"Will you take them home with you, then, Inoichi-san?" Sakura said.

"I want to stay, the rest of you go home," Ino said, her voice like thick glass. "I need to be here."

"…Ino, are you sure?" Sakura said.

Ino just nodded. "I'm sure there's a place I can stay here. So I can be near my hus…" The words dried in her mouth. "Be near Sasuke. And Takeru."

"…of course, I can find you a bed," Sakura said. She cleared her throat. "Besides, Nadeshiko-chan's in Yakata-kun's room, and I don't think she'll be leaving any time soon…"

"Thank you," Ino said. She adjusted her shoulders, sitting up straighter. "Well, Daddy, can you take the kids home? You all should get some rest."

"Mom." Inou was frowning deeply, where he leaned against the wall with a can of soda. "C'mon, I don't wanna leave you _alone _here…"

"Oh, hush, I won't be alone. I have Sakura, and… Nadeshiko will be with me here, too. No reason for you to be moping around the hospital just to keep me from being _lonely_." A burnt-sugar smile was on Ino's face. "You've done enough today, besides."

"Come on, son," Inoichi said. He began to stand, kissing Ino on the head before he went. "You need me, honey, I'm there."

"Thanks, Daddy…" Ino said.

"Ino, why don't you come with me, and I'll get you situated?" Sakura said, extending a hand as Inoichi began gathering the children around him. "I'm sure I can get you a nice bed in the general ward…"

"I'll be going too," Naruto said, wiggling his fingers at Sakura to get her attention. "Gonna go, uh, check on some things."

"You do that," Sakura said, though she sounded distracted.

Naruto, shrugging, and waving goodbye at Karai before leaving, went to go find Hashiki.

There was a tree he needed to see.

But he had to find Hashiki first, and he did.

He found her somewhat occupied in the lobby of the hospital; two boys and a man were with her, all of which Naruto somewhat recognized.

"Go'on-kun, you'll have to tell me more! I mean, really, are you serious?" the paler of the boys was burbling.

"Kyou-kun, please…"

"Kyou, son, we ought to be getting home. We can talk to Hashiki-san and Go'on-kun later," the man was saying. He had one arm in a sling.

"Oh, really, I don't mind." Hashiki waved a hand dismissively. "If you need to go home, though, don't let me keep you."

"Yeah, we can, uh, talk tomorrow, Kyou-kun, okay?" Go'on added.

Naruto stood back and waited for Kyou and his father to leave before going up to talk to the mother and son himself.

"What's this, is that Go'on-kun?" he said, in approaching. "When did you get here, y'know?"

"Oh, um, well, see, Hokage-sama…" Go'on's mouth was tangled.

"It's okay, sweetheart, he knows what I'm capable of," Hashiki said, squeezing him affectionately. "I sent a sign to him, to where he was staying in my Forest, to come find me. He hasn't been here long."

"Huh, cool," Naruto said.

"Is everything all right?" Hashiki continued.

"Oh yeah, I just wanted to know if you could bring me to that, uh, tree, y'know. Where you sealed the Riverman."

Hashiki nodded. "Of course. Go'on, you can come with us."

"Where are we going?" he asked. He held her hand as they stood and began to walk.

"Where I've been today, sweetheart," she replied, and very little else was said the rest of the way.

Naruto had to whistle as they entered the Uchiha Memorial, however. "Dang, it's almost unrecognizable, y'know," he said.

Hashiki's shoulders rose with a nervous smile. "Yeah, you can definitely notice my influence, huh…"

"You made all these, Mom?" Go'on said.

"Yes, my dear."

Go'on's head tilted upward, eyes in the pink-washed canopy of the trees. "I like it."

She laughed. "Thank you, Go'on." She gestured towards Naruto. "His tree is this way, up a ways."

Naruto knew he was looking at it long before Hashiki pointed it out.

It was incredibly thick, and much taller than the trees that surrounded it. The wood of the trunk was almost bleached in its paleness, and twisted deeply and tightly into itself. Leaves drifted, here and there, from the night-like green of its branches. Naruto stood away from it with his hands in his pockets, his mouth somewhat open.

(There was nothing but sleep within that tree, enormous and curled, like a bear or some other great, dormant animal.)

"So this is it, huh," he said.

Hashiki let go of Go'on's hand and ran her fingers over the smooth wood. "Yes, he is at rest here," she said.

"Who is, Mom?" Go'on said.

"Your uncle, I suppose," she replied, still focused on the tree.

"You have a brother, Mom?"

"A long time ago, yes, I had a brother." She rested her forehead against the wood, now, closing her eyes.

Go'on went up to the tree, at first beside her, then trailing his fingers on the horizontal grooves of the trunk, walking around it.

"How long d'you think it'll last? This tree, I mean," Naruto asked.

Hashiki looked back at him. "He'll sleep in here for as long as I can manage."

"And… how long is _that_, y'know…?"

"The roots of all these surrounding trees that I made went into his tree," she replied. "It's strong, and unless I say so, it will not yield, if he should ever wake. But I highly doubt he will."

"Ah, good!" Naruto said. "So he's not going anywhere."

"No, again, not if I can help it," Hashiki replied. She sighed, deeply. "I can only hope he doesn't struggle, really. He was in such pain when we fought."

"He's at peace, Hashiki-san. I can feel it." He smiled slightly as he went up to touch the tree himself.

"Feel it…?"

"I got a… friend with me that lets me feel what others are feeling," he said. "A fox, y'know. He doesn't say much these days, though."

"Ah, wait! The nine-tails, you mean." Naruto nodded, and Hashiki smiled warmly. "So you're like Mito, then. I understand, now."

"Mito…" Naruto's face pinched in thought. "Wait, the First Hokage's wife, right?" Hashiki nodded, her smile growing. "Yeah, you _would_ remember her, wouldn't you?"

"Yes."

"Who's Mito, Mom?" Go'on had walked entirely around the trunk, now, and poked his head out sideways.

"A _very_ dear friend of mine from before you were born, my sweet," she replied.

"Oh, okay," he said, and went back to tracing his fingers over the wood of the bark.

"If you don't mind, though, I'd like to stay here and… watch over my brother for a while," Hashiki said, returning to Naruto.

"Stay as long as you want," Naruto replied. "I think I'll be back in the morning to make sure he's still, uh, sleeping, y'know."

Hashiki nodded. "That sounds like a fine idea. You ought to get some rest yourself, anyways. Those injuries of yours don't look pleasant."

"What, these?" Naruto touched the bandages visible through the collar of his t-shirt. "Oh, I'll be fine by tomorrow, honest."

"Are you sure…?"

"_Trust_ me. I'll be fine, y'know! I've been worse off," Naruto replied, waving a hand.

"I'll take your word for it, then," Hashiki replied, and leaned against the tree, waving. "Have a good night."

"You too, Hashiki-san, Go'on-kun," Naruto said, waving back.

"Good night, Hokage-sama!" Go'on seemed to have climbed into the upper branches of the tree, and had extended an arm down to wave.

He could hear them talking to each other, once he had gotten a ways away: "Are you hungry, dear?"

"A little, Mom."

"How about some fruit, does that sound good?"

"Ah yeah, could I have a pear, please?"

A laugh. "As usual. A pear it is."

(If he'd have looked over his shoulder, then, Naruto would have seen a little tree joining the great seal-tree, and Go'on leaving his perch to pluck his snack from it.)

But instead, Naruto walked back to the hospital, taking his time on account of the stiff, mending pain in his shoulder. And he updated Sakura on the Riverman situation, stepping briefly into her office, and wishing her a good night as well.

And then he inhaled deeply, and went to do something he'd really been putting off—half out of discomfort, half out of the problems of others taking priority.

Sasuke had been given his own room, and was already in a hospital gown beneath the sheets of his bed. He had bandages around his forehead, and a brace on his wrist. Both eyes were turning a deep, ghoulish purple around the sockets, where the swelling hadn't subsided.

Naruto stood in the doorway, just looking at him, before finally talking. "Hey, Sasuke."

Sasuke didn't say anything back, of course. But Naruto went to his bedside, and kept talking anyways.

"How you feelin'? You took quite a beating, y'know." Naruto laughed a little during his pause. "Just thought I'd, uh, update you on some things, y'know. We got that Riverman guy sealed away, finally. He won't be hurting anyone any more, so that's good news…"

Sasuke continued to breathe, evenly, where he was lying.

"And your family's all safe. Ino's staying at the hospital to look after you an' Takeru-kun—has she stopped by already? Ah, well." He cleared his throat. "An' Sakura told me that Takeru's surgery for his injuries went well, so he'll recover soon. That'll be nice, right?"

No response.

"Everything's just getting back to normal, really," Naruto continued. "Though, uh—well, we're gonna try our best with Yakata-kun, y'know, to get Orochimaru out of him. I'm sure we'll be able to manage, poor kid…"

Sasuke inhaled deeply, but the deep blue misery-sleep with him didn't change.

Naruto put a hand on his shoulder, and patted him. "Things'll get better, man. I promise, y'know. You just focus on getting better yourself, all right?"

A pocket of air passed between Sasuke's lips, making something like a "Pff" sound—if he were conscious, a dismissal.

"Take care of yourself, Sasuke. I'll visit you again soon, y'know," Naruto said, and left.

(Though after Naruto had gone, Sasuke's eyes creaked open through the bruises, and he sighed for a long while.)

And in the lobby, on the way out, however, Naruto ran into: "Yomena?"

She looked over her shoulder at him from where she'd been drifting in the lobby. Her purple overcoat had disappeared. "Hokage-sama?"

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Naruto walked with light, little steps over to her. "I thought you'd gone home by now, y'know."

"I decided to stay until everyone that wanted to go home was able to, of course," she replied. "I was an escort for some. But it seems everyone has gone."

"Yeah, thank goodness," Naruto said.

And a light, little suggestion came upon him.

"Hey, you wanna walk home with me?" he said. "I mean, we're both headin' the same way, y'know."

(He held a shallow breath, waiting for her response, remembering all too clearly how she had rejected him the week before.)

But Yomena tilted her head. "I don't see why not. I'd be… glad to walk home with you, Hokage-sama."

(There was a small turn of emotion within her, like a fish cresting just below the water.)

"Hey, great! Now I won't feel so lonely, y'know," Naruto said, his smile gold-plated.

And she, of all things, smiled back, a gleam in her lapis lazuli eyes.

They talked a bit, along the way—well, it was mostly Naruto that did the talking. He told her everything that had happened that day in the best order he could remember, about Orochimaru the body-stealer and the bravery of Ooda against him—though Naruto was careful to keep Ooda's speech about him being a creation of Orochimaru's intact. He figured it was the best protection for the boy he could offer, especially since Gaara and everyone else knew it and believed it.

It wasn't until he got to the part about Murasaki the body-lender and the twin enigmas of Hashiki and the Riverman that Yomena began asking questions, which Naruto answered to the best of his befuddled ability.

"Why the sudden interest in _this_ part, y'know?" he asked, to follow up one of his answers. Before Yomena could speak, however, he continued: "Oh, wait, it's because you're, uh, a priestess, right? That's your job to know 'bout these things, huh?"

"…yes, actually." Yomena's eyebrows had risen slightly. "I've never heard of such things happening with souls, of course. I would like to speak to this Murasaki woman sometime."

"She's a student of mine, y'know," Naruto said, grinning with unmistakable pride. "I could introduce you two, easy."

"Is that so," Yomena said. "Well, I shall keep that offer in mind, of course."

"Just let me know whenever. I'm sure she'd love to meet you too, y'know. I might tag along, though, just letting you know," he added.

"Hm? Why's that?"

"Well, I'm tryin' to understand this stuff Murasaki does better, now that we know it's real—but I'd also sorta like to hear about what _you_ do, Yomena. I mean, unless that stuff's secret, y'know." He shoved a hand behind his neck with the smile.

And Yomena actually laughed, slightly. "I would be glad to discuss what I do with you, of course, Hokage-sama."

"Over dinner?" There was a jest at the end of his words.

"…perhaps, yes. But at a later time, of course," she replied.

"Sounds cool. Let's make a date for it," Naruto said, and she laughed again.

They had only a short while to go before reaching Naruto's house, so there wasn't much more conversation. But they both said "Good night" to each other before returning to their bedrooms, and Naruto fell asleep feeling actually at ease with everything. Not just the situation with Karin and Ooda, or with Sasuke's family, or with the Riverman—but also with Yomena being in his house.

Maybe something had changed in her. He didn't want to presume, or anything, but his natural optimism and actually hearing her laugh was certainly proof of something.

He slept for a long while, and woke to the smell of her incense, like a welcome. And after unwinding the now-useless bandages from his chest and shoulders—the wounds had all but disappeared, as expected—he ate breakfast alone, as usual, but stuck his head into Yomena's room to wish her good day, and to tell her he'd be back in the evening. She waved gently back, the tips of her fingers forming a crescent in the air.

Things had kind of exploded by the time he got to the Hokage Manor, though.

The local newspaper had, of course, covered the events of the previous day. The headline: "Orochimaru's Last Victims Become Heroes."

The cover page, while lacking in photographs of either of them, was all about Hashiki and Ooda.

And the heads of the Taki clan—meaning Tensho, Nobuhiro, and Mikan—were at the Manor, wanting very much to know what, exactly, had gone on.

"Where's this Ooda guy, I wanna shake his hand." Nobuhiro was rustling and fidgeting madly in his search for Naruto.

"Naruto! Could you help with this, please?" Andou had been trying to answer their questions to the best of his ability, having arrived in Naruto's office before him, and looking rather like a drowning otter—normally so proficient, but overwhelmed here.

"Hey, hey, guys!" Naruto approached them with upheld hands, and a lightbulb smile. "What do you need?"

"We read the news this morning, 'bout the people who took care of the Orochimaru problem yesterday." Tensho pushed to the front of the group. "And consid'ring the trouble we've had with the guy in the past, we wanna find a way to reward 'em."

"Trouble, huh?"

"He gave us a bad opinion of ninjas 'cos of some stuff he did to… things, an' for that we… apologize." It was Nobuhiro, this time; his face was slightly flushed. "So this is the least we can do."

(There was healing pain, pink, like new flesh, underneath Nobuhiro's words. And pale, honey-golden affection, shimmering like gloss above it.)

"Ahh, I see, I see!" Naruto said. "Well… hm. Andou-kun, d'you think there's a way we could form a fund for this, an' split up the money later? A way to keep it, uh, organized?"

The magic word. Andou's smile was very fine in reply, like a perfect brushstroke. "Considering all the people we've gotten already asking about the 'heroes' today, I believe that a donation pool is just the thing we need," he said. "Boss Tensho, Nobuhiro-san, you can come with me, and we'll get some paperwork done."

"Sounds great," Tensho said, and the two of them followed the Hyuuga boy into another wing of the Manor.

Mikan, however, stayed in Naruto's office, seemingly unnoticed. Naruto, who had gone to his desk to read the morning letters, didn't notice himself until he'd reached for the thin letter-opener in a jar on the corner.

"Uh, did you need something else, Mikan-san?"

"Well, pardon me for assuming, but the mother of this Ooda fellow in the paper wouldn't happen to be named… Karin, would she?" she said, her candy-apple lips puckered into a smile that was trying to knot into itself.

A wrinkled crisis of a memory tapped Naruto's mind, gently. "…yeah. Don't you two know each other, y'know?"

Mikan nodded, her eyes wrinkling with her smile. "Indeed we do. I had no idea she was here until the story this morning. Is she all right?"

"Oh, yeah, I saw her yesterday," Naruto replied. "She, uh, had her baby, actually! I was kinda worried, y'know, but things turned out fine for both of 'em."

"Did she! Oh, I'll _have_ to visit her now," Mikan said. She flipped her hand, housewife-ish. "Plus it's been so very long since I've seen Ooda-kun; I can only imagine how much he's grown."

"You know him too?"

She nodded again. "Yes, though my husband seems to have been unaware of him until now. Probably the best way he could have found out, what happened recently. Especially with Nobuhiro being so _progressive_ lately!"

"Yeah, what's up with that?" Naruto said. He leaned forward on his desk. "It feels like he's… turned over a new leaf lately, y'know."

"Call me a gossip, but I think he _met_ someone while he was here," Mikan replied; she positioned her hand by her mouth as if she were whispering. "And she's been changing his mind on some things, I think."

"Whoa, like, a ninja woman?"

"It can't be anything else," Mikan replied. "I've never seen him so even-headed."

"Well I'll be. Good on him, then! An' whoever his lady friend is, y'know." Naruto laughed with his mouth open, after that, and Mikan joined him.

"Yes, I'm happy for him too," Mikan said. "But, anyways. Do you suppose anyone would object if I went to visit Karin?"

"I'd bring it up to Sakura, first—she's a friend of mine an' Karin-san's, and she runs the hospital—but I don't see why not, 'specially 'cos you and Karin-san already know each other so well."

"Sakura… A lovely name, I'll be sure to remember that," Mikan replied. "Thank you for your time and your help, Hokage-san."

"Please, just Naruto."

She chuckled. "I've always liked informality in a leader. It keeps things smooth. All right, Naruto-san. Thank you."

"You take care, Mikan-san," he replied, waving, and went back to his business.

The donation pool that Andou set up that morning ended up being far more useful than intended. Money went into it, yes, from the Taki clan, but also letters forwarded from the newspaper, whose staff had no idea how to contact Hashiki or Ooda or anyone else—the story was written purely on official reports and press releases, after all.

"We should have these sorted and delivered properly once the flow slows down," Andou said, stopping to place a small box of the letters in Naruto's office. "I'm sure that it would be appreciated."

"Yeah, definitely," Naruto replied. There was a pinkish-red blotch on his forehead from where his palm had been propping his head up.

He'd been reviewing damage reports since morning, and though the destruction truly wasn't that extravagant, there were lots of small businesses that needed their buildings fixed, and that required signing paperwork that would transform the requests for repair into D-rank missions for genin to do. The reports were annoyingly thorough, and the writing would get blurry unless Naruto remembered to rub his eyes every few minutes and shake his head to get his bearings again.

Sometime after noon, he managed to finish the rush of orders and escape for lunch and other pressing issues.

The first matter was checking the progress on Yakata's recovery.

"A Hyuuga nurse was able to block off Orochimaru's chakra at his neck and shoulders, so it can't flow into his arms and legs again," Sakura reported, when he came by and asked. "But no sign of Yakata himself coming through. Torture and Interrogation's sending a mind-diver in this afternoon, though."

"Hey, that's great. I'm sure they'll be able to make more progress, y'know," Naruto replied, with his usual confidence, and Sakura sighed as she nodded in return. "By the way, did a woman named Mikan come by earlier, asking to see Karin-san?"

"Mikan? Yes, one of the nurses sent her to me. I wasn't sure what to do until she mentioned that she was Kiine's mother, and I remembered that Karin had brought her up, and-"

"Great, just wanted to make sure that she was let through! She wanted to visit pretty badly, y'know," Naruto said, and laughed a little.

"Huh, okay," Sakura said, laughing awkwardly as well.

"How's Karin-san doing, by the way?"

"Recovering well. And little Osato's doing fine, as well. We have him in an incubator just to be safe, on account of his prematurity, but he's otherwise very healthy."

"Thank goodness," Naruto said, sighing, his shoulders relaxing. They sprang back up a second later, though. "Well, I'll be back later!"

"Where are you off to?" Sakura said, catching him midway through her door.

"Gotta make sure that Riverman guy's still asleep, y'know."

And that was exactly where he went.

Hashiki and Go'on were both there, as expected, but there was one person there he did not expect.

"Yomena? Hey, what are you doing here?"

Yomena had been inspecting the trunk with both hands held still and finger-spread over the wood, and her head snapped back at his voice. "Oh, Hokage-sama. Is this that tree you were telling me about yesterday?"

"Yeah, how'd you know to find it, though?" Naruto continued, joining her.

"The spiritual air of the area got me extremely curious, of course. I've never felt anything like it before."

"She just wandered over here all by herself," Hashiki added. Go'on was hanging, shyly, behind her. "You know her, Naruto-san?"

"Yeah, she's my daughter," he replied, and the ease in which the words came out of him took him by surprise. "I mean, uh—Yomena, this is Senritsu Hashiki-san, she's the woman with the Wood Release I told you about yesterday, and her son, Go'on, y'know."

(There was a molten, golden bubble of recognition within Yomena, at his words, and it widened her eyes and flushed her cheeks.)

"A… pleasure to meet you both, 'course," Yomena said, bowing.

"Same goes to you. I had no idea you had a daughter, Naruto-san," Hashiki said.

"Yeah, well, I'm a surprising guy, what can I say, y'know," Naruto replied, slapping on a grin, and a quick set of words. "So you felt something here, huh, Yomena?"

She closed her eyes, returning to the wood of the trunk, closing her eyes. "Two souls here, and they're… clinging to each other, sapping off each other—like… a parasite and a host, only they're both parasites, drinking each other's souls…"

"…you can feel all that?" Naruto said.

She opened her eyes, leaning back to look at him. "I've been trained to feel such things since I was a child, of course. But this is something I've never felt before."

"Your daughter was just talking to me about how she might be able to… perform rites and allow him to rest in peace," Hashiki nudged in, stepping forward once.

"Can you do that, really?" Naruto said. "I mean, or is it just a ritual for ceremony's sake, y'know…"

"I'm capable of performing exorcisms and other related rites, of course." There was warm pride in Yomena's words. "I'm fully capable of dismissing spirits from where they do not belong."

"If you're able to do that, please, put my brother to rest by sending his spirit off," Hashiki said, with another step. "All I could think of last night was his pain. It would be best for him."

"I would be glad to perform such a duty for you, Hashiki-san. Whichever spirit resting within his body is the true parasite, I'm sure I will be able to remove, of course." She bowed slightly.

"Please, if it ends up being… both of them, don't hesitate to send them off."

"Absolutely, ma'am. I could get started right now if you wanted."

"Whoa, whoa, hold on, you're gonna do this exorcism-thingy now, y'know?" Naruto said.

"It's Hashiki-san's decision, and I have the materials I need with me, of course," Yomena replied. She opened the front of her jacket and took out a slim stack of paper. "My prayer slips, and my prayer beads. This should do fine."

"You sure nothing's gonna go wrong?" Naruto said.

Ember-like ambition lined the corners of her eyes. "I have no reason to believe anything would."

"If there's a struggle, though, I will confine it," Hashiki said. "Everything will be all right."

Naruto stepped away, feeling the mysteries welling up around his feet. "You don't mind if I watch, then, do you…?"

"Not at all," Yomena said. "Hashiki-san?"

"Please, stay," Hashiki said.

So Naruto did, and he watched.

Yomena took the prayer slips and posted four of them around the trunk of the tree; they were covered in winding, incoherent calligraphy, each character seeming to form the borders of the other. Once that was done, she took her place at the front of the tree, with Hashiki. Go'on stepped back, much like Naruto did, watching with his chin tucked near his chest.

"Keep your hand near him, if you must," Yomena instructed, and Hashiki did so.

With her left hand, Yomena rotated a small string of wooden beads, and kept her right hand firmly upright, the thumb pressed against the palm. The words she was chanting were as incoherent as her prayer slips, but they vibrated with power, and quivered as they traveled through Naruto's ears down into his spine.

Then, the ground below them began to glow. Lines formed, tracing a perfect series of intersecting circles around them, casting blue light against the pale trunk of the tree. As the light intensified, so too did Yomena's voice, her murmuring increasing in volume and speed. Hashiki closed her eyes tighter.

There was a stiff, creaking sound that followed: the tree, which seemed to be straining against itself. Hashiki spread her fingers further, and Naruto could see the trunk twisting slightly more tightly into itself, drawing itself up taller.

Naruto held his breath.

The light rose to a blinding climax, and Naruto could barely see Yomena thrust out her bead-covered left hand, pulling her right hand back to her chest.

And all of a sudden, it was over. Yomena was gasping for air, bent over. "It is… done…" she said. "The spirits are… dismissed…"

Naruto ran up to support her long before she was able to lean against the tree in tiredness. The prayer slips seemed to have burned off in the burst of light. "You okay there?"

"I've never… had to expend so much effort…" Yomena replied.

"Let's sit you down." Naruto guided Yomena to the trunk of a nearby tree; she was already catching her breath, however.

Hashiki was running her fingers across the tree with strange delicacy, before she spread both arms wide, as if she were drawing curtains. The tree seemed to unwind upon itself, the smooth grooves making up its trunk loosening and reverting to individual vines. A hole appeared in the middle, growing wider as the vines parted.

And a very small body tumbled out, and into Hashiki's arms.

He was wearing tattered, skin-colored clothes, and ashes and paper shreds fell away from him freely. His arms ended at the elbow, and his legs were severely pale and emaciated, but dry, and clean, lacking the rot of a corpse.

"Oh, Zaku, I'd forgotten how small you were…" Hashiki said. "You poor thing. I'm so sorry…"

She held him, without words, for a while.

And then, to Naruto's mild surprise, she returned his body to the tree, placing it in the hollow and tucking his legs to his chest, like a mother returning a child to bed.

"Hashiki-san, what are you doing…?" he asked.

"He's at rest now. And I can think of no more beautiful a grave than this, for my brother," she replied.

And as the tree closed around the body of the boy who had once been a monster, Naruto sighed, and nodded. "It's definitely a beautiful place to rest, Hashiki-san."

There was great sadness, in her smile, but also relief. Wiping her eyes, she bent down, pushing her hair back over her shoulder. "Oh, Go'on, come here and give me a hug."

Go'on was more than willing to oblige.

Yomena had caught her breath, in the meantime, and was standing again. "I'm glad to have been of service, Hashiki-san. May your brother rest in peace."

Hashiki, her head nestled into Go'on's shoulder, nodded. "I can only hope."

And Naruto, in the meanwhile, seemed to have had an idea. He nudged Yomena's shoulder. "Hey, that thing you just did, y'know—normally, with like… an exorcism or whatever, it's taking away a bad spirit from a person and the person's left okay in the end, right?"

"…yes, I suppose?" Yomena replied, blinking.

"How soon until you can do that again?"

"…whenever, it's not usually terribly taxing for me, of course," she replied. Her eyebrows were knit in confusion. "Why do you ask?"

"I think I know someone else in need of your services, y'know."


	123. Free Prisoner

_Chapter 123 - Free Prisoner_

* * *

Upon receiving the assignment that they were to attempt to extract Orochimaru's psyche from the mind of Honbo Yakata, or to pull the boy forth and back into control, the Torture and Interrogation department knew exactly who they needed to hire.

Moegi herself went to the Yamanaka compound to get him.

"We have a mission for Uchiha Inou," she announced, when she was greeted at Inoichi's door. "Is he available?"

Inou was indeed available, and agreed to go with her without much need for explanation.

(He already had an idea as to why he'd be needed.)

"Do you need me, as well?" Inoichi asked, as they were leaving.

"No, Inoichi-sama. But I appreciate your asking," Moegi replied, and with Inou beside her, began towards the hospital.

Inou spoke to her not far from the house. "Erm, Moegi-san, ma'am, why do you need just me and not my grandfather? If you don't mind my asking."

Moegi looked over the line of her shoulder at him. "It isn't obvious? Everyone in the department is well aware that you're far more skilled than he is, especially after your impressive display with the Orochimaru clone. You alone are more than enough for us." One side of her lip curled, upward. "Does that answer your question?"

"Y-yes, ma'am," Inou said, quivering with recognition.

(Moegi's smile grew, seeing the rise of power over him.)

And she proceeded to inform him of his mission, and he, once again, accepted.

Nadeshiko was in Yakata's hospital room, when they entered. She sat by his bedside, still in the clothes she had entered in. When she blinked, her eyelashes fluttered slightly; she was exhausted, clearly, and seeing this distressed Inou.

"You okay there, Nadeshiko?" he asked.

"Don't worry about me," was her dry-breath reply.

"Would you like for her to leave?" Moegi asked; her hands were folded behind her back.

(Nadeshiko had one hand clenched into the sheets below Yakata's bed, her knuckles white, the closest she could bring herself to touching him.)

"…no, let her stay," Inou said. "Yakata-kun… is really close to her. It'll help, knowing she's here, waiting for him."

Nadeshiko's head, with its tattered hair, tilted to her lap.

"Very well, then. Are you able to get into a comfortable reading position?" Moegi continued.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Keep in mind that he is heavily sedated, so things may be somewhat more difficult," she continued. "If you need assistance-"

"I think I'll be able to manage on my own, ma'am," Inou said, raising his hand to stop her. "If I can't, I'll be sure to ask."

"Very well," Moegi said again, her voice pulled in. "Proceed."

"Yes, ma'am."

Inou gently positioned his hand over Yakata's forehead, spreading his fingers so that they cupped the crown.

He closed his eyes, and he dove.

Deep.

He had to worm his way through much material on the way; layers upon layers of slimy, black thought, like intestines knotted into each other. Of course, he had the capacity to form a stage out of them, but he didn't want to.

Yakata would be far away from this, wherever he was.

He dove until there was nothing left to find, and that was where he came to rest.

The place was a vast expanse of whiteness with no beginning and no end. Of course, this was exactly what he wanted; Yakata's mind was in flux over ownership, and foggy with medicine besides. Inou felt he'd be able to coax the boy's consciousness out, somehow, if he pulled in, like a magnet collecting iron filaments.

He got on one knee, running his hand across the vaguely-defined floor, as if sweeping dust away.

_Whatever's under here, let me see it_, he commanded, without words.

The world got more brittle at the edges. Inou stood; his stance was careful, fearing the floor.

"Yakata-kun?" He called out, into the white void. "If you hear me, please, let me know! It's me, Inou!"

There was a sound like a low, far-off wind, and it carried a human moan with it.

"Are you all right?" he continued. "I have Nadeshiko with me, outside here! She's worried about you!"

"No..." the wind seemed to moan. "Why…"

Inou began to perceive great, gray hills receding into the misty distance, like pencil drawings, crackling as they came into being. Yakata's rules were being defined; his job was getting easier, and he took a deeper breath.

"It's okay, Yakata-kun! She's not angry at you. I'm not either. We're just worried. Are you okay?"

"Why, _why…_" The wind was far more apparent now, and it whipped in Inou's face fiercely, carrying with it static-hard bits of mental snow. "_No_…"

Inou raised his hands to cover his face, and chanced a step forward. "You're not okay?"

"I… Hide…!" The gusts slammed against him further. "_I… Hide…!_"

"Yakata-kun, please, don't hide, I won't hurt you!" Inou called. "You don't need to hide, it's okay."

"Stay away… stay away…!" The sound was beginning to sound less like wind and more like the high whine of a terrified child.

"I won't stay away, Yakata-kun. I'm staying here until I know you're okay. So Nadeshiko knows you're okay."

Inou sat down, crossing his legs, on the white ground.

"Come on out. Can you come where you can see me clearly?" He leaned forward a little, encouragingly. "Go on, it's all right."

He waited, breathing.

And after a short while, the particles of thought converged into a column of wind before him, and began to come together into something that looked like the monochrome form of a boy, crouched on the ground, holding his knees.

"There we go, is that better…?" Inou said, gently. He shifted his position, so that he was sitting on his knees now. "Are you all right?"

The projection shook his head. "Nuh… n-no…" The words sounded stretched, slow and pulled-on.

"What's the matter?" Inou said.

"I… I can't m-move my, my, my body."

"I know, Yakata-kun. I'm sorry. But we'll fix that together, all right?"

But the projection went on. "A-and, and, and, and I, and I saw, I saw everything…!"

And he raised his head, and the black-and-gray outline of his face looked terrified.

"I, I hurt s-so, so, so many people…!"

"Yakata-kun, that's not your fault! You didn't do those things. It's okay. We understand."

The projection was falling apart somewhat, leaking bits of itself back into the wind. "No… No…"

And a lush, full-throated whisper joined the wind.

"_Monster…_"

Inou knew the voice, and he steeled himself.

"You're not a monster, Yakata-kun. People will understand, _honest_. Just listen to me, all right?"

"No, no, no, no, n-nobody will, will understand, I, I'm better off n-not ever c-coming back…"

The projection was just a bare outline, now, and he was clutching his head, digging his face into his knees.

"…Nadeshiko will understand, Yakata-kun."

He stopped losing a little bit of himself.

"She's been through things like this, hasn't she? And nobody knows her like you do, Yakata-kun."

The projection nestled further into itself, but it seemed to grow more solid.

"I understand if you can't talk to me about it. If you don't think I'll trust you. But she will. You can talk to her all you want, you just have to come forward a little more. Can you do that?"

The projection lifted his head. "Wh-why, why isn't she here…"

"Because she's outside, Yakata-kun. Waiting for you to come back. This is a place she can't enter, not by herself. You understand?"

"_If she really cared…" _the wind hissed, "_she'd be here…_"

"She… n-no, it's because she… she hates me now… I-I hurt people, and she, she, she…"

"Nadeshiko doesn't hate you." Inou's words were a loud shield. "She…"

(And Inou had to make sure his words, which would be so much clumsier in the air, were not coming from his mouth.)

"She loves you, Yakata-kun. She loves you a whole _lot_. And if you never came back… she'd be very sad to lose you."

(Inou did not want to think of the desolation he would see in his sister if that happened.)

(But he did, no matter how much it hurt, because it would help.)

"She… sh-she, she loves me…" The projection was beginning to unfold, to sit on his knees, like Inou was.

"Yes, Yakata-kun. And she'd be here, with us, _here_, if she could. But I'm the only person who can make it to you. You understand? I'm here to help you."

The boy-thing on the ground was beginning to gain color. "You… you're sure she, she, she won't… won't hate me…"

"I have no idea why she would, Yakata-kun," Inou said, kindly.

"_Oh, but you hurt her… She won't forget that…"_

"Oh, shut _up_." Inou sighed, looking over his shoulder at the invisible nag, losing all of his coaxing smoothness. "Do you know my sister? No. So get lost."

"…_dear, dear, how rude. And I was beginning to find your little display almost _adorable."

And the white ground began to twist and wind up and around Yakata's projection, binding him into himself; it budded a torso, arms, a head, all of which cradled the static face of the projection in a parody of care.

Orochimaru had made it in.

"I'm not letting my hold of this boy go, however. He is mine."

Inou was not scared.

Quite the contrary.

He felt invigorated.

"He's not _yours,_ you piece of _crap,_" he said; he began to stand, and crossed his arms. "He doesn't belong to anybody but himself, you got that?"

(He had Ooda in his thoughts.)

"Come now, boy, I took this body fair and _square_," Orochimaru said. "Besides, you heard the poor thing. He doesn't _want_ to go back."

"That's not what I heard," Inou replied. He shifted his weight to one foot, flexing the toes of the other into the air. "What _I_ heard is that he's scared of people being scared of him for the stuff _you_ did. Which isn't exactly fair, is it?"

Orochimaru didn't say anything, just clutching the projection tighter as it gained back some more of its color.

"You're fighting a losing battle, here, and you know it. Why else would you swoop down like a vulture _now_ to try and take him back by force? Since this pitiful excuse for psychological warfare isn't working, and, well." He scoffed, smirking. "You tried using his body lately? I thought not."

"Watch your tongue, boy." Orochimaru's mouth was thin, pinched tight.

"Why should I?" Inou replied. "Y'know, I wonder if _you're_ more afraid than _Yakata-kun_ is. You don't want this to end up like how things went with my dad, do you?"

(Inou had sampled his share of memories on the way down, from the entrails-wall, unpleasant to the taste though they were.)

"No, the last thing you want is for Yakata-kun overpower you, to swallow you up and keep you captive in his mind. Stuck, forever looking out, but not able to do a _thing_…"

"I have no such fear," Orochimaru replied.

"Of course not," Inou said, tilting his head. "It's not like Yakata-kun has my father's willpower—or does he? After all, he's got someone waiting for him outside. Someone he _really_ wants to see."

"I have this boy under my _complete_ control," Orochimaru said. His fingers seemed to grow longer with his boast. "You can't possibly think that the desire to see that wretched girl again is strong enough to overpower _me?_"

Inou shrugged, raising his palms to exaggerate the action. "I dunno, but I guess we'll find out soon enough, hm?"

From between Orochimaru's white, thin arms, Inou could finally see the full color of Yakata's face, eyes wide.

"I'll tell Nadeshiko how much you can't wait to see her, when I get outside, okay?" Inou said, making his voice gentler with his eye contact. "It'll really make her happy."

"Pathetic whelp," Orochimaru said. "I should trap you in here as well. Make you _eat _those words of yours."

Inou shrugged once more. "Sure, give it your best shot."

Orochimaru just seethed at him, in response.

Cocking his head—a sort of "Well, okay!"—Inou turned around, but paused mid-step to look over his shoulder.

"Oh, and by the way, Orochimaru! Your clone's not only got more style than you, but he's _much_ more handsome. Just thought I'd let you know."

The look on Orochimaru's face was a better reward than any payment the people outside could have given him.

And outside, Inou rubbed the concentration out of his face, and shook out his sore hand.

"Well, I planted a seed, and Yakata-kun showed definite reception to it…" he reported to Moegi, later. "But the rest we have to leave to time. I could dive in again, in a different area, and see if I could draw him out _there…_ but I get the feeling I'd just get the same results, and we wouldn't make any progress."

"I have no doubt you were able to produce some sort of reaction," she replied. "Regardless, do you suppose you could do a progress check in a few hours?"

"Yeah, that'd be easy. Just let me know when you need me, ma'am," Inou said.

"Excellent," Moegi said, and nodded at him. "You are dismissed until I next call you; for convenience's sake I ask that you stay either within the hospital or the Yamanaka compound between then and now."

"That's fine," Inou said. "I'm… gonna go talk to my sister, actually."

Moegi nodded again, and left for other duties.

Nadeshiko hadn't moved from her place beside Yakata's bed, but her grip had loosened on the sheets, and her head was bowed lower.

"Hey," Inou said.

She looked up; he could see the red in the whites of her eyes.

"I heard it went well," she said.

"Yeah, I think it did," Inou replied. "I, uh. I told him you were waiting for him, out here."

Her eyes lowered. "Did you."

"Uh-huh. And y'know what? That gave him more strength than anything else I said to him."

(Though this was partially a lie.)

(But it wasn't like he could tell her that he'd said she loved Yakata to her face…)

"He really misses you, Nadeshiko. And I tried my best to make that his focus. Getting back so he can… be with you."

Nadeshiko wiped at one of her eyes with the tips of her fingers.

"I hope that it helps him," she said.

She laid a hand on top of Yakata's hand, beside the wrist restraint.

"…it'll help, sis. There's no way it can't."

Inou stayed with his sister for a while longer, bringing up his own chair, sharing the silence and the vigil with her.

No longer so ashamed to be associated with her.

And in the early evening, before Moegi could come back in and request a progress check, Naruto arrived with his own brand of help.

* * *

"What's it feel like, to you?" Naruto asked.

Yomena had her fingers spread out over Yakata's forehead, much like Inou's had been.

"…a definite parasite. Malevolent, of course. But its hold is weakening."

(Inou had gotten out of his chair to watch this from behind Nadeshiko, who stayed sitting. And his heart flipped with Yomena's words, like a compliment.)

"Is there anything you can do, y'know?"

Yomena took her hands off of him, closing her eyes in thought. "The dark influence is very deeply ingrained; I'm sure I can exorcise it, though it may take a while for the boy to recover from it…"

"He will have people to look after him. How long it takes for him to get back to health is no issue." Nadeshiko's voice was low and metallic.

"He… _is _in the hospital, y'know. So he'll be fine. Just as long as it won't… kill him or anything," Naruto said.

"He will be fine. Of course." Yomena, however, was not smiling.

Naruto called for Sakura, before she could begin the ceremony.

"You honestly think this is gonna work?" she said, quietly, just outside the room. "I mean… an exorcism, seriously?"

"She put the Riverman to rest, Sakura. An' she's done this sorta thing before, y'know. It can't hurt if we at least try…"

Sakura's brows were knit with skepticism and worry, and she stayed very near to Yomena's side of the bed as the girl placed prayer slips on Yakata's chest and forehead.

Nadeshiko had her hands pressed close to her chest. Inou kept a hand on her shoulder.

And Yomena began to chant.

There was not as much light, this time. The prayer slips were what glowed, the ink shining as if made of neon; the paper burned and crumbled without fire. Yakata's body took struggling, rapid breaths during the process, his chest heaving up and down.

But the prayer slips were soon exhausted, disappearing into pinpoints of light. Yomena ceased her chanting, lowering her prayer beads, placing her hand on his forehead.

And after far too long a time, she reported, "I don't… feel anything."

"You… mean to say that the evil stuff's gone, right…?" Naruto said, hopefully.

Yomena did not answer, moving her hand down Yakata's face; he was still breathing, though shallowly. "I… am trying to-" She was interrupted by a gasp from her own mouth, and a violent series of coughs from Yakata's. "Unbind him, quickly!" she called.

The boy's body was beginning to convulse from the coughing.

Sakura made quick work of the wrist restraints, and Yakata sprang up into a sitting position, now almost retching, his head heaving forward with each violent cough.

"What's going on?!" She was loosening his right ankle restraint.

"He's expelling the force himself, 'course!" Yomena said. "Give him space!"

And Yakata, with a great, whoop-like cough, bent over the emptier side of the bed, and began to vomit.

But what came out of his mouth was not bile or puke, but a slimy white mass, which shriveled and wrinkled like drying glue as soon as it hit the floor, shrinking into itself.

"Oh—ew," Naruto said, putting quite eloquently what everyone else was thinking.

Yomena produced another prayer slip from her jacket and whipped it towards the mass with expert aim; there was a noise like a cockroach on fire, high and whining and foul. The white slime blackened, curling smaller and smaller until nothing was left beneath the slip but soot.

Yakata was beginning to regain his breath, his gasps slowing. His hands were clutching each other near his heart, his eyes tightly closed.

"Yakata…?" Nadeshiko's hand was wandering through the air near him, but not on him.

His head turned towards her, slowly, as he opened his eyes.

They were black, as they should have been.

"N-Nadeshiko, is, is that, is that really you…?"

"Yes," she said, her voice weak, "it's me. I'm here."

And large tears began to well up in the corners of his eyes, great and shiny and deserved.

"I'm, I'm, I'm so sorry…!"

They lunged forward to cling to each other at the same time, him needing her as much as she needed him.

She ran her hand down his back, pressing his head into her shoulder with the other. "You have nothing to apologize for. You did nothing wrong. It's okay."

"I was, I was… I was so _scared_, though, I, I couldn't, I couldn't do anything, and I, I hurt so many _people…!_"

"It's okay. It's okay. It's not your fault." She hushed and whispered in his ear, her own tears running thick through her lashes. "It's okay now."

"P-please don't leave, I, I don't, I don't want to hurt you, but… but don't leave, please…"

"I won't leave. I'll stay right here. You won't hurt me."

Yakata sniffed. "I'm, I'm sorry, I'm so _sorry…_"

"Shh, it's all right. It's okay now…"

"I'll stay with them," Sakura whispered, barely audible, so as not to interrupt them; she gestured toward the door with a waving hand. "You guys wait outside while I check on Yakata-kun."

"Gotcha," Naruto said, and left. Yomena and Inou followed, though Inou more reluctantly.

(He convinced himself, after a while, that Nadeshiko was crying at least somewhat-happy tears.)

(But he'd never seen her cry before, and it made him feel uncomfortable, like something was severely wrong that he had to correct.)

Naruto, meanwhile, went to sweep Yomena into a great hug that went all the way around her back, and he twirled her around.

Yomena was surprised, to say the least. She stumbled away from the hug looking both dizzy and appalled. "H-Hokage-sama…?"

"Yomena, you are literally the greatest person _ever_, y'know! You have no idea how important that was. Oh my gosh. You, like, seriously saved the day here!"

She blinked a few times, propping her hand up against her face to compensate. "This boy was that important?"

"The guy—thing—_whatever_—that was possessing him was the one that caused all that damage, y'know!" Naruto exploded. "We had no idea how to get him out for good, and… and you did it! You saved him!"

"I, um… well, I'm… glad to be of service, 'course…" Yomena said, trying to cover her mouth for a semblance of modesty.

"You were _more_ than just a service, Yomena, you saved a _life_ here! A real important life too! And, and… Oh, c'mere, you! You're getting another hug."

Before she could protest, he was squeezing Yomena again. And she tolerated it, stumbling back from it again, but a strange smile cracked on her face in the aftermath.

"I just did what I was trained to do, 'course…" she said, trying to look at the floor.

"Yeah, you keep sayin' that," Naruto said, grinning.

"Um, excuse me? I'm the one that, uh… loosened Orochimaru up in the first place?" Inou, who'd been watching to some degree of amusement, in the hallway, had his fists on his hips.

"Oh, yeah? You want a hug too, y'know?"

"No!" Inou crossed his arms over his chest, now, backing away some.

Naruto laughed mightily in reply, and even Yomena was giggling.

(And for the first time in his knowing her, he felt… warmth within her.)

(Not just pride in her own work, but true enjoyment of his recognition and company.)

(With everything taken into consideration—the Taki clan, and the Riverman, and Yakata, and now Yomena—Naruto was eager to declare this one of his Greatest Days.)

(He had many of them, but this one, he would remember with copper-colored fondness.)


	124. Distant Relative

_Chapter 124 - Distant Relative_

* * *

Once Sakura was able to examine him, physically, it was determined that Yakata was superficially injured, and severely needing a good meal, but otherwise unharmed.

His mental injuries were another story. But Sakura already had the chief child psychologist assigned to his case, and in the meantime Yakata had Nadeshiko for comfort, company, and confession, and that was a situation everyone was okay with.

Ino was, of course, told, both of the condition of the boy and her daughter. And she was relieved to hear that Nadeshiko had finally decided to get a little sleep—Yakata had mentioned that she looked tired and sick, after fussing greatly over her hair (and apologizing for it, feeling responsible), and told her to get some rest. She couldn't have disobeyed.

(Naruto stopped into Sasuke's room, too, to tell him the news. Sasuke seemed to be sleeping, again, but Naruto told him everything, regardless.)

But the person that Naruto felt deserved to hear the news the most was Karin. And he made sure that he went to talk to her himself.

(Sakura, of course, could have done it. But he volunteered, so Sakura could get other things done.)

(Or so he said.)

Though he could feel her in the room, he still knocked, out of courtesy.

"Come on in, Naruto," Karin replied, through the door.

His smile was awkward as he entered. "How'd you know it was me?"

"You have to ask? I'm a sensor-nin, come on," Karin said. She was propped up in her bed, wearing hospital robes, a newspaper on the side table. There was far more color in her face than Naruto remembered. "Some Hokage you are."

"Pardon me, then, Karin-san," Naruto said, waving a hand. "Hey, where's Ooda-kun?"

"Hm? He's in my downstairs room, keeping an eye on Shingetsu."

"Your downstairs room?"

"The one by the Curse Seal ward, okay," Karin replied. "I was staying there originally but Sakura said she wants me here in the maternity ward until I recover enough so I'm not bleeding all over the place every time I stand up."

Naruto's smile clicked into a minor grimace. "Wha-? I had no idea you were that… injured, Karin-san…"

"Oh, it's not that bad," Karin replied, waving it off. "There's always some blood and discharge the first few days after a birth, but there was some tissue damage during delivery that I still haven't recovered from. I'll be fine in a day or two, okay."

"…sure, I'll, uh, take your word for it…" Naruto said.

Karin laughed a little. "So what brings you in, anyways? Did you need to talk to Ooda?"

"Oh, not really. Though I'd like to know how he's doing, y'know."

"He's doing fine," Karin replied. "Though a bit rattled—Osato being premature, much less coming when he did, was _awful_ for his nerves, okay."

"Yeah, that was some… seriously bad timing, y'know," Naruto said. He scratched his ear. "I mean, then again, you can't really help when a baby's gonna come, right?"

"Nope, sometimes you can't." Karin turned her head to look at the incubator by the window, where the baby was resting. "Then again, Osato gave me the most trouble I've had with a child since Yakata… I should have expected complications, okay, especially with my stress levels lately…"

"Things turned out okay, though, right?" Naruto said.

Karin returned to him, and smiled. "Yes. He's even breathing well, despite his prematurity. I couldn't be more relieved, okay."

"Wow, great!" Naruto said, finally smiling genuinely again. "I'm glad."

Karin nodded a few times in return. "So, then, why are you here, okay?"

"Well… I have some good news, actually!" Naruto said.

"Good news?" Karin said. She sat up a little. "What kind of news?"

"Yakata's been rid of Orochimaru. He's in control of his body again and recovering, y'know."

(A great, raspberry-golden bubble of relief and excitement welled up within Karin.)

"Oh my goodness, you mean he fought off Orochimaru's influence?" A hand wandered to her lips.

"Yeah, that's part of it. One of Sasuke's kids—he's a _really_ talented mind-reader, y'know—he went into his head and helped give him some encouragement, and then we had an exorcism performed to finish things off."

Karin was smiling, breathlessly, which only made Naruto smile more. "Oh, thank goodness… Thank goodness, okay, I was so worried…"

"We all were, Karin-san. But he's safe an' sound, and Nadeshiko-chan's with him too, so he's got someone to talk to."

Karin blinked a few times in rapid succession. "Nadeshiko? Who's that?"

"Oh, she's one of Sasuke's daughters. She an' Yakata-kun really hit it off while he was here in Konoha, apparently. She even went out and got him and brought him in to the hospital after what happened at the chuunin arena, y'know, and she's stayed by his side the whole time here."

Karin laughed, once, like an exhale. "Incredible. I'm glad he has a friend here, I really am."

"Yeah, I'm glad too, y'know," Naruto said. "We're gonna go out an' try and find his parents up in Rice, though, so they can be with him here."

And something in Karin's face stiffened. "Ah, yes. It would probably be good to have Satoko and Gishi down here; Yakata could definitely use the support…"

(There was something smooth and cold and badly-concealed in her chest.)

"Karin-san, what's the matter?" Naruto said.

The stiffness in her face crinkled. "Nothing's the matter, what are you talking about?"

He shook his head. "Something's making you sad; I can feel it, y'know. Is it somethin' to do with Yakata-kun's parents?"

She kept her eyes on her hands, folded in her lap. "No, it's… not them, okay."

"Then what is it? I'm not leavin' 'til you tell me," Naruto said. He put his hands in his jacket pockets, a less-forceful choice over crossed arms.

Karin took a while to answer, the silver, dull pain in her chest remaining.

"…when you send a team up to Rice to get Yakata's parents, do you suppose you could have a tracking team go with them, to find Suigetsu's body?"

A sheet of sudden empathy hit him, hard, full of such pressed-together emotions that he couldn't identify them clearly.

"…I—yes. Absolutely, y'know," he said. "Just… when did he…?"

"Orochimaru told me that he had the Riverman kill him before leaving Rice with Yakata's body." Karin's voice was soft and thick.

(And her grief was even thicker, welling up around the nestled emotions in her chest.)

"…Karin-san, I'm so sorry…"

"What are you apologizing to me for, okay?" Her words were climbing in tone, towards tears. "It's not your fault that he's dead."

And though there was no guilt over the fact that Naruto had sent him up there in the first place—Suigetsu had volunteered, after all—he still felt like telling her: "Well… the Riverman's been put to rest, Karin-san. We had him sealed away and exorcised. So he won't be hurting any more people, y'know."

"Ah, that's good…" She stayed focused on her hands, which were holding each other tighter. "It's just… funny, okay, how the last thing I said to him was about _me_ dying."

"Wha-?"

"When he called me, on the phone, I told him I wasn't feeling well, and he told me…" She cough-laughed. "He told me he didn't want me dying before he came back, so I promised that I wouldn't. And then he goes and ends up dying on _me, _okay. It's exactly the sort of thing he'd do…"

Naruto waited until the right words came, until the paralysis left his tongue.

"…I promise, Karin-san, we'll find his body for you. I'll do everything I _can_, y'know."

"Thanks," Karin said. "I really appreciate it, okay…"

Her silver misery mixed with the pink peace that was otherwise in the air.

Naruto's paralysis reversed itself completely.

"Karin-san—I can't… begin to imagine how tough things are right now for you, so forgive me for… I dunno, sounding like I'm just tryin' to pity you or offend you or whatever, but…"

She finally looked at him. "But what…?"

"…well, I've really been thinkin' it over for a long time, ever since I found out who Osato-kun's… uh, dad was, y'know. You know, Nagato." He shrugged. "I mean, me and Nagato didn't really know each other very long, but the time we had together really—changed me, y'know? He taught me stuff that made me who I am today, an' a lot of what I do as Hokage is 'cos I wanna do right by him an' his legacy. Y'know?"

Karin didn't say anything, just listening.

"So for the longest time I wanted to… well, ask you, y'know, but stuff would get in the way. I mean, the whole thing about treatin' your kids as individuals and not lettin' where they came from affect things, an' the fact that… well, Karin-san, I don't really know _you_ all that well to begin with, y'know, and I'd feel it wasn't my place or anything, and…"

Karin said only one thing: "And…?"

"…and, well, I just feel like now, with all the stuff that's happened, it wouldn't be… right if I didn't step up and do something already. I mean… I know, I know I know, that Osato-kun isn't Nagato. And he'll never _be_ Nagato, y'know, especially with you as his mom, Karin-san. But they still share that blood, y'know, and… I dunno if he's gonna grow up and look in the mirror one day and see a pair of Rinnegan in his face, or whatever, but I wanna make sure that he grows up in a world where, if that happens, he won't have to worry about anyone seein' that and wanting to abuse it, where he doesn't have to fight every day. …y'know?"

Karin, leaning forward, adjusted her glasses. "Go on…?" she said, softly.

"So—hearing that Suigetsu-san's gone—and I don't think I'd ever be able to replace him, Karin-san, _ever—_I know, now, that if I don't at least ask, I'd never be able to live with myself, y'know? And you don't even have to agree to it, I totally understand, I mean, we don't really know each other, y'know and…"

"What are you trying to ask me?" Karin said, when he didn't say anything more.

"…I'd like to be Osato-kun's godfather, Karin-san." Naruto looked at his feet. "To make sure that he grows up happy an' safe and never has to experience pain like Nagato did. That's it, really…"

Karin, again, didn't say anything.

(The old obstacles returned, briefly: Naruto was just a temporary helper, and they were already a family, and-)

"A Hokage for a godfather… Well, that's something I never would have expected, okay…"

He looked up, and she had a smile full of comfort on her face. "You'd be okay with it?"

"After hearing all that, how could I not, okay?" Karin said. "Though isn't it usually the _parent_ that asks for a godparent, and not the other way around?"

"Yeah, that was another thing…" Blessed awkwardness entered his face, and he scratched the back of his head. "But the thing is, I'd never been asked before—even Sasuke and Sakura didn't ask me to be a godfather to their kids, y'know. And Osato-kun is just so…" He sighed. "Whenever I think about him I just wanna make sure he's okay, Karin-san. I wanna protect him, and I think this is the best way for me to do it."

Another cough-laugh from Karin, though this one was both disbelieving and amazed. "You really care this much?"

"…yeah, basically," Naruto said, nodding. "It's kinda stupid, I know, but this is Nagato's kid we're talkin' about, and that's a _really_ special kid, y'know."

Karin's smile deepened. "Special to both of us, yes."

"So… what do you say?" Naruto said.

Karin blinked a few times. "Didn't I already say yes?"

"I don't know, I didn't notice?" Naruto replied.

"Then yes! Yes, I would be glad if you were Osato's godfather, okay." Her laughter lost its coughing overtone, evening out with her breath. "And beyond that, I'm incredibly grateful for your wanting to help in the first place."

"Hey, I'd be helping to begin with either way," Naruto said. "I mean, because Osato-kun was born here, he's technically a citizen of Konoha as well as a citizen of wherever you live, so it's my duty as Hokage to protect him _that_ way."

"Really! I didn't know that, okay," Karin said.

"Yeah, I mean, it should be on his birth certificate or whatever. Ask Sakura, I dunno," Naruto said, making Karin laugh again. "What I mean is… I'd help protect Osato-kun even if you didn't want me as his godfather, y'know, 'cos that's my Hokage duty. But I wanna make sure he's _okay_ too. Like, happy, and well-adjusted and stuff. And I don't doubt that you'll be able to do that, Karin-san, 'specially since Ooda-kun turned out so well. It's just—well, I wanna be someone he can talk to, too, y'know?"

"Yes," she replied, "I think I get what you mean. Especially with… Suigetsu gone, right?"

"…well, like I said, I don't mean to replace him, or anything, but-"

"It's okay. I understand," she said. "Having someone like you in his life is going to be wonderful for Osato. Suigetsu couldn't replace you either, you know."

"Heh, I suppose you're right, y'know…" Naruto said.

"Mm. Well, since this is decided, now, why don't you two properly meet?" Karin said.

"Huh, say what?"

"Go over to the incubator and pick him up," Karin said, and a touch of spice entered her voice. "You're his godfather now, okay, so hold him already."

Naruto laughed. "Ah, right, right! I guess I should."

With careful, almost tip-toeing steps, Naruto walked around Karin's bed and to the incubator. Osato was wrapped in a blue blanket within, his new skin wrinkled and slightly red, but otherwise peaceful in appearance.

"The lid swings upward," Karin said, from behind him.

"Gotcha, gotcha." And the lid did swing upward, leaving the plastic basket exposed.

Naruto hesitated, for a moment.

But then, gently, he picked the baby up and cradled him against his left arm. Quite subconsciously, he began rocking, soothingly, to and fro on his feet.

"Wow, he's so tiny," Naruto finally said. "I mean, I've held a lot of babies, and I've seen some _really_ small ones, y'know, but this little guy's just so—_tiny."_

"He _is_ a month premature," Karin said. "And beyond that I've found that I tend to carry small, so…"

"Mm." One of Naruto's fingers wandered near the brim of the blue knit hat on his head, and peeked under it. "And totally bald too, huh."

"If he'd come a little later you'd probably see _some_ hair," Karin said.

"Looks cute as-is, though," Naruto said. He rocked on his feet a few more times. "Real cute."

It was then that Osato reached an arm out of his blanket, and yawned mightily.

"Whoa, look at that! Sleepy even though you've been napping all day, huh, little guy?" he said, and smiled as Osato nestled deeper into his blanket, his little hands resting like flowers by his chin. His mouth sucked at the air for a few seconds, after. "Bein' a baby's tough, huh."

Karin laughed, gently, leaning back against her pillows, watching them.

Naruto sent a finger towards the folded hands, pressing it into Osato's palm; his tiny fingers closed around it on reflex, barely making the circumference.

"All right, little guy," he said. "My name's Naruto. I'm your godfather, y'know. We're gonna be real good friends, okay…?"

He wiggled his finger, in place of a handshake, and Osato yawned again, his hands opening and moving for a new place to stretch.

Naruto held him for a while longer, before putting him back in the incubator, and closing the lid. "I guess we're acquainted properly now, huh?"

"Seems so," Karin replied.

Naruto lowered his eyes, putting his hands in his pockets again. "I'll be sure to give you ways to contact me, if you need anything. And the other way around too, y'know?"

"Of course, I'd be glad to get that set up sometime soon," Karin replied.

There was the sound of Osato yawning again, in the incubator.

"I'll be heading off, now," Naruto said. "I'm gonna go see someone about a very important mission in the Land of Rice, y'know."

Karin closed her eyes. "All right. I'll see you later, then?"

"Yeah, see you later."

He got around her bed, and was almost out the door, when she said: "Thank you, Naruto."

"You're welcome, Karin-san," he replied.

"Please." She held up a hand. "Just _Karin_. We're family now, okay?"

He nodded, once, strongly. "You're welcome, then, Karin."

And he quietly closed the door behind him, and went to do his newest family a favor.

And that involved visiting the Hyuuga compound, where he had another family, one just as precious and beloved.

His family there, however, had not been made in a single bound, like the case seemed to be that day. It was mended together with awkwardness and need, and concern.

Ironically, if it hadn't been for his disastrous attempt at dating Hinata after the war, Naruto would have never become such good friends with her.

(You don't exactly forget when people confess their love to you shortly before someone almost kills them. Especially when said event unleashes a hell-beast.)

But despite their best efforts, every outing seemed to only result in stammered, dead sentences, and anxiety on both ends. Naruto felt bad because he knew Hinata liked him so much, and he really liked her too, but it seemed like with even the slightest romantic advance (on either side!), she'd freeze up and have to go home. And Hinata felt bad because she wanted so much for them to have a good time, but her neuroses just kept getting in the way.

But their time together was otherwise very pleasant, when the romance wasn't creeping in. And as it turned out, to avoid the discomfort of what they both subconsciously knew was getting in the way, they'd spend longer and longer stretches of time doing totally unromantic stuff: talking and drinking tea, having lunch, just being together.

Of course, the elephant in the room had to be shot eventually. But when Hinata asked that they no longer date, expecting her request to end in misery and tears and never-seeing-each-other-again, Naruto (after a great, thoughtful pause) responded with, "Sure, if that's what you want. But can we still hang out, y'know? I really like spending time with you, Hinata-chan."

What Hinata initially imagined would be a horrible day ended up being quite a pleasant afternoon, since Naruto stuck around to just talk to her about stuff, and even stayed for tea.

The breakup was probably the best thing that could have happened to either of them, as without the expectations of romance, the anxiety evaporated, and they could just be themselves around each other. Hinata's stammers were ironed out little by little and eventually disappeared, and Naruto found that she, above all people, was someone he could really open up to when there was something bothering him. Sure, he had Sakura and Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei and Iruka-sensei, but he only ever wanted to have fun with those guys, and not bother them. (And besides, complaining to Sasuke about anything would probably result in a scowl and "Honestly? You're talking to _me_ about this?")

Most of the time, this friendship was a gentle escape from the outside world.

But there were exceptions, when the presence of the other was the only medicine available.

There had been, of course, that miserable day ten years before, for Naruto. Where, just when he thought he'd be able to handle grieving Shusuke, Sasuke turned around and threw his own daughter—whom Naruto adored, and thought Sasuke also adored—out of his house, over her rejection of the chuunin title. And no matter how much Naruto pleaded and argued with Sasuke about responsibility and fairness, he could do nothing to repair this.

It was the day that Sasuke said "I only have one daughter" that Naruto went to Hinata.

And he pressed his face into her chest, and he cried until he was out of tears.

She didn't leave. And it helped as much as it could have. She told him that things would heal, and in their way, they did.

(And he visited her many more times, with fewer tears, as troubles arose with Murasaki.)

All of this, however, came well after Hinata's crises.

They all had to do with her sister.

Hanabi had actually been all right, for the most part, until the birth of Andou. She'd been groomed to perfection as the new clan leader with Hinata's blessing, and took over for her father when she came of age. It was a time of great hope, and the promise of change. There weren't going to be Curse Seals any more, and the clan would work towards being more open with the Konoha government.

It was around her ascension that Hanabi married Tomoshi. They'd met when they were teenagers; he was a bright, order-headed youth that had taken it upon himself to consolidate the Hyuuga clan archives into a more searchable form, organizing and re-drafting ancient records. Everyone agreed that it was a good match indeed, and their marriage was much-celebrated.

(And there was also talk, indeed, about Hiashi's two daughters being so different in marital status. Hinata, who had requested that a match in marriage not be made for her yet—the ill-meaning gossips always brought up the Uzumaki boy that was always around as the reason—and Hanabi, now, marrying for love.)

Before long, they were expecting a child together.

And not long after that, Tomoshi passed away in his sleep, only twenty-one years old. He'd been sick, a few days before, but nobody had any idea that things were that serious.

Hanabi was six months pregnant, at the time. And there was already anxiety in the air, over her condition.

(More Hyuuga women had been lost to post-partum suicide than battle or old age. This included the wives of both Hiashi and Hizashi.)

(It was the invisible monster of the Hyuuga bloodline, the price that the clan had to pay for its beautiful eyes.)

After her loss, Hinata almost never left her side. And Hanabi almost never left her room, barely eating or speaking.

She couldn't bear to look at anything that reminded her of her former life, of her husband, and so shut it all out, had it put away.

All but one thing.

The child she was having had become an unbearable burden, and she despised it.

(_"If he's gone, why is his child still inside me? Why is it still there?"_)

When the baby was finally born, in February, she refused to even hold him, much less nurse him. Hinata, ever present, took responsibility for his care, and even named him when Hanabi snapped at her to do it.

(_"Tomoshi had no name for it. I don't either. Get it out of my sight."_)

There were nurses and others to ensure the care of the young heir, while Hinata saw to her sister, keeping a wary eye out for signs of danger, as was customary. They slept in the same room, now, and Hinata waited for the darkness to pass.

But one night, Hinata awoke with a start to find that her sister was gone from the room.

It was an easy matter, finding Hanabi with the Byakugan; she was in the bathroom of the quarters she shared with her sister.

And she had Andou with her.

Hinata ran.

And she found her sister holding her son in the bath. She was trying to drown him.

Hinata leaped forward, plunging her arms into the water, wrestling to get Hanabi's hands off the child.

"No! Stop! Don't interfere! This is how it's supposed to be!" Hanabi was screaming.

Hinata got her hands on the child, who emerged from the water, distressed and (thankfully) crying.

"We can be a family again! I can be with Tomoshi! Let me _go!_"

Hinata clutched Andou to her chest, and she fled.

She woke up every guard she could on the way out of the compound: "Please, see to my sister!"

The small, wet body in her arms was shivering and wailing, by now, and she took off her outer robe and wrapped him in it.

She had to get him away from Hanabi. Somewhere he could be safe for a while.

Of course, she went to Naruto.

He took them in without question, and got a proper blanket to wrap Andou in so Hinata wouldn't be freezing, herself. He made hot, cinnamon tea to drink while Hinata told him everything.

"He can stay with me for as long as you need to, Hinata. You gotta make sure your sister's okay, y'know, an' I can't have you worried about your nephew at the same time with all this goin' on."

Still, Hinata fell asleep on his couch, that night; she woke up with one of Naruto's blankets on top of her, and Naruto himself dozing in an armchair with Andou in his arms, having fallen asleep in watching over the both of them.

She returned to her sister, in the morning. Hanabi was sullen and withdrawn, and she did not ask about her son.

She never attempted any sort of suicide, after that. But her condition otherwise did not improve.

Eventually, Andou returned from Naruto's house to the Hyuuga compound, though a fair while afterward. Hinata took separate quarters with him on the other side of the compound, out of worry, but nothing ever came of it.

And whether it was the lack of celebration at Andou's birth in the first place, or the Hyuuga clan's general reluctance to let the rest of Konoha in on its social goings-on, the outside world came to the conclusion that Hinata was the boy's mother, since she was always with him, and she never denied the title.

(And, indeed, shortly after the incident with the bath, Naruto had gone to Kakashi and secured a neat stack of paperwork that declared Hinata to be Andou's legal guardian, given his biological mother's condition.)

(Andou grew up knowing who Hanabi was to him. She would call upon him, without warning, every now and then, to make sure he was keeping with his studies and not being a failure overall.)

(Hinata was never his aunt to him, however. She was his mother, and he never called her or thought of her as anything else.)

For three years, things were tolerable. Hanabi even began interacting with others again, though she never smiled.

But darkness, sharp and rank, was fermenting in her heart.

In the absence of her husband, and in large part due to the nature of his death, her brain latched onto tradition and order as a means of coping.

(If she were able to control things, then devastation like this would never happen to her again. Or so the thinking in her scarred mind went.)

She remembered the old ways.

The child that was supposed to be his was soon to turn three.

He needed a guardian. And that guardian needed a seal.

Late into the evening of Andou's third birthday, Hanabi stole away, and ensured that the tradition was continued.

By the time Hinata found out, it was too late for Ninako. And the seal could not be undone.

(Neji had tried to stop her, and ended up with a splitting pain in between his eyes that did not end until Hinata arrived and stopped it.)

(His wife, however, had not done anything.)

Hanabi did not apologize. What had happened was right, in her eyes.

(Though there were talks—always reluctantly attended, by Hanabi—between her and her father and her sister and Naruto and the Hokage, and they decided that the seal was to be completely done away with, that Hanabi had erred greatly, and that it would not happen again.)

(Even if the talks hadn't happened, however, Hanabi would probably have never given the seal to any other Branch members. They weren't immediately related to her, like Ninako was, like Neji was, and thus had less to do with her abhorred Andou.)

(And the Hyuuga clan never let anyone on the outside know about when Hanabi's behavior got erratic, as it was with increasing frequency, shifting between sullenness and aggression without warning.)

Hinata kept Andou at Naruto's house for a few days, following this incident. Just as a precaution.

And things continued. And, mercifully, nothing ever happened again that sent Hinata into Naruto's home for protection. It was always the other way around, from then on out.

And Naruto was at peace with this; not with the fact that the Hyuuga clan was far from healed, especially under Hanabi's steel hand, but with the fact that he had a confidante, a person he could call in his greatest times of need, and always depend upon.

All that aside, though, Hinata really was just the perfect person for the job he had in mind.

But her family came first, when Naruto came to call after visiting Karin. He had heard everything about the trauma with Ninako, and the Uchiha family, naturally, and it was at the front of his mind whenever his thoughts drifted to Hinata and her family.

"Ninako's taking this as well as she can," Hinata replied, when he asked; she had a tray of green tea between them, and red bean cakes. "She doesn't like leaving her room, and I can't blame her at all. The gossip going around about her is horrible."

"Yeesh, I can't imagine," Naruto said.

Hinata nodded her head. "I still try to get her out of the house and out on walks when I can, though. Inactivity isn't good for her mind or her body, especially in her condition. I can usually get her before dinner, when everyone's inside."

"Good thinking, y'know. I really hope she's okay."

"I hope so too."

(Hinata was preparing herself to be a guardian-caretaker again, but this time for Ninako, and not her sister. With Neji's permission, she took an empty room in his house for her own, and stayed there occasionally to be near his daughter. This would become a permanent situation after the child was born.)

(Neji's wife did not approve of this, but tolerated it out of fear of Hanabi's actions.)

"And how are things on the outside?" Hinata said, after a sip of her tea.

"Well, you already heard about all the stuff with Orochimaru, y'know."

"I certainly did. Andou told me _all_ about it."

Naruto laughed. "I bet he did. Well, we got Orochimaru permanently taken care of—he's no longer in the body of that Yakata kid I told you about, and s'far as we know he's dead for good."

"Thank goodness," Hinata said. "And how is Yakata-kun recovering?"

"Eh, we're gonna have to see how that goes, y'know…" Naruto said. "I mean, I can't imagine how freaked out he is. But Sakura's takin' care of him."

"Ah, yes. I have no doubt she'll be able to help," Hinata said.

"Yeah. We got the Riverman guy taken care of, too. My daughter did an exorcism an' sent his spirit away."

Hinata paused with the cup to her lips. "Yomena-san, you mean? How did you think to ask her? I know you two aren't _terribly _close…"

"She went an' took care of it on her own, actually. She's really amazing!" Naruto said.

Hinata sipped her tea. (And she quietly relished the pride she could hear in his voice.) "How interesting this all is."

"Yeah, totally. Hey, and this is the best part—so I'm a godfather now!"

"Are you!"

"Yeah, yeah! Like, okay, so!" Naruto was almost jumping where he sat, which caused Hinata to laugh gently. "You remember the Day of Pain and stuff, right?"

"Naruto, there's no way I'd forget."

"Yeah, okay, I know, but, the guy behind that, Nagato-san—well, you never met him, I think, just when he was usin' his Paths—whatever. Either way, Nagato-san had a child made from him by Karin-san—I mean, Karin. He was born just yesterday, y'know!"

"Is that so!" Hinata said. "A clone of him, you mean."

"Yeah, but it's better to think of him as Nagato-san's kid, it's just easier and it's kinda _true_, y'know," Naruto said. Hinata nodded at this. "So because Nagato-san and I were kinda important to each other, an' because I knew about how tough _his_ life had been, I wanted to ask Karin if I could be Osato's—that's his name, Osato, innit cute?—if I could be his godfather, an' help take care of him. And she said yes! So I'm his godfather now, y'know."

"That's so wonderful, Naruto," Hinata said. "And it's really a wonderful thing you're doing for Karin-san too, I think."

"Well, it's not just for her, Hinata, it's for Nagato-san, too," Naruto said. "I mean it when I say that I don't want any kid of his to have to live through pain like his. Especially 'cos he might be… well, _special,_ when he grows up. Like, he might get a Rinnegan or somethin'."

Hinata nodded a few more times. "A child like that should definitely be taken care of. I have no doubt you'll do a good job. Part of the reason why Andou's such a good boy, I think, is due to your influence." She smiled warmly, at the end of things.

"Aww, gee," Naruto said, and took a big swig of green tea, for his throat had gotten quite dry from all his talking. "But, hey, so, speaking of Karin and everything, I got a favor to ask of you."

Hinata put down her cup; attentiveness entered her shoulders. "What do you need?"

"Well, this is more related to Yakata-kun—this part, at least—but we'd like to have his parents brought down here to Konoha to be with him, an' I think you'd be just the right person to get them," Naruto said. "I mean, you're super good with diplomacy, y'know."

"Oh, I haven't been on a mission in _ages,_" Hinata said. "But if it's just an escort you need then I'm sure I can manage. I do have to wonder why you're asking just _me_, though; there are so many others you could ask."

"Well, see, that brings me to the second part of the mission, y'know," Naruto said. "I need some sensor nin to go with you to help recover a body."

"Ah." Hinata smiled with understanding. "So you're sending me with Shino and Kiba."

"Yeah, how'd you guess?"

"Naruto, I can put a few things together," she said, a laugh in her tone. "You're sending sensors on a mission that also requires diplomacy, and you want it done right, with a team that works together well. So, you choose us."

"Yep, exactly," Naruto said, and he grinned. "I'm gonna send the order out this afternoon, so you an' Kiba and Shino can head out tomorrow morning. Or is that too soon?"

"That's perfectly fine," Hinata replied. The light in her face softened. "Whose body shall we be recovering up there?"

"Karin's partner, Suigetsu-san," Naruto replied. "He was looking out for Yakata-kun when he got possessed by Orochimaru, and ended up killed."

"The poor man," Hinata said. "We'll be sure to find him, Naruto."

"Thanks, Hinata. I really appreciate it."

Hinata bowed her head. "I'm glad I can help."


	125. Dry Tears

_Chapter 125 - Dry Tears_

* * *

The order was indeed sent out in the afternoon, and the next morning, Kiba, Shino, and Hinata arrived at the Hokage Manor to receive their debriefing before heading up to the village of Tamina.

Kiba and a descendant of Akamaru named Tanshamaru—a particularly large female, despite her name—were given samples of cloth from Yakata's clothes, so they might have a scent marker to follow once they reached Tamina. Even though Hinata added that she'd probably be able to find Yakata's parents by simply asking around the village, Kiba wanted for there to be a sure thing. For whatever reason.

Similarly, they were given a strip of cloth from the bottom of Shingetsu's beloved white cape, which he slept in and as a result barely washed. His father's smell would almost certainly be upon it.

(Karin had only barely explained her son that his father was dead. The most Shingetsu understood was that his daddy had gone away, and was not coming back, and that his mommy got very upset whenever he asked if she was sure, if he wasn't just taking a really long time.)

(Because his daddy always came home, no matter how long it took.)

If Kiba couldn't find him, then Shino most certainly would. Corpses were not long hidden from Aburame.

After this, they were given a map of the area, which Hinata carried, and they were on their way.

"We'll be back very soon," she told Naruto, and he nodded in reply, and gave them a thumb's-up.

The voyage over took hardly any time at all; Kiba and Hinata rode on Tanshamaru together, and Shino bounded along behind them, able to keep up on account of his body's bug-enhanced stamina. An hour or two of journeying brought them to the hill overlooking the village, and they entered together.

But upon being asked of the location of the Honbo family, every villager clammed up, no matter how gently Hinata asked. They had either disappeared or never existed in the first place, though the latter was clearly impossible. Especially since one woman, nursing a hot and sour expression on her face, declared that "It was about time they left us in peace. Them and that demon son of theirs." She spat on the ground, afterwards, so Hinata left her alone.

They turned to the clothing scraps after that, which brought them first to a house near the edge of town, identical to all the others surrounding it, save for one detail: it was completely ruined.

The windows had been smashed, the doors pulled off their tracks, and the floor was littered with paper from broken screen doors. But nothing else had been broken, or smashed—rather, any indication that people had lived in there was completely absent. There wasn't even a pot hanging from the hearth.

Midway through their investigation of this strange space, there was a knock on the front doorframe; an old man with a thin, stringy beard stood there, and cleared his throat.

"I assume you're the shinobi looking for the Honbo family?" he said.

"Yes, do you know where they are?" Hinata asked.

"I'm afraid I can't say. They were chased out of town not a few days ago under some unfortunate circumstances," the old man replied.

"What sorta circumstances?" Kiba had lifted up a broken floorboard, to sniff at whatever had been underneath, and had turned his head mid-sniff. Shino, meanwhile, was inspecting the work of a spider that had begun to spin a web near the ceiling.

"Unfortunate ones," the old man said, his eyes narrowed. "May I ask why _you_ three are looking for them?"

"Their son, Honbo Yakata-kun, is being treated at our hospital, and it would be best if his parents are with him while he's there," Hinata said.

"So he ended up in your village, huh?" the old man said. "Pray to your ancestors, then; that boy is nothing but trouble."

"We'll be very careful," Hinata replied, her voice half-frosted over. "Do you know which direction the Honbo family might have gone?"

"Away from here. That's all I know," the old man said, in a tone that indicated he wanted the shinobi to behave similarly.

"Thank you for your help," Hinata said, and motioned with her hand for them to leave the house.

Outside the village, Kiba got out the cloth scraps again. "C'mon, girl, let's give this all we got," he said, holding the clump of t-shirt between them. They both sniffed at it for several seconds, before Tanshamaru raised her head and barked. "That way?" Kiba said, pointing somewhere. Tanshamaru barked again. "All right, we got a lead, let's get going!"

Tanshamaru, with Kiba translating on occasion, led them into a forest along the hillside of the village. The pace quickened as Tanshamaru and Kiba both seemed to pick up a particularly strong note, which led them to an ivy-covered mass of boulders set into a hill near the river that passed through the area.

"The scent's real strong here," Kiba said, putting his hands on his hips as he sniffed the air further. "But it's a dead end s'far as I know."

Tanshamaru, meanwhile, was batting at the boulder with her paw and whining. Hinata understood, and readied her chakra.

A moment later, her eyes snapped open, the veins on her face bulging from the concentration.

There was a door set into one of the boulders, she could see; beyond that, a stairwell, branching into several hallways and rooms.

And in one of those rooms, two people were huddled together. They felt very weak, but they were alive.

She focused on the door again, to see its inner workings, and where it would open. It didn't take long.

"Step aside, please, Tanshamaru," she said, and with a firm series of taps in a specific place, the outline of a door appeared and swung inward, exposing the stairs.  
"I believe they're down here."

"All right, let's go!" Kiba was the first down the stairs, but he paused once he reached the bottom, covering his nose. "_Jeez_, it reeks down here!"

"I believe that's mildew," Shino said, mildly.

"It's more than that, it smells like—ugh—it smells like there were dead _bodies_ in here or somethin'." Kiba groaned. Tanshamaru whined with him, her head low and her tail between her legs. "The hell kinda place _is_ this."

A small cloud of beetles began floating out of Shino's sleeves. "If there are bodies nearby then I shall certainly find them."

"Yeah, you do that," Kiba replied.

Hinata, however, was already down the right-hand hallway, looking for the people she had sensed. Though she could not sense it as strongly as Kiba, the place smelled faintly of blood and chemicals, as if someone had tried to clean up a horrible mess but only half-succeeded. It put her somewhat on edge, and she kept her Byakugan activated, to ensure that nothing hidden would spring out to hurt or trap her.

She finally reached the door, and breathing in for a moment, she opened it.

"Hello…?"

A man and a woman were there; they both looked skinny and somewhat dried-out, and very, very frightened, clinging to each other. The room was bare, but there were blankets on the floor in one corner of the room, and a pile of what looked like their possessions in the other. It appeared they had literally been run out of town with the clothes on their backs and little more.

"Wh-who are you…?" the man said.

"My name is Hyuuga Hinata, I'm a ninja from Konohagakure," Hinata said, chancing a step or two forward; she was bent slightly shorter than usual, to appear less threatening. "Are you Honbo Gishi?"

"Yes, how… how do you know my name?" Gishi said.

"I was sent to find you so that you could be with your son, Yakata-kun," Hinata said.

"Yakata? Is he all right?" the woman, Satoko, said, jerking a little out of Gishi's arms.

Hinata nodded. "He's being treated in our hospital for some injuries, but otherwise, yes, he's fine."

"Injuries? What happened to him?" Satoko said.

"That, I believe, he can tell you himself when we arrive back in Konohagakure," Hinata said. "I have two friends with me that are ready to take you there whenever you're ready."

Satoko and Gishi exchanged uneasy glances.

"…if I may say, the accommodations in Konoha are probably far more comfortable than where you are now," Hinata said, gently. "How long have you been hiding here?"

"A week. Maybe more," Gishi said; his voice crumbled at the edges. "There's just nowhere else for us to go…"

"I'm certain that we can help with that," Hinata said. She had stepped forward enough times so that she was now quite near to them, and held out a hand. "Please, come with me. I'm sure your son misses you dearly."

But before either of them could accept her offer, there came a scream from down the hallway.

It was Kiba's.

Hinata ran out of the room as fast as her legs would allow; she saw in the vision behind her that Satoko and Gishi rose and followed, a short while later.

"WHAT THE FUCK, MAN!" Kiba's screams had curdled into words, in the meantime.

"GET OFF MY FACE, ASSHOLE!" Somebody was replying, though Hinata could not quite tell whom.

"What's going on?" she asked, upon arriving.

"This—puddle just _screamed_ at me, Hinata!" Kiba reported, waving his arms about. Tanshamaru seemed to be investigating the puddle—not terribly conspicuous, but taking up part of the hallway—on her own, sniffing it. Shino watched all this, looking vaguely interested, from a bit away.

"A puddle… screamed at you?"

"Damn right I did, you were stepping on me!" the disembodied voice said; indeed, it seemed to be coming from the puddle, and Tanshamaru stepped back.

Hinata blinked a few times, and focused her concentration on the puddle. It was glowing with chakra—was it… alive?

"Erm, excuse me, but what—or who?—are you?" she said, bending down, propping her hands on her knees.

The puddle seemed to grow slightly thicker, and shrunk in size as a result. "Call me Hozuki," it replied.

"Do you live here, Hozuki-san?" Hinata said.

"Not by _choice_. I'm recovering from an ordeal." The puddle Hozuki continued firming up, and the outline of a face, like a child's drawing, seemed to form in the now gelatin-like surface. It did not seem terribly pleased.

"Hozuki-san? These people say they found Yakata." The Honbos had appeared behind Hinata, still holding each other's hands.

"Yakata?" The surface of the puddle seemed to swirl about, as if being stirred. "Where is he?"

"Konohagakure," Hinata replied.

Hozuki seemed to get very agitated at this, ripples colliding all over his surface. "_You_ guys got him? Is he okay? Oh, _damn_ it."

"He's fine, Hozuki-san. Do you… um, know Yakata-kun?" Hinata said.

"He knows all of us," Gishi said.

"Hozuki-san led us here, to this place, after we… had to leave our home. We heard his voice in the woods, and followed it," Satoko added, quietly. "He knew it would be safe for us here."

"How curious. Thank you for helping them, Hozuki-san," Hinata said.

"Yeah, don't mention it," Hozuki replied, shortly. "So what you guys gonna do, you gonna take us back with you to Konoha or what?"

"Satoko-san and Gishi-san, yes," Hinata said. "Do you want to come with us, Hozuki-san?"

"He ought to," Shino said, before anyone else could. "Considering he's the body we were supposed to find."

"What? He's that Suigetsu guy we were supposed to get?" Kiba said.

"Uh, _yeah_, my name's Suigetsu! You guys were lookin' for _me_ too?" Little fish-like splashes were appearing in the puddle, now.

Hinata smiled very warmly. "Your partner—Karin-san, I believe her name is—wanted very much for you to be found. Though she was under the impression that you had passed away, somehow. We were sent to retrieve your body."

Suigetsu's puddle thinned out considerably, hearing this, returning to a more water-like consistency. "Son of a bitch," he said, quietly. "I need to get _home_."

"We'll get you home, Suigetsu-san," Hinata said. "I promise."

"Shino, why the hell didn't you say anything?" Kiba continued.

"I assumed you both would realize whom we were talking to, sooner or later," Shino said. Kiba scoffed, in reply.

They made quick work at preparing to leave for Konoha. Satoko and Gishi would ride on Tanshamaru, since they weren't ninjas, and everyone else would go on foot. Hinata coaxed Suigetsu into a water-skin she had brought with her, and carried him on her back.

"I'll be fine if I'm given enough still water to rest in, once we get there," he explained, talking to her on the way there. "Fucking thing about rivers, man, s'that they don't stand _still_. And I ain't in a state to go swimming right now. I didn't wanna end up in somebody's sink."

"Very understandable, Suigetsu-san," Hinata replied. "I hope you recover quickly."

"Yeah, same."

He didn't talk very much after that; the jostling of Hinata's movement made it very difficult for him to pull words together, it seemed.

They arrived in Konoha after a journey quite a bit longer than the trip going up, but still within the same day. Night had fallen, and the streets were glossed in the orange light of street lamps. Rather than reporting in at the Hokage Manor, as they would with any other mission, they went straight to the hospital, and Sakura was called.

"You must be Yakata-kun's parents," she said, greeting them in the lobby. "I'm _so_ sorry that we had to meet under these circumstances."

"It's quite all right," Satoko said. "Can we see our son, please…?" Her eyes closed as she completed the question, almost wincing in regret at asking this before asking about his health or anything else.

Sakura, however, understood completely, and replied with, "Absolutely. Please, come with me."

"Hey, 'scuze me, what about me?" Suigetsu said.

Sakura's eyes darted here and there as she tried to locate the sound. "Who said that…?"

"Me, in the water-skin. Hinata-san, hold me up." Hinata took the sack off her back and held it with her hands in front of her. "I'm the dead guy you were lookin' for."

"Uh—Suigetsu-san…?" Sakura said. "You're alive?"

"Yeah, hey. Can you get me a tub of water or somethin' to soak in? I'd really appreciate it."

Sakura's face twisted in disbelief and confusion, but she still flagged down a nurse and told her to direct Hinata and Suigetsu to a therapy pool "or something" for Suigetsu. Seeing them sent on their way—Hinata dismissed Kiba and Shino and told them to meet her at the Manor in the morning to finish up their report—Sakura led Satoko and Gishi to Yakata's room in the basement.

(She had tried to move him to the children's ward earlier that day, but he refused, saying he didn't feel comfortable being around that many people yet.)

(Truthfully, he still didn't trust his body at all. Especially when he was asleep, or unconscious.)

(Though he felt safe, even comfortable being near Nadeshiko, because her strength was greater than his, and he knew he could not hurt her.)

It was quite a bit after dark, by this point, and Yakata had been asleep for a while; he was nestled against Nadeshiko's chest on his bed. He had fallen asleep with her beside him, and she hadn't wanted to disturb him by leaving, and so had dozed off as well. Sakura raised the lights only slightly, so that his parents could see him.

"I can get you two a room nearby so you can see him right away, when he wakes up," Sakura whispered.

One of Satoko's hands wandered to Yakata's face, and she brushed some of his hair behind his ear. He began to stir.

"Yakata, sweetheart…?" Satoko murmured.

One of Yakata's eyes opened, and he turned toward her. "Mama…?"

"It's me, darling, I'm here," she said.

Yakata woke more fully, there, and began to sit up. "Mama, you're, you're here…?"

She nodded. "Yes, I'm here." She went and hugged him, after that. Yakata's arms, shaking with mistrust, wandered across her back and held her in return, so, so gently. "Your papa's here too. We're both here."

Nadeshiko had awakened, now, and moved a bit away from Yakata so that he might have an easier time embracing his parents. She rubbed her eyes, intermittently, watching them.

"I'm, I'm so sorry, Mama, I'm, I'm so sorry for what I did." Yakata's voice was muffled by her clothes. "I didn't, I didn't mean to hurt anyone, I, I swear…"

"It's okay, son," Gishi said. "I know you would never hurt anyone on purpose. You're a good boy."

Yakata began crying after that, embraced by both of his parents, and he only stopped when he pulled away from them.

"Your parents will be staying here as long as you are, Yakata-kun," Sakura said, softly, stepping in once she saw that the tears were ending and the hiccups were beginning. "They'll be right here in the hospital with you. Okay?"

Yakata sniffed. "O-Okay…"

"Darling, we were just so worried about you." Satoko was running her hand over Yakata's hair, soothingly, now that Gishi had stepped back. "What happened? Are you all right now?"

"I'm, I'm fine _now_, I, I, I, I think…" Yakata shrunk further into himself.

"We can explain the whole situation in detail tomorrow morning, I think, after you've settled in, Honbo-san," Sakura said. "Is that all right, Yakata-kun?"

He nodded, sniffing again. "Yeah, that's… that's all right. But, um, but… Mama, Papa, I, I want you to meet someone, first."

"Who, son?" Gishi said.

Yakata swallowed. "This is, this is Nadeshiko-san, she's, she's my friend…!" He motioned back at her there, on the bed, and managed to smile, quaveringly. "Nadeshiko, these are… these are my parents."

Nadeshiko closed her eyes in nodding at them. "It's very nice to meet you."

"I, I, I wrote to you about… about her, once, do you remember…?" Yakata continued. "She… she takes care of me, s-sorta…"

"Ah, yes, I remember," Satoko said, and smiled back. "Thank you for taking such good care of our son."

Nadeshiko didn't say anything, just nodding again, and then yawning. This set off a chain of yawns, to Yakata, and then his mother, then his father.

"I'm sorry for waking you, Yakata-kun, do you want to go back to sleep…?" Sakura said, seeing this, and yawning herself. "Mr. and Mrs. Honbo, I can show you to your room, now, too…"

"Oh, it's… it's okay, I don't… I don't mind, this was a good…" Yakata yawned again. "A good reason to, to, to be woken up, I think…!"

"Would you like for me to go back to my bed, Yakata-kun?" Nadeshiko said. (She had one on the other side of the room, a small cot that Sakura had ordered to be brought in for her.)

"O-only if you wanna…" Yakata said, the weakness in his voice suggesting severely otherwise.

"I'll stay, then," she said, and began settling back into her previous position.

"You get your sleep, honey, I'll be here in the morning, and you can tell me _everything _then, all right?" Satoko said.

"O-okay, Mama… You, you get your sleep too, okay…?" Yakata replied.

She kissed him on the forehead. "I will, my sweet boy. I love you, Yakata, and I'm so glad you're okay."

"I, I love you too, Mama…"

He sat up in bed for a good while longer, watching them leave with Sakura, who turned the lights back off. He returned to the comforting warmth of Nadeshiko's presence after that, and the steady beating of her heart, and quickly fell asleep again.

(He woke in the middle of the night from a hideous nightmare: where the Riverman was killing Takeru, and he was paralyzed, unable to even scream.)

(But he was screaming when he woke up.)

(Nadeshiko stroked his arm and whispered kindly to him, waking with him, countering his apologies and his insistence that what he had dreamed was real.)

(And, after a time, sleep, once again, came for him, and then for her.)

Sakura was able to get Satoko and Gishi a room a few doors down from Yakata's, so visiting would be easy. A second bed was fetched from an empty room nearby, and she bid them good night, and left them the number to her office in the meantime, in case there were any issues.

Her shift ended at midnight that night, and she went home to find Lee already asleep and snoring slightly. Though once she had gotten in bed, she felt him turn over under the sheets to curl his body against hers, as if on reflex, and she drifted to sleep with a smile on her face.

She realized in the morning, after returning to the hospital, that she had completely forgotten about Suigetsu somehow. It took a nurse asking her why there was a man belligerently taking up residence in one of the therapy pools to remind her.

Sputtering out a quick order to leave the man be, Sakura made a mad dash for Karin's room.

Leaving the news unheard any longer would have been a cruel thing indeed.

Karin was feeding Osato when she came in, a bottle of formula expertly tilted in her hand. There was a warm smile in her eyes.

"Karin! Karin, are you—oh, you're busy, I'm sorry, but-"

"But what?" Karin looked up, blinking. "Do you need me for something?"

"Well, when you're done, there's—something I need you to see. It's really important." Sakura had to put a hand on her chest, as if to lessen her breathing.

"What is it?"

"I can't explain. You… have to see it for yourself." Sakura swallowed. "Please, just… trust me, okay?"

Karin's mouth curled, perplexed. "Well, okay," she said, and once Osato had finished his bottle, she bounced and patted him over her shoulder to settle the gas in his stomach, and put him back in his incubator, kissing him on the forehead before leaving. "Jeez, it must really be important if you're still waiting here, okay," she noted, when they closed the door behind them.

"Trust me, Karin," Sakura said again. "It is."

Sakura tried not to walk too quickly—Karin was moving quite gingerly, though not with the same degree of pain or stiffness as when she was still pregnant. And eventually they came to the physical therapy wing, and Sakura found a nurse and asked him, whispering, where the bath was that they'd found the man.

Given the directions, Sakura's smile grew, and she motioned for Karin to follow her.

"Sakura, what are we doing here?" Karin asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Just a minute, hold on."

And Sakura opened the door to the room where Suigetsu was.

Karin remained unimpressed, eyes wandering to the small pool set in the center of the floor. "A… therapy pool? Uh, okay…?"

But then the water, which had been still otherwise, began to ripple of its own accord. And Suigetsu's head, still translucent, peered over the edge, joined by his hands.

"Karin…? That you?"

Karin's tears were instantaneous.

"You… you asshole…!"

And she rushed forward and joined him in the pool, wrapping her arms around whatever solid form she could find.

"Whoa, hey, what are you-?"

"If you _ever_ scare me like this again I'm going to _kill_ you, okay…!" She pressed her head against his half-water chest. "You insensitive son of a _bitch!_"

"Hey, it's not my fault, I didn't mean-!"

Suigetsu wasn't able to say much else because Karin was hugging him too hard. What else could he do but hug back?

"I'm so glad you're _okay,_" she managed, when she stopped to wipe the water off of her face and her glasses. "I missed you way too much, damn it."

"Hey, I was worrying about you every day, right back!" he replied. "And—jeez, why are you even in here, you're gonna catch a cold! Ow!"

Karin had whapped the side of his face. "Why do you think I jumped in, idiot? To make sure I'm not _dreaming,_ okay! And I won't catch a cold!"

"Well—get out of here anyways, I don't want you hurting the little one!" Suigetsu began shoving her to the steps leading out of the pool. "I ain't having that on my hands!"

Karin leaned against the metal railing, her hair now plastered to her face, and she laughed. "Suigetsu, he's been _born_ already, okay! Can't you tell?"

"What—when? When did this happen? Is he okay? Are you okay?" Suigetsu's face puffed up in vexation as Karin just continued laughing. "_Damn_ it, woman, you need to _tell_ me these things!"

"I'm sorry-y!" She had to put her glasses on the ground around the pool, her laughter now so strong it was misshaping her words.

"Tch, look who's scaring who now," he said, sourly, sinking back into the water with his arms crossed, so that only the top of his head was peeking over the surface.

"Come on." Karin was wiping her eyes again, though this time to get rid of the tears of laughter. "I'm _fine_. And he's doing just fine too. Do you want to see him?"

"Maybe when I have legs," Suigetsu replied, sarcastically. His face softened, afterward. "How's he look, though? Is he… normal?"

"Perfectly normal, okay." Karin set herself down on the top few steps of the pool, not quite at the surface, but close, and propped herself up on her knees. "He's got such pretty black eyes, even _you're_ going to melt, okay."

"Great, more loss of bodily control," Suigetsu replied. "That's just what I need."

Karin chuckled again. "You'll see what I mean, okay."

Suigetsu raised his head a bit more, smiling. "Yeah, I can't wait to see him. I bet he's gorgeous, Karin."

"Mm. And Shingetsu and Ooda too, should they come down and see you or do you want to wait until you're less… squishy, okay?"

"Get 'em down here, I ain't never spending this much time apart from my little boy _again_," Suigetsu said.

"I figured," Karin replied. She looked over her shoulder at Sakura, who was watching all this from the door, a mile-wide grin on her face. "Well, you heard him, didn't you? Can you go get our kids?"

"Sure, Karin. Will you guys be all right by yourself?"

"Yes, yes, now go!" Karin waved her off with her hand, so Sakura went.

(Though she walked slowly away from the door, enough to hear Karin begin speaking again: "Oh, wait until Ooda tells you what he did the other day, you're going to be so proud of him, okay…")

(Hearing this, Sakura got the idea that when Karin referred to "our kids," she wasn't thinking of them as Suigetsu's son and her son, separately.)

She walked across the hospital—the physical therapy wing and Curse Seal ward were both on the same floor, so it didn't take long—and found Ooda and Shingetsu both engaged in a game of cards in their room. Ooda was no longer wrapped in a blanket, his hospital robe leaving most of his white arms exposed.

"Hello, you two," Sakura said.

"Sakura-sensei, hi! You wanna play Go Fish with us?" Shingetsu said.

"Not today, I think," Sakura replied.

"Oh, okay." Shingetsu returned to his cards, studying them intensely.

"Does my mom need something, Sakura-sensei?" Ooda asked, looking over his shoulder.

"Yeah, she wants you to come join her in welcoming Suigetsu-san home."

Shingetsu's cards went flying across the table as he slammed his hands on the surface. "Daddy's home?!"

"He arrived just last night, Shingetsu-kun. And he'd love to see you." Sakura had her hands holding her arms, slightly crooked, like her smirk.

"You mean he's…?" Ooda said.

"He's alive and recovering, Ooda-san," Sakura replied. "We're keeping him in a therapy pool; your mom's with him right now."

"Ooda-niki, we gotta go see Daddy!" Shingetsu had clambered off his chair and was tugging insistently on his clothes. "Right now, okay?!"

"Okay, okay…" Ooda got up himself, and with Shingetsu still attached, went to grab a blanket from off of his bed to wear.

(Sakura noticed this with some small degree of disappointment and worry.)

(Though given his lack of it before, she had to wonder if Ooda was covering himself now more because of his sudden celebrity, and not due to his self-image.)

(After all, there was certainly a lot of talk in the hospital now about the fact that the clone that helped save everyone was staying in a room near the Curse Seal Ward. And a lot of staff was certainly wandering near that ward lately.)

Once he was covered to his satisfaction, Sakura led the both of them back the way she had come, into the therapy wing, and then into Suigetsu's room.

Shingetsu's reaction was about as joyful as Karin's. Though Ooda just removed his blanket from his face upon entering, Shingetsu leaped forward with an ecstatic "DADDY!" and did a full-on belly flop into the pool, merging with the water somewhat on impact, to better hug Suigetsu.

"Hey, squirt! It's good to see you!" Suigetsu rubbed the boy's face against his, a spread smile on his face. "You been good for me?"

"I been _so_ good," Shingetsu replied. "I been takin' care of Ooda-niki an' Asao-touto an' Mommy an' she won't let me hold him yet but I'm gonna take care of Osa-touto too 'soon as I can."

"Yeah, I bet you will," Suigetsu said, hugging him tighter. Shingetsu squealed, kicking his legs and splashing water everywhere. He twisted away from his father a little after that to face Karin. "See, Mommy? I toldja he'd come back. Daddy always comes back."

"Yes, little one, he certainly does," Karin said, from the steps.


	126. New Tradition

As slowly as people wanted to take things after the incident with Orochimaru and the Riverman, eventually, everyone had to pack up and leave.

Those that had transport tickets pre-booked for journeys out of Konoha were able to leave on schedule, as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.

This meant, however fortunately or unfortunately for Naruto and the rest of Konoha, that the Taki and Hakaza clans had to go home.

Naruto had said his goodbyes to Kiine and everyone else at the Tenjou Inn, when he'd gone to pick them up. Kiine had hugged him and promised to write.

"If you don't, I'm gonna flood you with letters, y'know!" Naruto replied, to this. He wished Yuki and Kou the best, as well, and reminded Boss Tensho that, if he ever wished to meet again, that all he had to do was write.

"I'll keep that in mind, Hokage. Thanks," Tensho said. For once, his tone was not unkind.

But upon reaching the transport station, where they waited for their ride out, Nobuhiro wandered off somewhere, and they ended up having to wait for him.

Eventually, it was discovered, he was saying some goodbyes of his own. To his girlfriend.

"You gonna be okay without me, sugar bear?" Kohriza had her hands pressed against Nobuhiro's chest, standing on tip-toe to face him better.

"You worry about yourself, Kohriza," Nobuhiro replied. His face was very pink. "You got a country to run, after all…"

"Well, of _course_," Kohriza replied, and mock-pouted. "But I'm afraid I'll _miss_ you too much to run it properly."

"Hey, you stop teasing around like that. This is serious." Still, he took one of his enormous hands (that he knew she loved so much) and ran his knuckles against her cheek. "I'll write, I promise."

"You got my address?"

"An' you've got mine, in case I forget. But I won't."

She placed both of her hands on his hand, her lip-glossed smile shining. "I know you won't, you big lug."

"Yeah, yeah, same to you, uh… Miss Kitten."

She squealed with delight at his stumbled attempt of a pet name, and jumped up to kiss him on the nose. "You take care of yourself, muscle bug."

"I will, I will."

Her bracelets crackled in the air as she waved to him, rejoining her bodyguards, who waited for her by their train. He wiggled his fingers back, maybe looking a little foolish, but clearly not caring.

Nobody said anything as he rejoined his own family, and shortly afterward boarded into the car with them. But he noticed Yuki, in the seat across from him, was biting on his lips, as if he were trying to eat his own smile, and Kiine was suspiciously quiet as well.

"All right, Yuki, what the hell is it?" he said.

"…she's _really_ beautiful, brother," Yuki finally blurted.

"More like _gorgeous_, yeah! How'd you catch a girl like that, Nobu?" Kiine added, with equal fervor.

"…who?" Nobuhiro said.

"Quit playin' dumb." Tensho nudged him, and smirked beneath his mustache. "Out with it, tell us all about your new lady friend already."

And Nobuhiro smiled, shook his head, and began to tell them all about Kohriza.

Yomena also went home, eventually. But she stayed one day later than originally scheduled, because she wanted to have dinner with Naruto. And if she had to personally request the extra time from the soldiers that came to collect her, well, so be it.

(She told herself, and she told them, that it was because she wanted very badly to speak to the spiritually-gifted Murasaki, whom Naruto had gotten to join them for their meal.)

(That was what she told them, yes.)

The meal was quite informal, held in Naruto's own kitchen. Naruto himself was prepared to harness his meager culinary skills for the purpose, and Murasaki had brought with her a bundle of her favorite tea—one of her family's shop's finest—for them all to enjoy with the food. Murasaki and Yomena were beginning to converse quite pleasantly, though Naruto called Yomena to the refrigerator, at one point, to ask her what she wanted to have made.

"I got eggs, I got scallions, I got tofu, I got everything, just for tonight, y'know!" he announced, almost proudly. "Go nuts."

Yomena paused quite thoughtfully. "You wouldn't happen to have… ramen, or any other sort of noodles, of course?"

The side of Naruto's mouth twitched. "Ramen? Why…?"

"I'm… in a bit of a mood for noodles," Yomena replied, a bit sheepishly. "Of course, if you are unprepared-"

"No, no, I'm always up for ramen, y'know! We could head to Ichiraku right now! Murasaki, you wanna go for Ichiraku?"

"We don't… have to go out for my sake, of course," Yomena said, raising a hand in protest. "Really, having dinner here is fine. I don't want you to waste all the food you bought just for my sake…"

"...I wouldn't mind noodles, though." Murasaki was raising her hand, now, though to interject. "Sensei, why don't we all go out and get the ingredients to make them?"

"What, noodles?"

"…yes, it shouldn't be too difficult. Yomena-san, what do you say?" Murasaki smiled blithely to punctuate her sentence.

"…well, if it means you still use the things you bought for my sake, of course…" Yomena replied, her eyes downcast.

(Naruto felt a strange, marshmallow-like embarrassment within her, though it was warm and not unpleasant.)

"Yeah, we'll have a big ol' noodle extravaganza, y'know!" Naruto said. "B'sides, Yomena, I'll be able to use all the leftovers myself. I promise, y'know."

He winked at her, and a flinch-like smile was her reply.

And so, the three of them left together for a nearby convenience store to get their noodles.

They returned to Naruto's house a while later, each holding their own plastic bags, on Naruto's insistence. "So we all know who's who, y'know!"

Even though they were all just generic pre-cooked noodles, it was more for the sake of ceremony and humor than anything.

Naruto, with great flourish and care, poured boiling water into each of their three bowls, and right before the fabled three minutes were up, he added fried tofu to Murasaki's, and eggs and ham and scallions to his and Yomena's. He had asked her if she wanted anything special, but she had asked only that she eat what he ate, so he complied.

Midway through her bowl, however, Murasaki began laughing to herself.

"Yo, what's so funny, Murasaki?" Naruto said.

"…oh, it's just something Shusuke said. He said Yomena-san speaks a lot like you, and his impressions of you two are absolutely ridiculous," Murasaki replied.

"Shusuke? What the heck," Naruto said, laughing. "What does he mean, Murasaki?"

Murasaki tilted her head, as if listening, but then batted her hand in the air and laughed more. "Shusuke, you're speaking too quickly! I can't possibly get this across." She sighed. "Here, here, why don't you speak for yourself?"

She held out a hand away from her, and a few moments later her head drooped slightly, as if she had nodded off.

And then her eyes were very, _very_ open, and she grinned.

"All right! Hey, Sensei! It's me, Shusuke, now."

"Hey, Shusuke! What's up." Naruto waved at him good-naturedly. "So what's this you gotta say 'bout how we talk, y'know?"

"Well, that's just it! Y'know! That's, like, all you say, Sensei. Y'know, y'know, y'know." Shusuke waved Murasaki's hands for extra emphasis with each "y'know." "So your daughter, Sensei, she's just the same! 'xcept with her it's all 'of course.' Just of course, of course, of course, over an' over. It's kinda funny!"

"Man, is that right!" Naruto said, laughing more.

Yomena, however, had turned slightly red. "Do I really… say that a lot?"

"Like all the time, girl! Just like Sensei, an' just as weird!" Shusuke replied.

"Shusuke, hey! Be nice," Naruto said. "You okay there, Yomena?"

"I'm fine," she said, waving him off with a hand. "It's just, I never really noticed that…"

"What, that you say 'of course' a lot?" Naruto said.

"I just thought it was the way I talked, of course," Yomena replied, shrugging slightly. "I never really thought much of it…"

"I don't think I really noticed how I talked either, y'know, 'til I met my mom," Naruto said.

"Your mother…?"

"Yeah. I never got to know her growin' up, but when I was, oh, fifteen, sixteen years old, I got an opportunity to meet her, y'know," Naruto said. "She talked just like me, even though we'd never really met before then! Sayin' 'yeah' at the end of everything like me an' my 'y'know,' y'know." He laughed. "I dunno, maybe she passed it down to me or somethin'!"

"Passed it down… I see, of course…" Yomena had gotten very quiet. "Why were you raised without your mother…? If you don't mind my asking…"

"Huh? Oh, she, uh, she died not long after I was born, y'know…"

"…then how in the world did you come to meet her?" Yomena said. "A near-death experience, or some sort of spiritual reunion?"

"Yeah, actually, somethin' like that!" Naruto's face got very bright. "I had to do this spiritual trial stuff when the War was goin' on so I could be able to work with Kurama better—the nine-tailed fox, y'know."

"Of course." Yomena nodded in clear understanding.

"B'fore she died, see, my mom got some of her soul or her chakra or whatever put into the seal that kept Kurama all tied up in me, y'know. An' when things got dicey, she came out to give me help, and we got to talk, and I got to know her real well!"

"Fascinating," Yomena said, her voice hushed.

"You never told me about _any_ of this stuff, Sensei," Shusuke said, a smirking half-pout on his face. "I call shenanigans."

"It totally happened, okay?" Naruto replied, mockingly indignant. "Ask Kurama, he was there too, y'know!"

"How the heck m'I supposed to do that, Sensei?"

Naruto closed his eyes, frowning some, before returning to him again. "Well, he's sleepin' right now. But he'd back me up, y'know, I swear!"

But before Shusuke could fire back, Yomena said, "Did you enjoy meeting her?"

"Huh, what?"

"Your mother. Even under those circumstances, of course…"

"Well, _yeah_, of _course_ I enjoyed it," Naruto replied. "I mean, when I was growin' up I always wondered what my folks had been like. And meeting my dad was kind of… weird, so seeing that my mom was totally cool was _awesome_, y'know."

"You met your father, as well?" Yomena said. "Similar circumstances?"

"Yeah, another layer of the seal…" Naruto said.

"So… what made it 'weird' to you?" Yomena continued.

"Well, I was real _angry_ at him once he made it clear he was my dad, y'know," Naruto said. "Like, he basically abandoned me as a baby an' left me with a monster in my belly at that, so I grew up with people hatin' me for a reason I had no idea about, blah, blah, blah…" He sighed. "I got to punch him, though. That was satisfying."

"I-Is that right, of course…" Yomena said.

"Yeah, I got to yell at him for a bit, but then he… eh, I guess it's not important." Naruto shrugged. "He seemed way less concerned 'bout getting to know me than my mom did; he just wanted me to… I dunno, get my job done and finish what he started. But my mom, though! She, like, took me aside an' sat down with me and asked me about my life, y'know! I appreciated that."

"It sounds like… she was a very kind person," Yomena said.

"Totally." Naruto beamed. "I wish we'd have gotten more time together, y'know. But, hey, what's passed is passed."

"Mm." Yomena kept her eyes to her noodles. "Then, would you want more time with-"

But Shusuke interrupted, speaking far more loudly than her. "Hey, Sensei, so if you met your dad's ghost or whatever, how were you able to punch him? I mean, I'm a ghost, and nobody's ever been able to punch _me_."

"It wasn't his ghost! I think. It was in some sorta weird mental space, y'know!" Naruto replied. He reached for his chopsticks and waved them around. "I have no idea what it was, don't ask me these questions!"

"You're full of it, Sensei," Shusuke said, grinning like a cat. Naruto made a face back at him, and messily slurped at some noodles. "Well, whatever. I said what I wanted to say, so I'll let Saki-chan come back now."

Naruto chewed, and swallowed. "S'been nice talkin' to you, Shusuke!" he said. "Come back again any time."

"Yeah, okay!" Shusuke said.

Murasaki's head nodded forward sharply, but she caught herself before her chin could fall into her chest, and she blinked a few times, looking fairly startled.

"…so, did he get his point across?" she said, pleasantly.

"Yeah, he did," Naruto said, noodles dangling from his lips.

"…splendid." Murasaki smiled and returned to her meal.

Yomena ate as well, chewing on her thoughts as much as her food.

She and Murasaki talked further as their bowls emptied; Yomena mostly asked her about the logistics of her channeling, of the origins of her abilities, and what it felt like to do what she did. All the while, Naruto listened, even after he'd finished eating, propping his chin up on one hand and smiling.

And eventually, Murasaki had to go home. She left Yomena with her address, but not her phone number. "…I'm not terribly good with telephones…" she explained, with Yomena was fine with, and she returned the favor and promised to keep in touch.

Yomena offered to help Naruto clean up, after that, and though Naruto protested, she eventually got him to wash the dishes so long as she could dry them.

They didn't talk much. Naruto asked, at one point, "So, did you enjoy meeting Murasaki?"

"It was… very nice, of course," Yomena replied.

"Ah, that's great, y'know!" Naruto returned to scrubbing out the kettle.

"…I'm, um… glad that I got to spend time with… you too, of course…"

Naruto looked sideways. "Huh, what?"

"I realize… that you really _wanted_ to spend time with me while I was here, this year, and… well, I'm sorry it took so long for me to realize that, of course. If you'll forgive me." Her head bent lower as she dried her bowl.

"You don't… have to apologize for anything, Yomena," Naruto said. "We've had… I dunno, difficulties, I guess?"

"It's my fault, truly," Yomena said. "I misjudged you. And I should apologize for that, of course."

Naruto put down the scrub-brush, keeping a hand on the kettle. "Misjudged me, huh."

"It's like when you met your parents, I suppose," Yomena said. "My expectation was that you only had interests of business at heart, like… how you said _your _father was—that's, um, how things are where I come from, anyways… I suspected ill of you when you tried to… reach out to me, of course."

She still wasn't looking at him.

"But I realize now you were being genuine. And I apologize."

She only inhaled slightly when Naruto reached over and put an arm around her shoulder, and squeezed. "Again, y'don't need to apologize, okay? I understand."

She smiled slightly. "I believe you."

He let go of her and returned to the dishes. "I'm really glad you feel this way, though, Yomena. It makes me real happy, y'know? I mean, the last thing I want is to make you uncomfortable an' stuff."

"Mm." She finished drying the bowl, and set it aside. "Personally… I'm glad that I didn't have to wait until you were dead and I was in danger to understand you better." She paused. "That… didn't make any sense, did it…"

Naruto, however, laughed, and gave her another side-squeeze hug. "I got what you meant. And hey, I'm glad too, y'know? Especially about the whole dying part. It'd really suck if I died without getting to know my own kid."

"You feel you've gotten to know me?" Yomena said.

"Yeah, maybe a little bit! Though I'd love to get to know you more, in the future." He winked. "Think that'd be okay?"

"Only if… you allow me to do the same, of course," Yomena replied.

"Then it's a deal." Naruto nodded once, strongly, and handed her the washed kettle.

"A deal it is," she replied, and began drying it.

They each went to bed after that, once the job was done, saying goodnight to each other.

(Though neither of them went to sleep right away.)

(Both of them lay on top of their sheets, staring at the ceiling, thinking, and smiling often.)

In the morning—her luggage was already packed—Naruto took her to the transport station, though only after offering to make her tea before they left. She refused, though only because she knew how early it was, and she didn't want him putting in effort for something he himself wouldn't use later.

"Besides, I know you'll be heading back to bed for at least a little while after this, of course," Yomena added, tilting her head sideways.

"Now where'd you get _that_ idea, y'know?" Naruto asked, his eyebrows rising.

"…well, on mornings when I have to wake up earlier than usual for just one thing, I almost always return to bed once it's done. I thought perhaps you… did the same, or something similar…" Her expression got pink and flustered. "I'm sorry, pardon me for assuming."

Naruto, however, yawned, laughing towards the end of it. "That's _exactly_ it. Seriously, getting up at five for a train is _stupid_, y'know. I'm goin' right back to bed once I see you off. An' you're gonna fall asleep on the train, aren't you?"

"…probably, yes," Yomena replied, smiling slightly, and then yawning herself.

There was mist on the ground as they made their way out. The sky was the color of milk, and only a few birds were singing. Yomena met up with the soldiers assigned to her care, and spoke with them a while, apart from Naruto, holding up her hand to him so he wouldn't leave just yet—"_Wait a moment._"

After handing her bag to them, she returned to him, her arms held in front of her. "Well, then… Thank you greatly for your hospitality." She bowed.

"Thank _you_ for being such a great guest," Naruto replied, bowing in reply.

Yomena shuffled her feet, her eyes wandering across the ground. Her mouth opened for words that were not yet chosen.

And then: "I… look forward to my next stay with you, Naruto-san…"

Naruto blinked a few times, taken aback; he wondered if she had _ever_ called him by his name before. "Y-you do, huh?"

"Yes."

And then she stepped forward, and wrapped her arms around his, pressing her hands against his back.

She was hugging him.

And Naruto, pausing only a moment with his mouth open, hugged her back. Her body was warm to the touch, and he smelled her incense in her hair.

(Ruby-colored affection, fragile and new, he felt also, and that closed his eyes and closed his mouth in a smile.)

Yomena pulled away shortly afterward, adjusting her jacket and clearing her throat. "Well, then, until next time," she said.

"'Til next time," Naruto replied, nodding. "You take care, Yomena."

"You as well, Naruto-san."

He waved at her as she boarded the transport, and stayed on the platform until he could no longer see her.

Then, yawning mightily, he went back to bed, feeling immensely satisfied.

(And Yomena nestled against her bag in her compartment, smiling slightly, the feeling mutual.)

This was the last goodbye Naruto would have to make for a while yet. After all, he had decided with his council—in the days well before this—that Karin would remain in Konoha until she, Ooda, and Suigetsu were all fit to travel, which "could take a while."

(Which was something of a euphemism for "Karin's welcome here until she needs to get back to her clinic, basically.")

Nobody had a problem with this, considering Karin's openness about everything, and the fact that the Kages—who had all since gone home—already willingly believed another story.

Gaara had spread to the other Kages, without any prompting, the story of Ooda, and how he was evidence of a cloning experiment abandoned by Orochimaru for some reason or another—death, war, disinterest, what have you. After all, Orochimaru had a long history of unfinished projects, and there was nothing to contradict the claim that Ooda had been left with Karin to be raised, and forgotten about until Orochimaru's own return, years later.

Rotsuki and Kohriza took to the story readily, with interest and sympathy, though Mei (uncomfortably) expressed visible disappointment at the fact that the cloning process itself was still a mystery, and was likely to stay that way.

"Such a shame we don't have more than just that boy for evidence," she commented, in hearing the news. "The things cloning could _do_ for my country."

"You're doing _more_ than enough already, Mei-san," Rotsuki replied. Mei didn't seem to notice the sarcasm.

And speaking of Karin, though it was obvious she wasn't going to be making any more children, what would become of her notes and research?

"I'm gonna have them transferred to Sakura, and she'll get them archived, locked up and under Konoha's protection," Karin explained to Naruto, once he asked. "I'm not gonna _destroy_ them, okay, that's just _stupid_. But I trust you and your government enough to not use them."

"Sounds great! You want me to bring that up to the council?"

"Sakura already did, actually. All it needs now is your approval."

"Well, then, there you go! I'll make sure to get that taken care of, y'know." Naruto had to pause, there, because he was feeding Osato during this conversation, and Osato had started to fuss, writhing away from the nipple of the bottle. "Whoa, whoa, buddy, c'mon, you can't be done yet! Finish your lunch, y'know." Naruto coaxed the bottle back into his mouth, where he began to suck again. "_There_ we go."

The other matter to be settled that particular day, it turned out, was that of letters.

With the amount of traffic subsiding and the fan mail sorted between those addressed to Hashiki and those to Ooda, Andou had the stacks—bundled neatly with twine—delivered to their proper places.

For Karin's family, reading these letters was the perfect pastime to celebrate her moving back down to her old room, and Suigetsu leaving the therapy pool to join them. At Shingetsu's request, and with Ooda's permission, the stack of letters was divided up between Karin and the boys to be read—the particularly good ones were often read aloud or summarized. Of course, Ooda would read them all himself later, but this celebration of his actions seemed like an excellent way to go about it together.

The "good ones" ended up being almost exclusively love letters to Ooda, which got him quite flustered and frequently asking his mother not to read them aloud.

But the _best_ one, undeniably, was a letter written in pencil on a piece of hotel stationary, misspellings dancing through the text. Ooda read it first, and squinted to make sure he wasn't mistaken, before getting his mother's attention.

"What is it, another love letter?" Karin said, smirking.

"No, Mom. Look who it's from."

And Karin read it, and began laughing explosively after a few lines.

"Mommy, what is it, what is it?" Shingetsu said.

"It's a letter from Fuzan," Karin said.

"Fuza-niki? He sent a letter?" Shingetsu said. "Why?"

"Here, let me read it, okay," Karin said, and cleared her throat, trying not to let her smile get in the way of her words.

This was Fuzan's letter:

_Dear Ooda-san,_

_I'm not a citisen of Konoha, I'm from the Land of Lightning, but I wanted to write to you to thank you for being so brave and standing up to Orochimaru like you did! Standing up to a guy like that takes serius guts. I totally admiur brave people like you!_

_This is espeshally true I guess becos I read about how your actualy a clone of Orochimaru to begin with. Do you read Mayonaka Terebii? Its a really good series, if you haven't heard of it. When I read about you, I was like, its exakly the same thing! You steping up and doing the right thing in order to defeat the bad guy that made you... Your like a real life super hero! You should get an award from the Hokage if you haven't allready._

_Being a clone must be super cool but also super stressfull, I bet. Do you ever feel pressure to outperform Orochimaru, or what? I know you allready are a good guy, so thats obvysly not a problem. If I were in your pozishun I'd just probly try to be a good guy like you and be nice to evryone, and not try to aspyre to be too much like my ansestor or whatever. That seems like way too much pressure, especially if we are dealing with badass's like Orochimaru and stuff. Being a badass and a good guy at the same time is way too hard for even guys in comic books. That's just my upinion, anyways._

_I hope you keep on being a good guy! I will be cheering for you anyways._

_Yours sinserely,  
- Fuzan_

_PS  
Can you please write back so I can have your ottograph?_

_Extra PS  
Fuzan broke his arm resently so I had to write this for him. Don't blame him for any spelling misstakes.  
- his girlfriend BB_

"That little nut." Suigetsu, who was holding Osato throughout this whole affair, was laughing. "Of course he'd send a letter."

"Ooda, you _have_ to write back to him." Karin handed the letter back to him.

"…are you sure?" Ooda replied.

"All you need to do is thank him for his letter and make sure you make your signature nice and big for him, okay," Karin said. "You don't have to mention anything else."

Ooda smiled, looking again at the letter from a boy he somewhat considered a younger brother. "All right. I'll make it a good one."

Though this wasn't the last time unexpected connections would arise between Karin's children.

The very next day, a woman came by Karin's room, and she had a proposition that would change everything.

(Though speaking of unexpected connections, for some reason, Sakura's husband came by with a large basket full of cookies and fruit for Ooda and his family the afternoon of the letter-reading, insisting on giving Ooda a hug and speaking at length about Ooda's extraordinary character and good deeds.)

(When Suigetsu finally got him to explain why he'd come by in the first place, Lee explained that, due to his experiences in the past, he had a moral obligation to check on the child of Orochimaru, and congratulate him for turning out to be such a fine young man.)

(Baffling as his explanation was, Ooda felt strangely invigorated after the encounter. And Lee's cookies were delicious, besides.)


	127. Mutual Difference

_Chapter 127 - Mutual Difference_

* * *

It was mid-morning when there was a knock on Karin's door.

Shingetsu and Suigetsu were sleeping in that day, huddled together on the bed—Shingetsu had insisted upon it, having missed his father too much, and the feeling was unspoken, but mutual. But Karin was, herself, awake, as was Ooda, who was tending to Osato.

She did not recognize the person behind the door, but all the same, she said, "Come in."

A young woman entered; she wore a bright purple turtleneck under her white doctor's coat, and the way her hair was half-tied-up looked improvised. "Excuse me, is this Ooda-kun's room?" she said.

Ooda, nearly finished with a diaper change, looked up with a small degree of surprise. "Ah, yes, may I, um, help you…?"

The woman smiled warmly and stepped further in. "My name is Ayano Maiya; I'm a psychologist here at the hospital. Sakura-sensei suggested I come by and visit you. How's it going?"

"Oh, um, I'm… fine, thank you…" Ooda went to wash his hands in the sink beside the counter where he was working.

"Sakura sent you to us? What for?" Karin asked.

"Oh, well, I'm not here to offer my services to _you_ all," Maiya replied, waving a hand. "It's on behalf of another one of my patients."

"Another patient?" Karin said.

Maiya nodded. "Yes, a particularly traumatized little boy suffering from _extraordinary_ circumstances."

"Uh… huh?" Karin said. "So did Sakura send you to me for a consultation or…?"

"No, no, I'm here for Ooda-kun," Maiya said.

Ooda paused, slipping Osato's feet into the legs of a onesie. "What do you need _me_ for…?"

"I read in the newspaper that you're a clone of Orochimaru, and Sakura-sensei confirmed that for me when I asked."

Ooda shrank slightly, zipping Osato up. "Ah, yes, I, uh, am…"

"What of it?" Karin added.

Maiya must have noticed the edge in her voice, because she shook her hands apologetically, and shook her head. "Nothing troublesome, I swear! It's because my patient is a clone as well! And I thought he should perhaps meet Ooda-kun."

Ooda exchanged a troubled glance with his mother. She spoke first. "Another clone…? Like my Ooda?"

"Yes, so it seems," Maiya replied. "Not a clone of Orochimaru, of course, but an Uchiha. Sakura-sensei confirmed _that_ for me, also, once my patient began talking about it during our sessions. She thinks they might be from the same cloning project—I mean, what else could it be?"

"…so he _knows_ he's a clone…?" Karin said, however, ignoring Sakura's cover-story. "Do you know how he found this out?"

"Apparently he was told by another Uchiha. It's not something he likes to talk about, though," Maiya said. "So I thought, perhaps, if he had someone to talk to in a similar situation, he might be able to recover better."

"So, you mean… me," Ooda said.

"Yes, you."

"But… what would I _say_ to him…?" Ooda said.

"I figured I'd have Yakata-kun lead the discussion. Ask you questions relating to his anxieties about his identity and such."

Karin inhaled sharply at the boy's name, and tried to make it look like a yawn.

"His name's Yakata, then…?" Ooda said, without a note of recognition.

"Ah, yes, Honbo Yakata. That's his name," Maiya said. "I should have mentioned earlier."

"I see," Ooda said. "He has… identity anxiety, then…?"

"Yes, a great deal." Maiya's girlish face frowned with concern. "Not only over his identity as a clone but a particularly traumatic event in his life recently… Oh, wait, you might already know…"

"Know what?" Karin said.

(Though she and Ooda both already knew.)

"Yakata-kun was the boy possessed by Orochimaru in the recent attack. Because of your actions, you've met him in body, I think, but not in person." Maiya touched the corner of her mouth with her fingers. She had elastic hairbands on her wrist. "It's such an awful situation, really, but we're trying our best."

"…won't he be… scared of me, then…?" Ooda said, quietly.

"Oh, no, no! I don't think he would," Maiya said. "In fact, I think the fact that you're _Orochimaru's_ clone is gonna be a _huge_ help… if you're okay with it, I mean," she was very quick to add.

"I don't… understand. I mean, how being who I am would help on that level…" Ooda's voice got even quieter, and he let Osato hold his finger as he thought.

"Ooda-kun, one of Yakata-kun's worst anxieties is over the fear that he'll grow up to be violent and cruel like the man he was cloned from. Meeting you and comparing you and Orochimaru, I think, will ease some of his fears. Since, well, judging from what I've read about you, you've proven yourself to be a kind and noble soul."

Ooda's head lowered, his face flushing. "Well, if you think that would help…"

"Has this Yakata boy expressed an interest in meeting my son?" Karin cut in.

"A bit, yes," Maiya replied. "I mentioned that there was at least one other person out there like him—a clone, I mean—and that I might be able to arrange for a meeting. He didn't say much after that, but I noticed him asking a lot of questions when I was explaining the situation."

"I see…" Karin replied.

"I'll give Ooda-kun some time to think about it," Maiya said. "I understand if you're hesitant in agreeing, but I really think this could help Yakata-kun."

"…I'll talk about it with my mom," Ooda replied.

"Okay, great!" Maiya replied. "I'll be back at one-thirty or so to talk to you again; my appointment with Yakata-kun today is at two."

"We'll have our answer then, okay," Karin said. "Thank you."

"Yeah, hopefully we can come to an agreement, here! Seeya." Maiya waved at them as she left.

Karin waited until Suigetsu was awake before she talked about it with anyone. But Shingetsu was sent into Juugo's room, having only a limited understanding of things and too much of a proclivity for nosing around.

"Mom, I know I can… handle myself in front of him," Ooda said, once the discussion began. "I mean—if Yakata now knows where he came from, genetically, and he's scared now, then if I can help…"

"If you go, I want to be with you, okay," Karin replied.

"Karin, are you sure…?" Suigetsu said. "I mean, seein' him up close…"

"I want to know who told him about who he is. How much he knows," Karin said. "And… beyond that, Ooda, I want to give you the support, okay…?"

"Mom…"

"I don't want you alone in there with him, okay?" Karin said. "Don't worry, darling, I won't... speak much. It'll just be you and him."

"…all right, if that's what you want…" Ooda said.

Osato fussed a little, and Suigetsu bounced him slightly in his arms. "I can't believe the crap that kid's had to go through," he said, unsettling the silence further. "The Orochimaru stuff, an' now having to go through _this… _Yakata's a good kid, he doesn't deserve this."

"Hopefully I'll be able to help at least a little…" Ooda said, softly.

"You'll do fine," Suigetsu replied.

At 1:40, Maiya finally came by, and Ooda and Karin told her of their plan.

The decision for Karin to join Ooda in the therapy session was actually something Maiya wanted to suggest, initially. "If the session went well, I was going to ask you if you wanted to join Yakata-kun and his parents for family therapy, so his mom and dad can get some advice for how to help Yakata heal and transition. Drawing from your experience with your son, I mean."

"That sounds like a wonderful idea, okay. I'd love to meet them," Karin replied. "Though, is it all right if I go in with Ooda for this first meeting for… support?"

"Yes, absolutely! Yakata-kun's had his friend Nadeshiko-chan with him during therapy recently but he wants to wean off of relying on her," Maiya replied. "It's nothing unusual. Having a support system, especially early on, is good for the healing process."

"Understandable," Karin said. "I hope this Nadeshiko girl is a good help."

"She is, she is," Maiya replied.

Ooda wrapped himself in a blanket before they moved out to Yakata's room, covering his face and his hands and arms. And after saying goodbye to Suigetsu, who wished them good luck—he was minding the children in their absence—they left, and Ooda kept himself covered even as they came to the door, and Maiya knocked and went in. She spoke for a while with whoever was inside, and then came back out.

A girl left the room after Maiya; she was tall, but bent over a little, rather like an old woman. Her hair was cut into blunt, uneven edges, and covered much of her face, but not enough to cover what seemed to be a glare directed at the intruders. Ooda, who had his arm wrapped in Karin's, squeezed her tighter from the fear that resulted, despite himself.

"Oh, don't mind her, that's just Nadeshiko-chan," Maiya said, noticing this. "Yakata's friend. She'll be outside until we finish."

"Be nice to him, please," Nadeshiko said, lowly, in a tone more suited for a threat. She sat down on a bench near the room, and afterwards kept her eyes to the floor.

Karin tried not to make a face, and entered Yakata's room with Ooda at Maiya's gesture, holding her son's arm tighter in hers.

Yakata was waiting at the table in his room for them. He was holding a large teddy bear to his chest, and his eyes were downcast and sideways, and he was shivering visibly.

"Yakata-kun, this is Ooda-kun and his mother, Karin-san," Maiya said, entering with them. "I was telling you about them the other day, do you remember?"

Yakata's eyes wandered to them, and he held his bear tighter. "I, I remember…"

"Please, won't the two of you sit down with us?" Maiya motioned to the table, and took a seat herself. Ooda took the seat directly across from him, and Karin across from Maiya, though Karin kept a hand wrapped in Ooda's blanket for comfort.

It became quickly apparent that Yakata was trying to look at Ooda, his eyes darting to the blanket and then back to his bear, or the floor. Maiya stepped in.

"So you also remember, Yakata-kun, why I asked Ooda-kun and Karin-san to come and meet with us today?"

Yakata didn't answer, but he shivered more intensely for a moment, eyes stuck on the table surface.

"It's all right, Yakata-kun. There's no need to be scared. Nobody here is scared of you," Maiya said.

"I'm certainly not scared of you, young man," Karin added, with an uncommonly smooth and matronly voice. "Like Maiya-sensei said, my name is Karin. You and my son Ooda are quite alike, it seems."

Yakata managed eye contact with her for a moment before returning to the table. "He… he was, he used to be s-someone else, like me, right…"

"Someone else…?" Karin said.

"Yakata-kun's internalized his identity as a clone as someone he used to be, like a past life," Maiya said. "But we're _working_ on that, right, Yakata-kun?"

Yakata didn't say anything, closing his eyes, whimpering a little.

"Well… I don't think that's quite true, okay," Karin said. "My Ooda's never been anyone but himself."

"…I've not always been so sure about that, though…" Ooda added, quietly.

The sound of his voice sent Yakata's head nodding upward, eyes widening with recognition. "Wh-what…?"

"…when I was younger, I had a very hard time trying not to think of myself as… just another 'version' of him," Ooda continued. "That I'm not just him all over again, or… him trying to get a second chance. Sometimes I still struggle with it, really…"

"Ooda…" Karin's hand loosened on the blanket and searched for her son's actual hand.

But something he had said must have reached Yakata particularly strongly, because his eyes had lowered in thought. "You… you, you _aren't_ a second chance…? You, you weren't… made for that reason…? But I, I thought…"

"I don't… know _why_ I was made, really…" Ooda replied. "I can guess, I can think about it, but it… doesn't give me any answers, or any comfort, really…"

"Then again, does anyone really know the reason why they were born?" Karin added, managing a smile.

"I, I suppose…" Yakata said, though the weakness in his voice suggested how little of a comfort this was.

"A very good point, Karin-san," Maiya said, nodding. "So, Yakata-kun, since we've gotten this started a little, is there anything you want to ask Ooda-kun yourself? You can ask him anything that's on your mind."

Yakata, who was fidgeting slightly in his seat now, thought for a while. "…wh-why is he all covered up? Is he, is he hurt…?"

"You mean me…?" Ooda said. Yakata nodded, his eyes continuing to flit between Ooda's form and the table surface. "Oh, well, I… I'm not hurt, I just… I didn't want to scare you…"

"Wh-why would you, why would you scare me…?" Despite his wonder, Yakata began shivering again more intensely.

Ooda's head lowered, but when he saw through the thin fabric of the sheet that his mother was about to speak, he opened his mouth. "I'm…! Uh, I mean… well, lots of… people find me scary-looking, so…"

"I certainly didn't find you scary when we first met, Ooda-kun," Maiya said, brightly.

"…can I… can I see your face, please…?" Yakata said.

Karin saw his hesitance. "Ooda, you don't have to…"

But Ooda, slowly, began reaching for the fabric over his head, and with one hand he pulled it away from himself.

His bangs shifted significantly away from his eyes in the process.

Yakata made a sound that might have been a muffled scream. His chair skidded away from the table, and he hid his face in the fur of the teddy bear, clinging to it for dear life. He was hyperventilating.

Ooda quickly covered himself again, but he kept his cloth-covered hands over his face as well, in reflexive shame.

"Yakata-kun, it's all right, it's all _right. _What's the matter?" Maiya said, getting out of her chair to be nearer to him. "It's just Ooda-kun."

"That, that, that face…! I, I know… I know that face…!" Yakata's breath wasn't slowing at all. "It's… it's, it's him, it's the one who…!" He began whimpering again, desperately. "No, no, no, no…"

"…Maiya-sensei, should we leave…?" Karin had a distressed worry on her face; Ooda was still curled into himself, miserably.

Maiya, however, ignored her. "Yakata-kun, I know who Ooda-kun looks like. But it's _just_ Ooda-kun. He's nobody else. He's not the man that was inside you. Do you understand? He's just like you. He's not the same man."

And, somehow, Yakata managed to slow his breaths, to raise his head. His eyes were shiny with the beginnings of tears, but the actual tears never happened.

"…I knew what had happened to you, and I thought… if you saw me, that I would frighten you…" Ooda said, quietly, in the absence of other speaking. "I'm so sorry, Yakata-kun, I really am…"

Karin was running her hand down his back, her eyes downcast.

And Yakata, once he'd caught his breath, wiped his eyes off on his forearm, and brought his chair back to the table. He wasn't holding his bear as tightly any more.

"…I, I, I should apologize, I'm, _I'm_ sorry…" he said. "You… you, you can't help the, the way you look, so…"

Ooda's hands lowered to his chin. "No, please, don't… apologize…" he said. "It's… okay to be scared. The man I… came from—my 'father'—he was a _horrible _person, and what he… _did_ to you… it's understandable if you should be… scared of _me_ too…"

"…you didn't… _you_ didn't do anything to, to _me _though…" Yakata closed his eyes. "And that's, that's, that's why I'm sorry…"

"So you understand, then?" Maiya said.

Yakata nodded a few times, shiver-like, wiping at his eyes again. But in doing so, his wrist brushed the scab of a healing cut on his cheek, and his eyes opened, his expression mixed.

"What is it, Yakata-kun?"

Yakata ran his fingers over the scab, and looked up at Ooda again. "You… you, you were the… you were the man in the, in the big s-stage-thing…!"

"Stage-thing…?"

"I don't… I don't remember it a-all that clearly, be, because _he_ was in control m-most of the time, but, but, but… but I remember _you_, and… and your mother, too, I saw her too…!" Yakata's eyes darted here and there with recollection. "And I, I said all those horrible things to you both… O-oh, oh, I'm… I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…" His hands clung to each other over the bear, and very close to his chest, as if he were trying to keep them away from Karin and Ooda.

"You mean the arena, when Orochimaru was called out over the speakers?" Maiya said. Yakata nodded intensely. "All right, Yakata-kun, all right. Just breathe; what happened then was not your fault. _You_ weren't doing those things. Okay?"

And Yakata seemed to calm slightly, though his distressed expression remained. "I'm just, I'm so sorry…"

"…it's all right, Yakata-kun…" Ooda tilted his head gently.

This seemed to only help minimally; Yakata was thumbing the scab on his cheek again. "The, the more I think about it, the… the, the more I remember, and…" His shoulders tightened from a shiver. "O-Ooda-san, you… you were going to, to s-sacrifice yourself for, for, for _me_, weren't you…!"

"_Sacrifice_ myself…?" Ooda's voice was soft from the mild shock.

"You, you, you said… you said that, that Orochimaru could, could… could have _your_ body if, if he left _me_ alone…" Yakata said. "That, that you'd… you'd let him do to _you_ what he… what he did to _me_… _Why_…?"

"Why…?" Ooda said.

"You, you… you didn't even know me then, you, you didn't know who I _was_, and you… you were going to… to do that _anyways…_"

"Well, I… I didn't want an innocent child to have to suffer, and besides that, I could... _I_ don't know…" Ooda's own shoulders rose, the impulsive courage of his actions a few days past coming quite harshly to light.

"…I, I, I'm not innocent…" Yakata said, quietly.

"Yakata-kun, please, remember, your actions recently were not _your_ fault," Maiya said.

"I, I, I mean _before_ all that, Maiya-sensei…" Yakata was looking at the table again. "A-All the, the people I killed—that _Itachi_ killed…"

"Yakata-kun." Maiya was smiling now, though gently. "The things that _Itachi_ did are no more your fault than the things that Orochimaru did to _you_ are Ooda-kun's fault. Those aren't your crimes."

Yakata didn't say anything, eyes to the table, hands tightly restraining each other again.

"…it doesn't matter how innocent you really are. Nobody… deserves to have their body taken from them like that…" Ooda said.

"…and, and you still… you still thought to… to take my place…" Yakata said. His voice was slightly muffled by his chin tucked into his bear.

"If anything, being… who I am would mean that at least people would have a better reason to be afraid of me…" He exhaled in an awkward, slightly-bitter laugh.

"…but, but that's awful…" Yakata said.

"It's the truth, though," Ooda replied.

Yakata squeezed his bear, his eyebrows furrowing in determination. "It, it… it doesn't seem _fair…!_"

And Ooda paused, taken aback by the brittle strength in the boy's voice. "…why?"

"You… you, you were going to… to do something i-incredibly brave and… and selfless, even, and… and you say it would have been a-all right because, because people are, are, are already scared of you…?" Yakata lifted his head. "That… that isn't fair. E-Especially because that man, O-Orochimaru, he… he's so, so _cruel_, and, and _selfish_, and, and…" And his voice fell, soft with epiphany. "…and not at all like… like _you_…"

Ooda's head lowered. "How do _you_ know what I'm like…?"

"…people like Orochimaru don't, don't, don't do things like that…" Yakata replied, attempting to smile. "I… I already know th-that much."

"So… while he was inside you, did Orochimaru… speak with you?" Karin said.

Yakata shrugged uneasily, partially out of discomfort in regards to the question, partly from Karin's sudden address. "I think sometimes when I was, when I was awake, but when… when I was put into that, that sleep, l-later on, he… he talked a lot—to me sometimes, but, but mostly to himself… I-I could hear it, and, and sometimes see it, like, like it was a dream, so…" He swallowed. "But, but most of it… I saw what, what he _did_ when he was in my body—I, I heard the things he _said_… And… and the whole time I was just… I was so scared, because he was so... awful, the, the things he did, and I, I, I couldn't stop him…"

"I'm so sorry you had to go through that, Yakata-kun," Karin said.

"It… it's all right, it, it's over now, right…?" Yakata said, and he tried to smile again.

(Karin covered her mouth with her fist, for fear that words or other things would come spilling out.)

"I'm… I'm glad you didn't have to, to do that in the end, Ooda-san…" Yakata continued, eyes falling. "I, I wouldn't want a-anyone to have to go through what I, what I had to go through, but, but least of all _you_…"

(Karin's fist failed her.)

(Though she ended up not regretting it.)

"Now… that's something Itachi would _never_ say, okay."

Yakata blinked in astonishment at her. "Huh…?"

"Karin-san, do you mean this hypothetically, or did you actually know Itachi-san…?" Maiya said.

"I met him a few times, when I was younger, and traveling with Sasuke."

"You, you know Sasuke-san too…?" Yakata said.

"For a while, yes. It was… a strange time." Karin's voice roughened with awkwardness. "Meeting Itachi, though, and seeing what he was like, then… while it seems he had a kind side to him, and a selfless side, he was _not_ a person that… said things like that. You know, like… _saying_ he was _glad_ to have endured pain so that someone else didn't have to."

"…you, you really mean that…?" Yakata said.

Karin nodded. "I really do."

Yakata's face flushed as he smiled again, with more strength. "I'm… I'm really glad…"

"What are you glad about, Yakata-kun?" Maiya said.

"Hearing about, about Itachi from someone else that knew him… Since, since Sasuke-san only…" Yakata's face fell. "He, he only seemed to talk about the _good_ things he did… Not telling me the, the _truth…_"

"Well, nobody's entirely good or evil, I think…" Karin said, carefully. "Sasuke… had a difficult relationship with his brother, for sure, but all the same they really cared for each other in their own way. So… the good things you heard about him were probably the truth, okay."

"And, and the bad things…?" Yakata said.

"…well, those too…" Karin said.

"But… but I don't have to, have to worry about those as much, b-because I didn't… really do them, did I…"

Maiya cracked a wide smile. "That's right, Yakata-kun. Exactly right."

Yakata buried his face in his bear, bashfully, but there was a smile in his eyes.

"Yakata-kun… I have to ask, did _Sasuke_ tell you that you were… related to Itachi?" Karin continued.

He lifted his head slightly. "Well… well, Sasuke-san, he… he told me that Itachi was my _father_, at first, and… and that made sense. But… but then his son, Takeru-san… He was the one that told me who, who, who I was…"

"Sasuke's son Takeru?" Maiya got out a notebook from her pocket, and a purple pen.

Yakata nodded. "He, he told me e-everything before he…" He shivered, his breathing increasing a little. "He, he said that everyone knew who I… who I was, that, that they blamed me for the things Itachi d-did, and…" He buried his face in the bear again.

"Would you like me to talk to this Takeru about this, Yakata-kun?" Maiya said, after jotting something down.

Yakata didn't say anything.

"Yakata-kun, is something the matter?"

"…O-Orochimaru, he… he killed him, and, and I saw every moment of it… There was, there was, there was so much blood…"

The silence around the table was heavy and cold.

"…I, I heard the things he said, as, as it happened…" Yakata continued to talk, in the same hushed stammer, as he smoothed over his breathing. "It… it almost sounded like, like he killed Takeru for, for _revenge_… For, for _me… _Because… because Takeru-san, he… he told me about who I was and then, and then… I think he, he did it because he was… he was _jealous_, or, or _angry_ at me, so…"

"I'm sorry, Yakata-kun," Karin said, because there was nothing else she could say.

"…you, you don't need to apologize, Karin-san, it, it's okay…" Yakata said again.

"…but as you grew up, you… didn't know where you came from, did you?" Ooda said, following up like a refrain to a chorus.

"Well, I, I just… I just knew that someone left me with, with my parents—that I was a foundling o-or something…" Yakata replied. "All of this… Itachi stuff, it, it didn't happen until, until very recently…"

Ooda exhaled, almost laughing. "I have to… envy you, then," he said.

"Wh-why's that…?"

"Well… you saw what I look like…" Ooda said. "And… beyond that, my mom used to know Orochimaru—that's maybe one of the reasons why he left me with her when I was a baby. So I always… knew who I _was_. Who Orochimaru was to me. And… well, you had a whole childhood where you never had to compare yourself to someone else, constantly… afraid that something you said or did was too much like someone you _hated_ but were identical to…"

Maiya watched all of this with wide, wide eyes, scribbles rushing across her paper.

But Yakata, of all things, shook his head. "I don't… I don't think I had it a-any easier, Ooda-san…" he said. "I always… I always knew _I_ was different… I was smarter than other people… Even my, my, my teacher at school would, would… would yell at me if I… if I knew an answer too, too quickly, or corrected them… They, they even call me 'witch-boy' back at home b-because I just… I know things that, that other people don't, and that… I think that, that scares people…"

(Ooda and Karin did not know these stories like Suigetsu did.)

"So… so when Sasuke-san told me about how, how _smart_ Itachi was, that, that he was a _genius_… It was almost a relief, really, that… that maybe there was a reason for, for me being so… _odd_. F-Finding out I, I was a copy of him was… was only a little different. I was… I ended up more _scared_ that I… that I would get c-corrupted like he did, and hurt people, but… but maybe that was just, just because of how Takeru-san put things…"

Perhaps it was personal discomfort or the silences that continued to settle after he spoke, but Yakata snapped out of his reverie and waved his hands in pardon.

"I, I, I don't mean to, to, to say that I, that I had it worse than you, Ooda-san…! I just… I don't think you should, you should e-envy me just because I, because I didn't know the whole truth when I was little…" His bear fell forward and against the table's edge, as he wasn't holding onto it fully, and he scooped it back towards his chest sheepishly.

"…it's all right, I understand," Ooda said, after some thought. "It was foolish of me to presume that… just because you didn't know, or you don't _look_ strange that you would have an easier time…"

"I, I think that… that being different in any way is, is, is kinda tough…" Yakata's eye contact was strengthening noticeably.

"I definitely have to agree," Ooda replied.

Yakata thought for a while more, his lips tightly pressed together. "Um… Karin-san, is it, is it okay if, if, if I ask _you_ a question…?"

"Oh, of course," Karin replied, her face drawing in surprise.

"Ooda-san, he, he said he was… he was left with you by Orochimaru when, when he was a baby…" Yakata said. "And, and Orochimaru _made_ him, right…? Or, or this, um, Kabuto person he mentioned…"

"None of us are really sure, little one," Karin said.

(She had to struggle very consciously to not react to the slip in familiarity.)

"…then, then whoever made Ooda-san… did, did they make me, too…?"

Karin looked at the ceiling, breathing through her nose, debating.

"There… might be tests we can try, but even then we can't be sure, okay…" she finally replied. "There are a lot of things even _I_ don't know… Who _exactly_ made my Ooda, or why, or how, and that all applies to you… Why do you want to know, Yakata-kun?"

"Well, I…" He lowered his head, shyly. "I was just… it, it occurred to me that, that if we, we were made by the same p-person, then… then Ooda-san would, would be something like my, my older brother, wouldn't he…?"

Ooda made a sound that might have been a laugh, or a sneeze. "Your older brother!"

"I, I, I mean, I, we, well, we have different families, but… it was just a thought, I'm sorry, it was s-stupid of me to mention…" Yakata buried his face.

"Does it… make you feel better if you imagine us as… being brothers?" Ooda said.

"No, I, I, I'm just, I'm just being stupid…" Yakata replied, his voice thoroughly muffled.

"Well… you can call me 'older brother' any time you want; I don't… think it's stupid…" Ooda said. He laughed. "I think it's kind of charming, actually. A… a very optimistic way of looking at… our 'situation' or whatever it is."

"Ooda!" Karin dug into him, her mouth covered again.

This got Yakata to expose his face again. "Well… a-all right, if, if that's what you think… But, but I won't do it, it's, it's just too silly…"

"I understand," Ooda said, warmly.

They stared at each other from across the table, neither gaze wavering, even though one was hidden behind a sheet and the other behind a bear.

"Well, Yakata-kun, do you have anything more you want to ask Ooda-kun?" Maiya said, continuing to smile, pleased. "It doesn't even have to be serious. I bet you're just _dying_ to know what Ooda-kun's favorite food is."

"Maiya-sensei…!" Yakata replied, his face turning pink. "I don't… I don't want to ask silly questions…"

"May I ask a question?" Ooda said.

"Go for it!" Maiya replied.

"Why don't you tell me the sorts of things _you_ like, Yakata-kun?" Ooda said.

"Things, things I like…?"

Ooda nodded. "Whenever I… feel really scared, or frustrated with myself, especially if it's about Orochimaru… I just think about all of the things that make me who _I_ am, and… well, it sort of helps me get a hold of myself, and I don't feel so scared any more."

"Things that, that make you who you are…" Yakata repeated, softly.

"Yes, exactly. Like… I am me, I will always be me, nobody else will be me, even though I might look like somebody else. All of that is _inside_. And… things I like are a part of me that's easy to think of, even if I'm really worried." He paused. "Does that… make sense?"

"I, I think I get it…!" Yakata's voice almost danced. "That, that really helps you…?"

"A whole lot," Ooda replied.

"Well… well, what do _you_ like, Ooda-san?" Yakata said. "So, so I know _exactly_ what you mean…"

"Oh, me…? Well… I like to cook, and read, and I love watching plays and movies…"

"You, you like to read?" Yakata's eyes were as bright as black could be. "What, what books do you like…?"

"Well… I like reading books about nature and science, I suppose, but I really like, um…" Ooda began fiddling with his hands.

"What, what is it…?"

"…well, my _favorite_ things to read are romance novels and comics, but since those are _supposed_ to be for girls I don't really talk about them…"

(And beyond that, their excessive femininity made him feel too close to Orochimaru.)

This, however, made Yakata laugh, and his laughter was short and sweet and utterly his—hardly the cold, ice-cube giggles that had fallen out of his mouth in days previous. "That's, that's okay though…! I, I like reading l-literally everything, even, even fairy tales for, for babies and, and love stories…!"

"You really like reading?" Ooda said, and Yakata nodded enthusiastically. "What else do you like to do?"

"Well… I don't, I don't really like sports, or, or things like that, but I… I really love looking at flowers…"

"Flowers, is it?" Ooda said.

"Y-yeah, and, and other plants… Nadeshiko-san actually, actually taught me how to make arrangements while, while I was here…! And, and she taught me all their meanings, and, and, and all sorts of other things…"

"Nadeshiko, that… girl outside the room?" Karin couldn't help but interject.

"Yes, she… she's my friend." Yakata's smile and the proud, precious tone of his voice could have easily spoken volumes.

Still, Karin asked, "Is she a nice person?"

"O-Oh yes…! She's… she's very quiet, and, and, she's not very good at, at talking to people, but, but she's such a kind person…"

"That's… a comfort to know, okay," Karin said, and she found herself smirking. "She had me a little worried when I saw how she, uh… looked."

"Oh, do you mean her, her hair…?" Yakata continued despite the fact that Karin hadn't confirmed or denied. "It, it got cut when she was fighting for Sasuke-san's sake, and, and to rescue me…" His expression fell slightly. "I was, I was really ashamed b-because I didn't want her to get hurt, but, but all I could do to help her was to g-get a few words out…"

"You mean… you managed to speak, even when Orochimaru was in control of your body?" Karin said.

"I, I should have, should have been able to, to do more, but I was… I was too scared…" Yakata replied.

"It sounds impressive to me, at least," Karin replied. "I know about the technique that Orochimaru used for… what he did to you, okay. Not just anyone could break it, even a little."

Yakata blushed again. "A-At any rate, Nadeshiko-san, she, she usually has this really pretty long hair…"

"It sounds like she means a lot to you," Ooda said warmly.

"Y-Yeah! She's, she's my friend a-after all…" Yakata replied.

Ooda laughed, albeit awkwardly. "She almost scared me too much to go in and talk to you, actually…"

"She, she _scared_ you…?" Yakata was almost laughing as well.

"Well, her hair in her face, she almost looked like a ghost… And you said yourself that she's bad at talking to people, so… Knowing that she's really a good person underneath all that, well, it's like finding out that the monster in your closet is just a sweater…"

Another, quiet air of revelation seemed to fall over Yakata as he heard this, and his focus on Ooda seemed to waver slightly. "Um… Ooda-san…?"

"Yes?"

"…c-can you, can you take that, that sheet off your face again…? I, I promise I won't, I won't f-freak out like I did last time…"

"…are you sure…?" Ooda said, quietly.

"Yes, p-please, can you…?"

Karin held onto one of Ooda's hands as he hesitantly began to uncover himself, until his entire face was exposed.

And Yakata shivered a little, holding his bear, but the tension in his face and body seemed to be more out of determination than fear.

"…o-okay, I think, I think I got it," he finally said.

"What did you 'get,' Yakata-kun?" Maiya asked.

"That, that's Ooda-san," he replied, gesturing with his head across the table. "That's, that's _his_ face, and, and he's not anyone else." He smiled widely, though insecurely, in conclusion. "I, I just thought that, if, if we're going to be talking about… about the things that make us who we are… it wouldn't be fair if, if Ooda-san was all covered up like, like he was a-ashamed of himself or, or something, just because of me…"

"Yakata-kun…" Ooda's voice and face went soft.

"Is, is that all right…?" Yakata said.

Ooda smiled, and nodded. "Yes. It's fine. I'm glad I can talk to you truly face-to-face now."

"It, it's much better," Yakata replied. "S-So, Ooda-san… do, do _you_ have any really good friends…?"

"Ah, yes, I do: my friend Ryusuke, from back home. He's… probably my _best_ friend," Ooda replied.

"Wh-what's he like?" Yakata said, settling into a more comfortable lean forward against the table.

And Ooda told him.

Over the rest of the hour, they talked about Ryusuke, and the theater, and other stories, and—to Maiya's amusement—yes, favorite foods. But she gently informed them that the session was over at 3:00, though she waited until their topic at the time had been exhausted, going a few minutes over as a result.

"This doesn't have to be the end, though!" she reminded them, cheerfully. "Karin-san, my offer for you to join us in family therapy still stands."

"I'll go as long as I'm here in Konoha, okay," Karin replied, smiling, "I'd love to talk to your parents, Yakata-kun."

"And Ooda-kun is welcome at our individual sessions, Yakata-kun," Maiya continued. "If you would like to talk to him more."

"Oh, I'd, I'd love that…!" Yakata replied. "Though… do, do I have to always talk about s-serious stuff with him…?" he added, quieter. "Like, about Itachi… I, I mean…"

"Well, the purpose of our time here is to help you recover, Yakata-kun… But that doesn't mean you and Ooda-kun have to always stay on topic," Maiya said.

"I'd be glad to talk with you _anytime_, Yakata-kun. Not just in therapy," Ooda said. "I can give you my address or my phone number so you can write to me or call me when I have to go home."

"You, you really mean it…!" Yakata said. "Well… well, maybe you should… you should wait until I, I have a home and, and a phone outside of the hospital…"

"You don't have a home…?" Karin said.

Yakata shook his head, shrugging at the same time. "My, my mama and papa told me that, that we, we can't go back to Tamina, so we… we're staying at, at the hospital for now…" he replied. "N-Naruto-san said he, he's going to try and help us, but…"

"I see..." Karin nodded a few times. "Well, I hope you can go home _very_ soon, Yakata-kun, okay."

"And you can still visit me while I'm here at the hospital, Yakata-kun," Ooda added.

"Ah, I, I forgot about that… Yes, I'd, I'd like that a lot…!"

Ooda gave Yakata his family's hospital room number after writing it down on Maiya's notepad, so Yakata could call him over whenever he wanted, between therapy sessions. "It's a little crowded over there, so it's probably best if I'm the one that comes over to you for now, instead of the other way around," he explained. "Both of my little brothers are staying with us right now, so…"

"You, you have little brothers…!" Yakata said.

"Maybe you can meet them sometime," Ooda said, though passing a glance to his mother, an invisible request for approval.

"I'm fine with that, okay," Karin added.

"Oh, I, I can't wait…!" Yakata replied, holding the paper with the number on it reverently. "Thank you!"

They managed to finally say goodbye, and Ooda left the room with his mother, not bothering to cover up his face.

"And that," Maiya said, seeing them off, "is what I call a successful session."

"I think it went wonderfully," Ooda said.

"See, I _told _you that you would help," Maiya said, and grinned. "I'll come by later to talk to you about family therapy, Karin-san. But I have to finish up with Yakata-kun here. Can you make it back to your room all right?"

"Yes, we'll be fine. You and I can talk later, okay," Karin said, nodding, and they began to leave.

Nadeshiko stared at them as they passed, her surly expression exchanged for something of an intrigued one. Ooda nodded at her in recognition, smiling a little, which only added a confused air to her face. He saw her walk into Yakata's room as they rounded the corner and began on their way back to their own room.

Suigetsu greeted them back to the room with a nervous air. "Hey, hey, how'd it go?" he asked them, stepping away from Osato's bassinet.

"It went _wonderfully_," Karin said, utterly genuine.

"Yeah? No slip-ups? How was Yakata?"

"He was terrified at first, but he loosened up after a while, and I think he really made a lot of headway with Ooda, okay," Karin replied. "Yakata seems to really want to be _friends_ with him."

"No _kidding_."

Ooda had taken off his blanket completely and was folding it to put it back on the bed, wanting to think things over as quietly as possible before anyone asked him anything.

"I'll tell you all about it later, but I have to go talk to Sakura for a bit, okay?" Karin said.

"Sakura? What you gotta talk to her for?" Suigetsu said.

"Just confirming some things. I won't take long," Karin replied, and left the room.

Suigetsu looked between the door and Ooda, a typical half-perplexed-half-grumpy look on his face. "Seriously, though, did it go well?" he asked Ooda, after a while.

"Yes," Ooda replied, smiling with his heart and his mouth, "it did."


	128. Saying Nothing

_Chapter 128 - Saying Nothing_

* * *

Karin ended up startling Sakura quite a bit by interrupting her in the middle of a check-up to ask if she was available; Karin had simply tracked down Sakura's chakra and gone to where she was, instead of going to her office and waiting there like any other person would have.

"Wait for me in the hallway, okay? Jeez!" Sakura said, waving her off, so Karin did. "Sorry, another doctor at the hospital…" Karin heard her say, in explanation, as the door closed, which made her smirk.

Sakura finally left, giving advice out the door, and a wish for her patient to feel better soon. "Karin, seriously, could you have waited?" she said.

"No, I couldn't," Karin replied.

Sakura sighed. "Walk with me; we can talk on the way to my office."

Karin did not waste any time. "I sat in on a therapy session for Yakata today. My son was invited to talk to him."

"Maiya-kun got to you two, then? I had a feeling you'd-"

"Why doesn't Yakata have a home to go back to, Sakura?"

Sakura paused, and looked at Karin, though she continued to walk. "A home?"

"He said that his parents told him they can't go back to Tamina. Do you know what happened? He mentioned Naruto's helping them, okay."

"…we can call him once we get to my office. Honestly, I barely know anything about this…"

"Do you know about Uchiha Takeru, then?" Karin said.

"Takeru? What… about him?"

"Yakata brought him up in therapy today. He said that _he_ was he one that told him about his identity as a clone of Itachi, okay," Karin said. Her voice had gone very flat, smooth and cold, like metal.

Sakura hung her head, sighing. "Of _course_ it was Takeru…"

"He's one of Sasuke's sons, right?" Karin said.

"And the one that's the most like him, by far," Sakura replied. "A real pain in the ass on his best days, but…"

"He's dead, so we can't do anything with him, right?"

"…no, he's… still in a coma, actually," Sakura said, looking fairly startled. "Who told you he was _dead?_"

"Yakata. He was partially conscious while Orochimaru possessed him, and he… witnessed the attack on Takeru, okay." She scoffed. "And it seems like Orochimaru purposefully sought him out to take _revenge_ on him for Yakata's sake…"

"That's… certainly upsetting…" Sakura said.

"How is his recovery going?" Karin said.

"Takeru? He's had two surgeries so far to repair the damage on his back, but so far we don't know when he'll wake up…" Sakura replied. "But we're certain he'll pull through."

"As soon as he's awake I want an account of his actions recorded and sent to me and Maiya-san," Karin said. "I want to know how he found out about Yakata's identity and why he did such a thing."

"…of course, Karin, we'll be sure to get that information," Sakura said.

"Yakata needs to know he's still alive, too. I don't want him thinking he has an actual death on his hands, okay… Even with Orochimaru's involvement…"

The softness of her voice gave Sakura further pause. "Of course, Karin," she finally said. "I understand."

(Unspoken but desired by both women was for Takeru to understand and possibly pay for the consequences of his actions, informing Yakata like he did.)

(But his current condition seemed both an obstacle and a solution to this.)

They finally reached Sakura's office, and Sakura made a phone call to the Hokage Manor. Midway through, she covered the mouthpiece of the phone with her hand and asked Karin, "You want to meet Naruto in his office, or do you want him to come here?"

"Have him come here, okay," Karin said, and Sakura repeated her words into the phone, and shortly thereafter hung up.

Naruto arrived a few minutes later, smiling, but worry in his eyes. "Hey, Karin, hey, Sakura."

"Hey, yourself. Thanks for getting over here so quickly," Sakura said.

"Yeah, of course," Naruto replied. "So, Karin, Sakura tells me you finally got to meet Yakata-kun, s'that right?"

"Yes, I did," Karin said.

"So what's the problem? You worried about how we're treating him, y'know?"

"Not in the least, the medical staff seems to be doing a fine job, okay," Karin replied. "It's more to do with the situation of his family. They're homeless, aren't they?"

"Yeah, for the time being…" Naruto said.

"What happened in Tamina that's keeping them from being able to return?"

"Well, s'far as I can understand, Yakata-kun caused a lot of trouble an' such when Orochimaru possessed his body, and when he ran off the villagers took it out on his parents, an' ran them outta town, y'know," Naruto replied.

Karin sighed. "Is that so..."

"Yeah, like, I figure they can stay at the hospital for a little while, but I'm tryin' to get them somewhere to live here or nearby until they figure out what they wanna do," Naruto continued.

"I'll keep them for as long as necessary, but… well, living at a hospital isn't the best of situations," Sakura added, throwing an apologetic nod in Karin's direction towards the end.

"So what do you have in mind for them?" Karin said.

"An apartment or something, I dunno. I figure I can have some money diverted to pay for it until they get back on their feet, y'know," Naruto replied. "But at the same time I'm real busy with repair efforts, an' the Uchiha family got their house _totally _destroyed so that's _also_ a thing, so it's been kinda hard…"

What probably began as a glare softened with a flick of Karin's eyes into something more thoughtful. "Are you only thinking about options in the immediate area, okay?"

"Wha-? Yeah, I guess, 'cos it's more convenient, y'know…"

"What about further out? The suburbs? I assume there hasn't been as much damage there, okay," Karin said.

Naruto scratched the nape of his neck. "Well, yeah, there hasn't, but it's more expensive to live there, y'know… An' I'd probably get yelled at by the Council if I end up spending too much money on this, even if I added, like, my own money to it…"

"Then why don't you use my money?" Karin said.

"_Your_ money?" Naruto said. "Karin-san, um…"

"I have far too much of it to throw around, right now, since the Taki clan appears to have gifted me and Ooda _most_ generously for his recent actions, okay," Karin replied, matter-of-factly. "Yakata's family could use it more. We'll pay for a house and even start them off with some savings. We have more than enough for _that_."

"Karin, you could really do that…?" Sakura said.

"Of course I could," Karin said, looking somewhat put-upon. "It's entirely within my means."

Naruto and Sakura exchanged somewhat bewildered expressions.

"Well, come on, are you going to accept our money or not?" Karin said.

"Um—well, where _is_ your money, y'know…?" Naruto said.

"I have the check from the Taki clan in my room," Karin said. "I imagine your government has means of converting it into cash, okay?"

"Oh, uh, yeah! I'll, uh, talk to Andou-kun about it, and he can probably find a house in the price range of the check in the meantime, y'know…"

"Good. Why don't you come with me back to my room so I can give that to you, okay?" Karin said. "I'll let you say hello to Osato, too," she added, smiling.

"When you put it that way, there's no way I'll say no, y'know," Naruto replied, with a grin. "You need anything from me before I go, Sakura?"

"No, I'm… fine," Sakura replied. "I'll, uh, put in a memo about Takeru for you though, Karin."

"Ah, thank you," Karin said, and nodded. "Well, then, let's get going."

She and Naruto left, and after jotting down the memo, Sakura returned to work.

Two days later, Maiya came to collect Karin for the family therapy session. Ooda decided to stay back in his room for the time being, since the focus of the meeting was supposed to be on his mother, and not him.

(He also didn't want to startle Yakata's parents overmuch, figuring his mother and Yakata would be able to gently introduce him over time, if at all.)

And the session, for the most part, went well. Karin introduced herself and spent the majority of the hour responding to Satoko and Gishi's questions and fears, confirming with them that Yakata was a normal child of extraordinary birth, and that his recent violence was not due to his nature as a clone, but Orochimaru's influence and possession.

(The very mention of the twisted doctor's name made Satoko tense up terribly. Yakata put his hand on her shoulder once or twice in response, a gesture that made Karin smile to herself.)

There was anger, also, mostly directed from Gishi to Sasuke. "He _lied_ to us," he said, when the subject arose.

"In my opinion, saying that Yakata-kun was Itachi's son was the only way he _could_ explain it, okay," Karin replied, gently. "I'm not trying to excuse him for… misleading you and… essentially taking your son from you, but even _I_ can only think of Orochimaru as the father of my Ooda, okay, and not his origin or anything."

"Really, Papa, I, I think it's… it's easier for me to, to keep thinking of Itachi as, as, as my _father_, because… w-well, he sort of still, still _is_…" Yakata added, tugging on his father's shirt. "E-Especially because… because I can think of him as, as a little like _you_, and… and I'm less scared, b-because it feels like he's more… more separate from me…"

Gishi's face loosened, and he ruffled Yakata's hair slightly in response. "If that works for you, then I'm fine with it, son," he replied, and it made both his wife and his son smile greatly.

("I'm still not pleased with that Sasuke fellow," he mentioned, quietly, later on. But this was something nobody could argue with.)

In all respects, it was exactly what Maiya wanted for them. But towards the end of things, there was an unexpected addition.

Out of nowhere, Karin suddenly said, "Oh, so he made it! Come on in, Naruto."

And indeed, it was Naruto, who entered Yakata's room with a gleaming white smile. "Hey guys!"

"Hokage-sama! What are you doing here?" Maiya said.

"Well, Sakura said that you all got together for some sorta therapy thing an' that I could find you here," he replied. "I mean, the Honbo family. _You_ guys!"

"What do you need from us, Hokage-san?" Gishi said.

"I don't need anything! I actually got something for _you_ guys, y'know!" Naruto replied.

"Something for… us?" Satoko said.

(And Karin closed her eyes, breathing evenly, waiting for it.)

Naruto nodded, grinning, and produced a set of keys from his jacket pocket. "Check it out: the keys to your new house!"

"A, a new house…?!" Yakata's eyes widened.

"Yup! I guess someone heard about your situation an' decided to donate some money so you guys could have somewhere to start over here in Konoha."

"You… you can't be serious…!" Satoko was almost squeaking.

"Not at all, Yakata-kun's Mom," Naruto replied. "If you all are for it, actually, I could take you there right now so you can check it out."

"Mama, Papa, c-can we, please?!" Yakata was filled with such uncharacteristic energy that Karin couldn't help but laugh a little.

"I don't… see why not," Gishi said. "Um, Maiya-sensei, that is, unless you're not done with us yet."

"Guys, totally go for it!" Maiya replied. "I'm too glad for you to care," she added, and laughed.

"I'll make my way back to my room, then," Karin said. "Satoko-san, Gishi-san, you all have my information, okay?"

"Oh, of course, of course… And we'll see you again, I imagine?" Satoko said, visibly needing to gather herself.

"Yes, I think we will," Karin said, adjusting her glasses.

(She heard, as she left, Naruto responding to a question she had expected to be asked much earlier: "I dunno who left the money! It's a non-muss donor or something. They just left instructions that it was to be used for you guys, y'know… Anyways, Andou-kun here has paperwork for you to sign…")

(She paused in a patch of sunlight that fell into the window-lined hallway, and felt the warmth and comfort of it, and of knowing that things were going to be okay.)

Yakata loved the new house. And she found this out when the boy himself quite unexpectedly entered her room the next day.

"Ooda-san! Ooda-san! You, you, you have to hear this!"

Unfortunately, Osato was taking a nap during this time, and Yakata's excited shouting woke him up. He began to cry, loudly.

"Oh! Oh, I'm, I'm so sorry, I didn't… I'm sorry…" Yakata shrunk into himself, ducking behind the doorframe.

Karin went to get Osato, and rocked the baby against her shoulder to calm him. "Yakata-kun? What are you doing here?"

"Yakata? Yakata's here?!" Before anyone could stop him, Shingetsu had run up to the door and was nose-to-nose with Yakata. "Hi!"

Yakata stumbled back a few steps. "Wh-who are _you…?!_"

"Shingetsu! Get your butt back in here!" Suigetsu half-shouted. "Jeez!"

"Sorry, Daddy!" Shingetsu almost sang, returning inside, which allowed Yakata to peek through the doorframe again.

"I, I, um, I… is, is, is Ooda-san here…?" Yakata said, almost in a whisper.

"I'm here, Yakata-kun." Ooda came to the door and spoke soothingly. "You, um… should probably have called ahead…"

"…I'm, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…" Yakata closed his eyes tightly, hanging his head. "I was, I was just so excited, I… I forgot…"

Ooda smiled. "It's all right. What is it?"

Yakata opened his eyes, chancing a shy smile. "My, my family, we… we moved into our, our, our new house today…!"

"Your new house!" Ooda said. "You found a place to stay?"

"Yeah! We, we received it as… as a gift! And this, this morning we all got our things and, and we moved in…!" Yakata was quite unable to stand still all throughout his speech, rocking back and forth a little in his excitement.

"That's wonderful! I'm really glad for you," Ooda replied. He leaned back a little. "Mom, did you hear that?"

"Yes, of course I did." Karin had succeeded in calming Osato, and was putting him back down. "I'm really glad for you too, Yakata-kun," she continued, giving him a smile that spread into her eyes.

"Th-thank you! It, it means a lot…!" Yakata said.

"So Yakata's livin' here now?" Shingetsu said. "He's livin' here in Konoha?"

"Yes, little brother, that's what it looks like," Ooda replied, with amused patience.

Yakata leaned sideways, trying to get another look at Shingetsu. "Is, is that your little brother…?" he said. His eyes narrowed as he saw more of the room. "Wait, Hozuki-san…? You're, you're here too…?"

Suigetsu looked mildly surprised, and grimaced slightly as he thought of what to say. "Oh, uh, hey there, Yakata-kun."

"He's my son Shingetsu's father, okay." Karin had made her way effortlessly to Suigetsu's side, and nudged him with a trickster's smirk replacing her warm smile.

"Oh!" Yakata stepped past Ooda and further into the room. "I, I didn't know you, you two were married…!"

Karin's smirk widened as Suigetsu, looking fairly distressed, glanced between her and the boy. "…yeah, well, don't go spreadin' it around everywhere…" he finally said, and crossed his arms.

"So, so you are Ooda-san's l-little brother, then…?" Yakata asked Shingetsu.

"Yup! An' you're Yakata!" Shingetsu replied.

"H-How do you know my name…?"

"_Duh_, my big brother told me _all_ about you. Like, how you're both clones 'n stuff. That's pretty cool." He grinned expectantly at Ooda.

(In his eyes, Ooda saw a clear message of "I did a good job, right?" and he nodded in return.)

"Ah, I, I see…!" Yakata said, and stared at his fingers, which had wandered to his mid-chest. "It's, it's very nice to meet you properly, then…"

"Yeah, same!" Shingetsu replied.

"I, I think, actually, I, I might have seen you before, um, when, when, when your father used to come into town…" Yakata continued. "I just… didn't, didn't really know your name…"

"I didn't even know you existed!" Shingetsu replied, far too enthusiastically.

"I-is that so…"

"Yakata-kun, would you like to meet my other little brother, then?" Ooda said, gently.

"Oh, yes, yes, I would!" Yakata said, and picked his way past Shingetsu and over to Osato's bassinet. The baby still hadn't fallen back asleep, and was wriggling slightly under his blanket. "Oh… he's, he's so cute…!"

"His name's Osato," Ooda said.

"O-Osato… H-Hello there…!" Yakata said, and waved using a few of his fingers. "He's, he's so little… how, how, how old is he…?"

"Only a few days old," Ooda said.

"Wow…!"

"Would you like to hold him?"

"Oh! No, no, that's, that's all right, I don't need to…" Yakata's hands pressed closer to his chest, that same "keeping-away" motion that Ooda had seen during therapy.

"Fair enough," Ooda said. "So, would you like to tell me about your new house?"

"Yeah! I wanna hear about it too!" Shingetsu said.

"Oh, well… it's, it's enormous…!" Yakata said. "It, it has two floors, and, and guess what…!"

"What, what?" Shingetsu said.

"I, I get my own room!" Yakata seemed particularly excited about this. "I've, I've never had my, my own _room_ before, so I'm, so I'm really excited…!"

"That _does _sound really exciting," Ooda said.

"Yeah! There's, there's a big bed, and, and a desk, and a bookshelf too! N-Nadeshiko, she, she said she's going to go shopping with me soon so, so I can have my own books too…!"

"Lucky! I wanna go shopping." Shingetsu waved his father down. "Daddy, can _we_ go shopping?"

"No."

"Aww! Why _not?_"

"We don't need to, that's why."

Throughout all of this, Karin and Suigetsu remained standing together near the sink, and Karin added, "You heard your father. We don't need to buy anything right now, okay?"

Shingetsu puffed up his face annoyedly, and turned his back on them. "_Fine_."

Yakata actually laughed, but then returned immediately to Ooda.

"The, the best part, I think, is, is it's really close to the flower shop, so I can, so I can go to work with Nadeshiko a-any time I want…!" He covered his mouth with both hands, almost as if he were saying too much. "I, I can walk to the hospital, too, so, so I can keep talking to Maiya-sensei, and, and it was really easy to visit you all too…!"

"Convenient!" Ooda said.

"Yeah! Yeah, it, it really is…!" Yakata nodded a few times. "You, you want to come and see it…?"

Ooda, who had previously been smiling easily, paused, almost frowning. "Well, I'd love to see, but, um… I don't know so much about… going out in public, see… I don't know what people would think…"

"Ah…!" Yakata closed his eyes tightly again. "I'm, I'm so sorry, I, I didn't consider that…"

"I suppose that just means you're used to my face, though, doesn't it? If you didn't think of it," Ooda followed up, and Yakata nodded, smiling uneasily. "Maybe after I get some proper clothes, Yakata-kun, I can visit? I don't want to go walking around in a blanket…"

"Yeah, that, that would be kinda silly…" Yakata replied. "I, I hope you can visit soon, though! Before you, you and your family have to go home…"

"I'm sure we'll all be able to visit eventually, okay, Yakata-kun?" Karin said.

"Oh, yes! You, and, and everyone else, I'd, I'd love to have you come and see…!" Yakata said.

"We'll come around, don't worry," Suigetsu said.

"Yeah, I wanna see your room an' everything!" Shingetsu said.

"Okay! I'll, I'll be sure to tell my Mama and Papa when, when I get home…" Yakata said. He bowed, then. "I'm, I'm sorry for intruding, anyways, I, I'll remember to call ahead next time I, I want to visit…"

"You're welcome _any_ time, Yakata-kun," Karin said. "Just… be quieter next time coming in, okay?"

"Oh, I'm, I'm sorry, I promise, I, I'll be quieter…" he said, almost whispering.

Karin laughed. "Don't worry about it, okay?"

"Yeah, seriously, _you_ don't have to worry about being quiet, kid. You're practically a mouse," Suigetsu added.

Yakata laughed a little. "O-Okay… Well, I, I should get back to my Mama… I just, I just wanted to let Ooda-san know about, about the good news…! I, I guess you all heard it too, then…"

"It's great news, Yakata-kun," Ooda said. "I'm really glad for you."

"Mm!" Yakata nodded. "I'll, I'll come back to visit soon!"

"Take care, Yakata-kun," Karin said.

"Yeah, bye!" Shingetsu added.

"Good, goodbye!" Yakata said, and with a wave of his hand he left the room, almost scurrying.

There was thick quiet in the room as they all, silently, waited for him to leave.

"…so I did a good job, right?" Shingetsu said, first. "I didn't mess up?"

"You did perfectly. I'm really proud of you, little bro," Ooda said, which made Shingetsu crack into a wide smile.

"Yay! Cool!" He boogied where he stood, a tiny victory dance, before addressing his parents where they stood. "Hey Daddy, Mommy, so did you get married or something?"

Suigetsu looked almost offended. "The heck did you get _that_ idea?"

"'Cos that's what you told Yakata-niki. Was that just a fib, though?"

"…yeah. 'Cos it's easier to understand," Suigetsu said, and folded his arms tighter, narrowing his eyes.

"So… you're not married," Shingetsu said.

"No, Shingetsu, we are _not_ married, okay," Karin said. She dug into Suigetsu's side again. "Your dad's too stupid to be my husband."

"Yeah, an' you're too ugly to be my wife, so we're even," Suigetsu replied, without any hesitation.

"So you're not _gettin'_ married?" Shingetsu said.

"_No,_ Shingetsu," they both said, equally flat and equally teasing.

"Aw, okay," Shingetsu replied, and that was the end of that.


	129. Sweet Pain

_Chapter 129 - Sweet Pain_

* * *

"Hey, Kakashi-san, can I ask you a favor?"

Yamato rarely asked Kakashi for favors any more. But this wasn't a comfort.

"I'm sorry, I'm busy."

"Busy…? Doing what?"

Kakashi sighed. If that didn't chase him off, then that meant he really needed something. And there was really only one thing Yamato ever wanted from Kakashi.

"Do you need me to watch Kotoji for you?"

"Oh, no, actually. Hashiki-san's minding him for the day."

Of course she was.

"Then what do you need _me_ for?"

"I… wanted to ask you out—I, I mean, for coffee or something…"

"I don't like coffee."

"Um… tea, then?"

Yamato's voice was quickly becoming less convincing.

"Yamato, I don't feel like going out."

Kakashi expected the call to end there. But it didn't.

"…Kakashi-san, is something the matter?"

"Nothing's the matter. I'm just tired. Maybe another time."

"Ah… Does later this week work?"

"When I'm not tired."

Kakashi hoped it was enough of a non-answer.

There was silence on the other end, for a while. There was no squealing laughter in the background, no familiar quiet chaos.

And Yamato continued.

"…please take care of yourself, Kakashi-san."

Kakashi felt his head tilt slightly back, as if Yamato were actually talking to him.

"You think I'm not?"

"You just seem to be more tired lately."

"I'm old, Yamato."

"You're not old, you're not even sixty."

Kakashi sighed.

"I _feel_ old. So let me be an old man in peace."

Yamato sighed.

"If you say so… Just—take care of yourself, okay?"

Kakashi found himself shaking his head.

"You already said that. I heard you the first time."

"Just making sure… I'm worried about you, Kakashi-san."

Kakashi's reply was almost automatic. Well-practiced, at least.

"Well, don't be. I'm fine."

"All right… senpai."

Kakashi was too tired for this. Too tired to even correct him.

"Goodbye, Yamato."

The silence on the other end was soft with the faint hiss of static.

"…bye, Kakashi-san."

Yamato, finally, hung up. And Kakashi returned to his couch, where he'd wanted to be in the first place.

But although he'd gotten back to where he wanted to be, the call left him unsettled. Out of place.

Then again, this was nothing new. And unlike most unsettling feelings, far-off and atmospheric like a coming storm, he knew exactly where these feelings came from.

It all began on the day after Orochimaru's return.

The day before that, Kakashi had fled with the sirens to Yamato's house, and stood guard near the door while Yamato tried to keep Kotoji from getting scared, distracting him with books and toys until it was all over. Yamato never asked why Kakashi had suddenly appeared, only thanking him for being there. Thank goodness.

(Kakashi's true mental reasoning was that he didn't want anything to happen to Kotoji, the rare, precious Hokage-child that he was.)

(He didn't want there to be trouble.)

Kakashi did not leave until he was able to confirm with chuunin making security sweeps that the danger had passed completely, and after that went home, knowing he would probably be summoned on Council business in the coming days, and would have to be easily contacted. And business was indeed conducted in the following days, and decisions were made, and peace was kept.

But in his absence, Yamato met Hashiki.

He had read about her story in the paper, the day after the incident, and had gone to Naruto asking who, exactly, she was. And through a jumbled series of meetings and partings and messages, it was eventually expressed that, yes, Hashiki would love to meet him, and soon afterward was able to.

They got along absurdly well. Not only did they share talents—though Hashiki had far more stamina than Yamato, on account of her body—but there was a sort of tragic kinship between them, forged by the touch of Orochimaru in their past. After all, cover story aside, much of Hashiki still considered herself a victim of Orochimaru's experiments, and Yamato had his fair share of trauma behind him, some remembered, some not. Of course there were also factors of compatible attitudes and interests, and that was enough to keep them going for a while.

But above all, the two of them adored their sons immensely. And this adoration was contagious.

Yamato met Go'on early, since he was with his mother during their first meeting.

(For this first meeting, and for many of the following, Kakashi watched Kotoji, who was very curious about this new person in his father's life.)

Though cautious with him, as he was with all human strangers, Go'on warmed to Yamato quickly, and they even more quickly bonded with him over a discussion of wildlife that Hashiki looked over and drank in with her ears like a glass of clean, cold water. The boy was present for many of their other meetings, certainly, but as time passed there would be times when Hashiki asked that she and Yamato have time to themselves, without him, usually for an evening, and Go'on always innocently obliged, finding something to do to keep busy.

It took a while for Yamato to introduce Hashiki to Kotoji, but they finally managed, at her insistence.

(Kakashi didn't hear about this until Yamato called him to report, laughter in his voice, about what had happened.)

(All it brought to Kakashi was a feeling of emptiness and distance. But he did not speak a word of this.)

Hashiki came over at the appointed time, knocking on Yamato's door, and she was let in with a warm hug. Kotoji watched them from the floor with the plastic blocks he'd been playing with, head tilted sideways.

"Is that him?" Hashiki said.

Yamato said that it was, and asked for Kotoji to come over.

Kotoji regarded them both with narrowed, curious eyes, but eventually stood, and Yamato introduced her to him as his friend, Senritsu Hashiki.

"Hello, there," Hashiki said, smiling warmly. She bent down to eye level with the boy; her hair was gathered at the small of her back with a piece of ribbon, and the "tail" of it swung near her legs. "Your name's Kotoji, right? Your daddy's told me a lot about you."

"Yeah? An' who are _you?_" Kotoji replied.

Yamato repeated that Hashiki was his friend, laughing slightly.

"I met your daddy because he found out we're somewhat like family," Hashiki explained.

"Fam'ly?" Kotoji said.

"Yes. We… well, he and I were descended from the same people."

"What's ascended mean?" Kotoji asked.

Hashiki laughed. "_Descended. _It means to come from."

"Huh, okay," Kotoji said. He looked back over his shoulder at his plastic blocks, still scattered on the floor haphazardly.

Yamato said that he doubted Kotoji would really understand the situation, him being so young.

"I think I know what he might understand," Hashiki said, smiling more, and she adjusted herself so that she was actually sitting on the floor, now, near the boy. "Kotoji-kun, would you like to see a trick?" she said.

This got his attention. "Yeah, a trick? Like what?"

"Watch very carefully," she said.

Kotoji watched _very_ carefully.

Hashiki held out her left hand, palm-forward, and passed her right hand over it. She closed her fingers around something as she did so, and within seconds a linen-white daisy with a dirt-brown face had begun to grow from her fist.

Kotoji's eyes were as round and as bright as a full moon. "You can make flowers grow too?!" he said.

"Yes, it's because we're family," she replied. She held out the daisy to him, and Kotoji took it, an awestruck smile on his face.

"…are you my mommy, then?" he said, his voice almost hushed.

Yamato tried to stammer out something that, no, Hashiki wasn't his mommy, but Hashiki just laughed.

"No, no, I'm not your mommy," she said.

"But you can do the flower thing an' you're ascended from Daddy!" Kotoji said. "Don't that mean you're my mommy?"

"I'm afraid that's not how it works, Kotoji-kun," Hashiki replied. "Your daddy and I are more like… cousins."

"I 'unno what that is," Kotoji said. He continued on, without pause. "You could _be_ my mommy, though, right? Like, if you wanted?"

Hashiki laughed. "That's up to your daddy, sweet one," she said, and glanced back at Yamato as she talked. "If he wanted me to be your mommy, though, then I'd gladly agree without a moment's hesitation."

(Yamato had to repeat himself several times, in reporting this part to Kakashi, his flushed face present even in his voice.)

(Kakashi replied, "Well, Kotoji certainly speaks his mind, you know that. He's a child.")

(And nothing more.)

"I'd _really_ like that," Kotoji said. "I mean, we're fam'ly. And I like you." He added, peeking over the head of the daisy, "You're the most prettiest lady I ever seen."

Hashiki laughed mightily in return. "Pretty, am I?"

Kotoji nodded earnestly. "_Yeah_. You want a flower? I'll make you a flower f'you want." His eyes glanced between Hashiki and his father for a moment. "Umm… f'that's all right I mean, Daddy…"

Yamato said that it was perfectly all right, so long as he didn't grow it from out of the floor.

Kotoji grinned, exposing the wide gap between his front teeth. "Okay, okay! Well, um… what's your most _fav'rite_ flower?"

"My _favorite _flower…?" Hashiki's eyes wandered up, softening a little while her face seemed to sharpen at the edges. She returned from her thoughts with a certain smile. "The narcissus."

"Hey, that's _my_ fav'rite!"

"Is it _really!_" Hashiki said.

Yamato reported that Kotoji's favorite flower tended to cycle based on what was new and pretty at the local flower shop, and that narcissus was one that had lasted a particularly long time, so it was luck of the draw.

Kotoji mostly ignored him, taking a leaf from the daisy that Hashiki had given him and focusing on it to pull forth a narcissus from it. He presented it to her, full-grown, with bright triumph.

"Thank you, Kotoji-kun. It's lovely," she said, bringing it close to her nose to smell it.

"_You're_ lovey," Kotoji replied, and she laughed again.

(There was more laughter when Hashiki noticed, later, that there was an Uchiha crest embroidered on the back of Kotoji's shirt. "Oh, if Madara-sama saw this, a Senju wearing an Uchiha emblem…")

("Who's Madra-san?" Kotoji asked.)

(Hashiki wiped at her eye, recovering from her laughter. "Someone I used to care about very much.")

Hashiki came by to visit Kotoji very, very frequently from then on out, not only for the pleasure of the boy's company, but because she was able to rein in his rapidly-developing abilities far more easily than Yamato could, and even volunteered to be the one to train him how to properly use his Wood Release once he was older. Yamato was overwhelmed and relieved, overworked as he was.

And on the subject of overwork, Hashiki was providing assistance as well.

Being that her body was unable to grow tired or run out of chakra, she almost immediately worked it out with Naruto that any sort of public works project previously assigned to Yamato should be assigned to her instead, so that Yamato could rest and have more time with his son. Naruto thought it was a great idea.

"We'll have to register you as at least a genin though, y'know… But I guess 'cos you're part-Hokage we might have to go higher than that…"

Hashiki shrugged, smiling. "Is there a classification for half-Hokages, even…?" she said. "I don't want to be assigned combat missions, if you please, so if you want to file me as a genin that's perfectly fine."

She had a forehead protector for the purpose within the afternoon, which she tied to her belt and wore quite proudly when at work, building houses and restoring buildings and growing gardens and crops. Many of her missions had her leaving Konohagakure proper, and during such times she asked Yamato to watch after Go'on for her, which he was more than glad to do.

Go'on had an uneasy time the first few nights in the enclosed, foreign apartment, but he found that Yamato was a gracious and comforting host, and Kotoji an even more enthusiastic playmate. They frequently went to the park together, the three of them; Go'on had no training to do, with the chuunin exams over and his sensei still in the hospital, and the break was appreciated.

Of course, Kakashi didn't take part in any of this.

Yamato still called him, from time to time, to watch Kotoji. But it was always for evenings spent with Hashiki, and Kakashi took to his duties with the tepid mindset that, as usual, he was just the most convenient resource at the time, and nothing more.

(This mindset felt far stronger than it had in the past.)

He would almost never turn Yamato down, but after a time he began suggesting that Go'on, being thirteen years old and a chuunin exam finalist, would do well as a replacement. Yamato resisted: "Go'on-kun has his own things to do, Kakashi-san. And besides, Kotoji _loves_ when you visit."

"Kotoji loves it when _anyone _visits," Kakashi had replied, that particular instance, and then sighed. "I'll come over this one time, but please, just consider."

Kakashi wondered how long he was going to let this continue.

There was beginning to be less and less of a practical reason for him to be around, what with Hashiki and Go'on forming a firm structure to hold up the places where Kakashi had once been used.

And Kotoji was growing up.

Kakashi supposed that things happened for a reason, and that a wise man knew when it was time to stop.

Someday soon. Maybe Kotoji's birthday, in December.

Then, he would quietly pack away himself from their lives, and return to the way things used to be.

It was what he had to do.

* * *

"I had a feeling I'd find you here."

In some respects, Kakashi was almost surprised that Minato-sensei had found him. But then again, he'd been visiting the cemetery almost every morning lately, so at some point he was bound to notice.

"What's going on, Kakashi-kun?"

"Just visiting," Kakashi replied. He had his hands in his pockets.

"Visiting, is it?" He heard Minato walk up beside him, but on the side where he couldn't see.

"Mm."

"You've been late to training lately."

"I'm a jounin, Sensei. And you're busy with Hokage business."

"Yeah, that _is_ true. But it's nice for all of us to get together once in a while."

"Mm."

It was an overcast day, the sky all covered up with clouds too light to carry rain. Obito had hated days like that, wanting either one or the other, boiling sun or torrential rain.

"Kushina says you two talked, the other day."

The woman had talked. "We didn't talk about anything," Kakashi replied.

"Really? She says otherwise."

"She just asked me where you were, and I said Rin would know. That's all."

Minato was silent in reply. Then: "You miss Obito?"

"What kind of a question is that?" Kakashi replied.

"Well, do you?" Minato continued.

Kakashi ended up staring at his sensei's feet. "Of course I miss him. Why wouldn't I?"

"Mm. Just checking."

His eye returned to the clean, unremarkable stone that held Obito's name. "What's going on, Sensei?"

"What do you mean by that, Kakashi-kun?"

"This isn't like you, to talk to me like this," Kakashi said.

"Well, I figure it's my duty as your mentor to check in on you and make sure you're okay."

Kakashi looked at him fully, now. Minato wore a look of easy disinterest.

"You don't think I'm okay?"

"Well, you just lost a friend in battle. And you're obviously grieving."

"I can handle grief," Kakashi said.

"Mm? Like when your father died?"

Kakashi returned to the stone. "I was six when he died, Sensei. I was a little kid."

"You still _are_ a kid, Kakashi," Minato said.

From the mouth of his woman, words like that had been teasing, certainly, but almost affectionate.

From Minato-sensei, they just made him feel small, and unimportant, and weak.

His face burned under his mask. "Even kids can handle themselves."

"Mm, you're right," Minato said. But Kakashi felt no satisfaction from the answer. "Still," Minato continued, "I can't help but feel that you're trying too hard."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Trying to carry this all on your own. Most people seek… I dunno, comfort and guidance from others when they're grieving."

"I don't need comfort and I don't need guidance," Kakashi said.

"Ah, so you don't need me, then? For guidance?"

Kakashi paused. "You're my sensei. I can always learn more from you."

"Fair enough," Minato replied. "I'm not much for emotional, uh… guidance, anyways. Girls are better at that. Maybe Rin would do a better job."

The hot feeling in Kakashi's face had spread to his chest. "Rin lost a friend too, Sensei."

Minato shrugged. "Misery loves company, isn't that what they say?"

"If Rin wanted to talk to me about this, she would have already," Kakashi said.

"Mm, true. She's a good girl," Minato said.

Rin had already come to Kakashi under the pretense of checking on his eye, and had sewn in words of worry and offers of comfort, when she spoke.

But Kakashi didn't want to bother her.

"I'm doing fine on my own, Sensei," Kakashi said.

"Yeah, I don't doubt you," Minato replied. "Hell, you're a strong kid, Kakashi. And everyone deals with grief in their own way. If you're happiest on your own, then I'll leave you be."

Kakashi didn't say anything.

"Well, I guess that counts as checking in on you," Minato continued, after inhaling deeply. "One less thing to worry about."

"You shouldn't worry about me, Sensei," Kakashi said.

"I'll try not to, Kakashi-kun," Minato replied. He exhaled. "Well, then, I'll leave you to your business. But try to make it to practice on time more often, okay? Give your old sensei something to do aside from all this dull Hokage stuff."

"Sure, Sensei," Kakashi replied.

"Good. See you soon, then."

And Minato left.

But despite his request, Kakashi rarely came to practice on time after that, if at all. He had other things to do, other duties to attend to.

And beyond that, it hurt less.

It hurt less, not allowing the hot pain in his chest to leak out into the lives of people who were obviously coping better than he was. It was not so unbearable that Kakashi felt the need to foist it onto others. He could handle it alone, and he did.

Distance was always his best and most reliable armor.

And in the months that followed, it had never served him better.

Losing Rin, losing Minato, would certainly have been that much more painful if he hadn't put on his armor long before.

* * *

Kakashi didn't realize he'd been asleep until the knocks on his door awoke him, and his memory-dream swam thickly through his consciousness as he stumbled to answer it.

He really did think he was still dreaming, if only for a moment, when he saw who was there.

"Yamato…?"

"I'm sorry, Kakashi-san, I couldn't help myself…" Yamato looked thin and almost brittle, standing there, a scarf wrapped over his shoulders.

Kakashi rubbed the sleep-stiffness out of his eye. "What couldn't you help…? Get in here already; it's cold out tonight."

Yamato rubbed his hands in worry, or to warm them, as Kakashi closed the door behind them.

"So, what are you doing here?" Kakashi said.

"Well, I was… worried about you. And I couldn't calm myself down, so I decided to come see you myself," Yamato said.

"Worried about me…? But there's nothing wrong," Kakashi said.

Yamato shook his head. "No, no, there _is_ something wrong, which is why I… have to talk to you about it."

Kakashi sighed. "If you say so…"

"Please, we can talk, right?" Yamato said.

"Of course we can talk."

"Good, okay." Yamato paused, his eyes focused somewhere near his elbow, before looking back at Kakashi. "I don't know where to start…"

Kakashi sighed again. "Will it help if you sit down?"

"Yes, sure, that sounds like a good idea…"

Kakashi led him to the couch, and they sat in silence for a while.

Then: "Well… Kakashi-san, I'm worried about you."

"That's kind of obvious, Yamato."

Yamato frowned at himself. "You're not taking me seriously, are you?"

"I'm listening to you, but I also have no idea what you're worried about."

Yamato closed his eyes in frustration.

"What, do you just have a bad feeling about me?" Kakashi continued. "Because I doubt -"

"I'm worried that you're distancing yourself from us, Kakashi-san."

Kakashi's cloak of light sarcasm was swept quite suddenly aside.

"Distancing, huh." It wasn't a question.

(He just hadn't expected Yamato to notice.)

"These offers to have Go'on-kun babysit Kotoji instead of you, you avoiding Hashiki-san, you avoiding _me_… It feels like you're a… cat about to _die_, and looking for somewhere isolated to finally pass. And I'm _scared_."

"I'm not going to die, Yamato," Kakashi said.

"Then what _are_ you doing?" Yamato said. "Are you sick?"

"I'm not sick, either. I'm just…"

If Yamato had figured out this much, then he could handle the clear honesty.

(Surely?)

"…I'm doing what's right, and getting out of the way so I'm no longer a burden."

"A _burden?!_" Yamato sounded genuinely outraged. "_That's_ what you think you are? Kakashi-san, you're not-"

"Think about it in purely practical terms, Yamato," Kakashi interrupted. "You have Hashiki now. She's young, and strong, and she can take care of you and Kotoji in a way that I can't. I'm not contributing anything."

"…how can you speak like that?" Yamato said, his voice quieting. "Kakashi, relationships aren't… things you can just measure in practical terms alone."

"It makes a lot more sense if you do."

"That's not _right_. And beyond that, Kakashi-san, how can you say you have nothing to _contribute?_ Kotoji _loves_ you."

"Kotoji loves everyone," Kakashi said, lowering his eye.

"Not like he loves you, Kakashi-san. He asks about you every day he doesn't see you…"

Kakashi closed his eye, and sighed, shaking his head. "Kotoji is _why_ I'm doing this, Yamato. He's a good boy, and he needs to be well-taken care of. I can't do that."

"Kakashi-san, of course you can…"

"_I_ can't guarantee anything, which is why _I_ can't," Kakashi said firmly, looking back at him. "Before Hashiki, I was fine with being around, because I knew I could at least do _something_ if anything happened to you. But now you have _her_. Therefore, _I_ don't need to be around any more."

"Are you talking about… if something were to happen to me…?" Yamato said.

"We're not young any more, Yamato," Kakashi replied.

"I _know_ we're not, Kakashi-san, but—but that's an awful way to look at things!" Yamato said. "I didn't even know you _felt_ this way…"

"I don't want Kotoji to suffer. That's all," Kakashi said. "I'd rather live alone and know that he was being taken care of by somebody that can provide for him."

"As opposed to…?"

The truth came out of him, dryly and lightly, like dust coming off of a long-unopened door.

"Having him grow up uncertain of if the people he loves can be relied upon for anything," Kakashi replied. "That's no way to live."

Yamato's eyes, great and blank and dark, were fixed upon Kakashi for a long while.

"…is that how _you_ grew up, Kakashi?"

"It's not a way for anyone to live," Kakashi replied.

"Well… you're right about that," Yamato said, though uncertainly.

"So, you understand," Kakashi continued. "It's for Kotoji's sake. So he grows up well."

"…but what about _your_ sake, Kakashi-san?"

"How does _my_ sake factor into this at all?"

"Living alone, without loved ones, is also no way to live," Yamato said.

"I don't…" Kakashi began, but the words settled on his tongue and were still.

"Kakashi-san…" Yamato's eyes were downcast. "Growing up, I didn't have any friends. I was kept isolated from others, raised by ANBU operatives. Sure, I was trained, and I had peers, but I only ever thought of myself in relation to others as a tool for the people's use. Even our enemies thought of me that way, _you_ remember what happened during the War…"

A small smile, barely visible, began to grow on his face.

"But then I got to meet people like you, and Naruto-kun, and my students—for however short a time." An awkward laugh. "And now I have a son, and only because of my indiscretion and bad luck…"

Kakashi felt words in his throat, but they stayed there.

"I'm honestly an idiot when it comes to other people… I've spent so long being kept away from them in some way or another that I just seem to only… mess up, whether it's in speaking, or behavior, or what have you. And yet…"

He laughed again, almost a sigh.

"And yet, despite all that, these relationships have only made my life better. And we all experience loss, Kakashi-san, it's unavoidable. And it makes the fact that we can still meet and care for and love each other that much more precious…"

He finally looked up at Kakashi. His hands were clasped loosely between his knees.

"You see what I mean here?" he said. "You shouldn't feel that, just because someone might someday lose you, you shouldn't be in their lives. Besides, Kotoji's already experienced loss. He still asks about his mother, sometimes… I'm always ashamed that I can't talk to him about her, that I can't even tell him what she looked like."

Kakashi knew that it wasn't his place to say anything here.

He felt a thick, compressive heat in his throat and in his chest.

"If you weren't in Kotoji's life—even though he's so young—I can't help but feel that his life would somehow be… lacking, Kakashi-san," Yamato said. "Sure, he has Hashiki-san, but she's not _you_. She doesn't have a relationship with him like you do. You were one of the first people aside from me that could get him to stop crying as a baby, don't you remember?"

"Kotoji doesn't. He was an infant," Kakashi said. He sighed. "Come on, Yamato, it doesn't matter who the… adults in Kotoji's life are. There's no reason why I'm any better a choice than Hashiki-san, and a million reasons why _she_ is."

Yamato's eyes flitted about with uncertainty. Kakashi saw his mouth trembling slightly.

"…well, I want you in _my_ life too, Kakashi," he said, softly.

The words felt like they were falling through the fingers of Kakashi's mind, and he replied clumsily.

"You… you want _me_ in _your_ life." It sounded like he was asking if Yamato was joking.

"…yes," Yamato replied. "Is that so… unusual?"

"I just can't see _why,_" Kakashi said. "I mean, why would _you_ want to keep me around…? I'm barely a help as it is."

Yamato shook his head, exhaling in place of a laugh. "You really don't get it, do you, Kakashi-san? It's nothing to do with what you can do for me practically, it's because I like—having you around."

"Yamato, I don't… understand," Kakashi said.

(Which was partially a lie.)

"I want you… to stay in my life, Kakashi. I don't want you to leave. I—I _like_ you, okay?"

The heat had spread to Kakashi's stomach.

"…but I thought you were involved with Hashiki," he ended up saying.

"Well, we—we _are_, but…"

"But?"

"…there are some issues right now…" Yamato said, sheepishly, his face incredibly red.

"Please don't tell me she doesn't know you like men."

"I-I don't know _what_ I like!" Yamato replied, almost shouting. He dug the bottom of his face into his scarf. "I just… don't even know if she likes me _that_ way. And then there's _you,_ and…"

"So you're _not_ dating?"

"…we are but we _aren't_, I haven't confirmed it—wait, we're supposed to be talking about _you!_"

Kakashi shrugged. "You shouldn't be cheating on people, Yamato."

"I'm not cheating…" Yamato mumbled.

"Then you ought to make sure with her before you go off saying stuff like this to me. You getting involved with me wouldn't be fair to her if she wanted a relationship with you."

Yamato looked back at him with some degree of astonishment.

(Though Kakashi's words were floating, lighter and lighter, off his tongue, his chest still felt tight, and warm.)

"Wait, so… you mean, you want to…?"

"What I mean is that I want you to make sure you're not making another mistake. You said yourself, you're bad with people," Kakashi said, shrugging. "And I doubt you want to be on Hashiki's bad side."

"Ah, of course…" Yamato said. He buried his chin with his scarf again, looking utterly ashamed.

A war was coming to an end in Kakashi's heart.

"No matter what happens with her, though, I'm not going anywhere, Yamato," he said. "You want me to stay. So I'll stay."

Yamato lifted his head a little. "You will?"

"If I'm not, who's going to keep you from messing up your life further?" Kakashi said. He sighed. "You really _do_ need me, don't you, kohai?"

Yamato was laughing a little, and crying a little. "I really could use your guidance, senpai."

"Hey, stop that. Stand up and wipe off your face. You can't talk to her looking like we just had a fight." He stood up and put his hands on Yamato's shoulders.

"What, you—you want me to talk to her _now?_"

Kakashi nodded. "With me there."

"Kakashi…!"

"Consider me emotional support. I _told_ you, I'm not going anywhere." He took one end of Yamato's scarf and wiped at his eyes with it. "Come on, don't be a baby."

Yamato sniffed. "All right, I'll try to pull myself together…"

"Uh-huh," Kakashi replied, faithlessly.

And then, fighting all of his instincts.

(That he would regret this, that he shouldn't be doing this, that it would only hurt him in the end.)

He hugged Yamato, wrapping arms over arms.

"Does this help?" he added, sarcastically.

(As if he could trick his heart into calming down, saying that none of this counted.)

And Yamato gently tilted his head sideways, and kissed him on the cheek.

Kakashi pulled away immediately. "Yamato."

"Oh, I'm—I'm sorry, that was too far, I shouldn't have done that." He covered his mouth with his hands. "Kakashi-san, please don't hate me, I-"

"Hold off on stuff like that until we talk to Hashiki," Kakashi said. He crossed his arms. "Okay?"

"I'm sorry…" Yamato replied, hanging his head. He wiped at his eyes, though not with his scarf.

"It's all right, it's not your fault I'm so irresistible," Kakashi added.

"Kakashi-san, please…"

"Yamato, seriously, it's okay. You'll get through this. Hell, maybe you'll get lucky and it'll turn out that Hashiki's into threesomes."

"P-Please don't…!" Yamato was practically beet-colored, eyes shut tight.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding." Kakashi patted Yamato on the back. "Come on, let's take a walk. Talk for a bit. And then we'll go back to your place, and talk to Hashiki. Sound good?"

"All right…"

Kakashi went to get his coat, and waited for Yamato at the door. "Well, follow my lead, kohai."

Yamato smiled gratefully, his eyes dry. "Thank you, senpai."

And they took a walk. And they talked about things. And as the sun began to dip lower into the sky, they returned to Yamato's house, and after putting Kotoji in his room under the pretext of early bedtime, they talked to her.

And everything turned out fine.

Kakashi went home after several hours, after discussions and apologies and clarifications.

Hashiki did have feelings for Yamato, though she cited "anatomical difficulties" in not being overt about it. Yamato didn't press the issue further, just thanking her for her frankness. Kakashi said nothing, though he tossed an "I told you so" glance Yamato's way after a while.

As it turned out, Hashiki had been well aware of Kotoji's love for Kakashi, and suggested before Yamato did that Kotoji wasn't alone in this love. The last thing she wanted, she claimed, was to come between two people that cared for each other, especially since she considered herself more of a practical help than any sort of love interest.

"Well… I do like you too, Hashiki-san…" Yamato had stammered, in response. "I'm just confused, and I don't know what's going on…"

"Ah, really?" She touched her mouth with her hand. "Well, that's okay… I'm not jealous, and I don't mind sharing, honestly, if that's what it comes to…"

(After all, one part of her had once balanced two loves in their heart, though was only able to be with one.)

"If we end up sharing, I get to be the 'other woman,'" Kakashi said. "My spirit's far too free to be tied town."

This only made Yamato more flustered. But he calmed himself, in time, with help and hand-holding.

And "sharing" ended up being the theme of the night, after that. They talked about sharing time—with Kotoji, and with Yamato—and sharing spaces.

"I was going to ask you, Hashiki-san, if you wanted to move in sometime…" Yamato said, when they got there.

"Oh, that sounds fun! It'd make it easier for me to watch Kotoji for you," she replied. "And maybe it'll help Go'on get used to a real home…"

"I'll stay at my place, thanks," Kakashi added in.

(Though in time—several months later—he did join them.)

(Though he did this by inviting them into his own home, which was larger, and far more suited for a woman, two men, and two boys.)

(He didn't miss the old emptiness at all.)

The night came to an end with compassionate talk, and Kakashi's insistence that he was just a hanger-on, sticking around for Kotoji's sake and Yamato's peace of mind.

"You just let me know when you want some time with him, Kakashi-san," Hashiki said, kindly and knowingly. "I'll do the same."

"I feel like a bride, this is so embarrassing," Yamato said. Hashiki nuzzled against him on the couch, fondly, in reply.

"You'll get over it," Kakashi said. He pressed his forehead against Yamato's, for a moment, in goodbye. "Don't ignore Hashiki now."

"I'll make sure he doesn't," Hashiki replied.

"Goodnight, senpai," Yamato said quietly.

"Goodnight, kohai," Kakashi replied.

When Kakashi settled in for the night, in his bed, he dreamed for the first time in a long time of something that was not a memory.

He dreamed that he was sitting by a river with Yamato, Hashiki at Yamato's other hand. Kotoji was playing in the river below with Hashiki's son.

And he felt happy, and smiled in his sleep.

The dawn came with birdsong, the smell of wet leaves and new beginnings.

As it happened, Sasuke was experiencing a multitude of new beginnings as well.

But he'd had to say some goodbyes, first.


	130. Good Grief

Author's Note

My dear readers,

The following chapter contains discussion of suicide. If such material is distressing or triggering to you, I apologize, and encourage you to resume with next week's chapter if you must.

Thank you,  
- Rii

* * *

_Chapter 130 - Good Grief_

* * *

With everything that happened immediately after the tournament, it wasn't terribly surprising that chuunin promotion announcements were somewhat delayed. They were always done once all the foreign guests had gone home, and things had long since calmed down by then, but all the paperwork and discussion kept the happy and the not-so-happy news from being properly distributed.

And of course, Naruto insisted on doing it himself.

Go'on, though he had performed admirably, was not promoted. But he wasn't terribly bothered, and he got hugs from his mother (and Kotoji, since they were at Yamato's house at the time), and a handshake and a wish of good luck for next time from Naruto.

Shikake was not promoted, either. But she wasn't told the news personally: Shikamaru greeted Naruto at the door and said that, since she was grounded, he'd tell her himself. Naruto asked if she was okay, and Shikamaru shrugged.

"She's sulking," he replied.

Shikake _was_ sulking, and she continued to sulk, rarely leaving her room. But this was more over the fact that she hadn't been allowed to say goodbye to her uncles and Morizuru than her failure.

(She knew that Gaara and Kankuro wouldn't have been disappointed in her performance. Morizuru even knew she didn't care about being a chuunin in the first place.)

Naruto got both of these out of the way before allowing himself the good news. It would be way more fun that way.

He entered the Yamanaka compound with a bright smile and very little hesitation. "Hey there, guys! How's it goin'?"

Inoichi had restructured his house slightly to account for his grandchildren and daughter staying more permanently. The living room was cleared out more, to make room for futons in the evening, so everyone was sitting on the floor.

"We're doin' pretty great, Uncle Naruto!" Karai answered.

"Yeah, yeah? How's the work on your new house going?" he asked.

"It's really great! Hashiki-san got the foundation set up just the other day, an' they're gonna put in windows an' stuff real soon!" Karai reported.

"Oh, sweet! I hope that goes quickly," Naruto said. "Andou-kun's helping to organize the charities for people who lost stuff during the attack and we're definitely keeping you all in consideration, y'know."

"Thank you very much," Ino said, quietly.

"So, I'm sure you all are wondering why I'm here. It's not just to check on you, y'know." He smiled so hard that his eyes closed.

"Yeah, what is it?" Inou said.

Naruto looked over his shoulder at the hallway that led to Inoichi's foyer, and motioned for someone to come in.

(Of course he brought a friend for this part.)

Moegi the interrogator entered, two green flak jackets folded over her left arm, and she stood behind him with a coolly pleased expression.

"As your Hokage I am honored to report that both Inou and Karai were chosen for promotion to chuunin this year," he said, with as much formality as he could muster.

Karai rocketed into a standing position. "Are you serious?!"

"Yeah, I'm serious, you guys both made it!" Naruto replied.

"Mom, did you hear that?!" Karai almost looked like she was shaking her head as she shifted her attention from her mother to her brother. "Hajime?!"

"I heard him, Karai," Hajime said. It was obvious he hadn't been sleeping well, but his smile was overflowing with love.

Inou looked incredibly confused. "_I_ made it?"

"Dude, of _course_ you did. It was, like, the easiest decision we had to make this year! 100% yes all around the Council, y'know!" Naruto said.

"But I… how is that…?" A smile was trying to work its way out of his face, but his disbelief was too strong for the time being.

"We took into consideration much more than your performance in the exams proper—which, I will have you know, was far above standard," Moegi said. "Your actions immediately before and after—in assisting with the interrogation of Orochimaru's clone, in your assistance with the recent events—those were what _really_ made the decision easy for us. The same goes for you, Uchiha Karai."

"Oh my goodness…!" Karai said. Inou said nothing, still a bit overwhelmed.

"So you mean… I was promoted because of all the stuff I did with the interrogations and stuff…?" he finally managed.

"After everything you've done, it would be a crime not to," Moegi said. "To keep one of the most gifted mind-jutsu users living today from advancing in his career is unthinkable."

Inou's face bloomed from the compliment, and he began looking around the room much like Karai had.

(The warmest smile for him, by far, was from Nadeshiko, sitting in the corner, apart from everyone else. Her hair had been cut short by her mother into a severe bob that ended near her chin, and it finally looked clean and cared-for.)

"Heh, Moegi-san, you wanna tell Inou-kun the rest of the good news?" Naruto said, rocking in place a little from the anticipation.

"Ah, of course." She cleared her throat, subtly, covering her mouth with her fist. "Uchiha Inou, in addition to your chuunin promotion, we have a position for you on the police force effective immediately."

"The _police_ force?!" Inou almost lost his balance. "Are you serious?!"

"Of course I'm serious, there's no reason I'd be joking," Moegi replied. "The Torture and Interrogation unit could use people like you, certainly, but I have a feeling you'll be able to contribute to several departments with your skills."

"Oh, wow, well…" Inou began running his fingers through his bangs.

"Should you agree to join, you'll be the first Uchiha on the force in over thirty years," Moegi added, pointedly. "Which is quite significant, all things considered."

Inou stopped with his fussing, his hair pushed out of his eyes, the confusion returning to his face.

"Of course, Moegi-san isn't offering you this job just 'cos of your family, y'know!" Naruto said, waving his hands. "Heck, if that was the case, then Hajime-kun would be a police officer instead of a Seal Team guy. And… and, yeah."

"Your skill set is far more suited for this department," Moegi said, almost like punctuation.

Inou let his bangs fall back in his face. "That's still… pretty significant, though."

"Young man, the position we're offering you is usually only given to those with ten years prior experience in the Torture and Interrogation unit," Moegi said. "It is _very_ significant."

"Well, Inou, what do you say…?" his mother said, with a gentle nudge.

Inou swallowed, and then bowed with his forehead to the floor. "I graciously accept your offer, ma'am."

Moegi's smile warmed. "Then I expect for you to report in for duty first thing tomorrow morning at 8 AM, at the police station. Your first mission has already been decided: you'll be assisting your fellow Yamanaka officers in learning mind-reading techniques."

"Ah…! I see…" He nodded. "Of course, I'll do my best…"

"Perhaps you'll see fit to teach them that jutsu you used in the exams?" Moegi continued. "Everyone that witnessed it was amazed by what you seemed to do. A technique of your own invention, or a lost Yamanaka art, is it?"

"The jutsu I used in the exams…?" Inou was surprised that he needed to think about it. "Oh! Oh, that one… Um, I invented it myself, ma'am."

"Of course," Moegi replied, sincerely. "Just further proof that you're more than qualified for your position."

"Moegi-san, if you keep throwin' out compliments like this, I think Inou-kun's gonna explode, y'know," Naruto said, laughing.

Moegi chuckled slightly. "Fair enough. Now, don't forget to wear your uniform tomorrow." She tossed one of the vests at Inou, where it landed in his lap, and the other at Karai, who caught it and held it tightly to her chest.

"O-Of course not…!" Inou replied.

"Thanks for comin' by, Moegi-san," Naruto said, waving a hand. "I know you've been busy."

"Please. I _had_ to come," she replied. She nodded at them all. "I'll see you tomorrow, Inou-kun."

"Okay…!" Inou replied.

Naruto must have been waiting for her to leave, because as soon as she was gone, he had lost all composure and was quivering with excitement.

"So are you guys gonna have a party for this or what, y'know?!" he said. "This is huge news!"

"Oh, well, I suppose we could…!" Ino said, covering her mouth in delighted surprise. "My, this just has been a bit unexpected, so…"

"Can we, Mom? Can we?" Karai had already put on her new vest, and was twirling around, getting used to the weight of it.

"Of course, Karai," Ino replied. Karai cheered in reply.

"And _super_ congratulations for you, Inou-kun," Naruto continued. "Like, I'm really glad you're finally getting a little recognition, y'know."

"…thanks, Uncle Naruto…" Inou said, softly, though smiling, and clinging to his vest tightly, as if, if he let it go, it would disappear.

"So we gonna party or what?" Naruto said.

"Allow me a little time to plan, Naruto, please!" Ino said, laughing.

"Okay, okay! I'm sorry, I'm just so happy for you guys!" he said, and laughed himself. "When you gonna tell Sasuke the news?"

The lightness of the room seemed to lessen significantly.

(Naruto more than noticed.)

"…we'll tell him once everyone's calmed down," Ino said, in place of everyone else. "I'm sure he wouldn't want to be disturbed with too much excitement…"

"Ah… I gotcha. Heh, you know Sasuke, he can only take so much shouting, y'know…" Naruto scratched at his neck. "Well, whenever you guys decide to celebrate, be sure to invite me, okay?"

"Of course, Uncle Naruto!" Karai said, managing a chip of sunshine in her voice. "There's no way we'd forget to invite _you_."

"Sweet." He smiled with his eyes closed. "Well, you know where I am. And good luck at work tomorrow, Inou-kun!"

"Thanks…" Inou said.

Naruto waved at them all, before leaving their house, and then the compound.

"…Inou, do you want to go to the hospital with me to tell your father the good news?" Ino said, in the quiet that followed.

Inou was staring at the floor.

"Inou…?"

"I don't want to tell him," Inou said.

"What…? But you've worked so hard for this," Ino said.

"Do you honestly think he'll care, at this point?" Inou replied.

"Of course your father will care, Inou…" Ino said, but her words were soft with uncertainty. "He'll be incredibly proud of you."

Inou scoffed. "Sure_._ When has he _ever_ been proud of me…"

His mother almost gasped from the hurt she heard. "Inou…"

Inou continued to stare at the floor.

"Mom, it's okay, he doesn't have to tell Dad himself…" Hajime said. "You can tell him instead."

"Yeah. _You_ tell him. He won't believe _me_ anyways," Inou added.

"…Inou, are you sure?" Ino said.

"I'm not gonna talk to him, Mom," Inou replied. "And you can't make me," he added, in a half-hearted mumble.

"…um, if it's okay with you, Mom, if Inou's not going then I'll stay here too," Karai said. She'd long since sat back down. "B'sides, Mom, Dad needs his quiet, right? It'll be easier on him if you're the one that tells him."

Ino sighed, her eyes lowered. "I suppose you're right. He won't want much commotion…"

"I'll keep an eye on everyone if you're heading out now," Inoichi said. "You shouldn't wait."

"Mm, you're right." Ino stood, and went to get her purse. "Do you all want me to get anything at the grocery store for dinner while I'm gone? Your father included or not, we're still going to have a party." She tried to smile.

"…s'okay, Mom, we don't have to celebrate _tonight_," Inou said.

"Take your time, Mom. We got a lot of time!" Karai added.

Ino sighed again. "All right, all right. I'll be back soon."

She put on her shoes and tried not to feel nervous as she began walking to the hospital.

But when she made it to Sasuke's room, he was gone. The bed was being set with new linens by a custodian.

"…excuse me, but where is the patient that's in this room?" Ino asked her.

"Hm?"

"Uchiha Sasuke, this is supposed to be his room," Ino continued. "I'm his wife, and…"

"Ah, well, I dunno where he is, but this room opened up this morning," the custodian replied. "Y'should go ask a nurse if you wanna know where your husband is."

Ino ran out of the room with a word of thanks tossed at the custodian, who returned to her work with a shrug.

The nearest nurse had to ask Ino to slow down, when she found her. But once Ino got her point across, she was able to retrieve the records for the wing from that day.

"Ah, yes, Uchiha Sasuke, he checked himself out this morning," she reported, flipping through papers. "Did he not go home?"

Ino, trying to keep her breathing slow and even, shook her head.

"I'm sure you'll find him soon enough, he didn't leave very long ago," the nurse replied. "He might have just taken a while to get home; it says he's still recovering from a leg fracture, here."

Somehow Ino doubted this was the case. And instead of going home, she went to the Hokage Manor, to find Naruto.

"Ino? Hey, what's wrong?" he said, when she came into his office, still trying to catch her breath.

"It's Sasuke…" she gasped. "I can't find him, he checked himself out of the hospital and I can't find him…"

Naruto stepped away from his desk and put a hand on her shoulder. "He checked out?"

She nodded. "I can't find him…"

"Ino, it's okay. I'll find him." He took her hands in his, and closed his eyes, and he spread the whole of Konoha out in his mind, looking for the black star of Sasuke's chakra.

He was surprisingly near.

"Huh…? I think he's… here in the Manor, y'know…?" Naruto opened his eyes. "Ino, come with me. We'll find him."

And they found him.

He was walking, hands in his pockets, down a hallway near the administrative wing of the Manor. He had a noticeable limp, and was going very slowly.

"Sasuke…!" Ino called out to him as she ran to him, but stopped short before she could touch him.

Almost as slowly as he seemed to walk, Sasuke turned around.

He did not look angry, or happy, or even sad to see them.

He just looked empty.

"Ah. Ino."

"What are you _doing_ here…? Why did you leave the hospital?" Ino said.

"I had to take care of some things," Sasuke replied.

"Things…?"

"Setting some things right. I was going to go home and tell you, but I suppose it's better that I met you here."

"What's going on, Sasuke?" Naruto had caught up with them, and stood beside Ino.

(What he felt was at once as concerning and confusing as the complete lack of expression on Sasuke's face.)

(Sasuke felt… satisfied, was it? Or was it sad? Or was it both?)

(It was something he had honestly never felt from out of Sasuke, and it worried him.)

"I just finished some paperwork," Sasuke replied. "I had it declared that, if he's willing, Hajime will take over for me immediately as the head of the Uchiha clan."

"Sasuke…!" Ino said.

"All he needs to do is sign the papers. He'll be able to decide what he wants to do with his… kid now," Sasuke continued, stumbling over his words as if half-asleep.

"…Sasuke, he already decided that he's going to take responsibility…" Ino said, quietly. "He's adopting it."

Sasuke smiled, bitterly, staring at the floor. "Ah… of course he is. Well, perhaps this will help anyways…"

"That's pretty great of you, Sasuke," Naruto said, smiling a little. "I'm sure it'll help him, y'know."

But Ino stepped forward, a hand stretched out hesitantly. "Sasuke—are you all right…?"

"I'm fine," he replied.

Certainly, the swelling on his face had lessened significantly, the bruises fading, but his eyes looked half-dead.

"Are—are you sure?" Ino said.

"I was healthy enough to be discharged. And now I'm taking care of some things before I go home. That's all. I'm sorry I worried you."

Ino had to pause.

(Because she couldn't remember if Sasuke had ever apologized to her for anything before_._)

"Oh, so you're headin' home after this?" Naruto said.

"Yes. I'm going to take a walk, and then I'm going home," Sasuke replied.

"Sounds good, man," Naruto said. "We were _worried_ about you, y'know."

"I'm sorry," Sasuke said again, as tonelessly as everything else.

And he turned around, without another word, and began leaving.

"Sasuke—hold on."

He looked over his shoulder at Ino's voice.

"When you come back…" Ino fought with her words. "Inou and Karai were both just promoted to chuunin, and it'd really mean a lot to them if you… congratulated them."

Sasuke's eyes lowered.

"That's good," he said. "I don't think they want my congratulations though."

"Come _on_, Sasuke," Naruto said. "Of course they do. Why would you think otherwise, y'know?"

Sasuke turned around to leave again. "You're right. I should congratulate them."

He began walking.

"Sasuke-"

He didn't turn around at Ino's voice this time, though he still stopped.

"…just try not to take too long, okay?" she said.

"I won't," Sasuke replied.

"We're staying at my father's house, so…"

But he didn't say anything more. He continued down the hall, rounded the corner, and was gone.

"…Naruto, is he okay?" Ino said, not long after.

"I... I don't _know_," Naruto replied. "I mean, he looks—he looks bad, y'know, but I don't think I've ever seen him so _calm_…"

Ino's eyes followed the invisible line of Sasuke's path further down the hallway.

Naruto put his hand on her shoulder. "It'll be okay, Ino. He's just comin' away from some hard times. You want me to go home an' wait for him with you?"

She shook her head. "No, no, I'm… fine. Thank you for offering, though…"

He patted her on the back a few times. "Call me any time you need me, Ino. I'm here for all of you, not just for Sasuke, y'know."

Ino managed to smile a little, thanked him again, and went home, and she began waiting.

In truth, Naruto was right.

Sasuke had never felt so calm.

His time in the hospital had given him a lot of time to think. He had put together a plan, and he was almost finished with it.

First, he was going to get out of the hospital, as soon as they would let him. He would do it quietly, and without anyone noticing.

(Ino had noticed, apparently. But that wasn't a problem.)

Second, he was going to set some things right. He was going to allow for Hajime to take control of his own life, and his own problems, and to look after the family. He had no doubt that the boy would make the right decisions.

(They would be better decisions than Sasuke had made, at any rate.)

And finally, he would go home. And he would stay out of everyone's lives for good.

(Because, he had long since realized, people suffered by merely being near him.)

He took his time walking through the Old Compound, once he had reached it.

The unrecognizability of it all ached in his heart, but at the same time, he figured it was just another omen, a sign from the world that everything was moving on without him, that his own past didn't need him any more.

At least the lake had survived. And he found it, and sat at the end of the dock for a long time.

It was a beautiful day.

The air was cool, and there was a light breeze rustling through the new trees that surrounded the lake and everything else. The sky was blue, and clear, and the sunlight fell on the calm waters of the lake, making it sparkle like a thousand different mirrors.

A good day to make peace, Sasuke decided.

He hadn't left any sort of messages behind. He hadn't seen the reason. There was nothing to say.

Eventually, someone would find him. And they'd figure out why he did what he did.

It was obvious enough to him, anyways, and it would probably be obvious to them too.

Nobody wanted him in their lives any more.

And he caused nothing but pain by merely existing.

It would be the first truly good thing he would ever do for anyone.

And also the last.

He entered the lake slowly, as if disturbing the surface any further would just add to his long list of sins.

(The thought of punishment in the next world—and surely there was one, because of what had happened with Itachi—only occurred to him in echoes and afterthoughts.)

(Whatever happened to him—pain, suffering, nothingness—he was certain he more than deserved.)

And once he could no longer see the bottom of the lake, he went under, and did not let himself come up.


	131. Alone Together

_Chapter 131 - Alone Together_

* * *

Sasuke was surprised to find, when the pain ended, that he felt dry.

In fact, he doubted he was even in water any more.

He opened his eyes. He was in a great, foggy place, and the light was like that of a half-dawn, pale and weak. There was ground beneath his feet, and he walked, feeling no pain in his ankle, or anywhere else.

There was a figure in the distance, dark and tall.

But it wasn't who he thought it would be.

Sasuke found his voice, somehow. "Father…?"

Fugaku stood before him, and he looked exactly as he had on the day he had died. Skin browned by the sun, the beginnings of wrinkles around his mouth, identical to Sasuke's own. They were the same height, now, but he seemed so much smaller than he'd been in Sasuke's memory.

He looked disappointed. "I had hoped that you wouldn't make it here so soon," he said, his voice deep and hollow and familiar.

Sasuke didn't say anything in return, uncomfortably aware of his own breathing—a memory of a reflex.

"You probably expected to see your brother, didn't you," Fugaku continued.

Again, nothing.

(Even though Sasuke wanted so very, very badly for Itachi to be the first person he met on the other side.)

(Though he doubted Itachi would allow for that.)

(_"The last thing I want is to talk to you."_)

"…I suppose this means I'll have to talk to you then." Fugaku sighed, deeply. "The question is, what do I say?"

"You can start by telling me how disappointed you are in me, I'm sure," Sasuke replied.

His father looked back at him with an air of confusion. "Disappointed?"

"Look at me. I'm a failure—I'm the greatest failure the clan's ever known. You should feel ashamed to have me as your son, if you weren't already."

Sasuke couldn't look at him, after that.

"You are not our clan's greatest failure," Fugaku said.

"Are you kidding?" Sasuke looked back up, at the man before him, still neutral and disapproving. "I lost control of the clan. My own family abandoned me. I raised a son that wasn't even _mine_. And my own children—my own _children_—were the ones that had to save me from my own mistakes. I'm an embarrassment."

"…those are hardly—crimes deserving of the clan's greatest failure," Fugaku said stiffly.

"Oh yeah? Then what are?"

Fugaku's eyes drifted to the floor. "Allowing everyone within the clan, save for two young boys, to die."

The resignation in his voice fell like a nail into Sasuke's stomach.

"Though I am guilty of far many more crimes than this, that is one I feel you will understand," he concluded.

This only made Sasuke feel angry.

"So everything I did is nothing compared to what you experienced, is that it?" he said. "I'm not the _greatest_ failure because you think _you_ are?"

"You're not a failure, Sasuke."

"_Please_." Sasuke scoffed. "Everything I've ever done was for the clan's sake, and what have I done for it?"

"You raised five children who are strong enough and good enough to know how to keep their family from falling apart when things go wrong," Fugaku replied.

"_Five?_ Takeru isn't even _mine!_"

"You raised him as your son. And he _is_ your son."

Sasuke felt a great, sick feeling in his stomach, like he was about to throw up. The sensation almost surprised him—did memories of pain and discomfort follow breathing?

"It doesn't matter. That doesn't matter," he said. "My children—whoever or however many you think I have. I was a failure in raising them. And I'm a failure to you too."

"…how have you failed me, Sasuke?" Fugaku's voice had gone strangely soft.

The tight, bile-feeling in Sasuke's stomach rose. "Everything I ever did for the clan was for _your_ sake too. I wanted to be a clan leader you'd be _proud_ of. So, if you were still alive, you'd be able to… to tell me I did a good job, and…"

"Sasuke, I've always been proud of you."

The words felt like a foreign language, and Sasuke's mind fumbled in processing them.

"…_proud_ of me? When—when have I _ever_ made you proud…?" Sasuke said.

"Since the day you were born and I first got to hold you in my arms, you have made me proud," Fugaku replied. "And every day since."

Sasuke found himself shaking his head. "You're… you're lying."

Something in Fugaku's face fell. "I've lied to you many, many times, Sasuke. But not this time."

"No, that—I've done _nothing_ to earn your pride. And only once—only once did you ever tell me you were proud of me! And I was a child!"

"I regret never telling you more," Fugaku said. "And I'm sorry that it's only now that I'm able to tell you this, Sasuke."

Sasuke felt tension in his jaw, tightness in his throat. "I still can't believe you. I've done—nothing worth being proud of. Hell, everything I _touch_, I ruin! My wife, my family, everything! I'm incapable of doing right!"

Fugaku's eyes fell to the point where it looked like he had closed them. "That's my fault."

"What, that I'm such a—a _fuck-up?_" The words shot out of him like arrows.

But Fugaku shook his head. "It's my fault that you feel this way, that you've reached these conclusions and these ends with the people you care for. I should have taught you so much more in the time we had together." He sighed again. "I was a weak man when I was alive, and I'm still just as weak, it seems."

Sasuke's mouth was trembling. "Weak…? But you… you're not weak, you're…"

A dry curl of a smile appeared on Fugaku's face. "You believe yourself to be a failure, and I believe myself to be weak. But you've never been a failure to me, Sasuke."

"Stop—saying that!"

"I'm not going to lie to you any more, Sasuke."

Sasuke's anger flared. "If you're not going to lie to me any more, then why don't you tell me—honestly!—how—how disappointed you are in me, then? Because I _know_ you are."

Fugaku thought for a while, and Sasuke seethed in poisonous satisfaction.

"…the only disappointment I have in you, Sasuke, is that you feel you're beyond help. Because you aren't," he finally said.

"And how do you know _that?"_

"Because I've _been _beyond help. Beyond help is more than just watching your clan destroy itself from the inside, long before the killings start. Beyond help is when you have to ask your own son to ensure that your death is quick and painless. And beyond help is having to tell your youngest child not to look, because you don't want him to see you die. You are not beyond help. You still have hope."

The words felt like a lecture in that they made Sasuke feel very small, the man before him suddenly so much greater in stature and bearing.

And, of course, the guilt.

"I'm disappointed that you feel you've reached this point, Sasuke. When your family is alive and well. When it's thriving, and _growing._"

Sasuke had to close his eyes to keep whatever was behind them from coming out, guilt or hurt or tears. "Stop it, stop it, stop it, that's not true, I've turned the clan into a _disgrace_, an _embarrassment, that's_ what you should be ashamed of…"

"There is nothing embarrassing or disgraceful about the family you have raised."

Sasuke shoved his hands over his eyes. "They disobey me, they aren't proper Uchihas, my clan's nothing but a pitiful imitation, and I'm a failure that deserves it _all_."

"If they were proper Uchihas, Sasuke, what would they be?" His tone was far too even and impartial to be soothing.

Sasuke shook his head as he thought. "I don't know, they'd—they'd be obedient, and strong, and they'd never fail because Uchihas have a… name to uphold…"

"They'd be angry, mistrustful people, prone to… rage and abuse in the face of disappointment, Sasuke. That's how the Uchiha clan used to be."

(Fugaku's voice faltered, slightly. But Sasuke hardly noticed.)

(Not when he _knew_ the words were directed at him, and his own weaknesses.)

Sasuke began to curl into himself, pressing his elbows into his stomach.

"But your clan, Sasuke, is a clan of loving, compassionate people, innovative and kind, and accepting of _new_ things. How could you not be proud of such a clan?"

"That isn't what I'm supposed to want. That isn't what keeps a clan strong. I had to restore my clan. I had to make sure it _survived._"

"Love isn't weakness, Sasuke," Fugaku said.

Sasuke got on his knees, folding his body into itself, his face still covered.

"Stop it, stop it, _stop_ it…"

"Son, please, listen to me."

Despite himself, Sasuke raised his head a little.

('Son'…?)

"You don't have to believe me. You have no _reason_ to. And I understand that. If you want to live the rest of your life with this continued belief that I've never been proud of you, then I suppose I can't help it. I've long since accepted it."

For some reason, Fugaku paused.

"I could tell you, now, that if you wanted to make me truly proud, then you'd return to your family, and you would be with them and support them. And I truly do want for you to do this, Sasuke. But it would make me no less proud of you and the things you've done, if you really do have to stay."

"…that would really make you proud? That's what you want from me?" Sasuke managed, from between his hands.

And Sasuke felt his father's touch on his back, a rough hand gently stroking the area between his shoulder blades.

"Son, all I have ever, _ever_ wanted from you was for you to feel that you were loved. That's all."

Sasuke raised his head, lifted his back; Fugaku's hand left him, and he saw that they were sitting in the dim somewhere together, on the same level.

"Loved…?" he said, quietly. "What, you can't possibly have wanted just _that_ for me…"

But Fugaku shook his head. "I've never wanted anything else. I've watched you grow, taller, and stronger, but my wish for you has always been for you to feel that you are loved and cared for. Even Itachi wanted that for you."

Sasuke's eyes widened, not expecting for his brother to return to the conversation.

"If you feel that there is no one on this earth that loves you, or cares for you, then I have failed as your father."

Shock mixed with rage, and Sasuke began to rise to his knees, above his father. "How can you say all of this? All this 'love' stuff? All I ever got from you was approval or disappointment! How is that love? How is that making me feel _cared _for?"

"It isn't," Fugaku said, quietly.

"So how is it you can say all of this?" Sasuke said again. There was a great, hot tightness in his eyes.

"Because… as your father, I wasn't… in a position to truly discuss my feelings with you…" He seemed to shrink with every word. "I couldn't…"

"You could still have praised me! Have made me feel like you—like you were as proud of me as you say you were!"

"I should have," Fugaku said. "But if I did, then I…"

"Then you _what?_"

"…everything I did was to protect you, son. I swear."

Sasuke made an ugly, disgusted sound in his throat. "Protect me from _what?_ From becoming weak?"

"From people far crueler than me. From people that truly believed love to be weakness, and sought to root it out, instead of just ignoring it." Fugaku's head hung low. Sasuke couldn't see his face any more.

"Yeah, like _who?_"

Fugaku didn't say anything.

Sasuke stood.

"Come on, out with it! You're not going to lie to me any more, isn't that what you said? We have _all_ the time in the world, here!"

And Fugaku knelt forward, and he pressed his forehead to the ground in a deep, humble bow.

"I allowed your brother to be damaged at far too early an age and I swore to myself, even before you were born, that I would never let it happen to you. Fathers are supposed to protect their children. And even here, that is my duty. I'm sorry, Sasuke." He touched his forehead to the ground again. "Please forgive me."

"Now you're asking me for _forgiveness?"_

"Please."

Sasuke sighed. "I don't understand. First you say you're _proud_ of me. Then you say you just want me to feel—_loved_. And now you're asking me to _forgive_ you?"

"Yes."

"_Why?_"

"Because I feel like I've failed you as your father."

"No, _I'm_ the one that's failed here!" Sasuke hit himself in the chest for emphasis. "Why can't you see that?"

Fugaku sat up, but kept his head down. "Because I'm the reason you feel that way."

Sasuke groaned, and rolled his eyes. "I knew it, you're not real. You're not really here. This can't be the other side."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because my real father would _never_ stay things like that. Always 'do better next time' or 'you're not there yet' or…" He groaned again, losing his momentum.

Fugaku began to stand.

"Look, just—be honest with me. Punish me. Yell at me, like I know you want to," Sasuke said. "I'm not gonna put up any more of this… insincere bullshit."

"I don't want to yell at you, Sasuke."

"What _do_ you want? And you'd better not say-"

His father hugged him, and Sasuke immediately stopped speaking.

It was an enveloping hug. He felt both of Fugaku's hands crossed over his back, heatless and enormous.

"I've wanted to do _this_ for… _so_ long. You were so young the last time I was able to hold you like this. You've probably long since forgotten," Fugaku said. His voice was near Sasuke's ear. "Look at us now. You're as old as I was when I left you."

Sasuke jerked himself out of the embrace, clapping his hand over his mouth. He felt rolling, hot streams of tears beginning to leak from his eyes.

Fugaku, across from him, wore a sad, complete smile.

"I'm sorry you had to wait so long for your own father to show affection to you like this. If I had a choice, I would have told you I loved you every day, told you how proud I was of you, and I never would have made you feel that you were second in my heart in any way."

Sasuke was resisting the urge to wipe his eyes; everything was going blurry. The tips of his fingers were going numb.

"I've only ever wanted for you to feel that you were loved, Sasuke. And you _are _loved. Even if you feel completely alone, even if you believe that nobody cares, you are _loved._"

Sasuke could no longer see his father's face, but there was constriction in his voice, tight and trembling and…

"I love you, son. I love you, and I always will."

Sasuke was sobbing, now, crying in a way that he hadn't cried since he was very small. "Father…!"

He reached a hand out, and found that his palm was growing transparent. His body was growing lighter.

Fugaku looked up very suddenly, as if something had gotten his attention. "Your brother's almost here," he said, and returned to his son. "Sasuke, when he comes for you, take his hand, and he'll lead you. Go _back_. _Live_. You can start again."

Sasuke tried to walk forward to him again, but no matter how many steps he took, his father just grew smaller and smaller, and his body grew lighter and lighter.

"Father, no…!"

"Go be with your family. I believe in you. I love you, and I'm _proud_ of you, son. You're my boy."

"No, Father, come back, don't leave me…!"

But the darkness was closing in around him now, swallowing his father where he once stood. And with the darkness came suffocation, cold and merciless, stuffing his nose and his mouth with freezing wetness.

He felt a hand on his wrist.

"_When he comes for you, take his hand_."

Sasuke didn't want to take it.

He wanted to go back to his father. To someone he _knew_ loved him. He didn't want to go back to that dry, awful world, where nothing existed but hate and distrust and uncertainty.

"_Take his hand."_

His limbs felt at once light and incredibly heavy. Gravity pulled at his injured, near-useless leg.

"_Even if you believe that nobody cares, you are loved_."

He didn't want to go back, he just wanted to do the right thing…

"_I believe in you. I love you."_

It would be so easy to just let go, to slip through, back to that comforting and certain darkness, and the dim places beyond.

"_Take his hand."_

The hand pulled. It was firm and real.

"_You're my boy."_

…but the easy road was not the road his father wanted for him.

The easy road was not Sasuke's road.

A thirst for oxygen exploded in Sasuke's chest, and it put strength in his water-weakened limbs.

And he took the hand that had come for him.

And quite suddenly, he was on the lakeshore, on his hands and knees, vomiting and coughing up massive quantities of lake water. It was excruciating, but almost cathartic, cleansing, removing all of the dead weight from out of him. His limbs shook from the cold and from his weakness, and he gingerly pulled himself into a sitting position once he was certain it was over

And he saw who it was that had rescued him.

His father had told him that Itachi was coming for him.

He hadn't expected for Itachi to actually be _there._

And Itachi did not look pleased.


	132. Bitter Love

_Chapter 132 - Bitter Love_

* * *

There on the lakeshore, Itachi stood above Sasuke, tall and young, water dripping from his hair and his clothes. He was breathing, heavily, though whether he was catching his breath as Sasuke was, or whether he was angry, it was entirely uncertain.

But what was in his eyes was undeniably rage.

Rather than love, or relief, at the sight of him, Sasuke felt absolute terror.

Still, he tried to speak. "And now you're here for me too, is it…?" His voice was hoarse.

Itachi didn't say anything. He just glared.

"Did you save me?" Sasuke continued.

"Of course I saved you," Itachi replied. The sharp familiarity of his voice rang deeply through Sasuke's fragile bones.

Sasuke sighed, and ended up in another coughing fit. "I would have thought you'd let me drown."

It was at that point that Itachi grabbed him by the shirt and lifted him up so that they were standing together, face to face. His eyes burned red, and his breath seethed through his teeth.

"_You_ have _no_ idea what you almost did," Itachi said. His voice was quiet, but intensity pulsed through it like a heartbeat.

"I know exactly what I almost did," Sasuke said.

Itachi pulled him closer with a jerk of his arm, and Sasuke groaned slightly from the tension of his wet clothes against his sore muscles.

"No. You don't. You have no idea, absolutely _none at all_, how much _damage_ you could have done."

"Damage…?" Sasuke coughed again. "I thought I was doing everyone a _favor_."

Itachi's face—mouth, eyes, chin—trembled from frustration, before he finally let go of Sasuke. Sasuke's shirt stayed tightly wrinkled where Itachi's hand had once been.

And then the lecture began.

"You pathetic _coward._"

It was as if the heat wave of a bomb had hit Sasuke directly in the face, and he stumbled backwards a little.

"You thought that by just running away, by removing yourself from everything, that it would solve everything? What were you _thinking_? That everyone would just have their problems magically solved by you being dead?"

"Itachi, I-"

But Itachi didn't let him continue. "You _never_ think anything through. Your head's so stuck in the past that you can't even comprehend the consequences of your actions. Did you even think anything through before doing this?"

"Well, I…"

"Is abandoning your family _really _taking care of them?"

"I… well, I declared Hajime the clan head, and-"

"Yes, Sasuke, of course, having your eldest son—who could _truly_ use some guidance right now, since he's going to be a _father_ soon—lead your family in your absence. Because he's absolutely capable of taking care of everyone else's problems when he's got a family of his _own_ to take care of soon."

Sasuke made some sort of noise in his throat, maybe "Uh," or "Um," but it didn't go very far.

"And speaking of your _family, _Ino could absolutely use your support right now."

Sasuke made a noise like his voice breaking.

"Why don't you _apologize _to her for all the trouble you've caused? She'sworried _sick _about you."

"She—she has other people to support her, and-"

"Stop running away. You're her _husband_, Sasuke. And you're the only one she's got."

"…but she cheated on me."

Itachi sighed, rolling his eyes. "You honestly wonder why? You treat her like she's _nothing_, Sasuke. And yet she's still with you."

"…she deserves better…"

"You're absolutely right, she deserves better," Itachi said. "But you know what? Killing yourself isn't going to help her. It'll only make things worse."

Sasuke moaned a little, lowering his head.

"And it's not going to help your children, either. If you're not there any more then how are they ever going to move on with their lives, when it comes to you? How do you expect them to let go of their pain?"

"…they can go on hating me for the rest of their lives, I deserve it…"

Itachi shoved him, hard, in the middle of his chest, and Sasuke stumbled further, moaning.

"Stop it. You're being selfish."

"Selfish…?"

"Saying you deserve it is just an excuse. Don't you remember when _you_ were young? When you were _Inou's_ age? You _know_ how destructive that kind of hate can be, _especially_ for a boy his age."

Sasuke lowered his head again, closing his eyes. "Inou can't hate me _that_ much…"

"And how would you know? Do you ever talk to him? Ask him about what _he_ feels?"

Sasuke shut his eyes tighter, moaning.

"And then Hajime, who's scared out of his _wits_ right now, who's _alone_ and would only be _more_ alone if you went _through_ with this _stupid_ plan of yours."

"But he doesn't _need_ me, he's never come to me for _anything_…"

"It's because when he _is_ with you, you've always _terrified_ him orpushed him away."

"Then why would he _ask_ me for help…"

Itachi sighed again. "He's not supposed to ask _you_ for help. You're supposed to offer _him_ help. Because that's what fathers _do_."

Sasuke's face loosened slightly. "It's a father's job to protect his children…" he murmured, gently.

"Exactly. I'd say you're learning, but I know better," Itachi said.

Sasuke's head felt even harder to hold up.

"And I'd also say Takeru could use your help, too. Maybe even the _most_ help."

But then Itachi paused, and his voice got very soft and sharp.

"…no, no, the person that needs the _most_ help from you is Nadeshiko."

Sasuke made a short, painful moan. "Please don't bring her up…"

"Ah, so you understand, don't you?"

"I don't want to talk about her…"

Itachi grabbed him by his shirt again.

"If you say something like that to me _one more time_, then I'm throwing you back in the lake."

"You might as well…"

But Itachi didn't throw him in the lake. Instead, he sighed deeply, let go of Sasuke's shirt, and shook his head. "I can't believe you. Are you really this hopeless?"

"I'm not… going to fight for any lost causes, Itachi…"

Itachi's voice rose very sharply. "Lost _causes?"_

"You… you talk about Na—about my _family_ as if they _care_ about me. And… and sure, if I'm still alive then maybe I can provide for them or whatever. But they'll never love me. They'll never care. They'll just tolerate me. Just like everyone else." His shoulders rose. "Nobody cares about me."

Itachi was quiet for a while.

"So I went out of my way to get Murasaki-san's help to save you," he eventually said, "just because I felt like it, is that it?"

Sasuke didn't say anything.

"You can whine all you want about how nobody cares about you, like a spoiled child, but whether you like it or not, your family _does _care about you. And that's part of the reason why they also _fear_ you so much. Why you have to _work_ for this," Itachi said. "It's because they care that they still _try_ to please you."

"That's not true…"

"It's true and you know it," Itachi replied, sternly. "Sasuke, Inou worked himself to the _bone_ for your sake this year, just to pass the chuunin exams. And even when he was victorious, and you rejected that victory, he _still_ wanted your approval, and went along with your demands because he _cares_. And that's just _one_ example."

Sasuke was beginning to shiver.

"You want more proof?" Itachi continued. "Look who came to your aid when you were at your lowest. Nadeshiko, Inou, and Karai. They stayed by your _side_, _long _after I arrived, because they were _worried_ about you. Even—no, _especially_ Nadeshiko."

Sasuke moaned lightly. "Itachi, please, stop, I get it…"

"Look at me when I'm talking to you," Itachi replied.

Sasuke did. Itachi's expression hadn't changed, narrow and terrifying.

"So, have I gotten through to you? Are you going to go _home_ now?"

Sasuke struggled not to look down. "I… no, I can't go home…"

"Why. Not."

"Because—because you honestly expect me to be able to face them, after everything I've done…?"

"Yes."

Sasuke shook his head. "I-I can't. I can't do that, I can't face them…"

"So it's okay for them to hate you from a distance, but not up close?"

"I don't want to cause them any more pain…"

"Stop it, Sasuke. You're being a coward."

"Itachi…"

"No, listen to me. Nothing is going to get better for anyone unless you grow up and face them like an adult."

"But, I—I _can't_, Itachi."

"WHY _CAN'T_ YOU?"

The anger in Itachi's voice only intensified Sasuke's shivering, no longer just from temperature, but from fear.

"What… what reason do they have to trust me…? And beyond that, no matter what I try, I'll just… I'll just hurt them more…"

"That's just your fear talking. You're going home."

"Itachi, I can't…!"

Itachi's anger, which had been simmering, bubbling with intensity at moments but never peaking, finally boiled over.

"And I thought that you were someone worth _saving,_" he said, coldly.

Sasuke, already weak, felt as if his knees were a light breeze away from giving out.

"Even in your worst times, I always told myself that I hadn't made a mistake in letting you live," Itachi continued. "That, as badly as you treated the people you supposedly cared for, you still had a good heart. Obviously, I was mistaken."

"Itachi-"

"You don't even _want_ to fix things. It's just that much more comfortable for you to make a _martyr_ out of yourself. The tragic tyrant that drove everyone away, mourning his mistakes, cherishing the love he _might_ have received more than the love he _could_ receive if he even _tried_ to fix things."

"Itachi, please-"

"I see how it is, now. It's too much for you to even be near these people any more, because then they might _reconcile_ with you, and you'd have nothing else to feel _sorry_ about." He paused, thinking, and sighed with revelation, shaking his head. "This is _just_ like after I died. No matter what you were told, no matter _how_ much I wanted for you to just live in _peace_, you used _my name_ to fuel your war and your hatred. It wasn't even about _me_ any more. It was about _you_."

"Itachi, please, stop…"

"So now we're here. Almost thirty years, Sasuke, and you haven't changed. You're still going off and using the suffering of other people as an excuse for the complete and utter disregard for the consequences of the things you do."

"Itachi-!"

"I'm _ashamed_ to call you my brother."

It was then that Sasuke fell to his knees and began openly sobbing, barely propping himself up with his hands.

"Brother, stop...! Stop it, please…! I'm sorry, I'm _sorry, I'm sorry…!_"

And Itachi stopped. His face smoothed from anger to neutrality.

"Sasuke, get up."

Sasuke shuddered, his breaths hiccupping. "Please, just… just leave me alone…"

"Sasuke. Get up."

Still shivering, tears dripping off of his chin as much as the lake water, Sasuke managed to pull himself to his feet.

And as soon as he had, Itachi clung to him, with the intensity of a desperate child.

"Little brother, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-" he began, but an exhale ate the rest of his words. "I've just been so worried about you, you understand? I don't want you to throw your life away like this…"

Sasuke didn't hug him back, perhaps out of resistance, perhaps out of weakness, or shock.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry I said these things to you, but… please, little brother, you have to be strong, now. Not just for me, but for your family…"

Sasuke shook his head, and he felt his plastered-wet hair rustle against Itachi's bangs. "I can't, I can't, I can't face them, I can't do that…"

"Sasuke, you can _do_ it." He felt Itachi's hold on him loosen.

"No, I _can't_. I can't just… just go _back_ there and pretend nothing's…" He sniffed. "Nothing's _wrong_. Because it _isn't_. That's how things used to be, and I can't just…"

"You don't have to pretend that nothing's wrong, little brother," Itachi said.

"And how do I do _that_," Sasuke said, miserably.

Itachi pulled away from him, but put his hands on Sasuke's shoulders instead. Sasuke could see that his eyes had turned black, and warm. "Just say you're _sorry._"

"I can't do just _that_. I told you before, they won't believe me…"

"You don't think they'll believe you when you say you're sorry…?" Sasuke nodded. "Little brother, you're putting far too little trust in your family…"

"For good reason…" Sasuke replied. "And beyond that, I don't… I don't trust _myself_. I don't want to feel like I'll end up lying just for—for their sake."

Itachi looked back at him, no longer pure sadness but concern in his face. "Little brother, you _are_ capable of repentance."

"You're just saying that…"

Itachi nudged him. "You _are_," he said again. "Honestly. Even if it takes a while. Bit by bit. You can do it." He smiled, dryly. "Think of it as like training."

"Brother, please, don't bring up training…" Sasuke said, hanging his head.

Itachi must have felt something leave his brother's body, because he leaned forward to gently hug Sasuke again, though only for a few seconds. "You can still do this. Now let's get you home. I'll walk with you."

Sasuke stood there, his head raised slightly, breathing his rough breaths. "…do I really have to go home…"

"Yes, Sasuke. You do."

He winced inwardly. "Can't I take this… slowly? Bit by bit, like you said…"

"How do you mean?"

"I'm just… I don't know if I'm ready yet. I don't know if my heart could—I mean I could…" He sighed. "I'm sorry, brother, I'm just being weak… You can take me home…"

An uncommon softness entered Itachi's face.

(Old memories, like dusty notes from an old piano, drifted across his mind.)

And he reached forward, and with two fingers, he poked Sasuke in the middle of his forehead.

"Maybe a bit later, little brother," he said, with a smile.

The look on Sasuke's face in reply was something like astonishment, or gratefulness.

"Itachi…?"

"As your older brother I'm supposed to look out for you, right?" he continued. "And that includes making sure you don't get in too deep. I… honestly shouldn't have expected someone that just nearly drowned himself to immediately turn around and start reconciling with his family…"

"But you just said…"

"You'll have to go home _eventually_, Sasuke. But—you'll have to forgive me, I let my anger take control of me… Until you can go home, we can take things slowly, and focus on getting _you_ better. You can't exactly take care of your family when nobody's taking care of you..."

"…that makes no sense, Itachi…" Sasuke rubbed at his leaking eyes with a tightly-clenched fist.

Itachi smiled, kindly. "You're tired. Let's get you somewhere you can dry off and rest." He reached forward with one of his hands.

"Are you serious, who'd take me in...?" Sasuke said. "I don't want to go back to the hospital…"

"I'm not the only brother you have, Sasuke," Itachi replied.

Sasuke looked back at him with exhausted confusion. "What are you talking about…?"

"Just trust me." He motioned with his hand again.

And Sasuke, finally, took it, and they began to leave the compound together, Sasuke's arm slung over Itachi's shoulder for support, as if they were both boys again.

"Promise me one thing, though? Even if we take this slowly," Itachi said, on the way out.

"Mm."

"Please don't try to drown yourself again. It was enough of an effort saving you this time, I barely made it to Murasaki-san in time…"

Sasuke sigh-laughed bitterly. "I promise this will be the last time. You've saved me enough times already."

Itachi smirked, his eyes sliding sideways.

"I mean, saving Inou was enough, but then you went and intervened again when Orochimaru came for me, so…"

Itachi stopped walking. "What do you mean, 'again'?"

Sasuke looked up at him. "When I was… fighting with Inou after the chuunin exams, and you used Murasaki's body to save him."

Itachi shook his head, slowly, his face creasing. "That… wasn't me."

"It… wasn't? But you said… you called me 'little brother'…"

"Sasuke," Itachi said, "that was Father."

Sasuke, whose head had been drifting downward in thought, returned to Itachi quickly. "Father…?"

"There was no way I could have been able to reach Murasaki-san at _that_ time. Mother kept me from her. But Father was able to get to her, and with her he intervened. I… saw the whole thing."

Sasuke's mouth had fallen slightly open. "Then… all those things that you—he said…"

"He told me… after it was over, that he felt if you believed he was _me_ that you'd actually listen to him…"

Sasuke didn't say anything.

"Since he figured you had a higher opinion of me than him," Itachi continued, "and—Sasuke, are you okay…?"

Sasuke had begun crying again, though far more quietly than before. "Unbelievable… Father, you really weren't lying…" He sniffed deeply. "Itachi, I… I saw him. Before you pulled me out, he and I talked, and…" He covered his eyes with one hand, pressing middle finger and thumb against his temples. "I said such horrible things to him, I told him to _yell_ at me, when all he wanted was…"

"You saw Father…?"

"He even told me you were coming for me… He wanted me to take your hand, he told me…"

Itachi stopped walking, and stepped away slightly so that they could face each other. "What did he tell you, little brother…?" he said, quietly.

"…he told me he was proud of me, and…" But Sasuke couldn't say any more, not aloud, not into the air. "Just, all this time, I thought he didn't care…"

After letting Sasuke cry a little longer, Itachi said, "You want to know something?"

"What…?" Sasuke was inhaling deeply and quietly, damming up his tears.

"The day I died—when you and I fought, all those years ago—when I awoke on the other side, do you know who was waiting for me?" He didn't leave time for an answer. "Mother. And everyone that still held a grudge."

"Mother…?"

Itachi nodded. "She really laid into me, and I was still adjusting to my situation, disoriented… not like she cared. And then, one by one, everyone that hadn't passed on that still felt raw about what I did… well, you get the idea…" Itachi's eyes were lowered. "I thought I was in hell. And, of course, I thought I deserved it."

Sasuke swallowed to keep anything else from coming out.

"It went on for a long while. And eventually—I don't know how many hours or days later it was—they lost interest and wandered off to watch what you were doing. That's when Father came to me." Itachi's head bent forward with something that might have been a laugh. "I thought he'd be the _most _disappointed in me. But you know what he did?" He maybe-laughed again, but this time it was clear that it was the beginnings of tears. "He asked me if I was okay. I was so confused, but he persisted. He asked me if I'd been cared for in his absence, if I felt I'd done a good job looking after you… and he apologized to me."

"He apologized…?"

(_"Please forgive me."_)

Itachi nodded. "For not being able to keep the massacre from happening. He said he wished I could have lived in peace, like he knew I wanted." Itachi wiped at one eye with the palm of one hand. "I was shocked. I told him—I remember telling him—that I thought he wanted for me to be a warrior. And he told me that he'd known since I was five that I never wanted to fight anyone, and that if he had more power he'd have done everything he could to let me live my life how _I _wanted."

"Are you serious…?"

"I told you, I was shocked," Itachi replied. "I guess I truly 'met' Father on that day, however many years ago. I got to know him for the man he really was."

Sasuke shook his head, though more out of amazement than disbelief. "So all this time…"

"He's been watching over the both of us, no matter where we were. Even during the War, when I was summoned away…" Itachi had to wipe at his eyes again. "When the seal broke, after I said goodbye to you again, he was waiting for me all over again."

"I guess he was waiting for me too," Sasuke said. "Though… he didn't ask me if I was okay. He wanted me to go back."

"Of course he did," Itachi said, eyebrows rising. "Sasuke, of all the people that wanted for you to live happily with your family, Father probably wanted it the most. He was so happy when your children were born, each and every one of them. He wanted for you to be able to love them like he couldn't love us." He lowered his eyes. "Of course, after what happened with Nadeshiko, he… he didn't exactly lose hope for you, but he was… upset."

Sasuke shivered where he stood, intensely, for a second, his face wincing with the movement.

"…of course, Mother was proud of how you handled that situation…" Itachi added, quietly.

"_Mother_ was proud?"

"For… the most part." Itachi's mouth stretched, as if there was bitter poison on his tongue. "Though, she talked on and on about how you should have been stricter with her and brought her back to the house by force… She wouldn't stop—talking about it. Even when I was with Nadeshiko and watching over her, she'd come by just to—_I_ don't know, insult us both…"

"...are you sure you're talking about _our_ mother?" Sasuke said.

Itachi's expression was as still and stiff as porcelain.

"There are a lot of things you don't know about Mother," he said, after a while. "It's probably for the best that we leave her be."

(_"Everything I did was to protect you, son. I swear."_)

Itachi exhaled deeply, removing his frustration from his face, and ran his hands over Sasuke's wrinkled, still-soaked clothes. "Come on, little brother, let's keep going. You're going to catch a cold at this rate."

(_"From people far crueler than me."_)

"…it's just strange," Sasuke said, once they were walking again, "I always remember Mother to have been a kind woman…"

"She can be kind, in her own way," Itachi said, hesitantly. "It's just… when she wants something, she'll manipulate and twist anyone in her way until she gets it."

"Like…?"

"Well, Murasaki-san for example… Mother's kept anyone but our family from getting near her, and that includes me…" Itachi replied, and he sighed deeply, shrugging. "I don't know why, but I think she just takes satisfaction from having the girl under her control. Though that's not so much the case any more."

"And Father?"

Itachi didn't say anything for a while. "You know, when I was a child—before you were born—the Third War came very close to Konoha."

"Yeah?" Sasuke replied, his face wrinkling with confusion.

"So as a result, some of my earliest memories are of war. The wounded, the dead. The… battles. As you can imagine, I was absolutely terrified at that time. I didn't want to go to school, even though I trained well and easily. Some days, I wouldn't come out of my room."

"…Itachi, why are you telling me this…?" Sasuke said.

Itachi paused, seemingly gathering his thoughts. "One day, Mother called me out to talk to me about things with Father. You'd have expected, with a young son obviously suffering from fear and trauma, she'd have comforted me. And she did, again, in her own way. But she also told me I still had to learn how to fight, even though I told her, over and over, that I didn't want to hurt people."

Sasuke felt a tight, uneasy feeling of nostalgia and passive guilt directed at him, and his shoulders rose.

"You know how she finally got me to cooperate? She told me that, if I didn't learn to fight, that nobody would be able to protect the little brother I was going to receive. That's how she told me you were on the way, Sasuke."

Sasuke lifted his head. "Honestly…?"

"Yes," Itachi replied. "Of course, I was so young then, it only made sense to obey. I didn't even think that it was a threat, or how much it would… damage my way of thinking, growing up…"

"How is—telling you that you should learn to fight protect _me_ a threat…?" Sasuke said.

"Because she never said anything about her or Father protecting you, as well. It was as if, if I didn't obey, horrible things would happen to you, and you hadn't even been born yet." Itachi looked down, almost ashamed. "She kept reminding me every time I wanted to be near you, or I faltered in my training."

(_"Isn't your little brother so small, Itachi? Remember, my sweet darling, if you aren't strong enough to protect him, then who _will_ when bad things happen?"_)

"Itachi, I had no idea…" Sasuke said.

"It's all right," Itachi replied, softly. "I never really talked about it with anyone, and… besides, she stopped saying things like that to me after the Nine-Tails attacked the village. I guess I had done a good enough job protecting you then to have what she wanted cemented in my mind…"

Sasuke didn't say anything, but the sick feeling in his stomach just grew.

"Of course… I didn't realize that Father was trying to support me then, too. It was only in looking back, knowing what I know now that…" He sighed. "He pulled me aside once or twice, to tell me that he and Mother could protect you _and_ me—since they were our parents, and that was their duty, he said. But the Nine-Tails attack seemed to have stopped that as well. After all, I was home alone with you when it happened, and he wasn't there to protect us, so…"

Sasuke felt Itachi's hand tighten against his back. And he felt he had to say _something._

"...brother, uh… I'm here. I'm safe."

Itachi chuckled, and brushed his bangs out of his face. "Thank you, little brother."

"Yeah, don't… mention it…"

They walked in silence for a while, taking the road away from Sasuke's ruined house, staying where it was quiet.

Sasuke, eventually, couldn't help himself.

"Does, uh… Mother still do things like that to you? Making… threats like that?" he said.

Itachi continued walking, his eyes to the ground. "She's given up on being passive-aggressive and is just plain aggressive with me, these days. We don't talk much, though."

"Does she know about Yakata?"

In that moment an almost unrecognizable expression hit Itachi's face.

(Not in that it couldn't be described, but in that Sasuke had never seen such discomfort and awkwardness paired with his brother's features.)

"She, um… well… the boy…" He scratched at his temple with his free hand. "Well, she sort of lost interest quickly because he… well, he's…"

"He's what…?" Sasuke said, almost marveling at how easily Itachi now was stumbling over his words.

"Well, you—you've had more time with the boy, you know how, um… timid he is…" Itachi said, gesturing with his hand. "Maybe if she could actually, uh… interact with him she'd have more interest, but, well… you were doing her job for her, and I suppose she wasn't happy about you… letting him, um… be around Nadeshiko."

The guilt in Sasuke's stomach, lessened a little by his curiosity, returned with full force.

"…she didn't like that, huh," he said.

"Not at all," Itachi said, and cleared his throat. "Thought she was a bad… influence. Of course, I was… well, I was happy they became friends, but…"

"You've been… watching over him, then?" Sasuke said.

"Since the day I… found out he existed," Itachi said, almost shamefully. "Funny, I never… wanted children, but when it comes to him…"

"…are you mad at me for how I treated him?"

Itachi stared at the ground again. "I don't want to go down that path with you, Sasuke."

Sasuke's shoulders tensed. "Ah…"

"I mean…" Itachi continued, skipping back in a bit too quickly, "you've been struggling with a _lot_ of problems lately, little brother. And… hopefully, with time, you'll be able to heal them. It's… a conversation for another time."

"Mm…"

"Though, um, I'm very proud that… you allowed, um… that boy to be around Nadeshiko in the end, though," Itachi said, after a while. "I didn't expect that out of you."

Sasuke laughed bitterly. "You keep calling him 'that boy.'"

"Well, I…" Itachi frowned and cleared his throat again. "I don't actually… know him personally, so it doesn't feel right… using his name, as if I do…"

"Fair enough," Sasuke said. A while passed. "I'm glad you've been looking after him, myself," he said, later. "I don't know why, but it just… feels right."

Itachi wore a kind smirk. "He's… a good boy, I've found. Even if I can't really do anything for him, it's… good knowing he's okay."

"Mm." Sasuke lowered his eyes, and said no more.

Not long after, they entered the residential areas of Konoha, and Sasuke, limping along, began to look increasingly uncomfortable. "Where are we going, exactly…?"

"I told you before: I'm not the only brother you _have_, little brother," Itachi replied.

Sasuke struggled with the thought as they went along. "You don't mean."

"If there's anyone that'll take you in now, it's him," Itachi said.

Sasuke groaned like a young boy getting his hair brushed. "Come on, _please…_"

But Itachi still brought the two of them up to Naruto's front door, and knocked.

It was late enough in the evening by then that Naruto was actually home, and he looked appropriately surprised at the sight of Sasuke and an apparently-resurrected Itachi, both soaked through, on his front step.

"Hello, Naruto-san. Is it all right if I leave my idiot brother with you for a while?" Itachi said.

"Uh… Itachi?" Naruto managed.

"I'm just borrowing Murasaki-san for a while; this is a transformation jutsu," Itachi said, and stepped forward with Sasuke anyways. "I figured _someone_ would listen to me more if I actually looked like myself…"

"Uh… okay, just… why are you both wet, y'know?"

"…we got caught in the rain," Sasuke said.

"It was raining?" Naruto stepped out of his door and peered up at the impeccably clear sky.

"Sasuke had to clear his head, and he needs a place to rest, if that's all right," Itachi said, entering Naruto's house with his brother. "Can he stay here for a while?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess—are you two okay?" Naruto re-entered with them.

"_I'm_ fine, but Sasuke needs to be looked after. You have somewhere for him to sleep?"

"Brother, I don't need to sleep…" Sasuke said, quietly.

"Yes you do," Itachi replied, firmly, and Sasuke made a fuss-like noise in reply.

(Naruto had been gauging their chakra, underneath these actions. Itachi had a fine layer of Murasaki's calm about him, and Sasuke felt…)

(…well he wasn't as at peace as he'd seemed before, but he was exhausted, emotionally and physically, and he _looked_ exhausted, more importantly.)

"Um… d'you need some dry clothes?" Naruto said. "I mean, uh… if you need somewhere to sleep I guess you can use my bed, y'know?"

"I'm not sleeping in your _bed_, dumbass…" Sasuke groaned.

"Okay, okay, the guest room then," Naruto said. "Here, this way, y'know."

Itachi sat Sasuke down on the bed while Naruto went to get some sweatpants and a t-shirt from his room, and carefully helped replace Sasuke's wet clothes. Sasuke's body was limp and somewhat difficult to maneuver, and as soon as they were done, Sasuke pulled himself away from them both to bury himself in the covers.

"Yo, Sasuke, you okay…?" Naruto said.

Sasuke didn't respond, curled into a fetal position, his face smoothed. He'd apparently fallen asleep immediately.

"He'll be fine, now that you're looking after him," Itachi said.

"Uh… sure…" Naruto motioned for the door, Sasuke's wet pants and shirt draped over his arm. "I should get this stuff dried, y'know. You, uh, need some dry clothes too, Itachi-san?"

"Not me, though Murasaki-san might need a change once I leave," Itachi replied, following him down the hallway to the laundry room. "She's almost at her limit, but you at least deserve an explanation."

"Yeah, uh, what exactly happened here?" Naruto said.

So Itachi told him.

"Are you _serious?_ Oh, jeez, uh—shouldn't we bring him to the hospital, y'know?" Naruto replied.

But Itachi shook his head. "He doesn't want to go, right now. But if he wants to talk to someone when he wakes up, I expect you to bring him." Itachi sighed. "He just… needs some time away from his family for the time being, I think. He's got a lot of healing to do." He returned to the doorway of Naruto's guest room, watching his brother sleep through the door frame.

"Healing, huh," Naruto said, standing behind him.

"It might take a while before he… feels he's worth their time, I think," Itachi said. "He doesn't have the best sense of self-worth right now."

"Yeah, I'll say, y'know…" Naruto said. "Well jeez, Itachi-san, thank goodness for you."

"I'm just doing what I can," Itachi replied. "I imagine you'll do way more good for him than I can, though."

"I'll look after him s'best I can, y'know," Naruto said. "Still, I feel like I should tell Ino and Sakura 'bout this."

"You should," Itachi said. "Though… mentioning that he tried to drown himself today might not be wise, especially around Ino."

"Eh…" Naruto's eyes narrowed, and he tilted his head. "You think he'll try it again?"

"Absolutely not," Itachi said, with soft certainty. "He gave me his word."

(And Naruto knew how strong that word was.)

"…well, I'll still tell 'em that he's keepin' his distance and stayin' with me, y'know," Naruto returned. "Until he decides he wants to change things, y'know."

"Thank you." Itachi bowed at him. "I leave him in your care."

"Yeah, 'course…"

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to lie down because Murasaki-san's far outdone herself and I don't want her collapsed on your floor," Itachi continued, calmly.

"Wait, what?"

Itachi was already in Naruto's living room, and had settled on the couch in an absurdly composed manner, his hands folded on his chest.

"Itachi-san, hey-"

There was a puff of smoke, and a moment later it was no longer Itachi lying there but Murasaki, her clothes half-dry and her eyes closed.

Naruto tried to rouse her on the shoulder. "Yo, Itachi-san?"

Murasaki's eyes opened. "…ah, Sensei, what am I doing in your house…?"

"You were kinda Itachi until just a little bit ago, Murasaki," Naruto replied.

She paused for a while, her head lolling sideways. "…Shusuke tells me that Itachi-san was able to save Sasuke-san, and that he brought him to you."

"That's about right," Naruto replied. "You okay?"

Murasaki yawned, and smiled sleepily. "…oh, yes, so long as I was able to help… I'd like to sleep now, if that's all right…"

And before Naruto could do anything, Murasaki had curled up on her side and was sighing contentedly.

Naruto sighed as well, and went to get a blanket for her. He managed to at least remove her heavy outer smock, the most soaked-through with water, before tucking her in, and going to use the phone.

He called Murasaki's parents first, saying she'd come to visit him and would be spending the night. They gossiped for a while after that about her sudden celebrity—word was getting around about her abilities, which brought with it many wanted and unwanted solicitations, which the family was still getting used to—and signed off on comforting notes.

He called Sakura next, saying that Sasuke had expressed a desire to spend some time away from his family to recover better, and that Sasuke would be staying with him until further notice. Sakura, confused at first, managed to understand a little after Naruto threw together a few words about Sasuke wanting time to think about things, and him feeling guilty about his recent behavior. She signed off with an expression of help—that Naruto could bring Sasuke to her staff if he ever needed assistance, and Naruto thanked her, saying he knew.

He called Ino last, first immediately assuring her that Sasuke was fine, and then repeating a lot of what he'd told Sakura, though made smoother by the fact that he'd said it all before. He had to assure Ino afterward that this distance wasn't her fault—it was more that Sasuke wanted to be feeling truly better before returning to his family, and not that he didn't want to be around her because of anything _she_ had done.

"He doesn't want to be a burden on any of you right now, I guess, 'specially with what's going on with Takeru-kun and Hajime-kun, y'know," he concluded. "He feels really bad about how he's behaved lately and is… I dunno, tryin' to figure out how to make it up to you guys."

"…ah, well, I trust you'll take care of him, then," Ino replied, quietly.

Naruto signed off with her saying he was looking after _all_ of them, not just Sasuke, and that she was welcome to come see him at any time.

(Though Ino never did come to visit, after that.)

(Even she couldn't quite articulate the reasons.)

After that, Naruto made himself a big bowl of instant ramen, sighing a lot, and worrying, but resolving to see everything through.

He could take care of Sasuke, and he knew it.

He just hoped that Sasuke would be able to take care of _himself_, in time.

The next day, Naruto ended up having to call Murasaki's parents, Sakura, and Ino all over again, because Murasaki and Sasuke had both caught aggressive colds. He also called Andou, certainly, to inform him that he'd be staying home to nurse them. Murasaki's parents eventually came by in the afternoon to pick her up, while Sasuke was napping.

Naruto took his work fairly cheerfully, making chicken soup and getting things for Sasuke when he asked for them and when he didn't, and smiling at his friend's mumbled thank-you's in response.

It didn't take him long to think that, maybe, this recovery thing would be easier than he thought.

After all, Sasuke never thanked anyone for _anything_.


	133. Green Thursday

**INTERMISSION**

**MY FRIEND**

* * *

_Chapter 133 - Green Thursday_

* * *

Juugo's case worker had some good news. She told him so during one of their weekly meetings, which they used to discuss his progress in therapy and rehabilitation through the Curse Seal Program.

"What's the good news…?" Juugo said, in reply.

Enbi, Juugo's case worker, tapped the papers in his file against her desk to put them in order. "You've been making spectacular progress, Juugo-san. And this is taking into account that we haven't been able to use medication with you," she said. "And given your circumstances, your improvement is _amazing_."

Juugo smiled. "Thank you, ma'am…"

She smiled back. "Considering this, then, you may soon be treated as an out-patient by the Program."

"Out patient…?" Juugo said. "What does that mean?"

"It means you won't have to live in the hospital any more," she replied. "You'll be allotted a place to live near the hospital so you can easily return for treatment, but you'll be able to live and work as you please, with very little supervision."

Juugo's eyebrows rose. "Really…? You mean I'll get a house again…?"

"Most likely an apartment, though we do have some houses that might be available," Enbi said.

"Oh, that's wonderful!" Juugo's smile was wide and clumsy. "My son too, will he be able to live with me?"

"Asaoto-kun?" Enbi said. "Of course, Juugo-san, so long as he's able to return to the hospital for his check-ups. Though I have no doubt you'll be able to manage."

"Oh, of course, of course!" Juugo replied. "We always have our appointments at the same time, anyways. There's no way I'd be able to forget, no way at all…"

Enbi looked over her papers again. "Ah, yes, that was Karin-sensei's suggestion… Even less reason to worry."

Juugo's eyes closed as he smiled.

"If you're all right with it, would you like to meet with our housing coordinator tomorrow—say, three o'clock? We might be able to have you moved in as early as next week."

"Yes, of course!" Juugo said. "I won't be late!"

"Then we'll meet tomorrow at three," Enbi said.

Juugo had to be very careful to move quietly down the hallway and back to his room, after the meeting. There was so much to be excited over—his progress, the house, and everything with it—he felt like _dancing_.

Instead, he closed the door to the room he shared with his son, quietly. Asaoto had not yet come back from his check-up, it seemed, so Juugo busied himself with tidying things up—making their beds, rearranging the teddy bear that Asaoto had received as a gift, so that it rested more neatly against the boy's pillow.

Asaoto returned a good while later, holding the hand of an enormous boy in green scrubs that was nearly the same size as Juugo himself was. Juugo knew that his name was Kenji, and that he was often Asaoto's escort. This was because he was the kind girl Sakari's brother, a friend of Asaoto, and was at the hospital more often than she was. It was he who had given Asaoto the teddy bear, and had earned Asaoto's trust and friendship as a result.

"Here we are. Back home, Asaoto-kun," Kenji announced. "Was that a good walk?"

"It was a very good walk, Kenji-nii," Asaoto replied. His eyes were half-closed, close to sleep, but his face and his body perked up significantly upon seeing that he wasn't alone. "Daddy…!"

"Asaoto!" Juugo got down on his knees and threw his arms out, and Asaoto scurried to him for a hug. "Did you have a good check-up?"

"Uh-huh," Asaoto said, from somewhere in his chest. "They took more blood t'day. I didn't even say ouch."

"Oh, I'm glad," Juugo said. "Thank you for taking him, Kenji-kun…" he added.

"My pleasure, Juugo-san," Kenji said. He bowed, though it barely made him any shorter. "I'll see you later, Asato-kun."

"Bye-bye." Asaoto opened and closed a fist at Kenji in place of a wave, and Kenji closed the door behind him. Asaoto then yawned, and rubbed his eye.

"Oh, are you tired…?" Juugo said.

"Yeah… They had to take a lotta blood…" Asaoto replied.

"I think it's time for a nap."

Asaoto yawned again. "Okay, Daddy."

Juugo picked his son up easily, and gently, cradling his legs and his back in the crook of one of his arms. With his free hand, he pulled Asaoto's blankets free, and began tucking him in.

(Asaoto only ever protested when he had the energy. If he had the means, he'd have gladly climbed into bed all by himself.)

(He'd also have gladly run outside and played like any other six-year old. But his body didn't allow for it.)

(Juugo did his best to compensate however he could.)

Asaoto reached for his bear, a fluffy, brown thing, just the right size for a boy his age to hug, and he nestled in with it, rubbing his face against the fur.

"Did you have a good day too, Daddy?" he asked.

"I had a very good day, Asaoto," Juugo replied. "I heard some very good news."

"Good news…?" Asaoto yawned. "What news?"

"Kedamono-sensei said I'll get to be an out patient soon. It means you and I will be able to leave the hospital and live in a house again."

"A house…? Like our old house?" Asaoto's eyes were closing, little by little.

"Yes, a house, just for us. We won't have to live here any more."

"Does this mean we can have chickens 'gain…?"

Juugo smiled greatly. There was no reason why not, he figured, and he missed owning chickens _dearly_. "Yes, just like before."

"M'excited, Daddy," Asato said, now mumbling.

"I am too, Asaoto. But don't get too excited. It's nap time now."

"Okay…" Asaoto turned over. "G'night, Daddy…"

"Have a good nap," Juugo said. He tucked the blankets in more snugly around Asaoto's tiny body, and kissed him on the temple.

After a time, Juugo went over to the telephone. It was by the sink, and it was also where Juugo had taped up several drawings by Asaoto and Shingetsu, made in marker and crayon. Closest to the phone, however, was a yellow, lined piece of paper on which Karin had left Juugo a list of numbers and addresses before she returned home a week or so before. She wanted him to keep her informed of his progress, and he wanted to make her proud, and to keep her from worrying about him.

Juugo looked between the phone and the numbers several times, remembering the sequence and carefully pressing the buttons, so as not to make a mistake. The dial tone went on for a long time, and then, a deep, familiar voice answered.

"This is the Ryokyo Clinic, how can we help you?"

"Ooda!" Juugo said.

"Ah, Juugo-san…! How are you?" Ooda replied.

"I'm doing good!" Juugo replied. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Why are you calling today? Do you need my mom?"

"I guess… I have news for her."

"News, hm?"

"Yes. I want to tell all of you!"

"Really…! Well, um… she's with a patient right now, but she could call you back when she's done, and then all of us can hear," Ooda said.

"Yes, please, could you do that?"

"Of course, Juugo-san. We'll call you back very soon."

"Thank you!" Juugo said. "I'll talk to you soon…!"

"Talk to you soon," Ooda said, and hung up.

Juugo waited for a while. He preoccupied himself with a scarf he was trying to knit with dull, enormous wooden needles practically the size of broom handles. His therapist had taught him how, saying that knitting was very effective at relieving stress, and beyond that, it was a creative outlet—something very important in combatting destructive tendencies, or so she said. Right now, Juugo was just trying to get the hang of a basic knit stitch—the "scarf" was a tangled, bunched-up mess of white yarn so far, but the newer stitches had _some_ order to them, which made him very proud of himself.

And as frustrating as it was to get things wrong, it _did_ calm him down, and kept him from being anxious—much like bird-watching had once done for him. But there were very few birds in the hospital courtyard, Juugo found, to his discontent, whenever he visited.

He pulled the yarn through another stitch, and slipped it onto his right needle, and smiled as a thought occurred to him. There would probably be more birds at his new house. Sparrows and chickadees and bluetits in the window. He could even get a bird feeder! He continued on, his smile spread like honey on his mouth.

The phone ringing startled him greatly, and he sprang up from the ground to answer it. "H-Hello, this is Juugo?"

"Juugo? It's me, Karin."

"Karin…! Hello!"

"Hello to you too. Ooda says you have news. What is it, okay?"

"I was talking to my case worker today, Karin, and she said that I can be treated as an out patient soon!"

"An out-patient! Oh, Juugo, good for _you_," Karin said. "I'm really proud of you."

"Thank you…!" Juugo replied, utterly beaming.

"Do you know where you'll be living outside of the hospital?"

"Um… Well, tomorrow, actually, I'm going to meet with a housing person about somewhere for me and Asaoto to live. Tomorrow at three," Juugo said. "It might be a house, or an apartment, but it'll be somewhere for us to live."

"Ah! That's great. Did you hear that, Ooda?"

"I heard it." His voice was faint and echoey, from further back in the kitchen.

"I'll have to write Kedamono-san about your progress," Karin continued. "Will Asaoto be an out-patient as well?"

"Yes, I'll absolutely be able to bring him to his checkups, no matter where we live!" Juugo said.

"I don't doubt it, okay. Um…" Karin's voice got a little softer. "How is he doing, by the way?"

"Asaoto? Oh, he's asleep. He was very tired after his check-up today," Juugo replied. "They took a lot of blood today, he said."

"Poor dear. Make sure he gets lots of rest, okay."

"I will, Karin, I will."

"You call me back as soon as you know anything about your new house, okay?"

"Of course! I have your number and your address, I have everything," Juugo said.

"Wonderful. Again, I'm really excited for you, Juugo," Karin said.

"I am too," Ooda added.

"You call me any time, okay?" Karin said.

"I will!"

"And give Asaoto my love."

"Of course, Karin. Bye-bye!"

Karin laughed. "Goodbye, Juugo."

When Asaoto woke up, before they went to dinner, Juugo, of course, told him that Karin had called, and that she sent love.

Asaoto hugged his bear in reply, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "I'm glad that Mommy's glad for us. Can we have mango with dinner today?"

"If it's in the cafeteria, Asaoto," Juugo replied.

There wasn't mango at the cafeteria, unfortunately. But Asaoto settled gladly for the peaches that were.

The next day, at three, Juugo met with his caseworker Enbi, and a new woman, with hair set into a bun that looked very much like a pastry. She introduced herself as Yamada, and she had a small book with her full of laminated pages.

"These are all the properties we have available right now, Juugo-san," she explained, opening it and sliding it to him across the table where they'd gathered. "They're all very lovely, I think, well within walking range of the hospital and with access to a wide range of amenities."

"Amenities…?" Juugo leafed over the word with the same delicacy in which he handled Yamada's book.

"She means things like grocery stores, police stations, public baths," Enbi explained.

"Oh…!" Juugo flipped through the pages. They had photographs of tall buildings in them, with many doors and balconies. "These houses are really big, I don't think I could use all that space…"

"They're apartment buildings, Juugo-san," Yamada said. "You see those little drawings down below? Those are floor plans. You'll be taking _one_ room."

"Oh, _one_ room…" Juugo tilted his head, trying to process. "Will that be enough for me and my son?"

"Yes, it should be fine," Yamada said. "You'll have space for at least two futons and you'll have your own kitchen and bathroom."

"Ah, I see." Juugo flipped through a few more of the pages. They were all tall buildings, with no people nearby. "Um, so, do any of these places have anywhere to… sit outside? A garden?"

"Outside…? Oh, yes, hold on." Yamada reached over and began turning pages over, until she reached a page with a photograph of a red-brick building, almost horseshoe-shaped. There was a courtyard much like the hospital's visible between the rows of doors. "This is one of our favorite buildings in the program. There's a lovely courtyard and garden in the middle, it's very idyllic."

Juugo brought the photograph closer to his face. There were trees and benches and flower planters, and from what he could see, the sunlight got through in a wonderful way. "I think I like this one…" he said.

"I'm not surprised," Enbi said, smiling. "Still, do you want to look at a few others before you make your decision?"

"No, I like this one," Juugo said. "I'd like somewhere where birds can gather."

"Oh, I'm sure you can do some bird-watching there," Yamada said. "Well, then." She folded her hands on the table surface. "I suppose what we can do now is schedule a time for you to tour one of the rooms before we confirm it, and then move you in."

"Okay!" Juugo said. "Whenever you want to do that, I'm fine with that…"

"My next opening is…" Yamada got a small book out of her pocket and leafed through it. "This Friday, so, two days from now. Is that all right with you?"

"Yes, any time is fine…" Juugo said.

"Wonderful, we'll pencil you in, then," Yamada said, smiling. "Congratulations, Juugo-san. We'll have a home for you in no time. Do you have any questions, before I go and make it official?"

"Well… my son and I, we would like to raise chickens. Is it possible for us to keep a few in the courtyard?"

"Chickens…?" Yamada said.

"Yes, chickens," Juugo replied, when she didn't continue.

"Well… that _is_ a bit unconventional…" Yamada's fingers wandered to the edges of the laminated paper. "Why do you want to keep chickens? If you think you need a source of food, well-"

"Oh, I would never, I would never eat a chicken, I couldn't…!" Juugo began shaking his head vigorously. "I don't eat birds…"

"Okay, okay, I understand!" Yamada waved her hands defensively. "So, then, you want to keep them for… eggs?"

"Well, sometimes we eat the eggs, so they don't go to waste…" Juugo said. "But mostly they're just nice to have around…"

"Ah… so you mean you want to keep chickens as _pets_…" Yamada grimaced a little, for some reason.

"Yes, is that all right…?" Juugo said. His shoulders hunched.

"Well… chickens aren't the most… _conventional_ pets, so I don't know if they'd be allowed…" Yamada said. She drummed her fingers on her lower lip. "Is it chickens you like in particular or just birds in general?"

"Oh, I love _all_ birds…" Juugo said.

"Well, I suppose it might be okay if you had, say, a parakeet or a cockatiel in your apartment, those aren't too obtrusive…" Yamada said. "I can check with the landlord of the building. But I doubt that… chickens would be allowed."

"Oh… that's all right…" Juugo replied. "I'll be sure to tell my son, then, he was really looking forward to owning chickens again…"

"Um, Yamada-san, is there any way you might be able to find a… more _open_ property for Juugo-san?" Enbi cut in. "Juugo-san's son is a child with… special needs that require him to be kept calm, and I think that allowing him _some_ special privileges might be all right for him."

"Does he also have Curse Seal Syndrome?" Yamada said.

"No, it's an unrelated genetic condition that affects his bones," Enbi replied. "He's a very weak little boy."

"Hm… well… I'll see if there's anything that I can do…" Yamada said. "Don't expect any miracles, though…"

"It's all right, I understand…" Juugo said, trying very hard not to sound disappointed, not when he had so much to be grateful for here.

"At any rate, let's meet again on Friday," Yamada continued. "If I'm able to do anything, we'll discuss it then. Otherwise we can tour the apartment that you chose today, all right, Juugo-san?"

"Yes, that's all right…" Juugo said.

Juugo had to sit out in the courtyard for a while after that meeting. He was trying not to be disappointed, which was keeping him from getting stressed and angry and losing control.

He had to understand, there was no room for him to keep chickens in a place like Konoha, where everything was so very close together. The fact that he was able to handle being in such a place without feeling confined or nervous was something to be proud of, and his therapist told him as such.

But all the same, he just wanted for Asaoto to feel like he was going back to a home, he supposed. Since the hospital was just a temporary place, and the last thing he wanted was for the apartment to feel like that, like another place that wouldn't last. And having something of how things used to be—the chickens that the both of them loved—would help with that, Juugo felt.

He could compromise, he knew that. And his case worker was trying to help, and Yamada too. Cockatiels were very cute birds, after all, and he'd be glad to own one…! And a courtyard would be nice too, to bird-watch, and maybe garden…

…in the end, though, he just didn't want to disappoint Asaoto. There was so little he could do for his son's condition, for the pain he had to go through. Being able to do things that made him happy, that relieved his pain, no matter how small, Juugo regarded with intense importance. And that included half-asleep promises about chickens.

Juugo put off going back to his room for a while. He didn't want to go back just yet, because that meant he'd have to tell Asaoto the not-so-good news. And Asaoto would say it was all right, but if he really felt disappointed…

But when he finally looked up, preparing to leave his bench, he saw someone he didn't expect.

It was Sasuke, walking through the hospital courtyard. He had a slight limp, and was going slowly, his hands in his pockets.

Juugo almost called out to him. Almost.

But then he remembered the last time he had seen Sasuke: in the cafeteria, almost two months ago.

Sasuke had ignored him, then, and Suigetsu told him that it wasn't worth it to get upset. Juugo hadn't been upset, then. Just sad.

Therefore it surprised him greatly when he saw Sasuke stop, and their eyes met, and Sasuke called out to him.

"Juugo. Ah. Hello there."

"Oh, um, hello there, Sasuke…! What are you doing here?" Juugo replied. "Are you visiting someone?"

"…yes. I was just finished visiting with someone," Sasuke replied. He came closer, and Juugo could see that his eyes looked tired, maybe a little red. "And you? Are you receiving treatment here?"

"Ah, yes, though I'm going to be an out patient soon…!" Juugo said.

And Sasuke, despite all of Juugo's previous expectations, asked, "Why don't you tell me about it?"

"Tell you about it…?"

"Yes. Can I sit here with you? It's… been a long time since we've talked last, so I think it'd be… nice to get caught up with each other." Sasuke lowered his eyes. "That is, unless you don't want to…"

"Oh, no, no, I'd love to talk to you!" Juugo said. "Please, Sasuke, sit down, it's all right, I just don't know where to start…"

"Well, I assume, as an out-patient, you have a place to stay…" Sasuke said. "Are you going to live here in Konoha now?"

"Oh, yes, um, we were just talking about that today…" Juugo said. "Please, though, sit down! Is your leg hurt…?"

"I injured my ankle recently." Sasuke sat down. "It's not serious. Where are you going to live here?"

And they began to talk. Sasuke barely said anything, the whole time, only asking the occasional question. A smile seemed to grow on his face, slightly, the more they talked, and in a way it almost made it easier for Juugo to speak. Sasuke wasn't ignoring him now, certainly…!

And when Asaoto came up, Sasuke remarked, "Ah, yes, I think I do remember you having a son… Is he… not well?"

"Oh, he's… he's got some problems, but we get through it together…" Juugo replied.

"Problems…?"

"He's sick a lot, and sometimes he has attacks… But he's been like that ever since he was a baby, so it's nothing unusual for either of us…"

"I see…" Sasuke said. "Well, I hope there's an improvement in… whatever condition he has, soon."

Juugo's smile was immense. "Thank you…! Really, I appreciate it…"

Sasuke smiled back, though his was diminished.

"Do you have children of your own, Sasuke?" Juugo then asked.

The sadness that entered his face was very sudden and very soft. "I do have children. They live with their mother these days."

"Oh, do you not see them much…?"

"We're… having some difficulties, and I'm living… apart from them, now," Sasuke replied, starting and stopping through his words, as if his mouth were stumbling. "I'm trying to become a better father in the meantime."

"Oh, I see…" Juugo said. "Do you suppose you… need advice?"

Sasuke laughed, slightly. "If you have any to give. But perhaps that should be a conversation for another time. I need to be going home soon."

"Ah…! I'm sorry for keeping you," Juugo said.

Sasuke shook his head. "You don't need to apologize. I enjoyed our time together."

Juugo's heart leaped. "You did…!"

"Yes, I did. I wouldn't mind visiting you here again."

"Oh, come by any time, I don't think I'll be moving into my new home soon…" Juugo said. "I'll still be here at the hospital for a while."

"Ah. I hope your situation with your house improves, at any rate," Sasuke replied. "With the… chickens."

Juugo felt his face turn slightly warm. Ah, had he mentioned the chickens at some point…? "Well, I'll be grateful no matter what happens, it's a wonderful thing that I'm even able to get my own place to live…!"

"Mm. Getting what you deserve is… even better, though."

"What I deserve…?"

Sasuke was getting up off the bench. "Never mind. I'll try to come back and visit you again soon."

"Oh… yes, thank you, that'd be wonderful…" Juugo said.

Sasuke smiled, slightly, and nodded. "I'll see you later."

And he left.

A while later, Juugo returned to his room, and he told Asaoto that on Friday they'd be learning more about what house they'd be living in.

"I'm sorry, but we might not be able to have chickens…" Juugo said. "A smaller bird, maybe, but not chickens…"

"Oh… that's okay, Daddy," Asaoto said, and he nodded. "City people don't usually keep chickens, right?"

"No, not normally…" Juugo replied.

"So it's okay." Asaoto smiled a little. "We can have other birds."

Juugo tried to smile back, and ran a hand over the boy's thin hair. "Yes, we'll figure something out…"

Two days later, Friday came. And Juugo prepared himself, trying to turn whatever disappointment he still felt into excitement over the new apartment.

As it happened, there had been a change in plans.


	134. Yellow Friday

_Chapter 134 - Yellow Friday_

* * *

There was a new woman with Enbi and Yamada when they met; she was tall and dark-skinned, and Juugo almost mistook her for a man at first. Juugo kept looking at her from across the table as Yamada got her papers in order.

"I suppose you're curious about our visitor today, Juugo-san," Enbi, sitting beside him, said.

"Yes, um… who is this? Another housing person?" Juugo said.

"This is Senritsu Hashiki. She'll be the one responsible for building your house, hopefully today," Enbi said.

Juugo's eyebrows rose. "My house…? But I thought I was getting an apartment…"

"That was _originally_ the plan," Yamada said, putting down her papers, "but recently we were informed by the Hokage that a plot of land has been opened up for use. He heard about your situation, I suppose, and approved it for your use."

"The Hokage! Oh, my!" Juugo said. "Goodness, surely my situation isn't _that_ important…"

"Juugo-san, considering your background—like I told you before—and your circumstances, it's definitely worth it," Enbi said. "Of course, if you'd still prefer an apartment, then we can certainly have you placed there…" She paused, thoughtfully. "But… this new opportunity_ would_ allow for you to own chickens."

"Wait, you mean it?" Juugo said. "But you said earlier…"

"It was decided that the property is far enough removed from other neighborhoods that the presence of chickens won't be disruptive or unhygienic," Yamada said. She was smiling slightly, a brown sugar-smile. "How's that sound?"

"Oh, it sounds wonderful…!" Juugo said. "How long is this going to take, then?"

"Not long at all! Oh, also, hi there!" The woman Hashiki waved at him. "I actually have to talk to you about this first, before we do anything else. I gotta find out what kinda house you want before I get started."

"Oh, of course!" Juugo said.

Hashiki pushed forward a small, plastic-bound book, and opened it up to Juugo. "My friend Yamato's a bit of a fan of architecture, and he put this together for us," she said. "Pick any one you want, and I'll build it for you no problem."

Juugo began to leaf through the book. "Are you a carpenter, Hashiki-san?" he asked, with his head down.

"Something like that," Hashiki replied.

It didn't take long for Juugo to find a house plan he liked: a wide-open cottage with many windows looking out onto the scenery. Hashiki grinned at the decision, and said she liked it too, very much.

"Shall we move out, then? Since you've made your decision," she said. "I think it might be fun for you to watch me get this started."

"You're going to start building today?" Juugo said. "You don't need to get the wood or anything?"

"I'm sort of self-supplied. You'll see what I mean," Hashiki said, with another smile.

"Hashiki-san's been a big help with other housing projects lately, since she can get jobs done so quickly," Yamada added. "If I had to make a guess, we'll have the foundation set up by today and it'll be livable by Monday, correct?"

"That's if I'm on the slow side today!" Hashiki said. "Of course, I can't do nothin' in terms of electricity or anything, so that's up to your guys…"

"That's awfully quick…" Juugo said.

"That's what I'm known for," Hashiki said. "Really, though, would you like to at least see where we're gonna put your house?"

"Oh, yes, please! Can my son come too?" Juugo said, turning to Enbi.

"Yes, Juugo, of course Asaoto can come," she replied. "We can pick him up on the way out."

A fuzzy, fluttery warmth was building in Juugo's chest, and his smile wasn't going away. "Okay, let's go then!" he said.

Hashiki asked him, in the hallway on the way over, "So, you have a son?"

"Yes, Asaoto."

"How old is he?"

"He's… six, I think? He turned six. He's young."

"Oh, that's sweet," Hashiki said. "I can't wait to meet him."

Asaoto was quite impressed with Hashiki, when he saw her. "You're _tall_," he told her, after introducing himself.

"So they say!" Hashiki replied.

"How far away is the house going to be from the hospital…?" Juugo asked.

"About a half-hour walk, I think?" Yamada said. "It's a bit further away than some of our other out-patient housing options, but it's quite reasonable, still."

Juugo nodded. "Asaoto, I'm going to carry you there, okay? If you want to walk, we'll do it on the way back. I don't want you getting too tired."

"Okay, Daddy," Asaoto replied. He nestled familiarly into the crook of Juugo's arm, and asked very few questions as the five of them traveled together to the site of the new house.

"So we're going to have chickens here, at this new house?" Asaoto finally said, about halfway there.

"Absolutely, Asaoto-kun," Enbi said. "In fact, I'm going to see to it myself that you have at least one to start when you move in."

"Oh, wow…!" Asaoto replied. He pressed his small, bony hands against his mouth. "But I thought city people didn't keep chickens."

"Sometimes they do, I guess," Enbi said.

"Here we are! I hope you like trees," Hashiki said, when they finally arrived.

"Oh, I love trees…" Juugo said, softly, his eyes quite distracted.

There _were_ trees. Tall trees, just far enough apart to walk comfortably between, giving shade and, doubtlessly, homes to dozens upon dozens of birds.

"I moved some aside to make room for your house, though. And a garden, if you're interested," Hashiki continued, motioning with her hand. "This road we're on, too, so you can get in and out easily."

"Oh, really, the trees are no obstacle," Juugo said.

"Yeah, but what if you want friends over? They'll wanna be able to find you," Hashiki said, with a wink.

"Ah, I suppose you're right…!" Juugo said.

(Perhaps, someday, Sasuke would want to visit…?)

The clearing prepared for the house was truly a blank slate, the dirt patted-down and flat, and the trees perfectly cleared in a soft half-rectangle. Hashiki rubbed her hands together.

"All right, you guys ready for this?"

"Ready for…?" Juugo said.

"The house, of course! I'm going to put up the foundation in a second. You still want that house we decided on?" she said.

"Oh, well, of course…" Juugo said, though his eyebrows were knit.

"Then just wait a moment."

"But where are your tools…?" Juugo said.

Yamada tapped his arm. "Just watch, okay?"

And Juugo watched.

And a moment later, Hashiki spread out her hands and her arms, and four, perfectly-square wooden pillars rose from the flat earth, following the motion of her hands.

Asaoto's eyes widened even more than his father's. "How did you _do_ that?" he said, his voice windy and breathless.

"I have a talent with plants and trees," Hashiki replied, looking back over her shoulder at them all. "Yamato's taught me how to put my talents to use, lately!"

"My word…" Juugo said.

Hashiki made another forceful motion with her hands, and walls began to sprout between the pillars of the foundation; they appeared not to be made of boards but solid, organic sheets of wood, smooth and full of beautifully imperfect whorls.

"If you're wondering where the windows are, I'm putting the holes in later. You'll get to choose the style, okay?" Hashiki said, with another gesture. "For now, let's start the fun stuff!"

"The fun stuff?" Juugo said.

"Yup! It's time to improvise." She laughed, and clapped her hands together. "Okay, so, what kind of roof do you want?"

"What kind of roof?"

Hashiki nodded. "Yup, now that I've got the foundation up, you can choose. You want it flat, regular, high-arched? An attic, maybe?"

"Oh, an attic, that might be nice…!" Asaoto said. He had his little fingers pressed together by his mouth where he stood.

"Yes, an attic would be fine," Juugo added, almost immediately. "With rafters for birds to nest in winter, maybe?"

"Sure, I can do that," Hashiki said, smiling. She began to make motions with her hands like a conductor in front of an orchestra, and a high, arched roof began to sprout from the crown of the walls. "You don't mind birds in your house, huh?"

"Yes, I actually like them very much," Juugo replied. "I'd like a place to keep them warm and let them rest during cold weather, at least."

"Seems like my kind of house," Hashiki said, her hands quieting. "You mind if I add a few things for the birds, then? To make it more, mm, hospitable."

"Yes, of course!" Juugo said; he looked down and saw Asaoto's water-colored eyes were utterly shining.

"Hashiki-san, do remember to keep things _somewhat_ uniform…" Yamada said, cautiously.

"Oh, don't worry, I know what I'm doing," Hashiki replied.

By the time she was done, Juugo had an almost certifiable fairy tale cottage in front of him.

She'd started with the roof, embellishing it with living branches full of leaves that made the whole roof green; the windows, when she put them in, were similarly decorated, with trailing branches and ivies at the top of the frames and wide sills for birds to land upon.

The doors were formed whole and seamless from within the walls, sliding smoothly in and out where they weren't just empty frames—on Juugo's request, since he liked the open space that a frame seemed to give. The floors, finally, were smooth wood like the rest of the house, and it creaked, lowly, almost comfortingly, as Juugo walked on it after Hashiki was finished.

"It's so beautiful, I'm so thankful…" Juugo said, softly, when he'd finally walked through the whole house.

Asaoto was holding his hand, and stepped carefully down onto the yard with him. "This is the best house," he added, quietly.

"I'm glad you feel that way," Hashiki said. She was crouched on the ground beside the house, and pulling small sprouts from the ground. Apparently, she was making a vegetable garden.

"We'll have the house wired for electricity and plumbing by the end of next week," Yamada said. "We'll let you move in then."

"That sounds wonderful," Juugo said. "Am I going to live at the hospital until then, like I did before?"

"Of course, Juugo-san," Enbi said. "And I'll be helping you with the transition and paperwork in the meantime."

"I can't wait to move in," Asaoto said, sitting down on the front step of the house. "I like it here a lot."

"Me too, Asaoto," Juugo replied.

They all returned to the hospital shortly after that. But on the road over, not far from Juugo's house, Hashiki stopped, and tapped Juugo on the shoulder. "Do you want to see my other project? You're not the only person I've made houses for."

"Oh, um, sure…!" Juugo said. "I mean," he added, glancing at Enbi and Yamada, "if it's okay…"

"We've got time," Enbi said. "Besides, I suppose these people will be your neighbors soon, so it's a good idea to get you familiar."

"Great!" Hashiki's hair ripped through the breeze as she turned left and onto a smaller pathway, where the dark shape of a house could be seen in the mid-distance.

It was much bigger than Juugo's house, and seemed slightly incomplete. Occasionally there came knocking sounds from within, curiously.

"They're still working on getting all the electricity and stuff put in, but they're moving in this weekend, I hear!" Hashiki had her hands on her hips, overseeing the progress.

"Oh, who's moving in here, then?" Juugo said. "Another Curse Seal person like me?"

"No, no, they're a local family, the Uchihas," Hashiki replied. "They lost their house recently in the, uh, attacks on the city last month."

"Oh, no!" Juugo said. "Are they all right, all of them?"

"I think so, yes," Hashiki said. "You look worried, are you okay?"

"Oh, it's just… I know Uchiha Sasuke, and he seemed to be recovering from something when I saw him last, so I can only assume…"

"Oh, you know Sasuke-san!" Hashiki said. "It'll be nice to have someone you know as a neighbor, then."

"Ah…"

(But hadn't Sasuke said that he wasn't living with his family…?)

"I'd like to meet this family," Asaoto said. "I've never had neighbors before."

"I'm sure they'll like you a lot, Asaoto-kun," Hashiki replied.

They returned to the hospital, after that. Hashiki parted with them at the gate, wishing them well and promising assistance at any time.

"Juugo-san, when we meet tomorrow we'll start the process of getting you settled, okay?" Enbi said, on the way to his room.

"Okay, Enbi-sensei. Thank you," Juugo said.

"Bye-bye," said Asaoto.

The next day, however, before his scheduled meeting with Enbi, Juugo went out into the courtyard again to think.

He certainly wasn't nervous, and he was absolutely excited about the house, but something felt unsettled in his heart, and it made his body feel almost itchy.

Would he be neighbors with Sasuke? Or just his family, whom he'd barely met?

And all the same, what had happened to him and to his house? It had something to do with the day of the sirens, surely?

He wanted to ask, or to at least know, but at the same time he didn't know if it was his place. When he met Sasuke's family—and he certainly would, wouldn't he?—would he have to ask what had happened? Or where or why Sasuke had left? It almost seemed rude—and beyond that, he didn't even know them yet!

And yet, he worried. For Sasuke's family, but also for Sasuke.

What had happened?

"Ah, so you're in the courtyard again."

Juugo looked up from his clasped hands, and there was Sasuke.

"Hello, Juugo," he said.

"Oh, Sasuke, um, hello!" Juugo replied.

"May I sit here?"

"Oh, yes, of course you can…"

Sasuke sat down on the bench with some degree of stiffness. "I checked by your room but you weren't there. Your son told me I might find you here, however."

"My son?" Juugo said. "You met Asaoto?"

"Mm." Sasuke nodded. "He was very polite. Is he feeling better?"

"Feeling better…?"

"You told me last week that he's been sick. I can tell he's, um… fragile. Is he feeling better?"

"Oh, well…" Juugo rubbed his fingers together. "He's about the same as usual, I suppose…"

"Ah." Sasuke's expression didn't change.

"It's all right, he's not in much pain lately…" Juugo continued.

"You're worried about him, then?"

"Well… I'm always a little worried, I suppose. Why do you ask, though?"

"You look upset," Sasuke said. "Do you… want to talk about that?"

"Oh, no, I'm not upset about _Asaoto_," Juugo said, shaking his head.

"But you're still upset, then."

It was Sasuke asking these things. Sasuke was _here_.

But it didn't feel like the time, or the place.

"Well, I suppose I'm… anxious over changes."

"Changes, hm?" Sasuke said.

"Yes, I'm going to meet with my case worker about my new house today."

Something in Sasuke's face loosened. "You finally received one, then? A house, I mean."

"Mm, it was finished just yesterday!" Juugo said. "I'm moving in with my son next week."

"That's… great news," Sasuke said. "Have you… met your neighbors yet?"

His neighbors…? "Um, no, not in person," Juugo said. "But I walked by their house."

"Ah. I hope they're kind to you, then," Sasuke said.

Juugo remained slightly befuddled. Did Sasuke already know…?

"Where was your house built, then?" Sasuke continued.

…or did he not? "It's, um, on the east side of town, I think," Juugo said, "where the sun rises. There are so many trees, too."

"It sounds like a very nice place," Sasuke said. He seemed to be smiling a little more. "You say you're moving in next week?"

"Yes, that's the plan."

Sasuke looked down for a while. "Would it be all right if I… visited you there sometime?"

Juugo blinked, once or twice. "Visit me?"

"I understand if you don't want me to…"

"No, no, I'd love having you visit, Sasuke," Juugo said. "I'll let you know as soon as I move in."

"How will you contact me, though?"

"Oh, well…" Juugo pursed his lips in thought.

Sasuke began to stand. "I'll get a piece of paper and write down my phone number," he said. "You can call me."

"Oh, your phone number!" Juugo stood up and began following him. "Are you sure?"

"Well, unless you know of another way to contact me," Sasuke said, over his shoulder.

"No, that's all right, it's fine…!"

Juugo followed Sasuke to the inside of the hospital, where he found a nurse and borrowed a pen and notepad from her.

"I live with a friend named Naruto, but he probably won't pick up the phone if you call during the day," Sasuke said, writing in clear, perfect letters. "If you get the answering machine then be sure to ask for me, all right?"

"Yes, I'll remember!" Juugo replied.

"Good. And then you can give me your own phone number when you have one." Sasuke ripped the paper off the pad. "I'll be glad to visit you here in the hospital until then, though."

"Ah, you really mean it?"

"Yes. I have… a fair bit of free time these days," Sasuke said.

"Would you, um… like to have lunch with me tomorrow, then?"

Sasuke smiled a little. "I would love to."

Sasuke visited every day, after that, stopping by Juugo's room in the afternoons after he had his appointments with Enbi, signing paperwork and going over rules together. Juugo would pour glasses of juice or tea, for him and Sasuke, and milk for Asaoto. And they would talk for an hour or two before Sasuke returned home, and Juugo and Asaoto left for dinner.

Their conversations were as loose and casual as sunlight, and Juugo felt less and less apprehensive in bringing things up to Sasuke, talking about anything and everything with him: his therapy, Asaoto, his past. And Sasuke listened, patiently, never speaking too much or too little, and always seeming to make Juugo feel more comfortable in the telling.

Though, some things remained stuck on his tongue: the mystery of his neighbors, Sasuke's family. Aside from the issue of whether it was rude or not, he didn't know if it would surprise Sasuke, or maybe even hurt him—did he even know they were getting a new house at all? Was he moving in with them?

Juugo didn't mention any of that.

And before anyone knew it, moving day had arrived.


	135. Red Saturday

_Chapter 135 - Red Saturday_

* * *

Juugo and Asaoto truly had very few personal belongings; they had their clothes, Juugo's knitting supplies for his therapy, and the various treasures left with them by Shingetsu—and of course Asaoto's teddy bear . After Enbi came to tell them that the house was finally ready, they ate lunch in the cafeteria one last time before packing their things into two hospital duffle bags, and taking the familiar-growing path to the new house.

The housing coordinator, Yamada, was waiting for them there, and she had a curious housewarming present.

"It's a chicken!" Asaoto said, as Juugo put him down.

"Yes, it's a chicken," Yamada said; she wore a smile that she was obviously trying to make genuine.

"We had it picked out just for you," Enbi added, crouching down to Asaoto's level.

"Can I hold it, Daddy?"

"Yes, be careful though," Juugo said.

Asaoto smiled widely and held up his skinny arms to Yamada, who glanced uncertainly at Enbi. Both Enbi and Juugo nodded, so she passed the chicken to Asaoto. It was a white chicken with black brindled feathers, and it made a slightly put-upon declaration as it tried to settle into the boy's arms.

"You're really warm," Asaoto told the chicken. The chicken sulked slightly in reply.

"Let me help you get your things inside," Enbi said. "Asaoto-kun, would you like to sit outside with the chicken while your father and I get settled?"

"Yes," Asaoto replied, and he set himself down on the front stoop of the house, gently petting the chicken.

"Yamada-san, just keep an eye on him for a moment, then you can go," Enbi added, quietly, after Juugo had entered the house. "We won't take long."

Yamada just shrugged, and sat down next to Asaoto, twirling a cinnamon-colored strand of hair as she waited.

"We already have the basic furnishings set in: your stove, the fridge, a table…" Enbi gestured at all of them as they walked about the common room. "And your futons are rolled up in the bedroom closets. You're welcome to decorate it however you like; we'll be giving you an allowance for food you can't get from your garden and anything else you need."

Juugo entered his bedroom and put down both of the duffel bags, and looked around at the brown newness of everything. "And you showed me where all the stores are that I can walk to. I remember them."

"Yes. I'm sure you and Asaoto-kun are very excited."

"We are, we are." Juugo grinned.

"Daddy? I have a question." Asaoto's voice floated in from outside.

Juugo walked through the common room and poked his head out the front door. "Yes, Asaoto?"

"Can I name our chicken?"

Juugo smiled greatly. "Of course you can name it."

Asaoto patted the chicken on its head quite gently and deliberately. "I'm gonna name it Sasuke," he said, nodding a few times.

"Sasuke?" Juugo (and Yamada) said.

"Yes, Sasuke."

"Odd name for a chicken…" Yamada mumbled.

Juugo laughed a little, and joined Asaoto on the step. "You want to name it Sasuke? Why?"

"It reminds me of Mister Sasuke. The black feathers," Asaoto said.

The chicken quite grumpily remarked that it didn't know how it felt about such a name, which only made Juugo chuckle.

"I suppose there is a resemblance," he said.

"Juugo-san, do you remember how to use the stove, again?" Enbi leaned out of the front door.

"Oh, yes, I do!" Juugo replied.

"Let's just go over how it all works again, before I go," Enbi said. "Yamada-san, I can take it from here."

"Good luck, you all," Yamada said, before leaving, throwing a pinched expression back over her shoulder before she left.

Part of Juugo's treatment in the Curse Seal program, while still at the hospital, was in taking cooking classes, and ensuring that other skills—laundry, home repair, using various other appliances—were learned or retained. Karin had already taught Juugo a fair bit, such as how to cook and do his laundry, but machines were still at times a mystery to him, and he was glad for the extra help from the program.

By now, the stove was more a friend than a vaguely threatening stranger, and Juugo certainly conceded that it was far more convenient than his usual hearth and fire. Having hot baths at any time was going to be wonderful, too, especially for Asaoto, who got cold so easily and was soothed greatly by warm water.

Enbi left them, an hour or so later, with her phone number and a cheerful reminder for Juugo to come back in two days for a job consultation when he dropped Asaoto off for his weekly check-up. "We're looking into a _very_ promising opportunity for you, Juugo-san, so hopefully we'll have an answer by then."

"I can't wait," Juugo said, and waved warmly goodbye.

Asaoto then went to put Sasuke the chicken in a small hut that had been built behind the garden—apparently, Hashiki had set it up that morning on request—so Juugo went to use the telephone.

He called Karin, first, updating her on the situation and how nice his new house was. She laughed for a good long time once he got to the name that Asaoto had given the chicken.

"Sasuke?! You're not serious!" She paused for a few seconds to catch her breath and sigh. "Oh, goodness, what would make him do that, okay…"

"Well, Sasuke's been coming to visit me lately, and Asaoto likes him very much," Juugo said.

"Really, he's been visiting you?" Karin sounded quite surprised.

"Yes, for about a week now."

"…well, Juugo, I'm very glad you're getting time with him," Karin said, and cleared her throat.

"Mm, I am too," Juugo replied. "I'm actually going to call him after I finish talking to you. He wanted to come visit me once I was moved in."

"Is that so?" Karin said. "He _asked_ for this?"

"Mhm!"

"Very interesting. How's his mood been?"

"His mood…?" Juugo said. "Why do you ask?"

"Just curious."

"Well, he seems…" Juugo thought. "He seems a little sad, I think. And tired. But he's very kind and patient with me and Asaoto."

"Ah, I see," Karin said. "Well, um… I hope you two have a good time today, then!"

"I do too!" Juugo replied. "I'm going to call him now, if that's all right."

"Oh, you do that, okay," Karin said. "Give Asaoto my love."

"Of course, Karin," Juugo replied. "Bye-bye."

Juugo had pinned Sasuke's phone number up next to the phone, along with Karin's information and a contact list that Enbi had given him, with her number, his therapist's number, and emergency services of all kinds. He'd actually never called Sasuke's house before, honestly. The past few days, Sasuke had just come at the same time each time, planning with Juugo to make sure he didn't show up at any inopportune times.

Now, Juugo carefully and deliberately pressed the buttons for Sasuke's number, and waited for him to pick up.

Then: "This is the Uzumaki residence, can I help you?"

It was Sasuke's voice! "Hello, Sasuke? This is Juugo!"

"Ah, Juugo. It's nice to hear from you."

"Yes, same to you!" Juugo replied. "I moved into my house today, I wanted to tell you."

"Did you?" Sasuke said. "I should visit, then."

"Yes, I'd love that!" Juugo said. "Um, should I give you directions?"

"Please," Sasuke said.

Sasuke showed up maybe an hour later, holding a brightly-colored bag in his arms.

"I hope I haven't kept you waiting," he said, stalling in the foyer.

"No, not at all! I'm glad you found us," Juugo said. "Please, come in."

Sasuke handed him the bag after taking off his shoes, bowing slightly. "I brought you a housewarming gift. I hope you like it."

"Is Mister Sasuke here?" Asaoto came out of his room, rubbing his eye.

"Hello, Asaoto," Sasuke said.

"Hello," Asaoto replied.

Juugo, meanwhile, was opening the gift, and found inside it a blue glass mug and a strange, enormous mitten shaped like a chicken's face. "Oh, what are these…?" he said.

"It's, um, a cup and an oven mitt," Sasuke said. "I know you like chickens but this was all I could find."

"Oh…! I see!" Juugo said. "That's so kind of you, _thank_ you."

"Are those little chickens on the cup?" Asaoto said, reaching up for it.

"Yes, Asaoto," Juugo said.

"Can I drink my milk in it?"

"Of course." Juugo passed the cup down to Asaoto, who held it with both hands.

"Thank you, Mister Sasuke," Asaoto said, smiling.

"You're welcome, Asaoto. I'm glad you like it."

"Would you like something to drink? Please, sit down, it's all right," Juugo said.

"Just water is fine," Sasuke replied, and he sat down, and he stayed for hours.

They talked and shared news and laughter, and as afternoon became evening, Juugo offered to cook dinner. Sasuke at first refused, but Asaoto was hungry, so Juugo made rice and vegetables that he had pulled and washed clean from the garden. Sasuke stayed to help wash the dishes, but after Asaoto fell asleep and Juugo carried him into his room and tucked him in, he suggested that he leave.

"I hope I wasn't too much of a bother," Sasuke said, pulling on his shoes.

"No, not at all," Juugo said. "I was glad to have you. And I appreciate the gifts."

"Mm. I'm glad." Sasuke stood to leave. "Well, then, I'll be going home."

Home. The night was so quiet, and he'd been having such fun.

"Sasuke, um, your family lives near me, did you know?" Juugo said.

Sasuke lowered his head. "Yes, Juugo, I know," he replied.

"Is it… all right that I live so near to them?" Juugo said.

"It's not a problem," Sasuke said. "I just live apart from them right now. It's okay."

"Ah…"

Sasuke looked over his shoulder, and his face seemed soft and vulnerable. "Are you worried about me, Juugo?"

"A little, Sasuke," he replied, quietly. "Not being able to live with your family, it just seems like… an uncomfortable situation."

Sasuke sighed. "It's all _right_. I chose this for my family's sake. I'll go back eventually. It's not like I'll never see them again…"

"Ah…" Juugo said again. "Well… I just hope it's not… hard having to walk past your family's house to visit me."

"It's not hard," Sasuke replied. "It's honestly fine."

"Ah…" Juugo hung his head. "I'm sorry for mentioning anything, this isn't my business…"

But Sasuke turned around, and he smiled slightly. "I'm actually thankful that you're worried about me."

"Thankful…?"

"I thought, for a while, that nobody cared enough about me to worry about this sort of thing," he said. "It's nice to know you care."

Juugo, despite himself, began to smile. "Ah, well, you're welcome, I suppose."

It hadn't answered all his questions, but all the same, Sasuke had come that much closer.

"Call me any time you want to see me," Sasuke said, turning around. "Goodbye, Juugo."

"Goodbye, Sasuke. It was good to see you again."

"Same to you."

He saw Sasuke next the following week, after his scheduled job consultation with Enbi.

To his surprise, that day, Hashiki was once again in the office when he went in.

"Hello, Juugo-san!" She waved at him cheerfully, one of her legs propped up on her knee.

"What are you doing here?" Juugo said. "Is there something wrong with my house?" he added, with a twinge of anxiety.

"No, no, nothing of the sort!" Hashiki said, waving her hand. "I'm here to bring you to work with me."

"_Your_ work…?"

"Hashiki-san took quite a shine to you, Juugo-san, and we both agree that your gifts go perfectly along with hers," Enbi said. "So we're having you help her today, to see if you're a fit."

"Oh, I see!" Juugo said. "What sort of work are we going to be doing, then?"

"Well, I'm going to be making and building things, same as usual," Hashiki said. "But you, Juugo-san, are gonna be clearing the space for me."

"Clearing? Like cleaning?" Juugo said.

"No, like wrecking," Hashiki replied, grinning.

Juugo blinked in confusion. "Wrecking…?"

"You'll be using your skills to clear rubble and demolish old structures," Enbi explained.

"You want me to… destroy things..?" Juugo said. "But I'm not… supposed to, that's _bad_."

"We've been working on getting you to control your strength, Juugo," Enbi said, gently. "Now we're going to let you use that strength for _good_ things."

Juugo's shoulders hunched. "I don't know… I hate it when I lose control. It feels awful…"

"I'm sure you won't!" Hashiki said. "Enbi-san told me all about your progress and I'm sure you'll do just fine. Especially with me there. I'm good with rowdy guys," she added, with a slight chuckle.

"Let's just try one day of work, Juugo-san," Enbi said. "If it doesn't suit you, then we'll consider other options for you."

Juugo managed a smile, though an uncomfortable one. "If you say so…"

He was perfect at his job.

With Hashiki's guidance and enthusiastic coaching, he channeled his transformative energy into his arms, turning them earth-red and enormous. Uneasily at first, he began hefting rubble out of the way along with Hashiki, who did he work with great, claw-vine extensions of her arms.

But soon enough, warm passion began building in his chest, and he eagerly asked Hashiki what she wanted for him to do next.

There was the skeleton of an old warehouse in the corner of the lot they were clearing, the metal roof rusted in and little left standing but a shabby concrete foundation.

"Go tear that down for me, and then we'll finish clearing out," Hashiki said.

Juugo, without hesitation, went to it, and began to smash, laughing as he worked.

As he finished, he looked over his shoulder and saw Hashiki looking on with her hands on her hips, and Enbi with her clipboard, watching from the bench across the street with a smattering of curious onlookers.

"How'd I do?" he said.

"Couldn't have done it better myself," Hashiki said.

Even after the lot was completely cleared and Hashiki was ready to begin her real work, Juugo still stayed behind, if only to watch her miraculous, beautiful gift in action.

She was constructing the foundation of a new apartment building, with space for shops below, and the structure rose high and square in the fading afternoon light.

"That should be enough for now," Hashiki said, pushing a stray bang behind her ear. "Nice work, Juugo-san!"

Juugo, whose arms had paled and shrunken, smiled, even nodding. "Thank you! You did a good job too, Hashiki-san. You did most of the work, after all…"

"Yeah, but it was better with you there," she said. "Went by a lot more quickly, and it's way more fun to have a helper to talk to!"

"I suppose, yes…!" Juugo said.

"So did you have fun today, then?" Enbi was coming over to them. She seemed strangely small, now, compared to Hashiki's great height, which was near equal to Juugo's.

"I did have fun! I didn't lose control at all," Juugo said.

"You certainly didn't. It's worth celebrating," Enbi replied.

"Yeah, you did a great job, Juugo-san," Hashiki added, once more.

"Would you like to work with Hashiki-san again, then?" Enbi continued.

The immediacy of his reply almost surprised Juugo. "Yes, if she needs my help!"

"Then I'll see what I can do, if Hashiki-san's also for it."

"Oh, I'm for it, believe me!" Hashiki said, and Juugo found himself laughing.

He returned home to Asaoto and swept the little boy into a great hug, and Asaoto giggled in confusion and joy.

"Did you have a good day, Daddy?" he said.

"I did, I did," Juugo replied. "I might have a job."

"Is it a good job?"

"Oh yes, it's wonderful," Juugo said. "It uses my strength for good things."

"That sounds very good," said Asaoto. "We should go home and tell Sasuke."

"Oh, yes, I think that's a wonderful idea," Juugo replied, chuckling.

"And Mister Sasuke too!" Asaoto added, in an enthusiastic chirp. "Him too, when he visits next."

"Yes," Juugo said, "when he visits next."

Juugo worked with Hashiki twice more before Sasuke visited next, on the following Sunday; Juugo had invited him over much earlier, but Sasuke was returning to work and had less time to spare. But Sundays, he explained, were his day off, so he promised to visit at least then.

Juugo had much to share with him, when they finally met again.

"So is this going to be a regular situation between you and Hashiki?" Sasuke said.

Juugo was pouring tea, and paused with the kettle over his mug. "Hm? Well, I suppose so. She calls me down every time she needs me for anything."

Sasuke tilted his head thoughtfully. "Asaoto isn't in school, yet, is he?"

"Ah, well, no, he isn't…"

"I'd _like_ to go to school," Asaoto said, tugging on Sasuke's shirt, "but I'm too little, I think."

"How old are you, Asaoto? Six, wasn't it?"

"Yes."

"No reason you can't go to school, then," Sasuke replied, "unless your health is causing problems for you that keep you from going."

"Sasuke," Juugo said, "why all this talk of school…?"

"Well," Sasuke said, "when you're out working, where is Asaoto-kun?"

Juugo set out the mugs on the table, frowning as he thought. "Well, lately I've been leaving him at the hospital… He has check-ups often…"

"The hospital? Is it comfortable for him there?"

"It's not that bad," Asaoto said. "They have lots of toys there, so I'm not bored."

"Mm, I suppose," Sasuke said. "Would you prefer… spending time with me, instead?"

"Instead of going to the hospital?" Sasuke nodded. "I think I'd like that very much, Mister Sasuke."

"What do you mean by that, Sasuke?" Juugo said. "Having Asaoto spend time with you…?"

"What I mean is, if you ever find yourself called for a job," Sasuke said, "you should call me first. I'd be glad to watch Asaoto for you, if I have the time, so you don't have to drop him off at the hospital all the time."

"Oh, you don't have to go through all that trouble!" Juugo said. "What about your own work, besides…?"

"My students can stand to train on their own every now and then," Sasuke replied. "I've asked it of them before, and for… far lesser reasons. Besides," he added, "ensuring Asaoto's care personally would… ease my mind a little."

"You don't have to worry about me, Mister Sasuke," Asaoto said, reaching up and patting Sasuke on the shoulder with a thin hand. "I am taken care of very well."

Sasuke smiled, and it wrinkled his face in a way that aged him, yet almost made him seem younger. "Yes, your father does an excellent job. But I wouldn't want you left alone, Asaoto."

"Really, Sasuke, you don't have to do this much for me…" Juugo said, nestling his hands together. "The people at the hospital already told me that Asaoto is welcome at any time. Sakura-sensei told me…"

Sasuke's eyes fell, and he looked older again. "Sakura is definitely capable," he said. "Still, if you ever feel the need… I'm here. And I'd be glad to help."

"I'd like to have Mister Sasuke watch me _some_ time, Daddy," Asaoto said. He reached for his mug, the one with the chickens on it, the gift from Sasuke, and he drank deeply. "I think it would be fun."

"I'll… I'll think about it," Juugo said, and he reached for his tea. "But I don't want to burden you, Sasuke."

Sasuke reached for his tea, in return. "There isn't anything you could ask that would burden me. But I understand."

Juugo relied on the hospital, for the next two jobs. But on the third, after he received the job through the telephone, Asaoto tugged on his shirt and looked up with clear impatience.

"Can you call Mister Sasuke?" he said. "It's a nice day and I want to be outside. I can't do that at the hospital."

"You want to be outside…?" Juugo said. Asaoto nodded, and Juugo bit his lip.

It was a very nice day, a golden dying roar of autumn, full of sunshine. Chickadees had gathered on the front porch to eat at the leftover seeds scattered the previous day. And the last thing he wanted to do was deprive Asaoto of what he loved.

"All right," Juugo said, "I'll call Sasuke."

Sasuke was there within a half hour, and bid Juugo farewell and best of luck at his job for the day, Asaoto standing beside him and waving.

Juugo returned to a great deal of excitement and energy, the likes of which he'd never seen in his son.

"Daddy, Daddy, Sasuke laid an egg!"

Juugo stooped in the threshold of his house, and his face bent with confusion. "What…?"

"An egg! Sasuke laid an egg!" Asaoto pressed up against his father's arm, tugging on the folded sleeves of his shirt.

Juugo looked back at Sasuke, who was leaning against the stove with a stiffly amused expression. "It's not me who laid the egg, if that's what you're wondering."

"Of course it wasn't _you_, Mister Sasuke," Asaoto said. "It was the chicken-Sasuke. She had an egg!"

Juugo'd had a feeling that Sasuke-the-chicken had been a hen, but he'd said nothing so that Asaoto's little flight of fancy would remain intact. "Where is the egg, Asaoto?" he asked.

"Back in the chicken house," Asaoto replied. "She won't get off it."

"Well we don't have any roosters so I don't think that will be much of a help, for her," Juugo said, chuckling.

"I know." Asaoto giggled. "We should make something really yummy with it. Our first egg here."

"It's all he's been talking about, since we found it," Sasuke noted. He was smiling a little.

"Well, then, we'll have to figure out something _very_ good to make," Juugo said, lifting up his son for a welcome-back hug.

And there were more eggs, after that. Many more.


	136. Blue Wednesday

_Chapter 136 - Blue Wednesday_

* * *

With Sasuke's help, during his next visit, Asaoto made cookies that were warm and soft and ready for Juugo to eat when he came home from work that day. And with other eggs and other days, and under Sasuke's careful supervision, they learned together how to make all manner of sweets and foods.

It was a natural transition, this. Asaoto, after a time, no longer had to ask for Sasuke specifically instead of the usual hospital stay, since Juugo would call him immediately after receiving his jobs for the day, and he would show up shortly after without complaint. He hung around for a while after Juugo came home, still, usually to help clean up and to occasionally elaborate on Asaoto's report of the day.

Sasuke was a quiet, watchful guardian. On occasional he'd take Asaoto out to the grocery store—sometimes with Juugo as well, if these grocery trips happened close enough to the end of the visit—and they'd cook things together, or take walks in the woods around Juugo's house.

There came other friends, in time. Hashiki visited on occasion, and, once or twice, brought over a brown little boy—the son of her boyfriend, Juugo eventually learned—who needed more playmates, in her opinion. He was a little too energetic for Asaoto, running all about the place and climbing trees all willy-nilly. Asaoto couldn't keep up, of course, but he still appreciated meeting a child around his age, as well as the flowers that he was given.

And then, there was another visitor, old and familiar, appearing on a chilly morning. And he brought presents.

"Uncle Suigetsu!" Asaoto was shelling peas on the front porch of the house with his father, wrapped in two very large sweaters so he wouldn't get cold.

"Hey there, little guy. You well?" Suigetsu had a gray cape on, now, matching his son's white one.

"I'm doing very well, Uncle Suigetsu," Asaoto said, resting his hands on the edge of his bowl. "How is Mommy?"

"She's doin' just fine," Suigetsu replied, with a smirk that showed teeth. "And I hear you're well, Juugo-"

"We brought presents!" Shingetsu blurted, thrusting forward the gray cardboard box he was carrying. The lid was full of holes.

"Shingetsu, I told you to wait," Suigetsu sighed.

"I kno-ow, but this is too important!" Shingetsu replied. He sat down next to Asaoto and took the lid off the box. "Look, look, what's inside?"

Asaoto looked. "Baby chicks!" he said.

"Oh, you brought us chickens…!" Juugo finished peeling the pod off his last pea and rested his hands in his lap.

Suigetsu sighed again. "Yeah, Karin said somethin' about you guys wanting to raise chickens, so we picked some up at a farmer's market for you on the way here."

"This is a very good present," Asaoto said. "Sasuke is going to like having some friends."

Suigetsu made what might have been a grimace. "Sasuke?"

"We have a chicken named Sasuke," Asaoto explained. "I named her after Mister Sasuke. Even though she's a hen."

"Is he talking about the Sasuke I think he is?" Suigetsu asked Juugo, and Juugo nodded.

"Yes, Uchiha Sasuke has been watching Asaoto for me while I've been at work, lately," he replied.

"You… sure that's a guy you'd like watching Asaoto?" Suigetsu said. "I mean, I won't try to knock your judgment, but-"

"Mister Sasuke and I have a lot of fun," Asaoto said, his face growing a little stern. "He and I take care of the chickens and go grocery shopping, and he taught me how to make cookies. We learned together."

"Wow, he sounds like a cool guy!" Shingetsu said. "Mom doesn't even _let_ me in the kitchen when I wanna try cooking."

"Suigetsu, it's all right," Juugo said, noticing that his expression hadn't changed much. "Sasuke has been very kind lately. I appreciate his help."

Suigetsu shrugged. "Just wanna make sure you're not gonna get hurt, man. You don't deserve that."

"I won't get hurt, Suigetsu-san." Juugo put his peas aside. "Why don't you come inside? We'll let the boys play on the porch together for a while."

"Let's put the chicks in the chicken house," Asaoto said. "Okay Shingetsu?"

Shingetsu closed the box and grinned. "Cool."

Suigetsu and Shingetsu didn't stay very long, in the end, leaving as afternoon fell so they could get where they wanted to go. Shingetsu and Asaoto played outside as the day warmed, mostly watching the chicks get acclimated to their new environment, with Sasuke the hen looking over them all with a disdain that better suited her namesake.

Suigetsu and Juugo talked. Suigetsu had worries.

"It's just that, Karin told me some things about what Sasuke's been _doing_ these past few months," he explained. "I don't wanna scare you or nothin', but…"

"I already know that Sasuke's been through some tough times lately…" Juugo said. He was taking both bowls of shelled peas and sorting them now.

"Yeah? So he, uh… talked to you about it?"

"He doesn't much, really," Juugo said. "But… I can understand that, I guess. I don't like talking about when I lose control. It hurts, you know…"

"Yeah, I know, Juugo…"

Juugo cupped discarded pea pods with both of his enormous hands. "He's living apart from his family, he told me. Until he can be a better father. That's all he's told me. I think I'm okay with that…"

"That that's all he's told you, or…?"

"Mm." Juugo threw the pods away. "I know Sasuke has had trouble in the past. But I have, too. So when he says he wants to spend time with me and with Asaoto, I can understand."

"You know about any of his troubles, though? 'Cos he knows yours, so…"

Juugo paused. "I'm not… I don't think that's my business," he said. "If Sasuke wants to talk to me about it, then… he will. And that is all."

Suigetsu shrugged. "All right, man. Just… be careful."

"I will be careful," Juugo replied.

Quite interestingly—not even surprisingly—Juugo's observations were more accurate than he thought.

November arrived, and continued on. And there came an evening when Sasuke stayed longer than expected to help with a particularly challenging recipe that Asaoto wanted to try for dinner—not for lack of technique, but because his grip was too weak for chopping vegetables, and the like. After dinner, Juugo took up his needles and practiced knitting for a while. His therapist—he was still seeing her, once a week—encouraged him to keep at it, to work on his fine motor control, even with his job being wonderful for his confidence of control.

Juugo, after a time, noticed that Sasuke was staring at him from across the table. And not wanting to make anyone uncomfortable, Juugo asked, "Is something the matter?"

"What are you making?" Sasuke said.

"Oh, um… I'm still just practicing, but it'll be a scarf sometime, I suppose," Juugo replied. He picked up the fabric hanging from the needles, maybe three feet long at this point, and growing far more ordered the closer to the needles it was.

"A scarf? For whom?"

"Well… myself or Asaoto, I suppose, once it's finished."

Sasuke thought for a moment. "Is a scarf something a person would like as a present?"

"I suppose?" Juugo said.

"I think I'd like a scarf," Asaoto added, from where he was thoughtfully drawing a picture in crayon at the table.

"Hm. I suppose since it takes a while to make, it shows you were thinking about them…" Sasuke said, and his voice fell.

"Why are you asking, Sasuke?" Juugo said.

"My… son's birthday is coming up," Sasuke replied. "I was wondering what to get him. He… takes a lot of pride in his appearance, so I thought maybe something he could wear…"

"That sounds like a really great idea, Mister Sasuke," Asaoto said.

"Oh, yes, I think that might be something he'd like," Juugo added. "Like you said, it would show you were thinking about him too, I suppose."

Sasuke's head tilted slightly as he thought. "Could you teach me, then?"

"What?"

"How to knit. You already know how."

"Oh, I…" Juugo put his needles down. "Well, I'm not very _good_ though, I'm still just learning."

"They say that the best way to learn something is to teach it to somebody else," Sasuke said. He looked up, and there was a dim light in his eyes. "I'd like to learn. We'll both get better at this rate."

"Are you gonna make a scarf, Mister Sasuke?" Asaoto said.

"I'm sure going to try, if your dad will help me."

Juugo smiled awkwardly, almost embarrassed. "Well, I don't… know why you'd want _me_ as a teacher, but… if you want me to teach you, Sasuke, I will…"

Sasuke nodded, or bowed. "I'm very grateful. Please, at your leisure."

They began that night with some of Juugo's leftover yarn and some chopsticks. Juugo taught Sasuke the basic cast-on, and the basic stitch, and Sasuke fumbled much like Juugo had early on. But soon enough he had several clean rows of knitting hanging off the chopstick, and Juugo had several more rows on his own scarf as well.

"This is pretty easy once you get used to it," Sasuke remarked, looking over his work.

"Yes, and it's… well, it's pretty soothing, isn't it?"

Sasuke took his fabric off the needle and began to unravel it. "Mm. I think this will do."

"Oh, what are you doing…?" Juugo said.

Sasuke finished unraveling the sample, and looked up. "I can't rightly knit using _your_ wool, and chopsticks, can I? I'll get my own supplies and practice next time I babysit Asaoto. It's only fair."

"Oh, I suppose you're right…" Juugo said.

"Til then, I suppose." Sasuke got up, and began for the door. "Thank you for teaching me. You're really good at it."

"Thank you for… asking, I suppose," Juugo replied.

Asaoto remarked, after Sasuke had left, "Your scarf looks much better, Daddy. I think Mister Sasuke helped you as much as you helped him."

"Oh, you think?" Juugo said. He looked over the fabric and, indeed, the stitches he'd made while teaching Sasuke, slowly and with care, were much neater than the rest below.

Asaoto nodded. "If Mister Sasuke makes a scarf for his son then you should finish yours too."

Juugo chuckled. "Do you want a scarf, then?"

"Maybe." Asaoto returned to his coloring. "I think that it's more important for you to finish it first before I decide if I want it."

"Fair enough," Juugo replied, smiling.

The next time Sasuke visited, he had acquired a pair of fine wooden knitting needles of his own, and white, soft wool that Asaoto took great pleasure in handling. There were already a few inches of knitting done, but Sasuke claimed he had "more to learn" and wanted Juugo to walk him through the rest.

Even though Sasuke began knitting with greater speed than Juugo, his needles clicking gently in the soft silence of the house, he still asked for Juugo to help him whenever he dropped a stitch, or was unsure whether he was supposed to knit or to purl on a row. Maybe it was to humor him, Juugo initially thought, since surely Sasuke wasn't someone that made mistakes—but the care in which Sasuke listened to him and followed his instructions whenever a stitch slipped or a row turned out wrong had him doubting.

Sasuke finished his scarf first. It was a luxurious thing, the stitches fine and consistent, and the soft fuzz of the yarn gave it a slight halo. Asaoto enjoyed modeling it for them once all was said and done.

(Juugo's own scarf had grown significantly, now almost as long as he was tall. But he wanted to finish off the ball of yarn his therapist had given him, and so knit on.)

"So this is for your son, isn't it?" Juugo said. "The scarf."

"Yes," Sasuke replied.

"When's his birthday, again…?"

Here, Sasuke's eyes fell, and he didn't reply.

"Did you… forget?" Juugo continued.

"No, I would never… forget my son's birthday," Sasuke replied, a touch of hurt in his voice. "It was… two weeks ago, is all. I missed it."

"Oh…"

"I probably shouldn't even send it…" Sasuke continued, quietly. "I mean, since I couldn't finish it in time, he'll think I just remembered after the fact and…"

"Nuh-uh. I think you should still give it to him," Asaoto said, tilting his outstretched arms so that the scarf draped on it in a new way. "Even if I got a birthday present late from my Daddy, I'd still really like it, I think."

"…besides, the only reason it's late is because you spent so much time working on it, right?" Juugo added. "It's okay, I think he'll understand."

"…you really think so?" Sasuke replied.

"Yup. If I were him, I'd be super happy, even if it was late," Asaoto said. "If I found out it was late 'cos you were working on it so hard, I would like it twice as much."

"Could you… tell him that, then, Juugo?" Sasuke said.

"What?"

"If… you wouldn't mind, I mean, could you deliver it to him in my stead? I don't… think he'd exactly be happy to see me, these days, but if you sent it and explained why it was late…"

"Oh, well, if that's what you want…" Juugo said. "I mean, if things are really so bad…"

When Sasuke looked up at him, he had that same, strange vulnerability on his face that Juugo had seen the month before. "Please, it would be doing everyone a favor. I'll write him a letter, but, please, pass it on for me?"

"Of course, Sasuke," Juugo said, nodding. "I'll give it to him whenever you want."

There was shame in Sasuke's smile, but utter gratitude when he said, "Thank you."

Sasuke came by the next day with the letter, the scarf expertly wrapped in dark blue-violet paper. "I'll stay here with Asaoto while you're gone," he said. "And… tell me if he doesn't like it. I'll understand."

"I'm sure he'll like it, Mister Sasuke," Asaoto said, patting the man on the arm.

"It's okay. I'll… tell you if it doesn't work…" Juugo replied. He had on his boots—there was frost on the ground, that day—and held the package to his chest. "Well… I'm off!"

"See you soon, Daddy!" Asaoto called, waving at him, and Juugo waved back.

(Sasuke waved as well, uncertainly.)

And Juugo, for the first time since Hashiki walked him past it, went to call at Sasuke's family's house.

Juugo went past the gate, and pressed the button for the doorbell. A woman with yellow hair answered; she wore a purple cardigan, and she looked Juugo up and down before finally speaking. "…can I… help you?"

"Hello, is…" Juugo closed his eyes for a moment to make sure he had the name right. "…Uchiha Inou home today?"

"Yes, he's home," the woman replied. "What do you need him for?"

"I have a present for him! For his birthday," Juugo said, and he held the package out. "Could you call him here, please?"

"…sure, just a moment," the woman replied, and uneasily looked over her shoulder. "Inou, could you come down here, please?"

Juugo waited patiently for the boy to appear, smiling as best he could.

The woman continued to talk. "Are you, um… a coworker of Inou's, then?"

"Oh, no, I'm here because Sasuke asked me," Juugo replied.

"Sasuke?" Her face went slightly still.

"Yes, he's a friend of mine. We used to know each other a long time ago, and we met again recently," Juugo said. "Are you his wife?"

"Yes, I am," she replied. "You're really… his friend?"

"Yes," Juugo said, warmly.

"How is he? My husband, I mean."

"He's well. He's been watching my son for me lately, while I'm at work."

"Oh." Sasuke's wife blinked a few times, obviously trying to smile, but Juugo could see how uncomfortable she was.

"He doesn't tell me much about his family," Juugo said, "but what I hear is that he's trying very hard to become a better person so he can come home."

Her face softened. "He told you this himself…?"

But before Juugo could answer, a young man entered. He looked incredibly similar to Sasuke, though his hair was far smoother. His eyes were sharp and clever, just like his father's, and they were suspicious. "Mom, what's up?"

"We have a visitor, a friend of your father's," she said. "Er, your name is…?"

"Juugo, my name is Juugo."

The boy Inou's eyes narrowed. "Dad has _friends?_"

"Inou, be polite. He has a present for you."

Inou's eyes slid to the package, and his one visible eyebrow furrowed. "Why would he send me a present?"

"It's for your birthday," Juugo said, oblivious to the sting intended in the words.

"My birthday was two weeks ago," Inou said, lowly.

"It's hand-made," Juugo replied, as he knew he had to. "Your father spent a lot of time making it and ended up missing your actual birthday. He sends his apologies."

"He _made_ me something?" Inou said.

"Yes, why don't you open it?" Juugo said, and passed the gift to the boy.

Inou's nose wrinkled, but he took the package anyway and quickly undid the silver ribbon keeping the paper together. There was an envelope on top of the scarf within, but it fell to the ground, apparently ignored.

"A scarf…?" Inou took the scarf and began unfolding it, rubbing the soft wool with his fingers.

"Yes, a scarf," Juugo said. "Your father asked me to teach him how to knit so he could make this for you."

Sasuke's wife—Juugo still didn't know her name—began looking increasingly confused. "Sasuke… _knit_ this?"

"Yes. And I helped him," Juugo said. "He said, he wanted to make something that his son would enjoy wearing. Since he said you take pride in your appearance."

Inou stooped slightly. "Wait, wait, is this stuff my dad told you, or…?"

"Yes, he told me this while he was working on it," Juugo replied. "He asked me to deliver it to you because he didn't know if you'd be happy to see him."

Inou's mouth twisted, like he was pulling words back into his mouth, and he returned to the scarf.

"It's absolutely beautiful," Sasuke's wife said. "Frankly, I'm… amazed that Sasuke _made_ this."

"Yes, I think it's really well-made too," Juugo replied. "And he spent a lot of time on it. He felt that if he just bought something it wouldn't mean as much."

"Inou…?" Sasuke's wife said. "Well, what do you say to Juugo-san…?"

Inou had bent down to pick up the envelope that had fallen, and was flipping it back and forth, examining it.

"Inou," she repeated, more sternly.

"Uh… tell him 'thank you,' I guess," Inou replied, but what was in his voice was not ungratefulness or disdain but disbelief.

"Is that all you're going to say?" his mother sighed.

Juugo shook his head. "I'll be sure to tell him that. Thank you, and, um, happy birthday!"

"Yeah, sure…"

"Well, I'll be off to tell him that!" Juugo turned to leave, but stopped himself. "Oh, before I go! Do you like it?"

There was no immediate reply, so his mother nudged him. "Inou, do you like it?"

"Yeah, it's… yeah." The boy had begun opening the envelope, and distance had entered his expression. His mouth was quivering a little.

"Good, he'll be so glad to hear that," Juugo said. "Well, take care. And happy birthday again!"

"Thank you for, um, coming by to visit us," Sasuke's wife replied. "And… tell him we're doing fine, will you?"

"Of course, ma'am. Goodbye!"

Juugo waved at them as he left, and returned to his house.

Sasuke was sitting at the table with Asaoto, and immediately stood at Juugo's entrance. "Well? How did it go?" he asked.

"It went very well," Juugo replied. "He told me to say thank you."

"Oh, I see…" For some reason, Sasuke's face fell slightly. "And… did he like it?"

"Yes, though I think he was more distracted by your letter, Sasuke," Juugo said.

This actually managed to make Sasuke smile, if only a little. "Well, then, I hope he enjoys at least that," he said.

(Inou had gone immediately up to his room after his mother closed the door, to have privacy while he read his father's letter more slowly.)

(Angrily blinking away the tears in his eyes, he put the letter in his desk drawer and moped on his bed for the majority of the rest of the afternoon.)

(Part of him fervently wondering why in the world his father simply didn't come home, if he really felt the way he did in that letter.)

(Among other things.)

"And your wife told me to tell you that the family is well," Juugo continued.

"Ah, did she?" Sasuke's face lessened some. "Well, that's also good to hear."

"I'm glad your family is well too, Mister Sasuke," Asaoto said, and Sasuke chuckled.

Later in the evening, after Juugo had taken off his boots and the stress of the gift-delivery had dampened, Asaoto asked, "So which of your kids has a birthday next, Mister Sasuke?"

Normally, Sasuke's answer would have been clipped and to the point, and at first, it was. "That would be… Karai. Her birthday is in March."

"What do you think you could make her?" Asaoto asked.

Sasuke thought for a while. "Come to think of it, I'm not sure."

"What's she like?" Juugo asked. He didn't expect much of an answer.

And yet, Sasuke began to talk about his daughter that evening. It lasted maybe for a couple of minutes, but he was more open about his family than he'd been in a long while.


	137. White Sunday

_Chapter 135 - White Sunday_

* * *

The rest of December, Sasuke continued to change. Instead of deflecting conversations, he added into them. He spoke of his family often—at least, what he remembered of them—and his students, as well.

On one particular instance, Sasuke discussed some progress he was making with his students, following a discussion about Asaoto starting school in the spring.

"The schools are for ninja skills, aren't they…? The schools here," Juugo mentioned.

"Mm," Sasuke replied.

"Would Asaoto be trained to fight, then…?"

"Ah, well…" Sasuke began, but Asaoto interrupted, patting his hand on the kotatsu they were sitting around.

"If I have to fight I will try my very best to get better, you know," he said, firmly.

Sasuke laughed. "Well, Asaoto, I think that's only necessary if you want to. There's more than one way to become a good ninja these days."

"Oh?"

"Mm. I've been working with my own students lately to get them on paths that better suit their skills," Sasuke explained. "We sat down, the four of us, and had a discussion about it. My student Kyou is quite…" Sasuke laughed, mid-thought, and wiped his mouth. "He's quite an amateur historian, so I went about getting him in touch with people that work in the library and sort books and all that."

"That's a ninja job?" Asaoto said.

Sasuke nodded. "Mm. And my student Go'on has a gift with wildlife, so I did a little research and introduced him to some rangers that work around the country. It's surprising how many jobs there are outside of combat that still qualify as 'ninja' duties…" He lowered his eyes, and his smile lessened slightly. "Truly surprising…"

"So I don't have to fight if I don't get better?" Asaoto said.

"Probably not," Sasuke said. "You should focus on having… a good experience at school, I think, when you finally go. Making friends and learning about new things."

"Okay," Asaoto said, smiling.

Conversations went much like this, overall, with Asaoto leading the discussion. The boy felt most comfortable asking about them, since he wasn't shut down as easily, and was far more curious and fearless than his father was.

But then, one night, after Asaoto had been put to bed, Sasuke asked Juugo a curious question.

"How did you do it, Juugo?"

Juugo, who had been packing up leftovers, looked over his shoulder. "Hm? How did I do what, Sasuke?"

"How did you get Asaoto to love you so much?"

Juugo felt a strange coldness trickle down his chest; he turned around to see Sasuke leaning against the table, his back to Juugo.

"What… kind of a question is that?" Juugo said.

"My children have never treated me like yours treats you," Sasuke said. "So I'm certain now it's something I've done wrong."

"Well, Sasuke, um…" Juugo began, but no other words came.

Sasuke looked back at him, with that same, awful, vulnerability. "It's okay, I already know things are bad because of me. I need to learn. That's why I'm asking you."

Juugo began fiddling with the plastic food container to keep from getting too anxious. "Well, um… every child is different, I suppose, and Asaoto is… certainly more quiet than other boys I know…"

"It's not just him. I watch how you are with him. You're far gentler with him than I… ever was with my own children. I thought at first it was only because of his health, you doing this, but now…" Sasuke looked at the floor. "Well, I'm beginning to think that maybe that has something to do with him loving you back."

"Sasuke, I don't…" Juugo's thumb slipped off the edge of the container. "I don't think that's everything. Besides, I think… every child loves their father or mother, anyways. It's almost impossible not to."

"You don't know my children," Sasuke replied, softly. "And you don't know how I've treated them."

Juugo didn't want to ask for specifics. He put the food in the fridge and went to stand beside Sasuke, who had bent a little smaller into himself.

"I really do think that it's just because you aren't with your family that you feel this way, Sasuke," Juugo said. "Because they're not there, you're just… thinking about the worst things that could happen. I know that's what… I do when I'm away from Asaoto sometimes. I worry all the time while I'm at work if he's going to have an attack. And it's always the worst. But it's never that bad. You know?"

Sasuke shrugged uncomfortably.

"So maybe if you… visited them, maybe?"

"I can't do that," Sasuke replied, quickly.

"Why, Sasuke…?"

Sasuke's head lowered further. "Everything I do with them hurts them. Everything I say. I even had to have _you_ give a message to my own _son, _I was so afraid of hurting him by merely… giving him a present for his birthday."

"I don't think his feelings were hurt at all by it being late, Sasuke," Juugo said.

"It's not the present being late, it was… never mind…" Sasuke replied. He shoved away from the table and went to the counter, and Juugo followed.

For a while, he said nothing, twiddling his thumbs. "Well, maybe the best thing to do is to… not do anything."

"Aren't I already doing that?" Sasuke said.

"No, no," Juugo replied, "I mean… if the next time you see him, let him talk to you maybe? Or whoever you see. I think, because you're afraid of your actions hurting your family, you know? If you're with them but don't do anything then there's less for you to worry about, maybe."

Sasuke chuckled a little, dryly. "You think that would work, huh."

"I'm not very good at giving advice," Juugo said, and he twiddled his thumbs more. "Maybe there are other people you can ask."

"Like who?"

"Well… any other friends of yours?"

(But a phrase rang in Juugo's mind: "_Dad has _friends?"_)_

"I don't have… many friends," Sasuke said. "And none of them have children but you."

"Just because I have a son doesn't mean I know more or less than those people, Sasuke…" Juugo said. "Besides, I don't know very much to begin with."

Sasuke chuckled again, turning around finally. "I think you know plenty. I'm sorry for imposing on you, anyways."

"No, no, it's all right," Juugo said, waving his hands. "It's just, I don't know how much help I can _be_… I don't think I can tell you how to change unless I know how things usually are, I suppose..."

"Mm." Sasuke looked down.

"But, um… I figure, maybe you've learned some things, for when you see your family again?" Juugo said. "From watching Asaoto. He doesn't hate _you_, you know. He likes you very much, in fact."

"Well, I'm… not his father, so…" Sasuke's words tapered off, and he sighed. "All the same. These were stupid questions for me to ask. Please, could you forget I said anything?"

Juugo almost immediately answered, but stopped himself. "…Sasuke, I think that you asked some very good questions. And I don't think it would be right for me to forget, especially because… well, you want to get better, don't you? And I want to see you happy and with your family someday. They seem like very nice people."

Sasuke opened his mouth to say something, but instead sighed again. "Yes," he said, "they are very nice people."

"I think the fact that you want to ask these questions is important," Juugo said. "You care enough to want to change. You're probably changing and you don't even know it. I know you're getting better, even if I don't know how bad things used to be."

Sasuke smirked. "I'm surprised you think so highly of me."

"Well, Asaoto likes you very much, I told you before," Juugo said. "And anyone my son likes can't be that bad."

Sasuke chuckled again, though this time he sounded like he was enjoying himself. "If you say so. I've far outstayed my welcome here, so I'll be going home."

"Ah, all right. Please don't feel bad about things, Sasuke."

Sasuke turned around and gently clapped his hand on Juugo's upper arm. "I won't feel bad. Thank you for talking to me. I'll see you next time you call."

Juugo put his hand on Sasuke's hand, and nodded. "I'll be sure to call you. Have a safe walk home, Sasuke."

"Mm. Goodnight, Juugo."

Sasuke didn't ask any more questions like that, after that night.

But Juugo noticed him taking on a more thoughtful quietness in their time together, when he played with Asaoto. Many times he took over small chores like cooking or cleaning while watching Juugo just talk to his son.

He was trying to learn, Juugo figured. But without having to ask questions. Sasuke was very stubborn, Juugo concluded, but this was nothing new after all.

And as suddenly as the snowfall that came with it, the end of December had come.

Sasuke had informed Juugo that his friend Naruto, the Hokage, had extended an invitation for Juugo and Asaoto to spend New Year's with him. And since Juugo didn't want Sasuke to have to choose between friends, he happily agreed.

The time they spent together was warm and quite loud. Naruto had the radio playing in the kitchen while Sasuke made ramen for everyone's dinner—he insisted on cooking it instead of Naruto, for some reason or another. Juugo passed the time by knitting, while Naruto himself played board games with Asaoto in the living room. Asaoto was thoroughly trouncing the Hokage, and Naruto was too amazed at his luck to be angry.

Of course, Asaoto fell asleep shortly after the meal, warm and full. Sasuke gave permission for the boy to sleep in his room, so Juugo tucked him gently in and returned to the adults for conversation and television. Juugo's needles clicked slowly along while Naruto and Sasuke had a very serious discussion on the idol that was hosting the Konoha New Year's Gala that year, and whether or not the color of her kimono suited her hair. Juugo had no opinion either way, thinking the girl looked quite pretty indeed, but found it very entertaining to listen to the two friends go back and forth, like birds in conversation.

The conversation dissolved considerably the more drinks Naruto had, a curious mixture of ginger ale with dubious amounts of sake mixed in. And soon enough he, too, was asleep, so Juugo picked him up at Sasuke's request and tucked him in also.

Juugo and Sasuke were alone the rest of the night, the volume of the television turned down, the thick snake of Juugo's knitting piled around his feet. Neither of them talked, but there wasn't really any need to talk.

But as midnight approached, Juugo's massive ball of yarn finally dribbled to its end, and with his same, careful stitches, he bound it off, leaving it complete.

Sasuke noticed him putting the needles aside. "Ah, you finally finished it?"

"Yes, I suppose I did."

Sasuke smiled. "Congratulations. It's quite an achievement."

Juugo began to pull the whole length of the thing into his lap, folding it over and over on itself.

"Is it for Asaoto, then?" Sasuke continued.

"Hmm, I don't think so," Juugo said.

"Hm? Who, then…?"

Juugo finished folding the scarf onto his lap, and folded his great hands on top of it. "I think I'd like to give it to you, Sasuke. But only if you promise me something."

Sasuke's smile faded. "What sort of promise?"

"Go back to your family this year."

Sasuke's mouth folded in mild outrage. "What? No, I can't, I'm not ready yet."

"I think you are," Juugo said. "I think you're very ready, you're just scared of failing, is all."

"Juugo, please…" Sasuke's head lowered some.

"You don't have to go right away, but if you keep waiting, then… well, it might be too late," Juugo said. "Besides, I think your family deserves to be treated like you've treated my family. You've been very good to us. It should be their turn now."

Sasuke didn't say anything, but Juugo could see that his shoulders were quaking slightly.

He took the scarf, and held it out to Sasuke with both hands. "So can you make me this promise? I spent a lot of time on this, you know. I put a lot of my thoughts into it."

"I can't accept that, Juugo…" Sasuke said.

"Why, Sasuke?"

"You should give that to someone that deserves it. Honestly."

"I'm going to give it to whoever I want. And I do think you deserve it." Juugo ushered his hands forward further. "And besides, you've come very far. Just like this scarf, I guess!" He laughed a little. "I had to learn a lot to finish it, and be very patient with myself. You're already learning, and I think you're patient too. So you just need to go out and try, okay?"

Sasuke made a noise, and Juugo wasn't sure if it was a laugh or a small sob. He covered his mouth, leaning forward against his knees.

"Sasuke, I don't want to upset you, I just want you to be happy," Juugo said, after Sasuke went for a while without saying anything.

"No, it's okay, I'm not upset," Sasuke said, and inhaled deeply through his nose, standing. "I guess I have to practice being grateful, too."

Juugo stood as well, holding the scarf to his chest. His knitting needles tumbled to the carpet as he went. "It's pretty easy being grateful, I think…"

"It's harder than I thought," Sasuke said. "Since… well, I suppose you have to accept that you deserve things."

"You _do_ deserve things, Sasuke," Juugo said, "I told you before."

Sasuke wiped his eyes, making that same not-quite-laugh. "I'll practice that too."

"Here, let's see how this looks," Juugo said, stepping forward, but Sasuke put his hand out, stopping him.

"Wait."

"Hm?"

"You said you wanted me to go back to my family this year, right?" Sasuke said.

"Well, yes…"

"It's still 'last year.'" Sasuke pointed at the TV, and sure enough, there were a few minutes left until midnight. "I don't think I'd have much time if I made the promise _now_, would I?"

Juugo laughed, warmly. "No, that would not be much time. I'll wait. But I'd still like you to try it on. I'd like to see how it looks on somebody."

"Fair enough, fair enough," Sasuke said, and bent his head compliantly as Juugo wrapped the enormous scarf around his shoulders. Even wrapped twice around him, the ends still trailed dangerously close to the ground.

"Looks nice," Sasuke said. "I'm sure whomever you give this to will be very happy to own it."

"But I'm giving it to—ohh," Juugo caught himself, and grinned, "yes, I hope _whoever_ it is likes it very much."

Standing together in front of the TV, they watched as the seconds ticked by. And when the New Year came, with bright flashes and pop music on the screen, the sound of firecrackers echoed against each other in the surrounding neighborhood.

"Happy New Year, Sasuke," Juugo said.

"Happy New Year to you too," Sasuke replied. "And thank you for the scarf."

"You're welcome," Juugo said. "Thank you for being my friend."

Sasuke turned his head, at this, blinking. "Being your friend?"

"Yes. You're my friend," Juugo said. "And you've given me more support than you probably think, I think. I'm going to support you too."

"Well, then." Sasuke smiled warmly. "Thank you for being _my_ friend, too. I could… mm." He held his hand to his mouth for a moment. "I could use the support, I think. Since it's going to take a… lot to keep my promise to you. "

Juugo stepped forward and wrapped Sasuke into a warm, careful hug. He could feel Sasuke's body tense up at his touch, maybe even shivering a little. "I'll do my very best, then," Juugo said, quietly.

Sasuke did not hug him back, but he felt his friend press his head against his chest, and he felt some of the tension leave Sasuke's body, and he knew that was enough.

Sasuke fell asleep in one of Naruto's armchairs, later that night, the scarf still wrapped around his arms like a strange, thin blanket. But Juugo stayed up, waiting for the crackle of fireworks to die away and be replaced by birdsong, and the creamy light of dawn. When the time came, he nudged Sasuke gently awake. "Are we going to go to a temple?" together.

"Mm? Nah, Naruto's got a public thing later, he'll be going then…" Sasuke replied, sleepily.

"Would you like to go with me and Asaoto, then…?"

"No, you two go, I'll be fine…" Sasuke was already closing his eyes, nestling deeper into the chair.

"All right. I'll see you later, then," Juugo said.

Sasuke waved him off with his hand, but all Juugo could do was smile.

Asaoto was barely awake when Juugo roused him from bed and gently pulled his coat on his small body. "We goin' somewhere…?"

"We can go to the temple to pray or we can go home and sleep more," Juugo said.

"Can I sleep more, Daddy…?"

"Of course, of course." Juugo pulled his son into the warm crook of his arm, and left Naruto's house into the sparkling early morning.

It seemed to be too early for most people to go to the temple, since the only person on the streets that Juugo saw as a particularly cross-looking man with pure white eyes. Juugo wished him a happy new year, but all he got in return was a grumbled "same to you," before he rushed off, his arms tucked close to his body.

But all the same, as Juugo passed it on the way home, he stopped and said a silent prayer of sorts as he passed the shadow of Sasuke's house:

"Please let my friend return to you all soon."

And soon after, he returned to his own house, and his own sleep and prayers.

Juugo had always feared dark, confined spaces.

But the year ahead of him was wide open, and bright, and he had never felt so calm or at peace in his life.


	138. Halloween Candy

_To my son, Inou,_

_Happy fifteenth birthday. Though on this particular day you are one year older, and one year closer to adulthood, I know in my heart that with every day that passes, you continue to grow into an even finer young man, and because of that, you continue to make me proud of you._

_I am genuinely sorry that I cannot be with you on this day to celebrate you and your achievements. I know also that this simple gift to you is not nearly enough to replace my presence. I ask for your forgiveness, and promise to be a better father going forward._

_I look forward to your future, and the great things that I know you will do.  
- Your father_

- Letter accompanying a birthday gift, delivered to Uchiha Inou two weeks after his fifteenth birthday

* * *

**ACT 14**

**RECOVERY**

* * *

_Chapter 138 - Halloween Candy_

* * *

Ino did not quite know, even as she was walking down the road to Shikamaru's house, why she was doing this.

She had nothing to gain. Or lose, really, since they barely ever talked to each other any more, since the—_thing_ they had with each other.

(It was not an affair, and it never would be.)

And even after semi-practical reasons floated and floundered on the surface of her mind, she didn't feel that any one was worth clinging to as a reason.

But then again.

Well.

There had been some rumors going around about her husband—well, Sasuke. And rumors watered the flowers of strange treatment and whispers from behind hands in public places.

But instead of the ridicule she had so-long expected, Ino found herself the target of strange and consistent sympathy, whenever anyone dared to say anything.

"Oh, Ino, I'm so _sorry_ for you." This came from Makura, once a classmate, and now a nurse at the hospital. She caught Ino on the street as she was coming out of the flower shop, to check on her father and daughter. "First your house and your son, and now your husband _leaves_ you to be with his _lover?_ You poor _thing_, is there anything I can _do?_"

"I… don't think so?" Ino blinked a few times. "I'm sorry, but I don't need any more help…"

Makura tut-tutted. "You brave woman." She left after that.

That was the first time Ino heard of this "lover." And she heard more of it, in disproving mutters and vague terms, until:

"Really, Ino-san, it's so _selfish_ of him to have _used_ you as his cover story for so long. Everyone _knew_ he really wanted to be with _Naruto_."

The woman Yubeshi, a neighbor from Ino's childhood, waved her hand at her with pursed lips.

"…wait, Naruto?" Ino said.

"What, it wasn't obvious?" Yubeshi gasped a little, a bit too strongly for it to have been genuine. "Oh… you really did have the wool over your eyes, didn't you…"

Ino excused herself, saying she had to go home and cook dinner. She heard Yubeshi saying to herself, in walking off, "Poor thing, poor thing…"

What a _bizarre_ thing for someone to say, she thought to herself first. Was that the reason why Sasuke wasn't coming home? Why he was staying at Naruto's house?

…no, certainly not, Naruto just said that Sasuke was recovering, that he felt guilty, and… well, that seemed a good enough excuse at the time…

But as Ino settled in for bed that night, she couldn't sleep.

Years of evidence were sitting on her forehead.

Sasuke's lack of intimacy. His absolute _revulsion_ when it came to sex. His disinterest in her as anything but a mother to his children.

The only thing that kept her from sitting up and outright declaring to herself, "Holy shit, my husband was in love with _Naruto_ this whole time?!_"_ was the fact that, well… Sasuke wasn't that… intimate with Naruto either. Mind, she didn't have any way of knowing how they behaved when she wasn't around, but… somehow she doubted that the begrudging, almost comedic-duo chemistry of the two was anything that could result in… well, _this_.

It was just housewives being the rumor-mills that they were. After all, people had been saying things like this as far back as… well, the end of the War, practically. Just not this overtly. Maybe.

Besides, Sasuke just…

Sasuke just…

…well, he didn't seem the type.

Ino managed to sleep, upon this conclusion.

But the next day, on an afternoon shopping trip to the grocery store, Ino saw Sasuke.

And.

Their eyes met for a moment, as they shared an aisle.

Sasuke seemed healthier. He was dressed in what were undeniably Naruto's clothes, track pants and white t-shirt, clothes he'd never have touched otherwise.

She knew that he saw her. He opened his mouth, raised a hand, maybe to say something, but then closed it. His hand remained, half-closed, near his chest.

And then Naruto appeared. He had a basket in the crook of his arm, and he was saying something about how they needed to get _this_ brand and not the one Sasuke had gotten. Ino was unsure of if _he_ saw her.

But she saw him take Sasuke's hand.

Sasuke was pulled away after that, into another part of the store.

Ino left also, to pay for the half-list of groceries she had managed to get, and hurried to get home, feeling strangely uncomfortable.

She could get the rest of the groceries another time, or have Nadeshiko get them. Say she forgot.

Her face felt hot. Ino hoped dearly that she wasn't blushing.

So _that_ was what people were talking about.

(And this was long before Sasuke was seen out in public with that strange, enormous man and his tiny, bone-like son.)

(It would be a good long while before Ino heard _those _rumors, and the pity and curiosity that came with them.)

When she got to her father's house, she put away all the food and tried to find something to preoccupy herself. There was nobody in the house: Karai was on a mission, Inou and Nadeshiko and her father were all at work, and Hajime's friend Jimichi had come by to take him out somewhere—the last of which Ino found particular comfort in, knowing that her son had more than just his family to support him.

And Takeru was still in the hospital. He was awake, thank goodness, and they were starting him on physical therapies.

(But he always maintained a stiff and angry silence whenever she visited him.)

With nobody to distract her, the sparseness of her father's house gave even less for Ino to do. She had already cleaned, rearranged, sorted everything she could.

Perhaps that was one reason she went to Shikamaru's house.

Then again, perhaps it was also in the pursuit of comfort.

Not physical comfort, no. Maybe comfort wasn't even the word for it.

Satisfaction? Or closure, maybe?

Since she knew what she was going to _do_. She knew that as soon as she had decided to leave. She just didn't know _why._

Still, she took a breath, and knocked on Shikamaru's door.

He looked like he'd recently been sleeping, and his hair was loose. "Ah, Ino. What do you want?"

"Can we talk?" Ino said.

"About what?"

Ino sighed. "You've heard about what's happened to—Sasuke, right?"

"What, that he left you to shack up with Naruto after that Orochimaru stuff?"

Ino felt her mouth tighten. "You don't have to put it like that."

Shikamaru shrugged. "What about it? If you're looking for sympathy, you're probably better off talking to Chouji."

"Shikamaru, honestly." Ino shook her head. "I'm not looking to vent, or anything like that."

"Then, what is it?"

Ino knew what she had to say. She didn't know why she was going to say it.

Or, really, how to lead into it.

But she had to say it. And she was going to.

"Before he left me, Shikamaru, I told him about us."

Shikamaru's expression didn't change. "What do you mean, 'us'?"

"The fact that we were—involved, once." Ino crossed her arms.

"Oh. You mean _that_." He scratched at his hairline. "So? Did telling him make him think he had a right to run off and have an affair too?"

That stupid _word_. "It wasn't an affair," Ino said, flatly.

"Whatever," Shikamaru said. "Why are you telling me this, then?"

"Because I told him about our son, too."

Shikamaru's face finally wrinkled. He stood in place for a moment, before jutting his head slightly forward. "Uh, 'our' son?"

"My second son, Takeru—he's yours, Shikamaru." Ino's shoulders felt stiff, and her breath was hard as she inhaled through her nose, but she did not feel nervous. "From when we were together."

"Uh… you never told me this," Shikamaru said.

"Of course I didn't tell you," Ino said, rolling her eyes. "I decided to take care of things myself. Involving you would only… complicate things."

"Okay…" Shikamaru looked troubled, but it looked more like he was considering a small mess on the floor than any sort of distress. "So… you decide to involve me now… why? You need me to pay child support now that your husband left you, or something?"

"Absolutely not," Ino replied. She tightened her crossed arms, and leaned back. "I don't need your support. And I still don't."

"All right." Shikamaru shrugged again. "So, what is it?"

"Well, Takeru's in the hospital now. He was attacked by Orochimaru. His back was broken."

Ino paused, considering excuses. She'd entertained, on the way over, a notion that if Takeru needed blood or any other sort of donated organ, that Shikamaru would be the only match. It would be partially lying—Takeru, so far, was in no need of any organ transplants, and there was enough stored blood at the hospital for everything else—but at the same time…

But then, Shikamaru said, "Do you expect me to care?"

Ino looked up from her thoughts. "Excuse me?"

"You literally just told me a minute ago that we had a kid together, for one, and for two, I don't even know him," Shikamaru said. "S'far as I'm concerned—I mean, unless you need legal support, which I guess can't be helped if that's what you want—I have no reason to care any more than I would for some stranger."

Ino was hit with a nauseatingly familiar feeling of shock.

(The shock that she even cared about his apathy. That she should have expected it.)

"Whoa, so you mean that you got it on with Inou's _mom?_"

Seemingly out of nowhere, Shikamaru's daughter—the one he had with Temari, Ino's mind rang—appeared behind him. Her small eyes were wide.

"Wow, Dad, use some protection next time," she continued.

"Shikake, what are you doing out of your room." His voice got thin and rough.

"I mean, then again, I shouldn't expect much from you. I mean, how _else_ was I conceived?"

Shikamaru grabbed her wrist, and lifted it. "You're supposed to be grounded."

"You were asleep, I figured you wouldn't notice," Shikake replied.

"Get back inside."

"No, I wanna hear more about this," Shikake said. "Hey, Inou's Mom, so which of your kids is my dad's bastard, again?"

Shikamaru pulled her inside, and Shikake stumbled a little. "Stop it, Shikake."

"Oh, am I embarrassing you in front of your mistress?" Shikake replied.

Shikamaru pulled on her arm, closer to him. "This is none of your business."

"Until Mom finds out." She smirked at him. "Then it'll be _everyone's_ business."

He began marching her down the hallway, apparently to her bedroom, where he let go of her with almost a shove. "If I see you out of your room one more time…"

"You'll do _what_. Starve me? I'll call child services." Shikake's voice was quiet with distance.

Shikamaru slammed the door in response, and returned to the front door, and Ino.

"How many other people have you told?" he said. He was tapping his foot.

Ino, however, had turned the stiffness in her shoulders into strength. "You know what, I think telling even you was too much," she said.

"So, just me and Sasuke?"

"Forget it." She turned to leave, but then looked back over her shoulder. "I'm glad I made the decision to keep you out of his life, though."

(Takeru was hard enough to handle _without_ Shikamaru's influence.)

(If his daughter's behavior and Shikamaru's reaction to it was any indication, anyways.)

"Whatever." Shikamaru closed the door without saying goodbye.

Ino swallowed, taking in another breath of cold air, before continuing on.

Yes, she decided, as she reached home. She did this for satisfaction. Perhaps it hadn't been that way at the start, but it was certainly the case now.

Shikamaru said he didn't care, but she could tell he was uncomfortable with the news, with the prospect of responsibility.

Well? So be it. Even if he didn't do anything about it, he'd have to live with the fact now. However much or little discomfort that brought him didn't matter. He knew, and that was that.

Becalmed by whatever reason in the bouquet of relief that this whole business brought her, Ino returned home and began dinner for her family.

And in truth, Shikamaru didn't do anything. He mused for a while, certainly, about the irrationality of women and perhaps a bit on how he had lucked out of the trouble of _another_ child for his family to know about—unless Ino decided to be petty and tell them about it herself, though he doubted it, given her preoccupation with her reputation. After all this, he went to get a snack and play shogi against himself, and set the matter aside for the day, if not the rest of his life.

Shikake, however, refused to take all this news without taking action. This was a sibling—related to Inou, too—so of course she was curious. And beyond that, it was more ammunition to bother her father with. The leverage she could wring from the situation, in regards to her mother, was absolutely tantalizing in its weight.

But first things were first. She had to meet the guy in person. She didn't really interact with any of Inou's siblings, so he had no idea what to expect, anyways.

Her father had told her that if he saw her outside of her room, then he'd do something-something probably nothing. Much as she loved annoying him, she didn't want for many obstacles.

Besides, she had a window in her room, which she'd used many, many times before in getting out without him noticing. Which was already an easy task, but the window made it easier. Shikamaru was an idiot, after all.

So, Ino had said that this kid—Takeru wasn't it?—was in the hospital. As she went along, Shikake tried to recall what she could about the name. Inou had whined about him once or twice, said he was an arrogant jerk, among other things.

Oh, this was going to be fun.


	139. Aged Cheese

_Chapter 139 - Aged Cheese_

* * *

Takeru did not receive many visitors at the hospital. And in truth, that was how he preferred it.

He only ever saw Ino, really. He didn't talk to her. She stopped trying after a while.

And after he woke up for the first time since the attack, he saw that there was a bouquet of clematis flowers on his bedside table.

Thankfully, the freak never visited in person.

He got letters and flowers from his girlfriends, who found out about him somehow. But they never came to actually see him.

Considering the state he was in, he didn't blame them. Perhaps they'd come to see him while he was still in the coma, and saw what he looked like, and were scared off. He wouldn't be surprised, considering how shallow so many of them were. Then again, that was why he'd involved himself with them in the first place. They were dumb, and they didn't ask questions. They were perfect for their purpose.

His one consistent visitor was the closest thing to a best friend he had, a jounin named Miyaki Gyosei. Takeru trusted him about as much as any other person—which was to say, very little—but the two of them had a wonderful kinship when it came to worldviews, and the superiority of intelligence and good looks.

"Cheer up, old boy." Gyosei said this, during one visit. "Hair grows back, muscles can be re-toned, and girls _love_ playing nurse."

Takeru had tried to smirk in reply. "Yeah?"

"Something about having someone _completely_ dependent on you for their care."

"Doesn't sound like my style." Takeru would have shrugged, if the action weren't so painful for him.

"You say that, but wait until you have them waiting on you hand and foot. It's marvelous."

"You speaking from experience here?"

Gyosei just reclined in his chair, pushing back his half-and-half-colored hair, his brown skin smooth and almost liquid against it, and he smiled. "Of course."

But Gyosei was not a consistent visitor. And he never brought girlfriends along with him.

Again, Takeru didn't want girls to see him like this. But he'd have liked for at least _someone_ to come by instead of just distantly writing empty letters to him, and sending him more flowers that he didn't need.

He also wanted to be able to walk again, but that was a given.

What he wanted _most_ was someone to distract himself with. Someone who could give him oblivion and release, or worship.

(Someone, now, who could take the pain away where his medicines could not.)

But not like this.

Yet despite all this, Takeru greeted his first new visitor in ages with a grumble. "Who the hell are you?"

Then again, the visitor was not what he'd wanted, in any respect.

It was a girl, he could tell, but just barely. She was androgynous, but unflatteringly so, her boyish clothes hanging loosely off her body.

And in addition to that, she greeted him quite rudely.

"Wow, your mom said that you were in the hospital for _something_, but I had no idea you'd look this _gross. _Is that a tube in your head?"

Takeru didn't feel like letting this nobody bother him. "And you are?"

"Nara Shikake. Your half-sister, apparently. Strange world, huh?"

Takeru made no reply.

She continued, in that same, awfully light tone. "Oh, were you not aware of this?"

"I was aware." Takeru kept his voice low. "And it's not something I find particularly interesting, thank you very much."

"What, you don't find the fact that you're my dad's lovechild interesting?"

"No, considering how unremarkable your father is. It's an insulting suggestion."

"Well, you got the unremarkable part down." She shrugged. "Still, though, to know the great Uchiha Sasuke was passed over in order to conceive you? That must be weird."

"That's not provable. As far as I'm concerned, it's nothing but gossip."

"Sure it's provable." She held her hands behind her head. "An' beyond that, your mom just came by and told my dad the whole story about you, so."

Takeru didn't reply.

"What, you thought he knew?" There was light laughter in her voice.

"Frankly, I don't care."

"Right, of course you don't. It's only your birthright and social status, here. Last I checked, bastard children aren't exactly smiled-upon by polite society."

Takeru sighed. "Is there a _reason_ you're here?"

Shikake shrugged. "I'm bored and I felt like messing with my brother, more or less."

"I'm not your brother."

"Eh, yeah, you're only half right. My mom's a different blond bitch." She handled her words lightly, casually.

Takeru's eyebrows rose a little. "You've certainly got a mouth on you."

"I'd ask if you had a problem with it, but—let me guess." She gestured with her finger, clicking her tongue. "You don't care."

"I don't."

"Good. I don't really believe in politeness if I don't have to." She grabbed the chair from the table in the room and sat down at his bedside, resting her foot on her knee.

Takeru scowled. "Do you _mind_."

"Do I mind _what?_"

"Not sitting there. I'd like to be alone."

"Nah. I wanna talk to you. I mean, s'not every day you find out you've got a bastard _half-_brother." She put obnoxious emphasis on the word.

Takeru sighed and looked out the window.

"Touch a nerve?"

"I have nothing to add. I probably only know as much about this as you." He looked back at her. "Or are you so crass as to have a _personal_ interest in the sex lives of your parents?"

Shikake shrugged, neutrally. "I s'ppose you have a point. I don't exactly like the mental image of my dad and your mom goin' at it. Or _my_ mom, for that matter."

"Exactly."

"Still, you're not even a little bit curious about what went on? Betrayed, even?"

"No."

"You're a good liar." The way she said it made it seem almost like a compliment. "Though that's not so hard when you're barely saying anything."

Barely saying anything, huh? "I'm truly not interested in anything that went on between two adults that may or may not have to do with my genetics. That enough for you?"

She shrugged. Again. "I guess. Still kinda sucks though, don't it?"

"What _sucks_ is being pestered like this by little shrews with too much free time."

She laughed. "You're a decent liar, but you could stand to be less obvious when you're deflecting."

Takeru sent a withering glance in her direction.

"I'm not going anywhere, just lettin' you know." Shikake settled more comfortably into the chair. "Visiting hours ain't over for a while. I'm fine just sitting here and watching you squirm."

"Well, I'm not above negotiation." Takeru tilted his head as amicably as he could. "You can stay so long as you don't ask me anything about this… affair nonsense."

"That simple, huh?"

"Well, if you're truly not going anywhere…" It was best to neutralize when you couldn't outright defeat something, after all.

"Okay, then. So I heard about what your dad did to your older brother, and I gotta ask—did he do that to you too?"

"Do _what_."

"Beat you half to death. I mean, lookin' at you _now_."

Takeru, despite himself, felt his face grow warm. "No. He did not."

"Really? Who did, then?"

"A rogue experiment of Orochimaru's, they tell me. Or something. I don't really remember what happened."

He was lying, of course. There were pieces of what happened to him missing, certainly, but he remembered far too much.

(And from the outright interrogations he'd received from Sakura, Naruto, and other nameless staff, there was no way they'd ever let him forget what he had done to Yakata.)

(Takeru only felt regret for the fact that so much of this could have been avoided if he'd just been more practical and less emotional about the wretched boy.)

"You mean that thing that caused the lockdown a while back? Damn, he really did a number on you. What I read tells me he mostly caused building damage."

"Yes. How unlucky for me."

She smirked. "So why were you singled out, then?"

"I don't know."

"Uh-huh. Y'know, at least your dad beating you up would have made sense. Though I gotta wonder why your mom seems perfectly fine. No bruises on her or nothin'."

Takeru's body felt quite suddenly shaky and weak. "My father abandoned us. He has not come back. He didn't do anything to me _or_ that whore."

She shifted her leg to her other knee. "And you say _I_ have a dirty mouth."

Takeru seethed quietly in return.

"I sense that this is a sore spot for you."

"Get out."

"Hey, you said I could stay so long as I didn't touch the affair stuff."

"You're crossing lines."

"So what are you gonna do about it?"

"I'll call a nurse." Even though the call button was far beyond his easy reach.

"And I'll tell 'em I'm visiting family. Technically I'm not lying."

She smiled at him.

Takeru began to struggle for the call button.

Shikake began laughing at him. "The hell are you trying to do? You having a seizure?"

"Get out." Takeru could barely speak from the effort. "Or I'll call the nurse."

She laughed at him for a while longer, but the further he struggled, the more her face fell, like a reaction to a joke that went too far.

"Shit, you're a _cripple_, aren't you?"

Takeru's voice was a groan. "Don't call me that." Just a few more inches and he'd be able to touch the call button, but…

But Shikake sighed, deeply. "Ugh, stop _struggling_ like that, it's painful to watch. Here." She reached out and grabbed his hand, holding it still. "_Here_. Watch me."

Stretching out her other hand, a series of string-thin chakra feelers attached to the bed remote, and lifted it so it rested near Takeru's palm. "You can still use chakra, I assume? Focus it at the very tips of your fingers—use your fingernails as your focus point, if you have to—and then mentally attach them to what you want to move, and pull. Shouldn't be too hard for you."

"What?"

"Wiggling around like some sorta spastic just makes you harder to look at." She stepped away from the bed and crossed her arms. "I hate pathetic people."

The silence that followed, at least on Takeru's end, was confused.

She sighed, and continued. "Look, if you can't fend for yourself, then you aren't even worth _my_ time. If you can't figure out even _this_ technique by the time I come back then you really _are_ pathetic."

"Who says I can't keep you from coming back?" Takeru had the remote firmly in his hand, by that point.

She smiled again, but it seemed she wasn't mocking him. This time. "Don't kid yourself. I'll be back, cripple."

She left before Takeru could press the button.

Takeru stewed for a while, in confusion and anger at the strange encounter. The absolute presumption of that girl. Her arrogance was poisonous.

…and effective. Before long, Takeru's curiosity got the better of him.

He didn't want to be seen as worthless, after all. Even to a shrew like her.

He set the call remote on his lap, as far out of reach as he could manage without pain. He then held out his right hand, concentrating chakra in his palm, then his fingers. All he had to do was send that chakra out and attach it to the things he wanted to move, right?

It didn't work immediately, and it frustrated him. He was used to the quick adoption of techniques—what he had once considered his birthright, his natural genius—and attributed the failure to his body's present state.

What was it she had said? Concentrating on his fingernails?

He gave it a try.

And something was set forth from his hands, but it was not chakra.

The shadow of his hand, soft and blue on his lap, began to stretch and shift, creeping towards the remote.

Takeru immediately jerked his hand away, before the wretched little tentacles could wrap around the target and bring it to him.

He knew that technique.

That was not his father.

The girl couldn't possibly have known that this was going to happen, could she? Why else would she egg him on like that?

Takeru's body ached, and he slept to keep from thinking, pulled along by the gentle breath of summoned pain medicine.

Shikake was back the next day, wearing an identical expression of indifferent amusement, her hands in her pockets. "Well, cripple? How'd it go?"

Takeru, at that moment, was sitting up in bed, half-awake. He had been counting the bricks in the wall across from his window, for lack of anything else to do.

The girl's intrusion was not exactly welcome, but it was better than boredom. "If you're feeling satisfied, you shouldn't be. Your instructions were all wrong."

"My instructions?" She walked further in. "I told you exactly how to do it. You're just a crappy student."

"A student is only as good as his teacher." Takeru's gaze seared sideways. "Show me how to do it again. One demonstration wasn't enough."

She shrugged. "If you say so. Pay attention." Once more, she put her hand out and the shining blue threads of her chakra attached to the corners of the remote, and lifted it into the air. "What didn't you understand about it?"

"I focused my chakra in my fingernails and it—didn't work." Takeru refused to give her the satisfaction of his embarrassment, if she had really meant for the shadows to move instead.

"That's _awfully_ specific." She was playing with the remote, rotating the corners back and forth as she wiggled her fingers. "Y'mind showing me?"

"No. Show me how to do it _correctly_ and then I'll try."

"Sounds like someone needs a diaper change." She paused, and then smirked. "Wait, do you actually have to wear a diaper? I mean, since it's pretty obvious you can't get to the bathroom on your own."

"I have a catheter." And until he regained enough function in his legs to walk, that was how it was going to stay, to Takeru's discomfort.

"Hm. Well at least you don't have to sit in your own shit all day." She returned to fiddling with the call remote. "Still, you're outright pissy today. Calm down."

Takeru kept his eyes down, paired with a scowl. "Surprising as it may sound to you, but I don't exactly like being seen as useless…"

"What makes you think that's surprising? You've kind of got a reputation as a wonder boy, Uchiha genius, yadda yadda." She paused. "Well, _had_."

Takeru looked up at her, and lifted a hand, concentrating his chakra. If he could get that remote out of her hands…

But he saw his shadow moving across the blanket, and pulled it back in, hoping she hadn't seen.

Apparently, she had. She blinked her sleepy eyes, then shook her head. "Okay, I see what the problem is. You're focusing on the target too much. Not your chakra. F'you focus on the target then you'll just send out whatever the hell you have in you without precision and you won't be able to attach anything."

Takeru sorted through his words. "You could have mentioned that the _first_ time."

"I _could_ have, but… I figured that a _great Uchiha genius_ would be able to figure at least _that_ out." Her chakra-threads retracted at that moment, sending the remote into her palm with a plastic slap. "I mean, come on, it's not like I'm asking you to move a mountain or anything."

"Sure."

She sat down at the edge of his bed, this time, foregoing the chair. "I get the feeling that this thing here is too much of a distraction for you." She wiggled the remote at him, then placed it in her lap. "So… let's try something _easier_. Something you're not so fixated on, hm?"

Takeru didn't say anything, just tilting his head slightly, watching as she dug through the pockets of her green jacket.

She produced a ballpoint pen. The cap was chewed-on. "This'll do." She put the pen down on Takeru's lap. "Move the pen, but keep the focus on your hands. After all, this pen means as little to you as… I dunno, whatever the hell you don't care about. So it'll be easier to concentrate on what you need to do."

A chuff of air escaped Takeru's lips—did he actually laugh? Shikake didn't react, so he composed himself. "All right. What do I attach to?"

"Don't even think about it. Just focus on your hands, cripple."

The little insult tapped at his gut, so Takeru firmed his face, and focused.

They practiced for the better part of the afternoon, Shikake coaching him with a surprisingly effective mix of sarcasm and advice.

After an hour, Takeru managed to successfully produce a host of chakra-strings, but he fumbled once he reached the pen.

"Okay, when it comes to moving things, _that's_ when you focus on the target." Shikake extended a hand in demonstration. "I told you that the threads are basically an extension of you, right? They can move in any direction. It's your hand that's still moving the pen, so visualize that or whatever."

Two hours in, and he'd managed to lift the pen. And in the third hour, when the sun was much lower in the sky, he was able to take the cap off the pen and place it on the desk by the door.

By then, Takeru's face was shiny with sweat, and his body ached like it did after a session of physical therapy.

But unlike those wretched sessions, where he was maneuvered and handled like an infant, Takeru felt like he'd actually succeeded something, and for the first time in a while, he felt satisfied, maybe even proud.

And Shikake was smiling. "Yeah, that's a pretty good job. Though I expected you to be at this level this _morning_."

"Shut up." He wet his lips, then smirked. "I didn't even know the basics, then."

"Fair enough." With her own threads, she took the cap of the pen off the desk and returned it to the pen. "Keep practicing. This ain't nothing so far. You're still pretty useless."

"I won't be for long."

He was beginning to tell when her smiles were in kindness or mockery. "Keep at it with the pen or whatever. I'll be back."

She put the pen and the remote by his hand before leaving, and left without another word or gesture.


	140. Pepper Jelly

_Chapter 140 - Pepper Jelly_

* * *

Shikake next appeared during a visit from Gyosei. Takeru had been enjoying the time with his friend, thus far, since Gyosei was getting him caught up on whatever ridiculous relationship nonsense had happened during his further absence—in particular, Gyosei's "adorable little whore" of a sister, and a fizzling little love triangle between some of their peers.

(One of said peers was Hajime's teammate, the pink-haired, big-browed midget, but that mattered very little to Takeru).

The simpering little troubles of hormone-addled teenagers made for delicious mockery fodder, though Takeru found that most of the mockery was coming from Gyosei, those days.

He was quite literally in the middle of a sentence when Shikake appeared. "Yo, cripple, you ready to practice?"

Gyosei's face soured temporarily from his interrupted gossip. "Who are _you?_"

"Nobody important. Well, cripple?"

"Yes, yes, I've been practicing." Takeru felt his smile melt slightly, less a rigor-smirk and more an expression of genuine enjoyment.

"Takeru, do you _mind_ explaining?"

"Nara Shikake, she's an acquaintance of mine." Takeru watched as Shikake lingered behind Gyosei's chair, obviously looking to steal it.

"An _acquaintance?"_ Gyosei glanced up and down, obviously looking to see if she was steal-worthy. "Takeru, old boy, already back in the game? I would have thought your bar would be a bit _higher_, even now."

"We're not involved." Takeru felt almost sick at the suggestion.

"Trust me, we're not. Though I hear those Shigeru twins _are_." Shikake laid a hand on the back of Gyosei's chair. "Amazing how some people behave, huh."

This seemed to impress Gyosei greatly—though Takeru had to admit he was impressed as well, given how specific her reference was.

(The Shigeru twins, music-ninja prodigies, really were _too_ close at best, and outright incestuous at worst.)

(…Takeru had to applaud her subtlety as well.)

Gyosei gracefully left his chair, and bowed as he offered it to Shikake. "Please, I shouldn't leave you standing."

Shikake sat firmly down in the chair, resting her foot on her knee, as usual.

"You know, I do have such a fondness for tomboys." Gyosei had moved to behind her chair, and one of his smooth, brown hands was wandering to the back of Shikake's neck. "All that beautiful womanly potential hidden in a package of denial and athleticism…"

Shikake turned her head around before he could even touch her. "You might have better luck with someone that _doesn't _have better things to do."

Gyosei folded his arms, and sent a green-eyed glance in Takeru's direction.

"Why don't you come back tomorrow, Gyosei? Shikake's helping with my therapy. Kind of important."

"Very well, then. Take care." There was very little compassion in his voice.

There was, however, laughter in Shikake's voice, once he was gone. "Helping you with your therapy, huh?"

"Well, I'm not lying. Making a pen fly around the room makes the time in between that ghastly physical stuff a lot easier to bear."

"Mind over matter, ain't that what they say?" Shikake began digging into her pockets. "Either that or I'm just distracting you. Doesn't matter, anyways. You been practicing?"

"Of course."

"Well, good. Because I have some new toys for you. Ain't gonna be as easy."

She produced a series of silver rings and beads from her pocket, as well as a tightly-coiled spring and a length of crooked wire.

"These are mine, so don't mess 'em up, all right?" She laid them out on Takeru's lap, as usual. "My uncle Kankuro gave 'em to me when I was little and he was teachin' me puppet jutsu. So feel honored."

"I'm honored, I'm honored." Takeru already began sending a feeler out towards one of the rings, testing if he could lift it.

"Hey, don't get too eager. I got some specific instructions, so listen close."

The lesson that day was versatility. So far, Takeru had only been maneuvering one object at a time, two if he was really concentrating. "If you wanna have even a snowball's chance in hell at working a puppet, much less two or more, you're gonna have to learn how to multi-task."

"I can multi-task just fine." Takeru's indignation was nearly sarcasm.

"Not like this, you can't." Shikake took three of the rings and held them out in her palm. "First lesson: hover these three in the air, at the same time, at the same level."

When she left him, hours later, the rings nearly hovered to her satisfaction, she left the tools with him. "I got a feeling you're not going anywhere, so I don't have to worry 'bout you stealing these. Plus, how you gonna practice if you don't got the proper materials?"

"I'm not going to misplace your precious trinkets, shrew."

"Didn't I say that already? Practice hard or I'll make you take them back from me." She smiled as she went through the door.

To Takeru's satisfaction, the puppet jutsu practice was becoming less of a physical task and more of a way to pass the time and keep his mind sharp. Hovering the three rings, after a few hours of independent practice, didn't even break a sweat the next time he tried, and he amused himself by rotating them around the room at greater and greater distances. He was going to try threading the wire between them, just to see if he could, but then a nurse came in saying it was time for his physical therapy.

His mood plummeted long before they manhandled him into his wheelchair, and he sulked the entire way to the gym, feeling strangely more trapped than usual in his broken body. Maybe Shikake's little distractions had been _too_ effective…

His therapist, a brawny woman with muscles more than capable of lifting a man unassisted, worked his limbs with her usual gentle roughness. The tingling-burning sensation in his legs was spreading further and further, and though that was supposed to be a _good_ thing, the pain certainly wasn't enjoyable.

And yet, he found that his torture-master was smiling today, rather than keeping her face firm at his inadvertent resistance.

"Have you been practicing?"

Takeru, trying to distance himself from the humiliating situation at hand, was brought back down. "Practicing what?"

"Doing your PT on your own. I taught you those leg massages, didn't I?" Her large hands passed over his right knee and began to lift it. "You're being a much better sport than usual."

"Ah. Indeed." He didn't feel that much of a difference, though inadvertent progress was still progress.

"How's that feeling in your legs?" She moved to his calf and rotated the leg slowly through the motions.

"It's _unbearable_ about up to my ankle, right now, if you'd like to know."

She smirked again, and put his leg down. "That's a great deal more feeling than last time. I'll be sure to tell your doctor."

"Pain is _good?_"

"It means your nerves are waking up. Other leg."

Takeru felt almost belittled by the fact that he didn't already figure this out. Pain _was_ sensation, after all…

After he was wheeled back to his room, he spent a good while trying to lift his legs, one at a time, to feel just how far the sensation went. It felt like hot knives were dancing under his disgustingly emaciated muscles, but he could at least _feel_ that pain. Improvement. Better than nothing.

He returned shortly to the rings, however. _That_ didn't hurt. And the progress was far easier to gauge.

By the end of September, Takeru had made significant improvements on all counts.

He'd regained all feeling in his legs and was beginning the preliminary work at trying to walk again, using arm-braces, but even standing for a few seconds was an unbearable chore. Luckily, his back had mended enough so that bending over wasn't excruciating, so he spent more time getting used to his new wheelchair, practicing getting in and out of it from his bed, and exploring the hospital for no better reason than to be out of his room.

His hair was growing back, and the stent in his skull had long since been removed, so the bald patch was becoming much less noticeable. His arms were regaining their strength from the new task of lifting himself in and out of his wheelchair, and maybe, just a little, he was feeling somewhat like his old self.

And as for the puppet jutsu, he was certainly going places, in Shikake's opinion.

He'd graduated from rings and wires—manipulating them as easily as he could with his own hands, perhaps even more strongly—and was now working at moving miniature marionettes. The focus was less on moving them around—"An idiot could do that"—but in getting them to move in a lifelike manner.

"Classic tactic. Get a puppet that looks enough like a human that it could pass if you cover it up, control it from a nest or somethin', and then? Bam. Perfect assassin." Shikake was demonstrating this with her own marionette, which was bobbing and weaving quite convincingly on Takeru's desk table. "Best thing is you can reel it back once the guy's been offed so there's no evidence, or collapse it into an alley."

Takeru was just working at getting his marionette to walk like a human and not a clumsy toy, and so far he was only half-succeeding. Then again, something was on his mind. "They say I'll be able to go home soon."

Her marionette paused mid-action, crouched and ready to spring. "Yeah, no kidding? You finally able to walk?"

"No, shrew." He sent a half-felt snipe of sarcasm at her. "I've been deemed as self-sufficient as possible for release, meaning I can get to the hospital for the rest of my physical therapy on my own, using my chair."

Shikake clapped her hands a few times, slowly. Her marionette followed her actions. "Nice work, cripple."

Takeru's marionette bowed in place of him. "Thank you, thank you. You figure you'll leave me alone now that I'm returning home?"

"What makes you think I'm leaving you alone?" She concentrated idly on her marionette instead of him. "Bothering you is a hell of a lot better than being grounded."

"You mean to tell me you were _supposed_ to be grounded, all this time you've been visiting me?"

She shrugged. "If my dad's changed his mind, he sure hasn't told me. Might as well keep it up, given how fun you are."

Takeru sighed, laughing a little. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but feel_ free_ to keep bothering me at home."

She stopped her fiddling with the puppet. "You sure that's a good idea?"

"What makes you think it isn't?"

"I dunno, your mom?"

Takeru rolled his eyes. "That woman won't be an issue. It's just me you're coming to see, isn't it?"

"Fair enough." She went back to the puppet. "At least I can count on her not squealing to my dad about me being there. Since I'm assuming she isn't really interested in talking to him these days."

"I should hope not." Takeru went back to his puppet as well. "My feelings won't be hurt if you don't show up, though. Your visits have been a mildly entertaining distraction at best."

She chuckled, and shook her head. "Wow, you're getting better at this puppet stuff, but you're getting worse at lying."

"You tell yourself that." He didn't feel like correcting her.

He didn't know how in the world she managed, but Shikake was waiting at the house on the day he moved back in. Ino and Karai had shown up at the hospital to get him and his things and wheel him back, so he expected at least that.

"Yo, I'm here to help."

"Oh, hi there, Shikake-chan!" Karai waved at her, sickeningly friendly as always. "Did Inou call you here?"

"Are you kidding? No. I'm here for the cripple."

Takeru almost took pleasure in the look of discomfort that passed over Ino's face. "Oh, well then… Karai, why don't you show Shikake where Takeru's new room is so you can drop off his things?"

"Sure, sounds good!" Karai took Takeru's suitcase and began carrying it to the door. "It's this way, Shikake-chan. We had the new house built all on one floor to make it easier for Takeru, see…"

"Fascinating." Shikake sounded like she would have found dog shit more interesting, and it made Takeru smile.

"Here, Takeru, let me push you up to the front door." Ino took a hold of his wheelchair and began to push.

Takeru clamped his hands over the wheel-brakes. "I can push _myself_, Ino."

Her voice shied. "I'm sorry, Takeru, I'll let you push yourself…"

He jerked away from her with purpose. "I'm not a complete _invalid_, you know."

He began wheeling himself up the ramp by the front door, but either the angle of the ramp or the fatigue of the day had gotten to him, and he began to struggle halfway up.

Ino had her hands on his chair again. "Takeru, please, let me push you inside…"

"Let me _do_ it _myself!_" If only to get away from her, he churned his arms forward and surged his way up the rest of the ramp, gasping for air once he reached the door. His chest ached, but at least he'd made it. "Now show me where my _room_ is."

"…of course, Takeru. Just… follow me."

Her posture shrank as she walked before him, which only made him feel a little better as he caught his breath again.

Shikake was already going through his things when they got to his room, a few hallways down. Karai was trying to stop her, and obviously failing.

"Oh, hey. You want these in your closet or bureau or what?" She held up one of his shirts.

"Put 'em wherever."

"Oh, I was going to put those away, it's fine…" Ino stepped forward to take the shirt from Shikake.

Takeru jerked his wheelchair slightly, making Ino trip. "I told her, she can put them wherever she _wants_. Stay out of it."

"Takeru, I'm just trying to help…"

"Leave me _alone_, Ino."

The woman collected herself, sighing, and pursed her lips. "Well, I'll be in the kitchen if you need me…"

Karai left with her, which Takeru knew would happen.

"Well? My bureau's over there, I'll be able to reach it more easily."

Shikake shrugged, and began putting his things away.

She came by as she usually did, after that. And Takeru was certainly in better spirits, now that he was more mobile, and able to travel as he pleased in his chair during his free time. To his delight, he was able to make it to his favorite café with little lost breath, and could spend an afternoon comfortably reading without interruption.

The issue of interruption was what kept him out of the house most of the time. Ino was being obnoxiously helpful about _everything_, offering to get things for him at her mildest, and outright offering to help him with his physical therapy at the worst of it. He had to comply, since otherwise his therapist would nag at him during his hospital visits, and the sooner he was walking, the better.

But he _despised_ having that woman be near him, much less _touch_ him.

However, there was someone he certainly _didn't_ mind. "Hey, shrew, you suppose you could stop by more often?"

They were still practicing with marionettes, but these ones were much larger, toddler-sized, and weighing several pounds. "What for, you need more practice?"

"No. Ino's been insisting on doing my home therapy with me and it's _unbearable_. I can teach you what to do so you can replace her." He smirked expectantly. "It'll give you more excuses to visit and keep from being bored, won't it?"

But Shikake, to his surprised, scoffed. "Sure, but what the hell is your problem with your mom?"

Takeru almost laughed in reply. "Excuse me?"

"Like, every time I'm over here you're a total shit to her. I understand the whole affair thing, but she's trying to help you out here, y'know. She's your _mom._"

Takeru lowered his puppet to the floor, gently. "How I treat that woman isn't any of your business, I think."

"Dude, you don't even call her 'mom,' do you?"

"Are you going to do my home therapy or not?"

"I've said it before and I'll say it again, but you suck at deflecting." Shikake attached her chakra-threads to Takeru's puppet, pulling it away from him, and she crossed her legs. "Seriously, you can't be _that_ upset over the whole affair thing, right? I mean, who your dad was doesn't matter, I get that, but your mom's your mom."

Takeru had to take a breath, gather his composure. "It's not the _affair_. Which, need I remind you, I don't care about."

"Sure you don't. So what is it that's got you so pissed off about her?"

Takeru settled more stiffly into his chair, folding his arms. "If there's anything I hate, it's people that try to fake who they are."

"Meaning?"

"That whole helpful act? Trying to do everything she _can_ for me?" He scoffed the venom out of his mouth. "That was _nowhere_ when I was growing up. And honestly? It only makes sense to me now."

Shikake's expression, which was set into her usual indifference, was growing serious. "What does?"

"Kind of obvious how someone acts when they're around a kid they never wanted. You ignore them."

Shikake's eyes fell. "Yeah, you got that right." She snapped back into indifference. "So the affair _has_ gotten to you, huh?"

"It hasn't. Something I've suspected since I was a child is just… confirmed by it."

"Yeah, that's gotten to you." She leaned back in her chair, stretching. "So mommy never loved you, huh?"

Takeru glanced sideways, sourly. "If you have to put it like that. _I'd _put it that she's never given me the help and support I've seen her give my siblings, so her assistance now feels like an insult."

And yet, Shikake shrugged. "I dunno, cripple. Feels to me like you're readin' a bit too into this."

"And what does _that_ mean?"

"You're just lookin' back at the past with a bias. Seeing all the times she wasn't there for you 'cos of this whole affair thing." She re-crossed her legs. "Which, if you _say_ doesn't really bother you, shouldn't even make this an issue."

Takeru clenched the arm of his chair. "You don't know what my childhood was like."

Shikake didn't know about all those times that Ino would ask Hajime, would ask Inou, would even ask the freak how their training that day went, while completely skipping over him. Night, after night, after night.

She didn't know about all those nights where Takeru heard her visiting each of his siblings in their rooms to tuck them in, ignoring him completely.

She didn't know that every time he tried to impress her, to show her how much he had improved, she never praised him. His father—Sasuke would praise him, and his praise filled Takeru with warmth and satisfaction. But she never, ever did.

(He dampened down the sentiment, as he grew older and more confident in his abilities and his rights, but as a young child he remembered a profound feeling of disappointment in himself, and almost reverence for that cold, distant woman.)

(After all, if his father praised him so, then what would he have to do to make _her_ proud?)

But for all his inner seething, Shikake's reply was calm, and almost immediate. "I know what it's like to grow up knowing you weren't wanted, though. Not guessing. _Knowing. _How do you think I was born?"

Takeru tripped over his words, which only made him angrier. "I didn't—ask for this to be… feelings-sharing time."

"Never said it was. Just thought I'd let you know." Her head lolled back as she looked out his window. "Honestly, if I was in your situation, and _my_ mom was going out of her way to help me like yours is? I'd be damn grateful. And I can guarantee you that my mom ain't nearly as nice as yours is."

"Don't tell _me_ to be grateful."

"I'm just sayin'." She shrugged, and the familiar gesture filled him with old resentment.

"I think you should leave now." He hovered a hand over his right wheel, the best physical threat he could manage.

"Yeah, you're being a pissy baby. S'no fun when you're in a shitty mood." She got up, flipped the practice puppets casually into her bag, and hefted it over her shoulder. "I'll come back when you're cooled off."

Takeru couldn't disagree, but out of indignation, he said nothing as she went for the door.

"Seriously, though? Be nicer to your mom."

"Go _away_, shrew."

She waved a hand. "Whatever, cripple."

Takeru waited a while, until he was certain she was gone, before wheeling out of the house and toward the book café, where he stayed for the rest of the afternoon.

(Before Shikake left, she took a detour into the kitchen, where Ino was reading a magazine.)

("Hey, for your sake, I'd steer clear from Takeru for a while. He's workin' out some stuff and you're his scapegoat, so, yeah, probably for the best for you.")

(Ino was a touch confused by her sudden address. "Well, I figured he was angry…)

("I don't care if you were a shitty mom to him growing up, but I can tell he's way overreacting. I'm taking over for his home therapy, by the way, so he'll probably start bein' more friendly to you after you spend some time apart.")

(Ino pursed her lips, obviously trying to be civil. "Well… thank you, Shikake-chan. I'm sure that will make him much happier.")

("Yeah. You and me both." Shikake left as suddenly as she came.)

(Ino had to put down her magazine after she was gone, a fresh layer of guilt painting itself onto her skin.)


	141. Chilled Leftovers

_Chapter 141 - Chilled Leftovers_

* * *

The turning point, as Takeru and Shikake would collectively remember it, was on a November day with a sky as steely and dull as Shikake's beloved metal tools.

Shikake turned up at Takeru's house at her usual time; by that point, she was visiting every day to gently tease him through his physical therapy, bending his legs up and down and catching him when he felt like trying to stand up. His mood had been improving since she replaced his mother, certainly, but for the past few visits he'd been increasingly terse with her, snapping at even the slightest step too far, instead of laughing or snapping back.

That day, when she came by his room, he was sitting by the window, a sour look in his eye.

Shikake immediately noticed. "Okay, what's crawled up your ass today, cripple?"

He didn't look at her. "Not now, Shikake."

The charmingly familiar "shrew" was missing. She put on her guard. "Jeez, sorry. Still, what's the matter?" She approached his chair with her hands in her pockets, as gently as she could manage. "You run out of pain meds or something…?"

"It's not physical pain."

"Then what is it?"

He didn't reply.

"Look, I'll leave if you're having a shitty day, I don't wanna make things worse." Because that just wouldn't be fun to play with, she told herself.

He just sighed, bitterly. "Try having a shitty _life_."

She quieted her voice. "What happened, Takeru?"

He didn't look at her when he finally replied. "My birthday was two weeks ago."

"Oh." She slid on a casual air. "Did you expect a present or somethin'? 'Cos you should have told me if-"

"This isn't. About. You." He swiveled his head sideways, and she could see that his eyes looked slightly puffy. "I turned twenty. I'm an adult now."

She sided with caution. "Yeah? So… what's your deal?"

"I didn't really expect to hear from my father. Given that he's run off on us." He groaned, shaking his head. "But then? Some man shows up on behalf of him with a present and a letter for _Inou_. My _younger_ brother. This… little weakling that he _never_ liked. He gave him a present and a _letter_."

"Uh… huh." Shikake scratched the back of her neck in a show of indifference. "So I'm guessing he didn't send you anything."

"No. I waited, even. I mean, his gift to Inou was late, so maybe mine would be, too." His head lowered. "He's sent me nothing. Not even a letter. On the biggest milestone of my _life_."

Shikake, after thinking it over for a moment, ended up shrugging. "So he forgot your birthday, big deal."

Takeru violently turned his chair around to face her. "My father and I talked for _hours_ about the things we would do to celebrate my becoming an adult. He hasn't sent me _anything,_ Shikake. He's disowned me. He's abandoned me."

Shikake considered her options carefully.

She took the situation into account.

For safety and comfort, she stuck with the usual.

"Well, c'mon, you can't be surprised. I mean, you're his wife's _bastard_. You can't expect him to get over that right away, can you?"

Safety and comfort betrayed her.

"My mother ignored me too. _Everyone_ forgot my birthday. The most important birthday of my _life. _Even my _friends."_

Despite the absolute poison in his voice, she continued on. Maybe out of instinct, or fear.

"You're _surprised?_ Damn, you're oblivious as hell, Takeru. Last I remembered, your mom ignoring you was the status quo. And given what you've told me about the people you call your 'friends'? They have absolutely no reason to give a single shit about you."

His eyes turned to stone. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, do I? Come on. You have nothing but shit to say about the people you hang out with, aside from me. And last I checked? They're not the ones coming to visit you, much less do your _therapy_ for you. Those cripple legs of yours ain't exactly appetizing to look at, you know."

"Shut up."

"C'mon. You know I'm telling the truth. Even _you_ can't deny that."

Takeru didn't say anything, which was as good as an affirmation, to her.

"Face it. I'm the only friend you have, Takeru. So, honestly? The only person you have to blame about people forgetting about your birthday? Is you. One hundred percent you. You could have at _least_ told me when it was, if you wanted to make _sure_ you weren't a total loser on your damn _birthday._"

Takeru sent out a triad of pale blue chakra-threads from his hand, and they snapped against her cheek like a whip. "Get out, you fucking _bitch_."

Shikake covered the bloody sting with her palm, clenching her jaw. "I'll leave you alone." She turned for the door. "But you have nobody to blame but yourself, Takeru."

She left without so much as a word on her way out, keeping her feelings and her words to herself.

Takeru, personally, was grateful she'd left, because any more of her painful honesty, and he'd have probably lost composure even more than he had already.

Of course he had friends. He had plenty of friends! And they knew when his birthday was, they were just… busy, for whatever reason.

His father—he wouldn't refer to the man as Sasuke, not like that whore of a mother of his—was an exception to the rule.

…but something in the girl's words pulled at him, nagging insistently.

He had friends. He had admirers, _worshipers,_ even. They cared enough to celebrate his birthday, and would certainly have visited if they weren't occupied.

He just.

He didn't need to make sure.

But he wanted to.

After making sure his face was made up, that he looked cool and composed, he wheeled to the kitchen and used the phone.

He'd call Gyosei. Gyosei was the closest thing to a best friend that he had. He'd certainly have a _legitimate_ excuse for not visiting on his birthday.

The wait for him to pick up was excruciating.

When he picked up, he heard a woman gasping, moaning on the other end.

"Mm, who is this…?"

Takeru had to swallow. "Gyosei? It's Takeru."

"Ah, Takeru, old boy. What's the occasion?' Gyosei sounded astonishingly casual, considering the girl he was obviously pleasuring at the same time.

"Just… wondering why you didn't come by to visit for my birthday."

"Oh, it was your _birthday? Terribly_ sorry. Was it yesterday?"

The girl in the background gasped with pleasure.

"It was—two weeks ago." Takeru had to swallow again.

"Two _weeks_ ago? How can you expect me to _remember,_ then?" He hummed, deep and satisfied. "You should have _told_ me."

"I… figured you already knew."

"Come on, now. You're wonderful, Takeru, but you can't expect me to _remember_ these things. Not when I have so much _else_ on my plate."

Takeru could hear the girl speaking.

"Mm, Gyosei… For lunch… I'm wondering what we should have for lunch…"

The voice was bubblegum-familiar. It belonged to the girl on Hajime's team. The Haruno midget.

For the first time in his life, Takeru felt disgust for the conquest of women that he once celebrated with Gyosei.

And his disgust only thickened as Gyosei continued to talk to him, completely ignoring the girl. "If you want me to come by and visit, then let me know in advance, won't you? Make sure you're feeling up to it. You're no fun when you're… how should I put it?" He hummed again, in pleasure. "Ah, yes. Acting like a victim or in pain or whatever. Since you're _so_ above that, aren't you?"

Takeru hung up without another word.

Sure, mentally, he never really thought of Gyosei as a "best friend" or whatever frivolous title "normal" people dealt with.

But he at least relied on the man to… remember something like his birthday. He remembered Gyosei's birthday, and would treat him with interested girls, or a dinner out, at least.

And Gyosei was the man he had the _most_ trust in.

Who could say how little his other peers thought of him?"

"Takeru…? What's wrong, are you okay?"

Somewhere in the thinking, Ino had appeared. Her hands were cautiously held at her waist, and her expression was almost afraid.

Bitterness was on Takeru's tongue, and bitterness is what came out.

"Am I really so despicable as to have my birthday ignored by _everyone_ I know?"

Ino's response was hardly immediate. She drew a little closer. "Takeru, is this because I didn't throw you a party for your birthday…?"

"You didn't throw a party for Inou." He sniffed. "You cooked both him and me the foods we enjoy on our birthdays. I expected that. So don't use that as an excuse."

Her voice grew softer. "…is it Sasuke, then…?"

He chuffed. "Even you can't call him my father any more, can you?"

Ino didn't reply.

"Please, save yourself the guilt. I already figured he'd… ignore me or disown me, now that the truth is out." His bitter mouth crusted over onto his lips, crackling into a painful smirk. "It's not about him."

"Then what's the matter, Takeru…?" She was only a few steps away from his chair, now. "Is there something you want me to do for you?"

The bitterness in his mouth was becoming liquid, and threatened to overflow.

"If you could? Stop people from pretending that I don't exist any more, now that I'm like—this." He reached for his wheels. "No pressure, though! I don't expect much from you."

He charged into the hallway before she could reply, before the threat of tears could latch onto his face.

In an instance of lucky horror, he ran into the freak on the way there.

He didn't worry about her judging him or even having any sort of emotional reaction to his unkempt face; that wasn't in her nature.

He poised a sharp-edged insult to get her out of the way.

But.

Maybe it was the sheer upset of the day, or the feeling of invisibility in his life that was growing greater and greater by the hour, with each interaction on the street, with his so-called friends, with his family.

But he realized, as messed-up as it sounded, and as immediately as his mind recoiled against it.

Nadeshiko was probably the person that understood him most, at this weakest, most pathetic moment in his life.

Why he said anything to her was anyone's guess.

But he said something to her, as he passed.

"Anything I've said to you, about how you deserve to be ignored or passed-over or hated? I take it back. Nobody deserves that." He passed out of view of her. "Not even you."

And he heard her reply, as he reached the door of his room.

"No. Nobody deserves that."

He sighed, the only sign of commiseration or acknowledgment he could spare, before closing the door behind him and covering his eyes with his palms.

He wasn't crying.

But for all the loneliness and abandonment he felt, he might as well have been.

* * *

Although he was entirely unaware of it, Shikake understood Takeru's troubles on a visceral and immediate level.

She just had to get home and think about it first, before acting.

What mainly and immediately concerned her was how much she _cared_. And related to that, how that fact _disturbed_ her.

Sure, messing with Takeru had been fun, but she never expected to actually _feel_ for the guy like she did.

After all, there were very few people she truly cared for, and she knew it. Neither of her parents had wanted her, but kept her around for whatever the hell reason; Inou and Chouko were her teammates for similar reasons of family obligation. They weren't the sort of people she'd willingly hang around with, after all. Everyone else was just a tool or a connection to something she needed, and she liked it that way.

Her uncles, Gaara and Kankuro, and Morizuru, she kept near to her heart because they actually _listened_ to her, or at least let her do what she wanted willingly. She'd grown up playing with blocks in Gaara's office, and helping clean the tools in Kankuro's workshop, soaking in his art with eager ears. And as she grew older, she confided in Morizuru, who at least could sympathize in her feelings of indifference and separation from the rest of the world. They were people she needed nothing from, yet wanted to be around.

And now, she felt that way about Takeru. Practically, again, she could say he was a way to pass the time, a convenient source of blackmail on the side, but the more time they spent together, the less she wanted to actually toy with him like that.

He listened to her. He learned from her. And now, she knew all too painfully, that her acknowledgement of him was something he desperately needed.

(And something she needed as well.)

And there she'd gone and pulled the dick move of telling him that, not only did he not have any friends at _all_ besides her, but that he had nobody else to blame for this.

She wasn't lying, of course, and she would never take it back. After all, Takeru had nothing but feathery gossip at best for the people he called his friends, and would talk about their greatest failings without a moment's hesitation with her. He obviously had little respect for them.

(And perhaps that was one of the reasons they got along so well. There was a certain loneliness that came with that sort of thinking.)

But for people like him (and like her) true friends were rare treasures, and to have one's trust betrayed like that was a low blow, even for their standards.

Yeah, whatever, so she cared about how he felt, the end. That was out of the way. She wanted to get to the matter of making it up to him without the messy business of saying she was sorry directly.

The best thing to do was probably to go back and pretend nothing was wrong, doing his therapy, practicing the puppet jutsu, all that. Knowing Takeru, he'd probably do the same, pretending that his show of weakness had been a delusion. Nothing wrong with that.

But in the long run, she had his mood to deal with. Having to deal with his mopey ass would be way too much trouble over time.

Well, nobody had given him a birthday present. She could fix that, easy.

The problem was what would suit him.

She knew what he liked: expensive tea, pretentious books, classical music tapes from foreign composers. This, she knew, mostly from the few times he'd complained about stuffy air and insisted she wheel him out to a café or whatever. He paid for them both, whenever they went, so she knew that there was no way she'd be able to afford any of that kind of stuff with her savings from the wimpy missions she'd done with Chouko and Inou in the past.

She could always give him one of her old puppets, so he could actually _own_ one, but he wasn't the sort of person that valued owning leftovers; he'd probably mock her—and not playfully—about it if she went through with it, much like she felt he would if she'd scraped up the money to buy an album and discovered in the giving it that it was one he already had, or hated.

…a new puppet, though?

The gears in her head began to turn.

And the next day, she came by at her usual time, acting as if absolutely nothing had happened. Takeru's mood was still quite dark, but at least he played along. And she came back the next day, and it was very much the same. A few weeks passed like this, and eventually, she figured, he decided to forget about it.

But she refused to.

Outwardly, she gave absolutely no indication that she'd been affected, or that she was even taking action.

She was, however, found out. Though luckily for her, it was somebody she couldn't have cared less about.

Shikake had taken care to keep quiet while she was working, getting most everything done while Shikamaru was asleep or out of the house. She'd made calls to Kankuro during this time, as well, usually at night; the time difference between them meant that she'd be able to talk to him comfortably in private.

She was using an adze that evening, which produced a considerable scraping noise against the wood. And Shikamaru heard.

He opened the door without knocking, his eyes narrowed from lack of sleep. "What the hell are you doing."

Shikake looked over her shoulder from where she was working at her desk. She had her goggles on. "I'm working. Did I wake you up?"

"Yes. What are you working on?"

"Nothing too important. Go back to sleep, Dad."

Instead, he came closer. "Is that a puppet?"

She returned to her work, scraping at what was going to be a skull-piece. "Yes, it's a puppet."

"Who gave it to you?"

She sighed. "Nobody. I made it."

"You made it?"

"I bought the raw materials in the industrial district with my savings and I call Uncle Kankuro whenever I get stuck. It'll be done in like a week." She blew the sawdust off the piece.

Shikamaru crossed his arms. "When were you out of the house?"

She turned around again. "If you don't know when I've been out of the house then I don't think it matters."

"You're supposed to be grounded."

"Doin' a real great job of enforcing that, Dad." Shikake put the adze away and reached for some sandpaper.

Shikamaru grumbled. "You know, how am I supposed to punish you when you don't even listen to me?"

She shrugged. "I dunno, maybe try paying attention to me for once? If you cared a little more you'd know what I've been up to."

"Guess I'll have to take your tools away, then." He reached for one of her screwdrivers.

Shikake, however, stopped him, grabbing his wrist and turning around on her stool. "Okay, this is a bad idea for a lot of reasons. For one, I'll just find where you hid them and go back to doing my thing, so it won't mean anything. For two, you'll forget about it and, again, it won't mean anything. And for three? I'm making this puppet for a damn good reason, though I don't expect it'd be one _you'd_ understand, given your track record."

"What wouldn't I understand?"

"Caring about someone other than yourself."

Shikamaru's face puckered slightly, as if he were trying not to yawn. "Since when did you get so disrespectful?"

She didn't even care enough to laugh. "You've asked me that at least once a month since I was twelve. It doesn't change anything for either of us, so you're probably better off going back to bed. Less troublesome, mm?"

Shikamaru finally yawned. "Keep the noise down."

"Oh, trust me, I will. Don't want you bothering me, after all." She went back to work, but added something in. "Tell you what, though. You stop pretending I'm grounded, and I'll tell you whenever I leave the house. Deal?"

Shikamaru sighed, scratched the back of his head, and turned for the door. "Just don't get in trouble."

Shikake smirked, and listened as the door closed behind her before returning to work.

It was the first time she'd ever felt like she'd come out of an interaction with her father as the winner, and not the recipient of a stalemate.


	142. Mulligan Stew

_Chapter 142 - Mulligan Stew_

* * *

Shikake had given Takeru fair warning about her leaving him.

It was her routine, and there was no way she was giving it up. Every year, a week before New Year's Eve, she would take a transport down to the Land of Wind and spend the holidays with her mother and uncles, and stay there until the middle of January. It was the highlight of her year, and she'd already received letters from Morizuru expressing sarcastic delight at her imminent presence.

Through her deliberate and dry persuasion, she managed to get him to allow Ino to take over for her in her absence, when it came to physical therapy. "Hey, it'll mean she's not ignoring you, right? You won't have to talk to her or anything." Shikake was massaging his ankles over the subject. "Like, at least that."

"Sure, sure." Takeru, she'd noticed, had been far less short with his mother since the birthday incident, so she suspected he'd either had a change of heart or she'd done something for him to bring that about. Either way, it was a relief for her, since that meant less complaining overall.

She also gave him the address of Temari's house in Sand, so he could write to her, as well as her phone number. "I mean, if you're really so pathetic as to need to actually _talk_ to me."

"Don't count on me making use of it, shrew." He'd smiled as he took the piece of paper from her. "Not like I don't have other things to do."

"Sure, cripple."

But the last of her preparations was a request. "Come to my place the day I leave. I could use a bit of help moving some stuff."

"You think _I_ could help you?"

"You're getting pretty damn good at lifting stuff with chakra threads." And this was true, since he'd gotten to the point where he could lift and maneuver one of her adult-sized puppets with ease, though he was far from being able to use it as fluidly as Shikake. "Plus it's probably easier to carry a suitcase in your lap than to lug it all the way by hand."

Takeru's smile in reply surprised her—not the fact that he _was_ smiling, but there was something new in the quality of it. "If you say so."

He showed up, as promised, at the Nara house, dressed impeccably and carrying a strange, long case at the back of his wheelchair.

Shikake was immediately curious as she opened the door for him. "What's that you got there, a goodbye present?"

"Something like that. Can you lift my chair up?"

"_Please._" Shikake's fingers curled as she attached threads to the arm rests and back of the chair, and slowly and carefully lifted it up the foyer step and into the house proper. "Gentle enough for you?"

"It was passable."

"So what's on the chair?"

Takeru's smile was full of that mysterious fire again as he reached behind him and unzipped the thin black case. Inside were a set of aluminum canes—walking braces. Carefully, he pushed himself to his feet, and balanced himself as he attached the cuffs to his wrists and arms.

Shikake was absolutely silent as she watched him unfold.

And then he began, slowly, to walk. He leaned heavily against his braces, and was obviously making a great effort to even move his feet slightly, but he was walking.

"Well—look at you."

"Not bad for a cripple, huh?" He was starting to lose his breath. "I wanted to show you before you left. Can't get very far, but I'm way ahead of schedule. People like me tend to still be drooling in wheelchairs this far out, not here."

"Expected nothing less from the—boy wonder." There was something caught in her throat, and she coughed. "Well, that and all that help I've been giving you."

"It's your help that's gotten me this far, shrew. My therapist says I've only been able to get this far because we were working at it every day." He had gotten close enough to her so that they were only a few feet apart. "So I have you to thank. Hope you're proud of me."

"Come on, you think I'm not happy to see my hard work pay off?" She put her hands on her hips. "Got a ways to go, but I gotta say, cripple, that's pretty great."

"Pretty soon I'll be getting around as fast as the rest of you." His arms were trembling with effort, now. "Probably won't get rid of these… braces 'cos of my damn _back_, but I'll at least be able to walk _normally_."

"Yes, yes, we're all very impressed, now sit your ass down before you fall over." Shikake walked behind him and pushed his chair closer. "I'm not picking you up, you know."

Takeru sat back down in the chair as if he were falling, and got to work taking the braces off. "Please, I'm better than that."

"Sure."

Once the braces were back in their case, he returned them to the back of his chair. "So where's this stuff I'm supposed to be hauling?"

She shrugged noncommittally. "I ended up taking care of it myself. Most of my stuff's already at the house, anyways."

His face lowered. "Then what do you need me here for? An excuse to say goodbye?"

"No, there's something I gotta foist off onto you, f'you'll take it."

His distaste turned to suspicion. "'Foist off'?"

"Yeah. Gimme a minute, I'll go get it."

Takeru folded his arms in the chair. "I'll give you a minute."

Shikake carried a secret smile with her as she went to her room, and carried a child-sized form out in her arms, draped in a black cloth.

Takeru's suspicion only deepened. "What is _that_."

"Try lifting it. Don't worry, s'not a joke or a trap or whatever."

A host of exploratory blue feelers snaked forth from Takeru's thin, elegant hands, and wandered over the black cloth, looking for places to attach.

And then it lifted itself out of Shikake's arms, uncurling and becoming more human in form.

"Is this a puppet?"

"Yup." It was a gnarled, human-type puppet, hunched over and with slender, gangly limbs. The face was carved with thin eyes, and hair crafted from wool that curled and surrounded it like black cloud.

"I haven't seen this one before." Takeru, now that he'd found the limbs, began lifting them up and down experimentally. "One of yours?"

"Not really."

"Don't tell me you _stole_ it."

"Nah. I made it. For you."

Takeru stopped what he was doing. "You made this?"

"For you. Don't leave that part out."

Genuine confusion entered his eyes. "Why would you do that?"

"Well, one reason is because you were sort of the inspiration after a while. I carved the back crooked so it would be easier to collapse and carry around or hide. I ended up making it lighter to lift an' use than most puppets 'cos you're only starting out." She tried to sound as uninterested as possible. "The other reason is 'cos you didn't get anything for your birthday, so I figured, better late than never, huh?"

"This is… a birthday present?"

"Yeah."

Takeru's smile spread slowly. "So you felt sorry for me."

"Don't flatter yourself. I'm just giving this to you so you'll owe me and give me something for _my_ birthday." Her smirk turned genuine. "I don't really get that many presents, if you know what I mean. So I might as well force _you_."

He folded the puppet into itself, legs perfectly folded against the curved spine. It was an unconventional, but clever design. "When's your birthday, then?"

"April twenty-eighth. And you'd better not forget."

Takeru transferred the puppet to his lap, and smiled in return. "I won't. There's no way I'll keep myself in the debt of a shrew like you."

"Don't disappoint me, cripple."

When the time came, they went, together, to the transport station, and Takeru waved her off from the platform.

Once a week, in place of their old routine, he wrote to her, and her reply would always arrive within the same week. Though he never stooped so low as to call her himself, and she compensated by making the effort when she could.

Gossip was so much easier to discuss with talking rather than writing, after all. And she wasn't going to stay away from any of that.

And there was _excellent_ gossip within the first week of Shikake's leaving, as it happened.

The day before New Year's Eve, Takeru received a visitor. He'd been working with his new puppet—he'd named it Hunchback, to Shikake's approval—and would have asked not to be bothered, had Ino not told him who it was.

"I'm _abandoned!_ I can't believe she would _do_ this!" Gyosei looked very much unlike himself, there in Takeru's room, his coffee-creamer hair loosened messily. His clothes were wrinkled.

Takeru let him rant as he continued his puppet exercises, and he learned the whole story quite quickly.

To Gyosei's utter horror, his "adorable whore" of a little sister, Furawa, had finally decided to take a stand and move out so she could live with her girlfriend, Haruno Sakari.

"And I'd even gone so far as to sleep with that—that dwarf woman to keep her _away!_ I mean, I don't care who she's with normally, I'll let her sleep with _anyone_, that's no issue, but that girl was giving her _ideas! _Telling her to—to move out, and think for herself!"

Sakari, once she'd gotten over the hormones and the lies, was more than a little angry at Gyosei's seduction of her, and went so far as to march to his home, punch him in the face and stomach, and give him a severe talking-to before leaving with his sister.

"Furawa was _happy_ with me! Oh, what am I going to _do…_"

It was there that Takeru finally said something. "Oh, grow _up_. You know the only reason you kept your sister around like that was because she did all the housework for you so you could sleep around. And the only reason she never _left_ was because you either stole or ruined everything she liked outside the house."

Gyosei blinked a few times. "Excuse me…?"

"You really should have known better than to mess with that Haruno woman. You say she gave Furawa _ideas?_ Good for her, then. The world needs more independent people."

Gyosei was starting to pout. "H-How can you be so insensitive…?"

"Insensitive? You're acting like a toddler whose toy got taken away. And from the way you treated your sister, she might as _well_ have been your toy." He kept his eyes up, returning to the puppet. "Go somewhere else if you want sympathy, because I'm done with you."

Gyosei left, and never visited Takeru again. But this was an obvious result, considering that Gyosei still considered people to be nothing better than resources.

Takeru, obviously, was moving beyond that. He was an adult, after all. Well beyond that childish kind of thinking.

There was more gossip and more news in Shikake's absence, which Takeru, of course, passed on to her.

Around the same time that Takeru heard it from Gyosei, Sakari showed up at her house with her girlfriend, gasping delightedly for air, and loudly informing her family that they were going to get married. Lee, of course, was immediately behind the idea, though Sakura (after making sure they were serious) had to make sure with Naruto that such a thing was legally okay. Since there weren't any laws that said otherwise—and in Naruto's definition, a lack of law was as good as permission—the announcement went out that the marriage was to happen in the spring.

But the biggest piece of news—and the only time Takeru ever called Shikake first to share—was when Hajime's baby was finally born.


	143. Cordyceps Extract

_Chapter 143 - Cordyceps Extract_

* * *

It was New Year's Eve at the Hyuuga compound, and Ninako wasn't coming out of her room.

Of course, this was nothing new. She hadn't rightly left her family's house for close to a month now, if not more, and usually stayed in her room whenever possible, avoiding anyone she didn't invite in.

(And she _did_ have visitors from Outside. Sakari visited frequently with the intent of cheering her up and trying to make Ninako's situation easier to bear, talking about how cute the baby was going to be, and promising to act as a go-between for Ninako and Hajime, so they could still keep in touch.)

(Sakari talked, but Ninako only barely listened, and didn't respond at all.)

But this was a special night. New Years was important everywhere, in Konoha, but in the Hyuuga clan it was especially significant. Every member of the clan came together on those days, to feast and to have announcements made: betrothals, retirements, and so on.

(And expected children, if it was early enough.)

Nobody ever missed New Years. Nobody.

And still, Ninako wasn't coming out of her room.

Her mother, Hasami, rapped impatiently on the door-frame a half hour before the feast was set to begin. "Ninako, unless you're getting dressed in there, you should be out here!"

Ninako didn't say anything. And her mother could tell that she wasn't getting dressed.

"Is she okay?" Neji came down the hallway, adjusting his coat.

"She's being difficult," Hasami sighed. "I've been asking her to come out for, what, an hour now? She isn't even talking to me."

Neji tilted his head in concern, and knocked on the door-frame himself. "Ninako, is everything all right?"

"I'm fine, Dad, just leave me alone," Ninako's voice came, quietly, out.

Neji's forehead creased. "You don't sound fine. Are you feeling okay?"

"No."

"Do you feel sick?" he continued.

"No, Dad, I just don't want to go out."

"Ninako, stop being foolish," Hasami cut in. "The feast is in a half hour! We can't miss it."

"You don't have to," Ninako said. "Just go without me."

Hasami blinked, looking somewhat offended. "And give everyone a reason to gossip? You not being there would reflect badly on us, Ninako."

"I already reflect badly on you. And they aren't going to say anything you or I haven't heard already," Ninako said. "I just don't want to hear it any more."

"_Ninako_."

"Darling, let me handle this," Neji said, putting a hand on his wife's shoulder. "Ninako, I know that you're in a… difficult situation right now, but this is more than just you tonight. This is the _family._ And it's just one night. Can you manage one night?"

"I don't think the _family_ wants me there, honestly," Ninako said.

"Ninako, just _one_ night," Neji said.

"Dad, just… stop. I don't want to be there, and the family doesn't want me there either." A spark of her voice's old fire flared back for a moment, before dampening severely. "There's no room in the Hyuuga clan for the mother of an abomination, after all…"

Hasami made a disgusted sigh. "This is absolutely ridiculous…"

But Neji crouched slightly, pressing his hand against the screen door. "Ninako, I want you there, and you will _always_ be a part of this family, no matter what happens."

"Please leave me alone," Ninako replied; her miserable tone made it quite clear that this was the last thing she wanted to hear, and Neji received it uncomfortably.

So Neji stood, and adjusted his coat again. "Hasami, let's leave her be."

"_What?_"

"Ninako doesn't have to come with us."

"What—no, of course she does!"

But Neji shook his head. "We can just say she's ill tonight. Everyone knows about her condition, so it's not too difficult to accept," he said. "Nobody will raise a fuss."

Hasami considered all this, and then sighed. "Fine. But if anything happens because of this-"

"Hasami, darling, let's finish getting ready." Neji gently held the edge of her stole with his fingers.

"…Ninako, you'd best take advantage of this and rest while we're gone," Hasami concluded. "We're still going to visit the temple tomorrow morning, and we're going _together_."

"That's fine," Ninako said quietly. "I can handle that."

"If you need us, Ninako, you know where we are," Neji said. He motioned with his hand to leave, and went with his wife to their bedroom to finish getting dressed.

Hasami didn't say anything until they were on their way to the clan meeting hall, the site of the feast: "The girl's an adult, for heaven's sake, why are we letting her act like a child about this?"

"Because she deserves to at least be treated like a _human_ by her parents," Neji replied, and his wife fell silent.

Of course, at the feast, people noticed Ninako's absence, and talked.

And Ninako had been right: they weren't saying anything she hadn't heard before, whispered mentions of disgrace and monsters.

But one person noticed her absence, and instead of feeling spiteful or mean, felt worried.

"Neji," Hinata said, gently touching his hand as she passed his place at one of the dinner tables, "where is Ninako?"

"She's not feeling well tonight, so she decided not to come," Neji replied.

"She's not feeling well…?" Hinata said.

"Mm."

"Is it the baby?" she added, whispering.

"It's exactly what you think it is," Neji replied, his eyes lowered. His wife, beside him, said nothing.

Hinata returned to her seat, and focused on her food for a while.

And after some thought, she flagged down a servant and whispered something into her ear, calmly finished her meal, and took the fresh plate delivered to her by the servant on a tray in both her hands, and excused herself from the hall. Everyone saw her leave, but few dared remark or wonder as to where she could possibly be going.

(After all, Hanabi had been sitting right beside her, and done nothing to stop her.)

Hinata went straight to Neji's house, not even bothering to cover her silk kimono with a coat or a stole. And once inside, she went to Ninako's room, and kneeled in front of the door with the tray.

"Ninako? It's me, Hinata. May I come in?"

"I'm not going to the feast," Ninako replied.

"I never asked you to. I brought food for you, actually. I figured you were hungry."

"…ah, sure, you can come in then…"

Carefully, Hinata slid open the door from the bottom, and walked in with the tray.

Ninako was sitting by the window with her knees drawn to her swollen belly, her hands clasped around her legs. She was still in her pajamas, and her expression was tight, almost strained.

Hinata set the tray between them, and sat down. "Your father told me you weren't feeling well. Is everything all right?" she said.

Ninako shook her head. "No, nothing's all right."

"Do you want to talk to me about it?"

"What's there to talk about that you don't already know?" Ninako said, lowering her head towards her knees. "Go back to the feast hall and talk to _anyone, they'll _tell you."

"But I haven't talked to _you_ in a while," Hinata replied. "Really, how are you feeling, Ninako?"

Ninako sighed bitterly, her shoulders slumping. "I don't know, Aunt Hinata, I just… don't," she said. Her face finally loosened a little. "I don't even feel like a _person_ any more, these days."

"Now why do you say that…?" Hinata said.

"Please don't humor me…" Ninako replied. "This whole… thing that's been going on inside of me. The way people talk about it, it's like I've got some sort of… _disease_ or _parasite_ that's… I don't know, _contagious_. So I have to be avoided until I'm cured."

Hinata leaned forward, putting a hand on the tatami before her. "Ninako," she said, like so many times before, "being pregnant isn't a _disease_."

"Yeah, but try convincing _them_." Ninako gestured with her hand before bowing her head lower. "I might as _well_ be sick; it's easier that way…"

"Ninako, how is that easier?"

"Because you can't help it if you get sick. You get sympathy, I guess." She pressed her chin into her right shoulder, looking away. "Better that than being the mother of an _abomination…_"

Hinata pushed the tray aside, and crept up next to Ninako, putting a hand on her knee. "Ninako, your child isn't an abomination, or a parasite, or a disease, or anything else. It's a _baby_. That's _all._"

Ninako was still looking away, but she wiped at her eyes with her palm. "Then why doesn't it feel that way…?"

Hinata had to wait to gather her response. "Well, I have a theory…"

"Yeah, what is it…?" Ninako said, miserably.

"I think that they—everyone that's been saying these things to you—I think they're jealous of you, Ninako."

Ninako made a joyless laugh, and finally looked at her aunt. "How could _anyone_ be _jealous_ of me? Of… of _this?_" She held a hand above her belly, refusing to even touch it.

"Because I'd be hard-pressed to find _anyone_ in this family with the bravery to do what you're doing, and that makes them feel… weak, in comparison," Hinata replied.

"Brave…?"

"Anyone else in your situation, I think, would have taken the easy way out. Pretended that nothing had happened, that their love had never existed, and moved on." Hinata shook her head. "But you, Ninako, you had the bravery to _fight_, and you and Hajime-san chose _together_ to let your child live, in the face of everything. That, I think, is incredibly brave."

Ninako lowered her head again. "You're just saying that…"

"It's what I believe," Hinata said, gently. "And beyond that, I think _anyone_ would feel blessed to have someone like Hajime-san in their lives, much less the father of their child."

Ninako didn't say anything, just tightening into herself, and whimpering a little.

"I miss him," she finally said.

Hinata moved her hand from Ninako's knee to her back, and began to slowly and gently rub between her shoulders. "I know you do, Ninako."

"I just wish he were _here_…" she continued. "So I wouldn't have to… go through this alone…"

"You _aren't_ alone, Ninako. I'm here, and your parents are behind you too," Hinata said.

Ninako whimpered again.

"And Hajime-san is with you too. He may not be here right now, but he made a _promise_ to you to raise your child with love, and that doesn't go away, no matter what happens, or where you are."

Ninako closed her eyes. "I know that, I _know_ that…" she said. "It's just…" She inhaled sharply. "What if he _can't?_"

"What if he can't…?" Hinata rested her hand on one of Ninako's shoulder blades.

"The… what if he can't love the baby…?" Ninako's voice was growing increasingly tight, higher-pitched. "I mean… I can't… sometimes I can't picture even _him_ loving this… this _thing_ inside me, so…!"

With those words, Hinata gently wrapped an arm around Ninako's back, and tucked her other hand beneath the girl's chin. "Now you listen here, Ninako," she said, iron beneath her soft voice, "that 'thing' inside you is a _child_, and it _will_ be loved. No matter what it looks like, or what your heart might try to tell you. Hajime made a _promise_ to you because he loves you, _and_ he loves your child just as much, and that's not a promise you break easily."

Ninako began blinking far too much, sticky tears gathering in her eyelashes. "How can you be sure…?"

"I've watched you fall in love with that young man for years, Ninako," Hinata said, smiling a little. "A love like that _lasts_."

And Ninako, finally, smiled back a little, though uncertainly. "So he'll love it, even if I can't, huh…?"

"Ninako, there's no reason why you can't…"

(But a memory with wet, razor-sharp edges was creeping across Hinata's mind.)

Ninako was lowering her head again, wiping her eyes. "After it's… out of me, I'll never get to see it again, right?" she said. "So it's… easier not to get attached, it won't hurt as much when I have to… let go."

Hinata put a hand on Ninako's stomach, and she felt a flutter of movement respond to her touch. And Ninako cringed.

"Don't feel afraid to love this child," Hinata said. "Even after it's born, no matter where it is, or if you never see it again, you'll still be connected, and remembering it as _your_ baby instead of this _thing_ that was growing inside of you for nine months—that'll only hurt you _less_."

Ninako's face grew uncomfortable.

"I understand what you're trying to do, and I hear how you talk about it," Hinata continued. "But you can't let the words of everyone else get to you like this, and let them shape the way you think about your child. You're not sick. You're having a baby that is _loved_ and _wanted_ by someone. That's what you need to remember."

And Ninako, with a great lightness and hesitance of touch, put her hand on Hinata's hand, tears leaking silently out of her eyes. "I'll try," she said, quietly.

"I know you will," Hinata replied. And she breathed in, and smiled a little more brightly. "Let's have something to eat, now, it'll have you feeling much better."

"Yeah, I'm kinda hungry…" Ninako said.

But as Hinata pulled away from their half-embrace to get the tray, Ninako tightened into herself once more, moaning a little.

"Are you all right?" Hinata asked.

"Yeah, just… my back's been aching lately," Ninako replied.

Hinata took her hands off the tray, and returned to Ninako's shoulders. "Your back?"

"Yeah, and my hips a bit, too," Ninako said, exhaling. "It's been pretty bad today…"

Hinata gently patted her hand across the small of Ninako's back, sending out soothing and searching chakra. "Is it a constant pain?"

"Mm? Nah, it… it comes and goes," Ninako said.

She paused. "How often?"

"Huh? I dunno, it acts up every few minutes I guess…"

"Hold still for a moment, please." Hinata moved her hand to the side of Ninako's belly, and felt, and waited. Then: "Is the pain mostly in your lower back?"

"Yeah, I suppose…?" Ninako said.

Hinata pulled her hand away from Ninako's belly. "Ninako," she said, "I think you're in labor."

Ninako grimaced in confusion. "Labor…? You mean, like… the baby's coming?" Hinata nodded. "But my water hasn't broken or anything—that's what's supposed to happen, right? And it's not like my back hurting _now_ is anything weird, I mean…"

"Ninako," Hinata said, "you're having contractions. I know what they feel like. I'm going to go get the midwife."

"What…? No, I mean, the baby can't be coming _now…_"

"It probably won't be here for several hours," Hinata said, "but I think tonight's the night."

Ninako's breathing began to increase. "No, no, it can't be tonight, it's going to get in the way of everything, and my parents are going to have to deal with all the _talk_ and-"

"Ninako, calm down…" Hinata took her niece's hand, and gently squeezed. "The only people that need to know are the midwife and your parents. I'll make sure you're given your space. Nobody's going to bother you for this."

Ninako swallowed, and tried to listen. "But I… I don't think I'm ready, though…"

"I don't think anyone ever is," Hinata said, and let go of Ninako's hand to weave a series of warmly familiar hand-signs.

A moment later, a double of Hinata stood above them, wearing an identically worried expression to her original.

"I'll stay with you while my clone gets the midwife," Hinata said. "Don't worry, I'm going to stay with you the _entire_ time. You're going to be okay."

Ninako moaned lightly in discomfort, maybe from emotional pain, maybe from a contraction, and Hinata pulled her closer so she could lean against her chest and rest.


	144. Raw Oyster

_Chapter 144 - Raw Oyster_

* * *

Hinata's double went to do her duty. She walked across the courtyard and back to the feast hall, where things had carried on as usual, as she expected. Tsuki the midwife she found chatting amicably with other women her age, unworried housewives.

"Tsuki-san?" she said. "I need your help."

Tsuki looked over her shoulder, ending a sentence, and smiled slightly. "Hinata-sama, what might I do for you?"

"I need you to attend to Ninako."

Her smile soured, and her companions held hands to their tightened mouths. "The one having the… half-breed?"

"Yes. I think she's in labor and I want you to assess her."

"Tch. Hinata-sama, you know as well as I do that childbirth takes _time_. The girl probably won't need me for _hours_. Can't it wait until the morning, at least?"

Her eyes narrowed. "Do not disobey me, Tsuki-san. When I ask for you to do your duty, you had best obey, regardless of your personal opinion."

The cluster of women huddled in closer, nervously, with Tsuki at the front. "W-Well, um… I'm only saying that, considering the festivities, Hinata-sama, that perhaps it's best to wait…"

"I doubt that Ninako's child will agree with you," she replied. "You will come with me immediately, and you will not leave until your job is done, Tsuki-san."

Tsuki looked uncomfortably back at her friends, who shied away visibly, one of them even batting a hand—"_Go, already!"_

"Fine," Tsuki said, and she cleared her throat. "Just give me time to gather my supplies and change into something more… practical."

"Quickly," she said, and she watched as Tsuki hustled away and out of the hall.

The double aimed to follow her, to make sure, but before she could leave, Neji caught her. "Hinata, is Ninako okay? What's wrong?"

"Neji…!" She paused, stopped. "She's… in labor, Neji."

"The baby's coming? Now?" She nodded. Neji looked over his shoulder, almost nervously. "Wait for me; I'm going to tell my wife, but I'm going with you."

"You want to be there…?"

"Of course I do…!" Neji made that over-the-shoulder glance again, agitated by his worry. "Please, just one moment…"

She nodded. "Of course. I'll wait for you."

Neji's wife decided, as expected, to stay behind. "I'll… say you had too much to drink and went to bed early, if anyone asks," she said, in seeing him off.

"Thank you, Hasami," Neji said, but she held up her hand.

"Please, just… go," she said. "Be with Ninako."

Tsuki the midwife had already arrived and set up her supplies, when Neji and the double returned. As soon as the double was dismissed, Hinata understood Neji's presence just a little more readily, and smiled kindly at him.

"Dad, what are you doing here…?" Ninako was still leaned up against Hinata's chest, one of her hands clenched into a kimono sleeve.

"I'm here to support you," Neji replied, simply. "I was with your mother when you were born, so it's only right that I be here for my grandchild as well."

Ninako's smile was pained, and she closed her eyes. "Thanks, Dad…"

Neji took his place beside her, and held her hand. "No need to thank me. It's what I'm here for."

The hours that passed after that were slow, and they were painful.

The midwife had determined that Ninako was indeed in labor, and dilating, but that the contractions—though rapid—were weak in comparison, and not doing their work in getting the baby out as well as they could have.

"It'll come out, don't worry," she explained, gruffly. "But we're going to be here awhile."

The pain intensified. Hinata and Neji took turns supporting Ninako as she rocked and winced through the contractions when they came, each of them only leaving her to change into simpler clothes, or to fetch water.

They distracted her, in their own ways. Hinata rubbed her back and stimulated chakra points to ease her pain, and Neji talked to her, mostly about her childhood, of better times than this. "Remember when you had the flu that one year, and you couldn't stop throwing up?"

"Mm…"

"And we brought you to the hospital, and you wanted me to sneak in your favorite book, but it was after visiting hours, so I… dressed up as a nurse to get it to you?"

Hinata chuckled politely, and Ninako leaned against her father's chest. "Yeah, I remember that…"

"Let's hope we don't ever have to do that again, okay?"

"I'll… try not to get sick any time soon, Dad," Ninako replied, a ghost of a smile on her face.

But before long, the pain grew so bad that talking could no longer help.

Ninako sat on her knees, bending into herself whenever her muscles tightened, burying her head into whoever's shoulder or chest was convenient. The midwife began to hang a thick, knotted rope from the rafters, the traditional support for when the time came.

Time stretched into the dark, early hours of the morning, starless and rotted-orange in color.

And just before sunrise, Ninako gasped sharply, her voice rising.

"Ah…! It hurts, it hurts…!" Her breathing grew rapid and shallow. "I-I think it's coming…!"

Tsuki, who'd been watching all this by her prepared towels and tools, got up and positioned herself in front of the girl. "You feel like you need to push?" she said, flatly. Ninako moaned in reply, her mouth tightly closed, and Tsuki sighed. "Pull yourself up and hold the rope, girl, and bear down when you feel like it."

"Here, Ninako, I'll help you…" Hinata, her eyes framed with tired wrinkles, put her arms under Ninako's arms, and pulled her up into a kneeling position. Ninako clutched the rope, desperately, to her chest.

"It, it hurts so much… I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die…" she said, her voice squeezing tight.

"It's okay, Ninako, you're okay," Hinata said softly, rubbing her shoulder. "It's almost over."

Ninako panted, and kept her eyes tightly closed, and pulled against the rope for comfort as the urge to bear down hit her, and she began to push.

Even here, things did not go quickly. At the end of every effort, Ninako gasped and whined for breath, and despite Hinata's encouragement and her father's gentle, now-silent presence, she began to sob.

"Wh-where's Hajime…?" she shuddered, in the tense space between pushes. "I, I want Hajime, he… he should be here…!"

"Ninako, shh, just focus on the baby right now…" Hinata said, quietly, urgently; she did not touch her niece, since by now Ninako tensed up severely at even soothing contact, and it wasn't helping anyone.

"I want Hajime…!" Ninako cried. "I, I want him here…!"

"He's not here, girl, now push again!" Tsuki said; she had her sleeves rolled up, and impatience creased her face.

(She saw the poisonous looks that Neji and Hinata shot at her in reply, but forgot about it in an instant, too preoccupied with the task at hand.)

"I can't, I can't do this…!" Tears were shining in thick tracks down the sides of Ninako's face. "I can't…!"

"Yes, you can, Ninako, you're _almost_ there…" Hinata said.

Ninako's body curled into another contraction, and she screamed in absolute anguish. "Hajime…!"

And something fell out of her.

Hinata quickly moved to catch Ninako and support her as she fell away from the rope, and…

As the midwife pulled it towards her, it was apparent that whatever Ninako had given birth to, it did not look human.

There on the ground before them, not even attached to an umbilical cord, was a wet, sack-shaped lump of flesh, covered here and there with purple-blue veins. It was pale, and the color of white clay. And it was wriggling slightly.

Everyone present stared in horror.

And Ninako took a shuddering, fearful breath, seeing the "child" before her, what she had so desperately been told not to call a "_thing"_, and she fainted.

"Ninako!" Hinata worked quickly at elevating the girl's head and fanning her face. "Ninako, wake up, open your eyes…!"

Neji, meanwhile, was trying to quell the uneasy, almost nauseous feeling in his stomach. His jaw was quivering, and the deepest impulses of his body were telling him to get _away_.

But he saw the midwife, her face set and disgusted, reach for her tools.

And she began lowering a pair of scissors, point-first, into the soft, wet flesh of the thing.

And a moment later, he had her wrist in his grasp, pulling the scissors away.

"That is my _grandchild,_" he said, the words hot on his tongue, "and regardless of what it _looks_ like, I am not going to let you do _anything_ to it."

She jerked her hand away. "I'm not going to _hurt_ the wretched _thing_," she replied, almost spitting. "It was born in a sac. This is typical of half-breeds. I need to cut it _off_."

Neji looked between her, his daughter and Hinata, and the thing on the floor. "You're certain of this?"

"This isn't the first creature I've seen delivered," she said, and pulled at his grip again. "Trust me."

Neji let go, and watched intently as the midwife brought the scissors down again, and dipped the blade into the flesh.

There was a great outpouring of clear liquid, instead of blood. And as she cut more away, the strange, alien shape almost seemed to transform into what was undeniably a human child, squirming and grabbing at the air like any other baby.

"Ninako, wake up…" Hinata resumed her urgent whispers. "Look, it's your baby…"

The midwife made quick and immediate work at fixing a clamp to the cord attached to the baby's stomach, and cutting it, and getting the child wrapped up in a blanket. Though obviously alive, it made not one sound.

"Since the placenta delivered along with the sac, I won't have to wait for the afterbirth," she said, her voice clipped, absolutely no care in her precise movements. "Fortunate for us."

And she got up, with the baby in her arms, and began to leave.

Neji stood and raced after her. "Where are you going?!"

She looked back at them, her expression plain beneath the loose hairs of her bun. "The baby needs to be taken to the Uchiha house, correct? It can't stay here."

"At least give her a little _time_ with it!" Neji said.

"I can't give her that," Tsuki replied.

"Why not?!" Neji's voice was rising. "Surely the _clan_ won't care if it stays here a few more minutes?"

The midwife's eyes darted to Hinata, who was still gently patting Ninako's face, who uncertainly nodded.

"It's not an… issue with the clan," she said. "It's for the girl's sake. If she bonds with it, it'll only worsen the darkness when it hits her, after we take it away. _Both_ of you should understand this."

Neji's voice lessened. "You don't… know that for sure…"

"Tsuki-san, can't you at least wait until she's awake…?" Hinata said. "So she'll at least know what happened and can see you off…"

Tsuki adjusted the baby in her arms, her expression arguing with itself. "I suppose that's fair. But no sooner. Get her awake."

Hinata, with some difficulty, resumed her work at trying to make Ninako come around. And as she whispered and fanned and patted, Neji glowered at the midwife, who held the bundle in her arms as if it were a rotting fish.

Unable to take it any more, he said, "Let me take the child to the Uchihas."

"Excuse me?" she replied.

"I want to make sure it gets there safely."

Tsuki's uncomfortable expression widened. "I'll get it there _safely_," she said.

"You aren't its grandfather," Neji replied, pointedly. "Besides, I… want to be able to tell my daughter herself. And it'll save you the time."

"Tsuki-san, please," Hinata said, raising her voice away from Ninako.

Her grimace knotting her lips, Tsuki passed the bundle to Neji, and she immediately busied herself with bundling up the mess on the towels and getting it out of sight.

Neji could only barely look at the bundle; he'd seen, briefly, that the child at least _looked_ human, with arms and legs and a head, but its face was only barely visible within the swaddling. It had pale skin, he could see at least, mottled and covered in uneven blotches of pink.

"Don't… don't give it to Hajime…" Ninako finally came to, her breathing still shallow.

"Ninako…!" Hinata pulled her further upright, supporting her. "Ninako, it's okay, the baby's fine…"

But the midwife didn't say anything, keeping to her work.

Ninako tried to pull away from Hinata, but her movements were weak and fragile. "Where is it…? Does he have it yet…?" she said, her voice breathy.

"I have it right here, Ninako," Neji said, softly.

Ninako's eyes were swollen and wet, and desperate. "Dad, don't give it to him…! I can't… I can't let you...!"

"Ninako, the baby's okay, your father's going to take it to Hajime's house now that you're awake…" Hinata hushed, trying to calmly restrain her.

But Ninako pulled away, and stumbled onto her hands and knees. "Daddy, please, don't take it away…!"

Neji swallowed, steeling himself, remembering Tsuki's words, remembering Hanabi and all the pain that the darkness had caused her, had caused his little girl, even now.

"Ninako, I promise, I'll… deliver it safely," he said. "It'll be okay."

"No, stop, you can't…!" Ninako was crying again, tears dripping off of her chin.

"I'm sorry, Ninako."

Neji left, and took the baby with him.

And he tried not to hear Ninako's sobbing intensify, the further he walked away from her room.

In the foyer, he put on his warmest coat, and tucked the bundled baby into the folds of his outer kimono, adding to the support of his arms, and he went out into the cold morning.

The sun had barely begun to rise; weak arms of light were stretching out over the eastern skyline, where the Uchiha house was. A pale dusting of snow had fallen all over everything, sometime in the night, and the wind picked up and scattered the loose flakes into glittering dust when it hit the light.

Neji could feel the weak squirming of the child against his skin, as he walked, and it made him move faster. It was cold out, and he did not want to linger.

The sky had turned silver by the time he made it to the front gate of the Uchiha house; he rang the doorbell, and he waited.

The strange daughter, Nadeshiko, answered him; she wore a bathrobe and a half-open expression.

"Get me Hajime, quickly," Neji said. Nadeshiko nodded, and ducked back in the house, beckoning him with her hand to do the same. But Neji only barely stepped into the foyer, feeling tenseness in his shoulders, his feet unsettled.

Hajime arrived with his mother moments later, carrying the panic of the abruptly-awoken with them. As soon as he saw Neji, his breath quickened.

"What is it, what happened?" he said.

Neji opened his coat, and held the baby out to him. "It was born this morning. I can't stay long."

"This morning-? Wait, how is Ninako?! Is she okay?" Hajime said.

"My daughter is fine. Now, take the child." Neji held his arms out further, stiffening his face.

"Hajime, take it," his mother whispered.

And Hajime, with tender reluctance, put the child into his own arms, and looked back at Neji, his dark eyes wide and lost.

"Good. Take care of it, now," Neji said, and he turned to leave.

"Y-you're not even going to tell me what she named it?" Hajime called out, behind him.

Neji stopped, but he didn't turn around. "She didn't. It's your child, now, not hers."

He had to close his eyes as he passed the gate, hearing the door close behind him. Had to take a few deep breaths.

There was nobody on the streets this early in the morning, save for a tall, cheerful man carrying a sleeping child that wished him a Happy New Year on the road home. Neji was thankful; if anyone were to see him in such a state of agitation, almost near to tears, he didn't know what he would do.

He was composed as he returned to the Hyuuga compound, and kept his head low as he returned to his house, and took off his coat.

He waited outside Ninako's room before entering, however. He could hear that his daughter was still crying.

When he finally opened the door, however long a time later, he found Hinata stroking Ninako's back again. Ninako was on her knees, her face in her hands, rocking back and forth. The midwife and any other evidence of the birth had completely disappeared.

"How did it go…?" Hinata said.

"He… took it in without question," Neji said. He cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, Ninako, but I did what I had to do…"

Ninako gasped, a hiccup between sobs. "Wh-why did you… why did you give it to him, still, when it looked like that…?" She sniffed. "He's, he's never going to forgive me…"

"Forgive you…?" Neji said.

"Ninako, the baby was fine, nothing was wrong with it…" Hinata hushed.

"He has to, has to raise that… that _thing_ all alone, and it's all my _fault…_" Ninako shuddered into another sob, rocking towards her knees. "Y-You couldn't even tell if it was a boy or a girl…"

And there, Neji realized a few things.

He realized that Ninako hadn't begged him, at the end of it all, to keep the baby with her because she wanted to raise it; she just didn't want the boy she loved to have to deal with the child she had created. She didn't want him to have to raise, what was in her eyes, a monster.

He realized that, seeing him leave, she had probably believed the baby to still be a misshapen lump of flesh.

He realized that, even seeing for himself that the child was formed normally, he hadn't even noticed whether it was male or female.

Neji got down on his knees beside Ninako, and he took her hands in his hands, pulling them gently away from her face.

"Ninako," he said, "you had a healthy child, and it's in the hands of people that are going to care for it no matter what. And I'm going to make _sure _of that. It's going to be okay."

Ninako just sob-gasped in response, tears falling onto her lap, and her fingers laced into Neji's.

So Neji pulled her in towards him, pressing her head against his heart, supporting her back with his arm, cradling her like an infant.

"It's going to be okay, Ninako," he said, quietly, rocking back and forth, stroking her forehead. "It's going to be okay."

He stayed with her this way, rocking her and holding her, until she had cried herself to sleep. His wife had long since arrived back home and gone to sleep, he could tell, and he and sent Hinata to get some rest in the room he'd prepared for her in his house, in the meantime.

And Neji made a vow, after he laid his daughter into her futon, keeping watch over her even as sleep deprivation gripped his head with hollow fingers.

If his daughter couldn't see her child, he would compensate. He would learn the child's name, whether it was her son or her daughter, and he would make sure that whomever she talked to Outside was able to tell her everything she wanted to know.

But in the weeks that passed after the birth, Ninako made it clear that she didn't want to know anything about her child.


	145. Hard Boiled

_Chapter 145 - Hard Boiled_

* * *

The comrades of Hajime and Ninako were all too willing to act as go-betweens, as soon as they heard the news about the separation. Of course, Jimichi knew Hajime better than Ninako, and Sakari was the opposite, but they both wanted dearly to keep their friends in touch long after their families intervened.

Sakari first heard the news about the birth from Jimichi, as it happened. And she was soon thereafter at the Uchiha house with a camera and mountains of questions. She was, at first, turned away—Hajime was exhausted and not in any sort of mood for visitors, and Ino was reluctant to let anyone see the baby without his permission, for whatever reason. But eventually he felt comfortable enough to let her in, and she cooed with appropriate enthusiasm over the little creature.

(Which, in that house, was sorely lacking from everyone but Karai, and spread through the room like buttery sunshine.)

But even after getting the pictures developed and every detail committed to memory, it took a while to get to Ninako. She'd sequestered herself completely to her room—unlike during her pregnancy, when she'd still chance appearances outside her house, while remaining in the Compound all the same. Whenever Sakari came to visit, she was always told by either her father or her aunt that Ninako wasn't feeling well and that she should try again later.

Of course, Sakari was not deterred. And before long she was making impassioned arguments that, goodness, even if Ninako weren't feeling well, visits with friends could make her feel worlds better, and shouldn't she give it a try?

(And to be quite honest, even with Neji's extensive experience with Sakari's father, Lee, he could only last so long against such passion.)

Truly, Ninako didn't _look_ well. Her hair was unkempt, frayed, and her face was worryingly gaunt compared to the rest of her body. Sakari proceeded with uncommon quietness, asking on Ninako's well-being and updating her on unrelated Outside events, such as the winter Chuunin Tournament that was fast approaching.

She didn't receive any replies, at first, but Sakari accepted that. And at the only mention of Hajime—that he was doing well—Ninako pulled in closer to herself and looked out the window, away from everything else.

This would take time, but Sakari was anything if not tenacious, and came back the next day, and the next, calling Jimichi to hear about Hajime (and the baby) in the meantime.

She took time in even mentioning family matters, or relationships; it took her a week to even mention to Ninako that she'd gotten engaged, and was making wedding plans for the spring. This was only after Ninako began making the slightest replies: "Ah," or, "That's nice."

Nearly a month passed before she even brought out the photos she'd taken of the baby, and she passed them face-down on the floor to Ninako. "I went and visited Hajime and the baby a few weeks ago," she explained. "I thought, since you wouldn't be able to go visit in person-"

"If they're photos of the baby, you don't need to show me to them. I already saw it," Ninako said.

Sakari's face twitched with an uncomfortable smile. "O-oh, did someone already show you…?"

"I saw what it looked like when it was born. I don't need to see anything more." Ninako's voice, usually so much like chimes or low bells, sounded dull and heavy.

"Oh, Ninako, but babies get so much _cuter_ after the first few weeks, surely you'd want to see…"

Ninako made a sound like a blade scraping against a rock. "I can't possibly see how that's true here."

"Well it _is!_ Your baby's _adorable_, Ninako," Sakari said.

"Stop lying to me."

"I'm _not!_" Sakari leaned forward, her thick brows knitting in concern. "Why would you think-"

"I saw what it looked like." Ninako, not even looking at them, put a hand on top of the stack of photos and violently pushed them away from her, sending a few of them flying across the room. "It didn't even look human. So just _stop _it, okay?"

Sakari bit her bottom lip, reaching to pull together the stray photographs. "Ninako, what's the matter…?"

"If you want to talk to me, don't bring up Hajime, and don't _ever_ bring up that _thing_." She pressed her forehead into her knees.

"Ninako, I-"

"Just… go home, Sakari. I'm tired."

Sakari held the photographs to her chest, and pursed her lips. "…I hope you feel better soon, Ninako," she said, quietly.

Ninako didn't say anything.

Sakari left, tight uneasiness in her chest, and went to go find Ninako's aunt.

"Please have someone talk to Ninako soon," she said. "I've never seen her like this, and I'm _scared_ now."

"I'll make sure of it," Hinata replied.

That night—giving Ninako some time to cool off, certainly—Hinata went to prepare her niece for bed, and to talk to her.

"So how was your visit with Sakari-chan today?" Hinata asked, reaching for the brush. "She left a little earlier than usual."

"It was all right," Ninako said, tonelessly, as usual.

"Just all right?" Hinata began to brush her hair.

"Mm. It might be a while before I want to see her again."

"Oh, why's that?" Hinata slowed her brushing.

"She's… I don't know." Ninako shifted where she sat. "She's trying to meddle, and I don't like it."

"I'm sure she means well, Ninako," Hinata said.

"Sure," Ninako replied, mumbling. "But she's not helping anyone. She shouldn't come back for a while."

Hinata smoothed Ninako's hair. "If it makes you feel better, Ninako, I'll tell her to wait before she visits next."

Ninako was quiet for a while, letting Hinata continue her brushing.

Then: "What would really make me feel better," Ninako said, softly, "is if you went to talk to Hanabi-sama for me about having a match made."

"A match?" Hinata said.

"A husband for me," Ninako replied. "The sooner the better."

Hinata paused, turning words around in her mind.

"Ninako, dear, I think now is hardly the time to be thinking about… things like that, much less _marriage_."

"No, this is exactly the time," Ninako said. "I need to forget about that Uchiha boy and move on with my life."

"Oh, Ninako, don't say that," Hinata said. "Give yourself a little time to recover before you go making decisions like this…"

"I'm not changing my mind," Ninako said, lowly. "If I can move on, then things will be easier for everyone. My family will finally be left alone. And besides," she added, metal in her voice, "why waste my energy on a boy I'll never see again?"

"Ninako…" Hinata put the brush down. "Using a marriage to try and forget about Hajime isn't going to make you feel any better."

"And how would you know that?" Ninako drew her knees up to her chest, her shoulders hunching. "What else would keep me preoccupied? I can have another child." She paused, and the chakra in her chest curdled. "A _human_ child. And if that doesn't work… well, then I'd know I was truly useless to everyone, huh..."

The darkness in her voice was sharp and it was familiar.

Hinata closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. She gently laid a hand on Ninako's shoulder. "You're not useless, Ninako."

"If I'm not _useless_ then I'm at least _defective_," Ninako replied. She unbent herself and crawled across the floor to her futon, where she lay down. "There's no place in the clan for defects…"

As Ninako turned over onto her side, back to the door, Hinata put the brush away, and then pulled the futon up over Ninako's body. "There's a place for _everyone_, Ninako. You just have to find it."

Ninako didn't say anything, just pulling the blanket tighter over her shoulders.

"Goodnight, dear niece," Hinata said, patting her once more on the shoulder, before leaving.

It wasn't yet so late at night that everyone was asleep; Ninako was more and more lethargic, lately, and told Hinata that she wanted to sleep earlier and earlier. Therefore it wasn't much of a disruption when Hinata went into the study of Neji's home and asked that he take over for her temporarily as Ninako's keeper.

"I just remembered some business I have to attend to," she explained. "I shouldn't take long."

"Hinata, by all means," Neji said, eagerly, but the concern in his tone was plain.

Yes, it wasn't a disruption to go to Neji.

But Hinata _needed_ to disrupt her sister.

She entered Hanabi's chambers and gestured to each servant she passed for silence, her Byakugan flaring. She found her sister quickly, and entered her room after flinging the door wide open; the frame clattered violently.

Hanabi looked up from the scroll on which she was writing. "Sister, you'd best have a good reason for bothering me."

"I have a reason," Hinata replied.

"Mm? What is it, then?" She went back to the scroll.

"You need to let Ninako see Uchiha Hajime again."

Hanabi paused, halfway to grasping her ink brush. "Sister, you know I can't allow that."

"You have to."

Hanabi took the brush. "Please. It's not even necessary."

"It's more necessary than you think, Hanabi," Hinata said.

"Mm, and why is that?" Hanabi resumed writing. "Do you suppose that, now that Ninako has been delivered of the abomination, she ought to be granted some clemency?"

"Her child is not an abomination, Hanabi." Hinata's voice turned raspy.

"Mm." Hanabi marked the end of a sentence. "Regardless of what you call it, the girl needs to be punished, so I'm not inclined to change my mind."

Hinata reached over and pulled the scroll out from under her sister's brush, and the paper made a hard noise, being handled so harshly. "What she's going through now isn't _punishment_, sister. It's _torture_. And she can't take any more."

Hanabi just stared at the now-empty space in front of her, brush still in hand. "And what makes you say she's being _tortured?_ Is being kept from that boy really so bad?"

"She's talking to me like you did, right before you tried to drown Andou."

Hanabi's eyes flicked sideways, narrowing. "Don't you _dare._"

But Hinata continued. "When Tomoshi was taken from _you_, Hanabi, you tried to kill your child, and then yourself. Uchiha Hajime is Ninako's Tomoshi, Hanabi. And without him, we're going to lose her."

"We can ensure she won't commit suicide," Hanabi said, the whole of her face drawn tight.

"Even if her body is saved, I don't know if we can keep her from losing her heart," Hinata replied.

Hanabi clucked dismissively. "Ninako's emotional state isn't _that_ important, so long as she doesn't _die_."

"Could you say the same for yourself, sister?" Hinata said.

Hanabi's mouth soured, and her body stiffened, but she did not immediately reply. "What happened to me does not apply at all to Ninako."

"But it could," Hinata replied. Her voice softened. "Please, Hanabi, just have some empathy…"

Hanabi turned her head away. "I cannot afford to make exceptions in situations like this."

"Or what?"

Hanabi didn't reply.

"Keeping her away from that boy isn't helping anyone," Hinata continued. "At least allow them one day together—the two of them, and their child."

Hanabi sighed. "You say that without any consideration for Uchiha Sasuke," she said. "You _do_ remember the trouble he caused the night he came to us?"

"Well, I heard," Hinata said, almost smiling, "Uchiha Sasuke has been seeking help for his emotional problems, lately. And if I'm not mistaken, Uchiha Hajime is acting as clan head in his absence, so the Uchiha _clan_ at least shouldn't have any objections."

Hanabi sat, thinking for a moment, before holding out her left hand. "If you please, I'd like my scroll back."

"Hanabi…"

"My _scroll_." She tilted her hand palm-up.

With some degree of hesitation, Hinata obliged. The ink on the freshest line had smudged slightly in the tousle, and the last character extended into a long, tail-like line.

Hanabi refreshed her brush, and began on a new line.

"Just… consider, please," Hinata said, feeling that she had exhausted her resources.

Hanabi didn't say anything.

Hinata turned to leave, reaching for the door.

"I'll consider the possibility of _one_ visit. No more."

Hanabi was still focused on her writing, but all the same, Hinata smiled, and nodded, closing the door softly as she left.

She returned to her watch after preparing for bed, herself, and held only the normal set of worries to her chest as she slept.

The next day, at lunch, a messenger came to Neji's house with a folded paper envelope in his hand. It carried Hinata's name and Hanabi's seal, and as such was delivered to Hinata.

It had only one phrase written within: "_She gets one night."_

Hinata's heart swelled and jumped somewhere into her throat, and she immediately went to get Ninako prepared.

Of course, Hinata couldn't just go up and tell Ninako that she was going to see Hajime again—not in her state of mind.

But Hinata had extensive experience in getting shadow-filled people to do the things they needed to survive.

(If she wasn't, then the present clan would probably have a different leader.)


	146. Freshwater Pearl

_Chapter 146 - Freshwater Pearl_

* * *

Upon entering Ninako's room after lunch, Hinata clothed herself in a stiff, official air.

"Ninako," she said, "you're going on a mission with me today."

Her niece was sitting by the window, knees drawn to her chest as usual, and she lifted her head slightly. "A mission, huh…"

"Yes. Hanabi decided that you've had enough time to recover to start returning to work," Hinata said. "Nothing too strenuous at first, but you'll be working all the same."

Ninako sighed. "I suppose that's fair. No reason I shouldn't be…"

Instead of comforting and correcting her, Hinata merely nodded. "You'll be with me, too. Nothing more intense than D-rank for a while. We're going to be leaving for an assignment this evening, before dinner."

"Already…?" Ninako lifted her head again.

"Have an overnight bag packed by five," Hinata replied.

"All right, Aunt Hinata…" Ninako said gloomily.

The obvious dip downward only minimally bothered Hinata, if only because she knew what would shortly follow.

As expected, Ninako was dressed and had her bag ready in the evening, and Hinata had similarly prepared, for appearances, replacing her usual kimono with pants and a jacket.

"We'll be back by tomorrow morning and get our meals on the way," Hinata explained. "Come, now, let's go."

They walked together, in silence, down the snow-lined streets. Ninako held onto the straps of her backpack, her head low and her eyes a dull white. Hinata tried not to look back at her too much, only leading the way.

But as they began approaching the Uchiha compound, a spark of recognition flit across Ninako's face. "What are we doing over here…?" she said.

"We're on a reconnaissance mission within the village," Hinata replied.

"Reconnaissance…?"

"Mm. You'll be collecting information to report back to the clan."

"Oh…" Ninako's face dulled again. "Why here, though…?"

"I don't question orders," Hinata said.

She could see, as they approached the new Uchiha house, vast and flat, that flickers of excitement and panic were alighting on Ninako's face, and she was clutching her bag's straps tighter.

"Aunt Hinata," she said, as they approached the gate, "why are we here…?"

"Because we have to," Hinata replied, and rang the doorbell.

A young girl with wild hair answered the call—Karai, Hajime's favorite sister.

"Ninako-san! Hey, is that you?"

"Hello, Karai-chan, could you get Hajime for us, please?" Hinata said.

"Yeah, totally! Come on in, I'll be right back with him."

Hinata entered the foyer, but Ninako stood, frozen, just outside, shaking her head.

"Ninako," Hinata said, "what's wrong? Come in."

"I can't, I can't do this," Ninako muttered.

"Ninako, you have to."

"I _can't! _ No,I, I shouldn't…!" She was starting to gasp a little. "Aunt Hinata, I was just starting to forget…! Why are you…?!"

Hinata went back outside, if only to put a comforting hand on Ninako's arm. "Because you _shouldn't_ forget."

Ninako was making high, panicked gasps now, her eyes tightly closed. "We're going to get in so much trouble, you shouldn't have done this, I can't do this…"

"It's okay, it's okay," Hinata said. "There's no danger. Nobody's going to punish you. You need this."

But Ninako kept shaking her head, her knuckles turning white where she gripped her backpack. "No, I don't, I can forget, I just need a little more time, I just need-"

"Ninako…?"

Hajime had appeared in the open doorway. He looked at once tired and bewildered, deep creases under his eyes. His mouth was slack with astonishment.

And immediately after their eyes met, Ninako ran forward and buried her face in his chest, clinging to his back.

"Ninako, it's… it's really you…" His voice was breathy and weak, and he hugged her back with all the strength he had left. "I thought I'd never see you again…!"

"S-same here…" Ninako managed, her face still pressed tightly against him.

They stayed where they were for a while longer, feeling the warmth and the shapes of each other, as if their bodies were starving for it.

"H-How did you manage this…?" Hajime finally said, breaking the willing silence.

"Orders from the top," Hinata said, smiling a little. "Ninako is to gather intelligence on the Uchiha clan's condition, and return in the morning to report back to her family."

"Return in the morning…?" Ninako pulled away to look back at Hinata, confusion in her tear-flooded eyes.

"I wasn't being entirely truthful; this is a _solo_ mission for you, Ninako," Hinata said. "I'll be by in the morning to pick you up. I expect a _full_ report, now."

And Ninako, for the first time in weeks, truly smiled. "Aunt Hinata, thank you so much…!"

"Don't thank me," Hinata replied. "Just gather as much information as you can. And," she added, crisply, "I expect Hajime-san will be a gracious host."

"Oh, uh, of course…" Hajime said. "I'll take care of her."

Hinata nodded, closing her eyes. "Very well, then. I'll see you in the morning."

And closing the door behind her, Hinata left them be.

"Oh, you should—take your pack off," Hajime said, after some time passed without either of them letting go of each other.

"Oh, I—guess you're right." Ninako slipped the straps off her shoulders, and wiped at her eyes with her first. "I didn't even notice it was still on…"

They immediately embraced again, Hajime putting his arms around her back and taking in the smell of her hair.

"I can't believe it," Hajime said, "I can't believe you're really here…"

"Yeah, it almost feels like a dream," Ninako said. "I can't even remember the last time we saw each other…"

"Almost seven months ago. Give or take a few days."

Ninako pulled away to look into his eyes. "Were you… counting the days?"

His face, already reddened with the beginnings of tears, flushed further. "Y-yeah, maybe a little…"

And there was another miracle, then: Ninako laughed, and she squeezed him. "You haven't changed. I'm so glad."

"You're… welcome?" Hajime said, and she nestled against his chest further.

This time, to break the silence of another long embrace, it was Ninako that spoke: "Hey, so… are we just going to stay here all night, or are you going to let me in?"

"Ah! Yes, of course, I mean…" Hajime snapped away sheepishly. "Go ahead and take off your shoes, you can leave your stuff up here I guess…"

Ninako laughed again, slipping off her shoes with old easiness. "Sure, sure… We should probably go tell your family I'm here, too…"

"Ah, yeah…! Gosh, Ninako, so much has happened…" Hajime began to lead her down the hallway. "I mean, the new house, obviously…"

"Obviously," Ninako said. "It's been… seven months, after all. Give or take a few days." She nudged his arm, smirking weakly.

"Y-yeah," Hajime said, looking at his feet. "And, uh, my mom and dad are separated now, so I'm the clan-"

"She finally left him?" The energy of the shock brightened Ninako's voice significantly.

"My mom…? No, no, uh, it was my dad that left…" Hajime replied, running a hand through his bangs. "He's, uh… living with Uncle Naruto right now, I guess…"

"Wow, you'd think I'd have heard about _that_…" Ninako said, her voice softening.

(Feeling, for the first time since it fell over her, how much the shadows usually weighed upon her.)

"Yeah, it's pretty… widespread gossip Outside, I guess," Hajime said. "But, uh, all the same…"

"_Ninako-chan!_ Is that _you?_"

They'd reached the kitchen, and Ino, of course, noticed.

"Hi, Ino-san," Ninako replied, waving.

"What are you doing here?" Ino stepped away from where she was chopping peppers, brushing her hands off on her apron. "Hajime, did you plan this?"

"I dunno, I'm… apparently here on orders," Ninako said, shrugging. "I'm supposed to gather information or something…"

"Oh, of _course_ you are," Ino said. "Come here, come here, sit down, I bet you're just dying to know everything."

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind getting… caught up on things," Ninako said, before Ino ushered her to the kitchen table. "Though, um… I'm kind of hungry, so could I get a snack or something first…?"

"Dear, of course! Why didn't you say anything before?" Ino said. "Hajime, you take care of this girl while I get her something to eat!"

"Sure, Mom…" Hajime said, while Ino busied herself in the pantry.

And he got Ninako caught up, sitting with her at the table, one of his hands touching hers. He told her about Karai's promotion to chuunin and Inou's new job in the police force, and Takeru's injuries and rehabilitation, and the new presence of Yakata at the flower shop with Nadeshiko.

Karai joined them, eventually, embellishing where she could, sitting eagerly at the table with them. And Ino brought over a bowl of rice crackers and cups of tea before that, listening in with a sweet smile of her own as she continued to prepare dinner. Inou and Takeru were both out, the former at work and the latter with Shikake, so the meal would be eaten when they both came home.

In a way, it felt like returning home, even though Ninako hadn't been an invited guest of the Uchiha family in years.

But the peace was very suddenly startled by the wet sound of an infant crying somewhere within the house

(Hajime hadn't said a thing about the baby to Ninako.)

The conversation, which had drifted into Karai's recent missions, immediately stopped, and even Ino put down her knife.

"Hajime, I'll go take care of that," Ino said, after a few seconds passed without anyone doing anything.

But Hajime shook his head, getting out of his chair. "No, I… should go. Ninako, why don't you come with me…?"

(He hadn't told her anything.)

"…yeah, I suppose I ought to," she said, every bit of her eager energy disappearing. She got out of her chair, and silently followed Hajime through the hallways.

They came to what she had to guess was the baby's room, but aside from the crib and the changing table in the corner, there was no indication that it was a nursery. The walls were a plain white, undecorated, and there were no toys to be seen anywhere.

Hajime went up to the crib, and picked up the blanked-covered shape within. "Oh, what's wrong…?" he said, sounding genuinely worried. "I just changed you…"

Ninako, however, lingered at the door, not even going in.

Hajime noticed. "Ninako, it's all right, you can come in," he said, bouncing the crying thing in his arms, looking up at her. "There's nobody in your family keeping you from seeing him now."

A word yanked at her heart.

Him.

"It's a boy…?" she said.

"Yeah." Hajime managed a slight, worried smile. "It's a boy."

She chanced a step inside. "You mean you can… tell?"

His worried smile turned puzzled and awkward. "O-Of course I can, I mean, I change his diapers every day, so it's kind of…"

Ninako's mouth was trembling, though whether it was out of fear or because she was about to cry, she couldn't tell.

"Ninako, what's wrong…?" he said, his voice only barely soft, so as to cut over the cries.

"I-I'm so sorry…!" The tears came rolling down Ninako's face, and she pressed her chin into her chest, unable to look at even Hajime.

He came closer, the thing still in his arms, still making that wretched noise. "Ninako, what do you have to be sorry for…?" he said.

"That you have to… deal with that thing all by yourself…" She sniffed. "Please, you don't even have to treat it like it's human in front of me, I already know…"

"Like it's human…?" Hajime bounced the bundle in his arms to try and calm it. "Ninako, of course our son is—human, why would you say…?"

"I saw what it looked like, I saw, it was all… messed up because of me…" Ninako was gasping in between her words, now. "Didn't even have… a, a face or anything…"

"Didn't even…?" Hajime shifted the bundle to one arm, and lifted Ninako's chin with the other. "Ninako, that can't be true, our son-"

She jerked her head sideways, away from his hand. "Please, you don't have to lie to me…"

"I'm not lying to you." She could see in her peripheral vision that the bundle, now making weaker cries, had shifted to his other arm.

She didn't answer, just wiping the tears off her cheeks.

"Here, look at our son. He… he has a face. He's fine." She saw his arms reaching out further to her, as if trying to pass it on to her. "See? Look at him, Ninako."

Ninako closed her eyes, lifting her chin, trying not to cry harder.

"Ninako, please…" Hajime said. "I don't know why you're acting like this, but…"

"I saw what it looked like, I saw what it looked like…" she murmured.

She felt the warmth of Hajime's arms pressing against hers, and a soft, heavy load pressing against her chest.

"Hold him, at least, all right…?" she heard Hajime say.

Her arms were shaking. She didn't want to.

But she felt an almost familiar squirming against her skin, and one by one her hands rose to cradle the blanket-covered thing.

"Now look at him, okay…?" Hajime said. His voice was growing softer. "It's all right."

The cries were beginning to cease, reduced to shivering little whimpers.

She didn't come around to wondering how a fleshy, inhuman blob could cry; perhaps the shadow-warped thinking allowed for such a thing to make such a noise.

But then she felt a tiny hand reach for her thumb, which was resting somewhere near the creature's head. And she felt that tiny hand hold onto her.

The thing that had come out of her didn't have arms, or hands, or fingers.

Almost fearfully, she slowly opened her eyes, and looked down at what was in her arms.

It was a baby.

And it looked human.

It had a human face, round but wrinkled with the recent crying, and a mass of wispy black curls for hair.

And his hand, five fingers and all, was holding onto her thumb.

"This… this is our son…?" she said, not even looking up.

"Yeah, our son," Hajime said.

She didn't want to move her arms, for fear of dropping or disturbing the little thing. "We had a son…"

"Yeah, we did."

And their son, no longer even crying, yawned and stretched inside her arms, and wiggled within his blankets, pressing his head against her chest.

"He's…" Tears were welling up again, but this time, they were glad ones. "He's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, Hajime…"

"Yeah, isn't he…?" He took a few steps so that he was standing beside her, now, and put one arm behind her back. "Everyone says he looks like me, but… I totally think he looks like you."

She actually began to laugh a little, running her fingers over the little hand that was gripping her thumb. "That hair, though, that doesn't come from either of us…"

"Nah, I'm sorta puzzled by that, really…" Hajime said. "Anyone in your family with curly hair?"

Ninako shook her head. "No, he must get it from your family…"

"Mm."

They stood together, just watching the child as he yawned again.

But something caught Ninako's attention, pricking at the dream again, when the child's eyes opened.

"What's with his eyes…?" she said, struggling to see their color through his thick lashes.

Hajime didn't say anything, stepping back a little.

The baby sleepily blinked and opened his eyes further, and she could see that the entire visible surface was gray and clouded, like dull metal.

"The… day he was born, after your dad brought him to me, we, um… took him to the hospital to get his shots and birth certificate and everything…" His voice had grown uncertain and weak. "And… during his check-up, they…"

Ninako finally looked away from the child, and saw that Hajime almost looked scared.

"They what…?" she said. Her heart began to pound. "What's wrong with him…?"

"…well, they aren't sure, it can't be absolutely certain until he's older, but…" His head hung low. "Our son is probably completely blind, Ninako."

Ninako's breath caught in her chest. "Blind…?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't know how to tell you, but—is something funny?"

Ninako had absolutely burst out laughing. "Okay, okay, so… so you mean to tell me that an Uchiha and a Hyuuga, the clans with the most advanced eye jutsu in the world…" She stopped to catch her breath. "That when they have a kid together, it ends up blind?"

"I-I guess so…?" Hajime said.

Ninako was almost cackling at that point. "That's… that's absolutely fantastic… Man, if Hanabi-sama knew this was gonna happen… no wonder they thought he was an abomination! Oh my goodness…"

"Ninako…?"

The volume of her laughter had disturbed the baby, who began wailing again. "Oh, goodness, I'm sorry, I'm sorry little guy, I didn't mean to upset you, I'm not laughing _at_ you…!" She bounced him and held him closer to her chest in what was undeniably a cuddle. "When you grow up you'll learn to appreciate irony I guess…"

"So… you're okay with this?" Hajime said, cautiously.

"_Okay_ with this? This is _perfect_," Ninako said, and when she smiled at him, there was light practically beaming out of her face. "It's hilarious! So what if he's blind?" She bounced her son a little more, soothing him noticeably. "It sure beats thinking he was an… an amoeba or something."

"Amoeba…?"

Ninako laughed again. "Never mind. Oh, little guy, you are absolutely perfect, you are the best and I _love_ you." She tucked the baby closer to her, speaking now to him. "You are _not_ a parasite, no you _aren't_."

Hajime decided it was better to enjoy the absolute bliss in Ninako's voice over her bizarre choice of words.

"You wanna feed him?" he offered, after a while. "I figure he might be hungry."

"Oh, that would be _great_. I'd love to," she said.

"All right, all right, we can get a bottle in the kitchen," Hajime said, and began leading her out.

"By the way, Hajime," Ninako asked, in the hallway, "what did you name him?"

"Oh, did I forget to tell you…?" he said.

"You did, you dope," Ninako said, before turning to the baby. "Your dad's so absent-minded…"

"Hey, you were kind of… never mind," Hajime said.

(With Ninako's mood so drastically improved it would possibly be dangerous to bring up her panic.)

"Well, what's his name?" Ninako said. "Or did you not give him one?" she added with a smirk.

"His name's Kumori," Hajime said.

"Kumori…?" Ninako said. "As in 'frosted glass,' or 'cloudy' or what?"

"'Cloudy', I guess," Hajime said. "I mean, it was the first thing I thought of when I saw his eyes. A cloudy day, I mean, all overcast. They're the same color."

"Kumori…" Ninako tasted the name, looking at the baby's face as she did so. "Yep, you did a good job."

Hajime sighed, shaking his head. "Glad I didn't disappoint," he said, half-joking, half-sincere.

There was noticeable relief on the faces of Ino and Karai when Ninako entered with the baby in her arms and a smile on her own face. As Hajime prepared the bottle for the feeding, Ninako held Kumori at the kitchen table, gently twisting her fingers around his curls.

"Isn't he just the cutest thing?" Karai said.

"Oh yeah," Ninako replied. "He's amazing."

Kumori fell asleep again after Ninako fed him for the first time, but she kept him in her arms a while longer while they all waited for dinner to be prepared. She put him down with Hajime when it was time to eat, after Inou and Takeru finally came home. And even though conversation with her was spirited, (especially from Takeru, strangely) she rushed through the meal so she could return to the baby's room and hold him.

Hajime had a rocking chair in his bedroom, now, which he let her use. And she spent the better part of an hour just looking at Kumori, taking in every one of his features, his face and his little hands and feet.

Of course, Hajime offered his bed to her when exhaustion got the better of her, bringing about yawns, her head nodding toward her chest where she was sitting.

"Only if you share with me, though," she said, putting Kumori back in his crib.

"Of course," Hajime replied.

Though he wasn't yet tired, Hajime lay down beside her and stroked her arm and talked to her gently as she fell asleep, before he found himself drifting off as well.

But Ninako did not rest easily; he found her getting out of bed every now and then to "use the bathroom," but from the sound of the door opening and closing next door, he knew she was with Kumori.

"You know," he told her, entering the baby's room after following her, "he can sleep in the bed with us, if you want."

"Can he…?" Ninako's eyes shone like pearls.

Hajime nodded. "Yeah, let me get his blanket."

He put Kumori between them on the pillows, where he kicked at the air for a while after before quieting down. Ninako fell asleep just watching him, and Hajime fell asleep watching her, feeling such a warm right-ness in his heart that when morning came, wake-ups and all, he felt rested for the first time in months.

Hinata came to pick up Ninako after breakfast. Ninako had long since given her hugs and goodbyes and promises, and her face was closed as she took her pack and left through the gate, not even waving behind her.

"So?" Hinata said. "Did you gather much information?"

"I did," Ninako replied, without enthusiasm.

"Well?" Hinata continued when Ninako didn't say anything. "How is the child of Uchiha Hajime? Is it well?"

Just like that, Ninako began smiling uncontrollably. "He's got the most adorable curly hair, Aunt Hinata, you wouldn't even believe it."

"Curly hair, is it?" Hinata said. "And it's a boy?"

"Yeah," Ninako said. "I have a son."


	147. Baked Alaska

**Author's Note**

My dear readers,

As of this chapter, I will be taking a hiatus from posting. The fic will continue as soon as chapters are written, since I don't have as much free time as I used to. I'm also a bit preoccupied working on my first original novel-tentatively titled Three Moons-which I hope at least some of you will enjoy in the future.

If you've been reading up until this point and haven't reviewed yet, please take this opportunity to speak up and let me know how you've enjoyed the fic! I would really appreciate it.

Also, feel free to contribute to ITB's TVTropes Page. It's a silly thing but it's a bit outdated.

Thank you so much for your support these past three years! The end is in sight, I just have to write it.

- Rii

* * *

_Chapter 147 - Baked Alaska_

* * *

Quite curiously, Ninako was put on several more of these reconnaissance missions, as time went on. And that was certainly how the Hyuuga clan was going to view them, since Hinata had her way about it.

At first, she was only sparingly let out, perhaps once a month. Her condition deteriorated between each mission, so her health had to recover before she could leave again.

(Or so the story went.)

But as her health improved, so too did the frequency of her missions. The Outside began to trickle into the Hyuuga compound for her, once again, and life began to flow back into her as well. There was color in her cheeks again, and laughter in her eyes.

It certainly helped, too, that Andou presented to her a series of photographs and records regarding the comrades of the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato. As a child, he had been paired with an Akimichi and a curious young girl named Hirafu with dark, cloud-filled eyes, reported to be blind. Her last name wasn't Hyuuga—in fact, she didn't have a last name at all, nor any recorded parentage—but she looked like she would have fit in effortlessly with their family, save for her sight.

The girl had died in combat, at the age of fifteen, but to know that there had at least been one other like her son in the world made Ninako feel so much less alone.

(And it made her feel so much more love for her son and her decision, knowing that she hadn't given the boy up, or worse.)

Even though Ninako was now able to experience things for herself, there was still a certain amount of joy that came from hearing news second-hand, and sharing her own news with others.

"Aunt Hinata got me some work at the Hokage Manor while I get back into shape." Ninako said this to Hajime fairly early on, during a visit not long after the first. "Naruto's been busy, so he really needs the help, you have no idea."

"Yeah, how's that?" Hajime replied. They were in the kitchen preparing lunch for Kumori. She was holding him, and he was heating the milk.

"Been going back and forth from Mist for a few weeks doing who-knows-what, and now we've gotta make preparations for one of the Mist jinchuuriki to live here as an emissary or somethin'."

"Which one, the three-tails or six-tails?"

"The big guy that looks like one of the Sannin. _You _know, the one that's totally related to Jiraiya?" Ninako said, her nose wrinkling with a smile.

"Oh yeah, that guy."

(Naruto had been filled with a strangely passionate interest in Kurunari's well-being after the chuunin exams.)

(Seeing that the boy was twenty-one, he figured there was no need to have him chaperoned about like he was a child, and had been working to convince Mei to let him move to Konoha and work on his literary career.)

(What ended up persuading her was a combination of Naruto's assurance of Kurunari's personal safety, the fact that there hadn't been a major conflict in decades that would require Kurunari to engage in combat, and the six-tails swearing that he would destroy anyone who came near Kurunari.)

(Or if Mei tried to seal him into another person.)

Naruto was gone again a few weeks later, once the jinchuuriki had been moved in.

"Huge, high-profile wedding up north between some syndicate heirs I guess?" Ninako reported, on a walk together. "Andou got to go with him. Dumb little nerd probably doesn't appreciate it."

"Syndicate…? What's Uncle Naruto doing with syndicate people?" Hajime replied.

"Remember those Taki people that came by a few months ago?"

Hajime paused, and the answer came to him. "_Oh_. With that cross-dressing girl that ran away and stayed with him."

"Uh-uh."

"So she got married?"

"Seems like."

"Hope things go well, then," Hajime said.

Ninako reached over and held his hand, afterwards, keeping her other hand on Kumori's stroller.

Taki Kiine wasn't the only one getting married, as it happened. Hajime and Ninako went shopping for wedding presents for Sakari together in April, since they'd both been invited to the May ceremony.

(The story went that she was supporting her coworker on his paternity leave, much like Sakari and Jimichi did whenever they came by. Though nobody ever questioned or asked otherwise.)

It was then that Hajime shared the most surprising bit of news: "So… I guess my parents are dating each other now?"

Ninako carried Kumori in a sling on her front and always had at least one hand on him. Presently, she paused in front of the display of blouses at the department store they were visiting. "Dating? How the heck did that happen?"

Hajime shrugged. "I dunno, like… Mom just said that Dad had asked her out to dinner one night, and lately he's been coming by once a week to take her out somewhere."

"That is the weirdest thing I've ever heard," Ninako said. "Like, I thought they _hated_ each other."

"Eh, you know my parents," Hajime said. "I mean, it's kinda nice that he's making an effort, but I still feel… kinda worried for my mom."

"You talked to her about it?"

Hajime turned slightly pink. "I can't talk to my mom about her _love life_…"

Ninako giggled, and put a hand on his shoulder. "You can at least ask her if your dad is being nice to her," she said. "That's innocent enough."

"Yeah, I guess…"

"C'mon now, I saw some kitchen stuff over there," she said. "That's the kinda stuff you get for weddings, right?"

"Yeah, I guess…"

Ninako bopped him on the shoulder. "Stop repeating yourself, c'mon."

Hajime smiled in a way that he'd almost forgotten, but had been relearning recently.

Hajime ended up buying Sakari a large, high-quality stew pot and a set of new mixing spoons; Ninako settled for new linens in a soft shade of pink. They were, after all, going separately to the wedding. But there was nothing that was going to stop Ninako from dancing with him, once the party started.

As much time as they now got together, however, it was never nearly as much as they used to, when they both worked together.

And even though Ninako got her time with Kumori, it still wasn't enough.

This became horribly apparent the day she came by on a mission and discovered that Kumori had learned to crawl entirely in her absence. As much as Hajime's new anxiety would normally please her, with his scrambling to move furniture out of the way in every room, she just couldn't find the joy in it, and spent that night on her side of Hajime's bed, feeling old familiar darkness crawling into her heart.

The spontaneous and sporadic visits—always on Hanabi's whim—were not enough for her. Not when her son was growing up without her. And nothing she or her father or her aunt could say would be able to change this, and all of them knew it.

The only thing she could do was adapt, and in a way, it was returning to what she was used to. But those places were dark and hopeless, and the transition did nothing to soothe her. Where she had once filled the spaces of waiting for her loved ones with eager anticipation, she now, once again, kept to herself, painfully aware of what she was missing, and what she wasn't forgetting.

Hinata grew worried, and made her usual pleas. But her sister had already given so much, and was not inclined to give any more.

So Ninako coped, and she survived, and brought herself to life whenever her child was allowed in her arms again.

But things were being put into motion that none of them could possibly know about.

The results only became known on the date of the next Hyuuga New Year's celebration.

Ninako was putting on her best face; she'd been allowed, earlier in the week, a mission with Hajime, and spent all of her goodbyes promising Kumori that she would find a way to celebrate his birthday that was super special. Kumori was not quite talking yet, but was stringing together syllables experimentally, and cruised around the house by feeling and balancing against what furniture he could find, to Hajime's utter panic. Knowing that she'd be allowed another meeting after all the ceremony was over—and Hinata had assured this—allowed her to have a much better mindset over the whole thing, and she agreed to show up for everything and socialize like a normal person.

But before she and her family could even get dressed for the banquet on New Year's Eve, Andou came by with a most curious message.

"Hanabi-sama says you and Uncle Neji have been summoned," he told Ninako, sparkling confusion in his eyes.

"Summoned for what?" Neji replied.

Andou shrugged. "I don't know, but I she asked me to be there too, and my mother. It sounded very important, so you should get dressed and come with me, I think…"

"Well, Hanabi-sama's made an order," Ninako's mother said, fastening an earring to her ear. "Go and see what she wants, I'll be back here waiting."

Neji and Ninako finished getting dressed as quickly as they could, and followed Andou to the audience hall.

Hanabi was there, as well as Hinata; they were sitting at attention in their usual places for receiving guests.

"Andou, Neji, Ninako, if you would please sit beside me," Hanabi said, as they entered, ushering with her hand to the empty cushions on the floor.

She wasn't going to speak with them? The order was followed, regardless, and only Andou dared speak.

"Hanabi-sama, may I ask the reason for this summons?" he said.

"We are receiving a guest, and he requested that you all be present," Hanabi replied. "He should be escorted in shortly."

Ninako's heart jumped. If she had been asked to come by, then could it be Hajime…? She wouldn't put something like this past him, but it was still incredibly unusual…

As it turned out, their guest _was_ an Uchiha, but it was not Hajime.

It was Sasuke.

Only Hanabi was able to contain her surprise, if she even felt anything at all.

"I'll have you know, Uchiha," she said, as Sasuke sat down before them, "that the only reason I am even allowing this meeting with you at this most _pressing _time is due to your status. Even with your son running your clan, I acknowledge you as my societal equal, at least."

"Thank you. I am very grateful," Sasuke said, nodding.

Ninako glanced between her father, and Hinata, tracking their reactions. They seemed as confused as she was, perhaps a little worry mixed into Hinata's expression.

"State your business, then. I have very little time to spare," Hanabi continued.

Sasuke nodded again. "Of course. I will try not to take up much of your time." He looked up, and his eyes were black, his expression non-threatening, but serious. "Hyuuga Hanabi, I wish to ask for your permission to adopt Hyuuga Ninako into the Uchiha clan."

Ninako felt her heart jump against her collarbone. In her peripheral vision, she saw a precursor of outrage on her father's face.

"Adoption." Hanabi sounded far from amused. "Surely, you can't be serious."

"I'm entirely serious. I wish to adopt her—not as my daughter," he added, almost faltering, "but as a member of the clan."

"And for what reason are you bringing this _ludicrous_ offer to me?"

"For the benefit of my son and my grandson."

For a moment, Sasuke's eyes met with Ninako's. She could feel her heart thudding in her ears, now.

Was this for Hajime…?

Was Sasuke _actually_ doing this for Hajime…?

"And was it your son that put you up to this?" Hanabi said.

"No," Sasuke said. "I come here of my own volition. But my actions are for his benefit."

Hanabi glanced at Ninako in obvious skepticism—what, she couldn't be thinking that she and Hajime had planned this!—before continuing on. "Well, regardless of the reason for your actions, I am going to have to reject your offer."

"I'd like a reason why," Sasuke said, calmly.

Hanabi's eyebrow rose. "You need a _reason?_ I'm curious as to what _your_ true reasons are."

"My son and my grandson are not getting the time they need with Ninako. I aim to fix that."

"I don't see how that's possible," Hanabi said. "Ninako is allowed time with your son periodically. There's no reason why that's not enough for her."

"Pardon my saying, though that may suit_ you_, it hardly suits her, or her family." There wasn't even a note of sarcasm or bitterness in Sasuke's voice.

There was, however, bitterness in Hanabi's mouth as she scowled. "You have no right to say what suits _my_ family."

"I wasn't talking about your family, Hyuuga-san," Sasuke said. "I was talking about Ninako's."

Hanabi's expression only tightened, and so did the hold of terror on Ninako's heart. "You are walking on dangerous ground, Uchiha."

Sasuke nodded again—was he bowing? "I understand, Hyuuga-san. But this is urgent business. My grandson is growing up without a mother, and I will not stand for that."

Once again, for a moment, Sasuke's eyes met with Ninako's, and she noticed what might have been sadness in them.

Ninako's confusion only deepened.

"Hyuuga Ninako does not have children, so I do not know _why_ you are involving this grandchild of yours in these proceedings," Hanabi said coldly.

Ninako had to close her eyes, silently apologizing to her son.

"Because that boy _is_ her son, however much you choose to deny it," Sasuke said. His voice was growing louder. "And I refuse to let a member of my own family grow up in this manner, having his own mother denied from him."

"Uchiha Sasuke, I will have to ask you to leave if you continue to bring up that unrelated creature," Hanabi said. "Return to the matter at hand."

Sasuke was almost seething when Ninako opened her eyes, to see if what she was hearing was actually happening.

"Very well." There was an edge to his voice, and his head was low. "For the sake of my _son_, then, and him alone. Please, allow me to take Ninako into my clan."

"And this is so they might have more _time_ together."

"And so he might marry her, if he chooses."

"_Marry_ me?!" Ninako couldn't contain herself any more.

"Hold your tongue, Ninako," Hanabi said.

Ninako's heart was racing, and she felt her father put his hand on her back, perhaps to calm her.

There was no way Hajime wasn't behind this. Since when was he talking to his father again, though?

"Hearing this, I will, again, have to refuse. Perhaps even more strongly than before," Hanabi said.

"And why is that?"

"A member of the Hyuuga clan may only leave upon _death_, Uchiha Sasuke," Hanabi said. "And marriage outside of the clan is strictly forbidden."

"Then at least let them be together," Sasuke said. "Surely that's not too much?"

"What I am allowing now is _far_ too much," Hanabi replied. "I cannot risk any more misjudgment to happen between them."

"You ought to be _ashamed_ to think so lowly of my son and your niece," Sasuke said, darkly. "They can go about their own business without supervision because they are _adults_."

"And yet these two adults, when left alone together, created a gross mistake that should never have-"

Sasuke's fist hit the tatami. "My grandson is not a _mistake!_" He was on the edge of yelling. "And your continued denial of him -"

"Enough, Uchiha." Hanabi, with dangerous grace, began to stand, holding the edge of her overcoat. "I see no reason to continue this discussion. I ask that you leave."

And Sasuke, instead of standing, or firing back in any way, threw himself into a desperate and humble bow before her.

"I am _begging_ for you to at least allow Ninako to live in my home. My family will watch over her and ensure nothing happens to her that would harm her or your family's reputation. _Please_, Hyuuga-san." He kept his head to the floor, his hands poised by his forehead. "I am pleading with you not as your equal or as the head of my clan, but as a concerned father."

Hanabi looked at him as if he were trash in the middle of the road. The silence was dangerous.

But then, Andou spoke. "Hanabi-sama, if I may?"

Hanabi did not look back at him as she replied. "Speak, boy."

"While clan law does not allow for marriage into other families, there is a law that _does_ allow for Hyuuga to live as guests in the houses of another clan for indefinite amounts of time, where they are to be treated as… _well_ as family. For… diplomatic missions."

"Your point?"

"Considering… Uchiha-san's urgency, I figured perhaps it would be an agreeable solution on the matter." His manner of speaking was impeccable, perfectly nonthreatening and formal.

It didn't seem to change Hanabi's expression, but her reply suggested otherwise. "Remove yourself from my hall, Uchiha Sasuke. I will consider your needs and make my decision following New Year's Day."

Sasuke carefully picked himself up, and bowed once more. "Thank you for your time. I will not bother you any further."

He turned around and left without another word, nor any glance behind him.

Once again, Hanabi was the only one who didn't express any surprise or shock at Sasuke's actions. She turned to the rest of her family, her face returned to its usual coldness. "Well? You are no longer needed. Return to your families and prepare for the banquet."

Ninako exchanged uncomfortable glances with her father and aunt, before standing to leave.

"Wait." Hanabi held out a hand in a motion to stop them. "Andou, you come with me. I would like to speak with you about your little… outburst."

"Yes, ma'am," Andou replied, nodding. "Mother, I will return to you when I am finished talking with Hanabi-sama."

"Of course, Andou," Hinata said. "Brother, niece, let us take our leave."

She led them out in silence.

And once they were a safe enough distance away, Ninako couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Did that… really just happen?" she said. "That whole thing?"

"I'm inclined to say it did," Neji replied.

"It was… unexpected, certainly," Hinata said.

"There is… no way that was actually Hajime's dad, though," Ninako continued. "I mean, I don't know the guy all that well, but from what I've heard…"

"Uchiha Sasuke was behaving quite unlike himself, definitely," Neji said.

(Especially since he remembered, all too clearly, the events of the previous year, and how forcefully Sasuke had rejected his grandson.)

"Perhaps he's turned over a new leaf?" Hinata said, hopefully. "I've heard some very promising things from Naruto, after all…"

"Maybe it wasn't him?" Ninako offered. "Like… maybe that was Hajime, or someone else?"

"No, it was Sasuke," Neji said. "I'd know that chakra anywhere."

Ninako laughed slightly, in disbelief. "What the hell… Well, that'll definitely be something I'll have to talk to Hajime about when I see him next."

"I do agree," Hinata said. "Let's all of us finish getting ready first, though. Shake all that off, hm?"

"Mm. I'll see you at the banquet, Hinata," Neji said, and motioned for Ninako to follow.

"See you in a bit, Aunt Hinata," Ninako said, in parting.

Neji said one thing more, as they neared the house. "If that boy, Uchiha Hajime, planned everything that just happened, he is incredibly foolish."

"Dad, we don't even know if he had anything to do with it…"

"I'm certain he is. And it makes him very brave and clever, as well," Neji said, and smiled slightly. "He's certainly improved my opinion of the Uchiha clan, at any rate. Him and Uchiha Sasuke both, to cooperate like that."

Ninako grinned. "I'll keep that in mind."

They returned home to polish their outfits and finish preparing for the banquet, neither of them feeling an immediate need to share what had happened with Hasami.

Ninako ended up talking to Hajime much sooner than expected.

Because as the family was making their way up to the Hyuuga banquet hall, Andou came rushing towards them, with a smile on his face as large as the moon.

"Ninako," he said, "go pack up."

"What?" she replied.

"Pack up! Get some clothes, at least something for a few days."

"Uh, okay?" She smiled in confusion. "What for?"

"Hanabi gave the okay. You're going to live with the Uchihas from now on."

Ninako's smile widened, despite herself. "Wait, what the hell? You mean-"

"I mean that you're free to _go_! Because of the diplomacy law I brought up. Hanabi said that she agreed with my reasoning and-"

Andou was interrupted by Ninako rushing forward and giving him the biggest hug she could muster. "You little genius dork! You mean what you said changed her mind?"

"I guess?" Andou replied. "I mean, that's what she said, but-"

Ninako hugged him again. "I have no idea how to pay you back for this."

"Hey, don't thank me! Thank Hajime and his father, I suppose. Hey, get _off_." Andou managed to escape from her arms, and went to work on getting his kimono readjusted. "Hanabi-sama says she wants you there as soon as possible, and she's going to announce your absence to the family at the banquet. Something like… an honorable job representing the Hyuuga clan."

"That certainly sounds prestigious," Neji said. Even his wife, beside him, was smiling a little.

"I made sure she meant well," Andou said. "So go and pack, already! You don't want to keep Hajime waiting," he added, playfully.

Ninako held a retort on her tongue before simply laughing instead. "Okay, so, I'm not going to the banquet?"

"Of course not! Go, go, go!" Andou waved her off with both hands.

"Well, then, I'll help you pack," Ninako's mother said, obviously trying to stay composed. "Dear, you ought to go with Andou and tell Hinata-sama, if he hasn't already told her."

"I haven't, Aunt Hasami," Andou said.

"Then you have a job to do. I'll make sure Ninako gets where she needs to go."

Ninako went to hug her father, next, out of sheer joy. "I'll be sure to keep in touch," she said.

"I know you will, Ninako. Now go get ready," Neji said.

Ninako gave him and Andou both hugs before following her mother back into her bedroom.

They packed Ninako's suitcase in near-silence, but as they were finishing, Hasami finally said something.

"You know you're welcome back here at any time, if you need to pick up more things." She added another shirt of Ninako's to the pile of clothing.

"Thanks, Mom," Ninako replied. "I'm sure I'll forget at least a _few_ things in this hurry…"

"Mm." Hasami closed the suitcase, and reached for the zipper. "Ninako, I know… I haven't been the most supportive of you lately, what with… the child and everything, but I want you to know I'm happy that you're leaving with Hanabi-sama's blessing."

Ninako looked at her mother over the suitcase. "Yeah…?"

"The last thing I want for you in life is for you to be in trouble," Hasami continued. "So… yes, I'm glad you have at least this."

"Thanks, Mom," Ninako said again, with far more affection than before.

(Her mother, a fragile glass woman, was almost Ninako's opposite, withdrawing at any hint of conflict, for fear of breaking herself.)

(Between her and the reserved nature of her husband, it was a wonder how someone like Ninako could have been produced between them.)

They stood, once the suitcase was packed, and hugged each other before Hasami escorted Ninako to the door of their house, and waved her off, whispering "Take care," to the wind.

And Ninako ran into the night and toward her family.

She didn't even ring the doorbell once she reached the Uchiha home, flinging the door open and shouting from the foyer. "Hajime! Hajime!"

He came running, bewildered and immediate. "Ninako? What are you doing here?"

"I'm going to live with you now! I got the okay from the clan head!" She dropped her suitcase on the ground and ran to him. "I'm going to be a diplomat or—something, I don't care!"

"You're going to live with me?" He took her outstretched hands in his.

"Yes! I'm going to be able to see you and Kumori every day and—and the clan is okay with it!" She began hopping up and down. "We practically have their blessing!"

Strange as it looked, Hajime began hopping with her, the two of them chest-to-chest, caught up in the sheer joy of the moment. "This is—wonderful! Fantastic! I can't-"

"Ahem."

Takeru had come down the hallway, propped up against his arm-braces, and they immediately stopped.

"And what is going on here?" he said, with a thin smile.

"Ninako's going to live with us now," Hajime replied, unable to feel even slightly angry. "Her clan gave their blessing."

"Well, then, isn't that good news," Takeru said. "I suppose this means you won't be relying on me to watch Kumori anymore?"

(Takeru, to everyone's surprise, showed a remarkable interest in his nephew. Nobody expected it.)

"Uh, Ninako?" Hajime looked to her for confirmation.

"If you're the de facto babysitter, then I suppose we'll still use you when Hajime and I both go out," Ninako replied.

Takeru sniffed, though not in disdain. "Hm. Well, I suppose that works out. Now get inside, the both of you, you look like fools."

Takeru began down the hallway, the dull tap of his braces accompanying him, and Hajime and Ninako kissed each other with enthusiasm once he was far enough away.

"Here, let me help you with that. We can put your stuff in my room, I guess?" Hajime said, reaching for her suitcase.

"Thank you, you're a darling," Ninako replied, and they began into the house together. "So this worked out better than you expected, huh?"

"What did?" Hajime said.

"You working together with your dad to convince Hanabi-sama to let me live with you."

Hajime stopped, midway into the kitchen, and he put the suitcase down. "Wait, what about my dad?"

"Oh hi, Ninako!" Karai began, but clipped her voice once she noticed the conversation continuing.

"Your dad came by today and practically begged with Hanabi-sama on your behalf," Ninako said. "I thought you were working together?"

Hajime shook his head. "I haven't even _seen_ my dad in over a _year_. What made you think I'd said something to him?"

"Just… the way he talked, it sounded like he was doing a favor for you I guess," Ninako said. She scratched her chin as she re-processed the evening in her mind. "That's so _weird_, he must have thought of this by _himself_, then."

"There's no way my dad would do something like that," Hajime said.

"Well, Hajime, he just did, and me being here is pretty damn good proof of that, I think," Ninako said.

But Hajime continued, still fumbling for answers. "Mom, did you have anything to do with this?"

"With what?" Ino was still setting the table for dinner. She was wearing a string of new pearls with her outfit that evening.

"Dad asking the Hyuuga clan to let Ninako live here. I mean, you're the only one that still _sees_ him regularly."

Ino put down the last plate, and furrowed her brow with thinking. "If he was planning anything he certainly didn't give _me_ any indication…"

"How very generous of him," Takeru said. His words, however, were only slightly sour.

(He did not expect anything for his birthday that year, and stayed respectfully quiet when Inou received a handsome cable-knit cardigan for his birthday, brought home by their mother.)

(But all the same, he received a package from Sasuke on his birthday.)

(Inside was a pair of finely-made fingerless gloves, and a letter.)

(The content of the letter was beside the point.)

(But it was signed, "Your father.")

(Takeru, of course, made no outward indication of how any of this affected him.)

"I'm sure I'll ask him what made him do this when we meet next," Ino said. "For now… well, we're probably best off not questioning this good fortune too much, hm?"

Hajime tossed a slightly suspicious glance at his mother, but she cheerfully shrugged, shaking her head, as if to say "_I honestly don't know!_" He sighed and returned to the joy of his reunion, and getting Ninako set up in his room.

The following New Year was one of the more exciting ones for the Uchiha house. Along with the family dinner, there was Kumori's birthday to celebrate, with Ninako there to actually participate. Yakata even came by with the gift of a teddy bear and a bouquet of variegated tulips—the flower Nadeshiko chose for him, of course, as they meant "beautiful eyes."

A day or so after the festivities, with Ninako settled in and having retrieved her forgotten items, another package arrived for the family.

Inside were a brand-new set of matching outfits, socks, and hats for Kumori, along with a note from Sasuke wishing his grandson a happy first birthday. Hajime received the gift with hesitance, and Ninako with chirping delight, and Kumori spent a great deal of time trying to chew on the cabled accents of his new sweaters when Ninako tried to get him to try them on.

Sasuke called Ino that evening, to ensure that the package had been received. And Ino took the time to plan another date with him, as was the norm—him calling, and her accepting and planning.

That night, however, they would have much more to discuss than usual.


	148. Prix Fixe

Author's Notes

I'm back!

I'm sorry I've had to keep you waiting so long. It's been a whirlwind of activity on my end! I have a new job that I love, and the progress on my original novel is going very well. If you're interested in tracking the novel's progress, including information on where to buy it once it's out, follow me at twelve-colors dot tumblr dot com. I'll be glad to see you there!

The rest of ITB has all been planned in advance, and hopefully once I settle into my new job I'll be able to write some more. Of course, it helps when the source material is interesting. (As of this writing, 663 has just come out and... hoo boy.)

Another chapter has already been written and should be posted next week. I look forward to hearing what you think of it!

Much love,  
- Rii

* * *

_Chapter 148 - Prix Fixe_

* * *

In truth, even Ino was surprised when Sasuke first reached out to her with the intent of what would probably be considered a date. Especially considering the way that Sasuke went about it.

Long before the proposal even reached her, Sasuke had been spotted asking for advice from various men on the subject of romance.

(Naruto, obviously, was not an expert on the subject.)

Ino ignored the gossip when she heard it—she'd long since resigned to blocking out what her neighbors had to say about him—but when Sakura came to her, she listened.

Apparently, Sasuke had spent an entire day with Lee on the matter, and she found him in her kitchen when she came home from work early one evening. Lee was teaching him how to make chocolates.

"He got out of there almost as soon as he saw me, since I guess Lee promised him privacy," Sakura reported. "And the most Lee told me was that Sasuke was planning some sort of romantic _date_ and he wanted to be prepared."

"Must be doing something special for Naruto," Ino said, half-heartedly.

Sakura looked disappointed. "Oh, come on, Ino, you can't believe that gossip, can you?" she said. "_Believe_ me, there is nothing going on between Sasuke and Naruto. Naruto told me. They're just… living together right now."

"Hmm. Who else would he be going through all this trouble for, then?" Ino said.

(Sakura almost said something, but her mind told her that she knew better than to try.)

(Ino was coping so wonderfully, even with Sasuke gone and a grandchild in the house, and giving her even remotely false hope wouldn't have been fair.)

The second clue, of all things, came from Nadeshiko. The most Ino saw was her looking almost amused coming home from work one early spring evening, and when Ino asked, her reply was, "I think Father is planning something quite special."

"Did he come by the flower shop?" Ino said.

"While I was gone. We didn't speak." Nadeshiko yawned, and began down the hallway to her room. "We'll just have to see what happens."

This was all true, of course. Sasuke had come by the flower shop long before it opened, and had left a note in an envelope for Nadeshiko in the empty outside flower display. It read:

_Nadeshiko,_

_Please tell me your mother's favorite foods. I trust you will keep my request a secret and reply discreetly._

_- Your Father_

Nadeshiko pocketed the note and kept it to herself until the end of the day, when she told Yakata and her grandfather to go home while she finished closing up the shop.

She wrote her reply on the back of his letter:

_Father,_

_She enjoys cherry tomatoes and pudding. Please take care not to serve them together, however._

_Hoping you are well,_

_- Nadeshiko_

The letter was gone again the next morning, when Nadeshiko went to open the shop again. A few days passed without much change, though Nadeshiko discovered a reply early Saturday morning, when she and Yakata filled orders before visiting Shusuke together:

_Nadeshiko,_

_I know better than to try and cook a tomato pudding. But thank you for the advice._

_I am indeed well, and hope you are happy._

_- Your Father_

Yakata asked Nadeshiko why she was smiling as she read it, but she didn't tell him, as she didn't tell her mother that evening.

All the planning and sneaking-about finally came to fruition, of course, through yet another letter, and through Naruto.

Naruto came by at the beginning of April in the middle of the day, when most of Ino's family was out of the house. "Hey Ino, you got a minute?"

There was a confused smile on her face where she stood at the door. "Uh… sure, what do you need?"

"I got a little something for you," he said, and held out an envelope to her. "It's from Sasuke. Go ahead, you can open it." His grin was suspiciously bright.

Ino furrowed her brow again before opening the envelope and sliding out the card inside.

This is what Sasuke had written:

_Ino,_

_I would like to ask you to join me for a meal this coming weekend. I feel it is the least that you deserve._

_Please let Naruto know your answer._

_- Sasuke_

"A… meal this weekend?" Ino said, reading it over again.

"It's a dinner date, y'know." Naruto's eyes closed with his smile.

"A… date?" Ino could feel her heart quickening, though she couldn't tell the exact reason why.

"Yeah, he wants to do something special for you this weekend." He opened his eyes to tilt his head mischievously. "How's that sound to you?"

"But I thought…" She was still holding the card and the envelope, separately, near her chest.

"You thought…?"

Nothing. It would be absolutely ridiculous talking to Naruto about this.

Ino slipped on her public smile and shook her head. "I thought Sasuke didn't like this sort of thing, is all."

"Hah, well, he's been undergoing a lot of training lately!" Naruto said. "I get the feeling he'd like to show it off to someone he cares about."

Ino's heart thumped loudly against her chest. "Ah, is that so…" Her face, unless she was mistaken, was growing slightly warm. "Well, then, um… tell him that I accept!"

"Great! He'll be so excited to hear that," Naruto said. "Oh, you can keep the letter, y'know, it's fine."

"Ah, sure…" Ino slid the card back into the envelope, and held them both close to her chest.

"He'll be by Saturday night to pick you up. That's his plan, anyways," Naruto said. "I really hope it goes well for you," he added, the shine of his usual cheerfulness giving way to genuine warmth, if only for a moment.

"I… hope it does too," Ino said, for lack of a better response.

She didn't tell her children about the date until that Friday night, at the dinner table.

(And to be honest, she'd kept herself from thinking about it for that long, as well, knowing too well than to get her hopes up.)

The results were about as she expected.

"You're going to go eat _dinner_ with him?" Inou was practically banging the table with his hands. "After everything he's done?"

"It's just a dinner, Inou," she replied.

"Yeah, but… Mom, _how_ long has he been gone?" Inou continued. "Like, why would he care _now?_"

"If he'd stopped caring then he wouldn't have sent us those birthday presents, hm?" Takeru said. "At least for his public image."

Inou curled his lip at Takeru for a moment, before returning to poke at his hamburger-steak.

"It'll just be a chance for us to… catch up with each other," Ino said. "I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Just be careful, Mom." Hajime was carefully spooning mashed peas into Kumori's mouth. At that point, Kumori had gotten used to the smell enough to know to open his mouth when it was nearby, so he was far more successful than usual.

"I don't think there's anything I need to take care _of_, but… thank you, Hajime," Ino said.

Saturday night came. And the children stayed suspiciously out of the way as Ino pulled her hair up and did her makeup, alone, in her room.

Her heart was pounding again. But it wasn't exactly out of fear, but… caution.

(And maybe a little anticipation?)

When the doorbell rang, the house practically looked empty, though Ino couldn't tell whether the avoidance of her children was to give her privacy, or if it was out of disgust for Sasuke.

She sucked in her breath before opening the door, and tried to smile convincingly.

Sasuke stood there in his old clothes, dark and high-collared, and his face looked healthy. "Good evening, Ino."

"Hello there, Sasuke."

"Are you ready for dinner?"

"Yes, shall we go?"

"Mm."

And he offered his arm to her. There was hesitation in his movements, but sureness, as if he'd been practicing.

Ino took his arm. He felt warm beneath his clothes, in the cold spring air.

They walked for a while, together, without speaking.

Then: "So, how have you been?" he asked.

"Oh, I've been fine," Ino said. "And you?"

"Fine," Sasuke replied. "How have the children been? I've… only heard so much, so it would be nice to hear from a direct source…"

"Ah, well…" Ino cleared her throat, faced with a strange necessity to choose.

Any other situation, she'd have chosen Inou or Karai, to give them a bit of the spotlight over Takeru, but now…

"Well! Hajime's been well. With the baby and all, I mean. He insists on doing almost everything himself now."

"Ah."

From the look on Sasuke's face—blank, maybe disappointed—she thought maybe that might have been the wrong choice. Her stomach shriveled with dread.

"I imagine he's a wonderful father," Sasuke continued. "Especially if he's so attentive." He might have been smiling, if sadly.

"Oh, well, he's…" Ino exhaled, trying to rid herself of the needless fear. "Yes, he's doing a wonderful job, especially given his circumstances."

"Mm." Sasuke nodded. "And Inou, how has he been handling his work?" he continued. "Naruto tells me he's in the police department."

"Inou? Oh, he's having a great time, comes home every day with so many stories…" Ino said. "It makes him so happy to be making a difference, I think."

"A difference, is it?" Sasuke chuckled, faintly. "I'm glad. It's good for him to have fulfilling work. I imagine Karai is the same?"

"She's the same as ever," Ino said, and began smiling herself. "Though she's gone from the house most days on missions."

"Mostly international work, that's what Naruto tells me," Sasuke said. "Peacekeeping and relief."

"You seem to know a lot already," Ino said.

"Well…" Sasuke's head lowered slightly, a touch of sheepishness. "As I said before, it's nice to hear from someone who's closer to them than me."

"Mm."

And Ino found herself reluctant to continue, because the only two children left were…

"Is Takeru recovering well?" Sasuke said. "I understand he's able to walk again."

"Oh! He's getting around with arm braces, yes," Ino said. Her heart fluttered. "He's been able to get some work, thank goodness, he was miserable with nothing to do."

"Back to work? I'm glad to hear it," Sasuke said. "And…" His voice softened. "Nadeshiko is still at the flower shop, I imagine?"

"Yes, she is," Ino said. "Yakata-kun works there now, too."

"Really?" He exhaled, and his smile was one that creased only his eyes. "That's wonderful. They're both where they want to be, then."

"I… suppose, yes?" Ino said.

"You'll have to tell me more at dinner," Sasuke said. "About their work and how things are at home."

"Oh, of course I will, though…" Ino trailed off.

"Hm?"

"Where are we going for dinner, exactly?" Ino said. "Since you're going through all this trouble…"

"Ah. That's a surprise," Sasuke said, and the lack of playfulness in his voice almost made her laugh.

"I'll have you lead the way, then," Ino said.

His arm tightened within hers, bringing her closer, but gently. "If it's all right with you, I'd like to walk for a while longer. It's a fine evening."

"That's fine with me," she replied.

They walked in the calm, welcoming silence for a while longer, before they arrived at their destination.

"What are we doing at Naruto's house?" Ino asked, as Sasuke was unlocking the door.

"He's out of town this weekend," Sasuke replied. "So he said I could host you here. That is, I mean, unless…" He looked up, looking suddenly slightly panicked. "You wanted to go out somewhere? Because I'd gladly take you, whatever you want…"

"Oh, no, no, that's all right, I was just a little confused…" Ino said. "If you've prepared something here, then by all means."

"Ah, all right," Sasuke said, and continued unlocking the door.

It wasn't until she was in the foyer that Ino realized the implications of the situation: if Sasuke had prepared something, then that meant he had made _dinner_ for them.

Though the scale of his preparations was visible immediately.

Candles had been set out and were already burning gently on the various surfaces of Naruto's home, and there was a faint smell of roses in the air. Ino's mouth fell slightly open.

"I can take your coat for you, if you want," Sasuke said, his hands already reached out.

"Oh, yes, thank you," Ino said, feeling immediately inarticulate. She pulled her coat off and Sasuke took it, hanging it up with his on the coat rack.

"Please, this way." He led her to the living room, where a table had been set up and laid, and pulled out a chair for her. "I'll have our first course out in a moment."

"First course?" Ino sat down, feeling grateful that she did, as she was increasingly overwhelmed.

"Mm. I'll try not to take long."

Sasuke disappeared into the kitchen behind her, and Ino, alone with her thoughts for a short while, wondered to herself if this was all an elaborate genjutsu or a dream.

Sure, this was nice and all, but Sasuke wasn't the type to do this sort of thing, much less cook a-

"First course, our salads." Sasuke was carrying two plates, and set one down in front of her first, before sitting with his own. "Please, enjoy."

The salad was absolutely scrumptious. The greens were crisp and lightly coated with some sort of dressing Ino couldn't identify, with cherry tomatoes halved and tossed throughout.

Sasuke asked her, after a fair amount of silence and eating his own salad, "Do you like it?"

Ino had to finish chewing her last bite and swallowed, almost gasping. "It's fantastic," she said. "I've never had anything like it."

"I made the dressing myself," Sasuke continued. "I improvised a little so I was… somewhat worried that it might not taste right."

"You made it yourself?" Ino said. "How did you learn that?"

The orange-yellow light of the candles made it difficult to be sure, but Sasuke's face turned slightly red. "I've been… watching cooking shows, lately. To learn new techniques."

"Cooking shows?" The Sasuke she knew would only watch old movies and the news, if at all.

"Yes, they're… somewhat more helpful than books, since I can just memorize the hand movements instead of trying to figure it out on my own." He suddenly pursed his lips, as if he'd said too much. "I mean, I don't need much help, but I've had to cook for myself again lately, so…"

"I see," Ino said, because she was otherwise somewhat speechless.

Sasuke's reaction was to lower his head and return to eating his salad. This made her feel surprisingly awkward-had she hurt his feelings?

She struggled with figuring out how to apologize, or if she should even apologize in the first place, while she ate, and before she knew it, her salad had disappeared.

"If I may?" Sasuke had gotten up and was reaching for her plate.

"Oh, thank you," she replied.

"I'll be getting our second course," Sasuke said. "It's in the oven."

"Ah," Ino said, and distracted herself by rearranging her fork and knife on her napkin while she waited.

The second course was a chicken roast, with carrots and potatoes cooked in the pan along with it. Sasuke presented Ino's portion to her on a plate that looked like it had been arranged by a professional chef, with sauce drizzled artistically around the food.

"Please, enjoy," he told her, after sitting down himself.

Like the salad, it tasted incredible, and, as strange as it sounded to think it, it didn't taste like anything Sasuke would normally be involved with.

Halfway through the food, Ino couldn't help herself. "Um, Sasuke, before we were… married, I suppose, did you eat like this _every_ night?"

"Before we were married…? Ah, no, I wasn't… really that concerned. I mean." He looked down, then back at her. "I usually ate out with Naruto back then."

"So you… only recently learned to cook like this?" Ino said.

"Yes. I've… had some time on my hands," he added, somewhat quickly, as if making excuses. "It keeps me busy in between time with my students."

"I'm glad you have a… hobby?" Ino said, trying (and failing) to not to turn the phrase into a question. "I, uh, heard you've also taken up knitting?"

"Ah, yes. A friend of mine taught me when I showed an interest," Sasuke said. "It… also keeps me busy."

"I saw the scarf you made for Inou," she said. "He looks very handsome when he wears it."

"Does he really wear it?" Sasuke asked.

His voice seemed almost tender, in the weak sense of the word.

In truth, Inou had avoided wearing it at first. Ino found it stuffed at the bottom of his bureau when she put his laundry away the week after he received it from Sasuke's friend.

However, once the weather turned colder, and his adolescent temper soothed some, she found him throwing it on over his uniform when he went to work every morning, tossed over his shoulder in an obvious symbol of acknowledgement without care, maybe even defiance.

"Yes, he does," Ino said. "Though, um, with spring coming he's not wearing it as much as he used to.

"No, I suppose not," Sasuke said. "There isn't much I can knit that's useful in the summer, either."

"Well, I guess…" Ino thought. Lace was made by knitting, wasn't it? And you could certainly wear _that_ in the summer… "Do you knit lace?"

"No, but I have been thinking of trying, the patterns seem easy enough to work with," Sasuke replied. "Though I don't think… Inou seems the type to wear lace…"

The utter seriousness of his voice, coupled with his answer, sent a nervous blush to Ino's face, and she stabbed a chunk of potato in defense. "Ah, I suppose you're right, yes…"

"Nadeshiko's birthday is coming up, though," Sasuke continued. "Maybe for her. Do you suppose she would like a new blouse?"

Hearing him say her name without even a drop of resentment flooded Ino with further disorientation. "Oh, well, I'm sure she'd enjoy anything…"

"Mm. I'll see what I can find, then." Sasuke returned to thoughtfully carving out a piece of chicken. Ino swallowed at nothing.

The third course, dessert, was possibly the strangest part of the evening, though the food was hardly the oddest part of it.

Sasuke presented her with something called a "panna cotta," which seemed to be a white pudding with fruit syrup drizzled over it. "It's very popular in the Land of Lightning, apparently," he explained. "An Amerikan thing."

It tasted like fruit milk, and Ino enjoyed it very much, and was sure to tell him so. But Sasuke was oddly silent as he ate his own panna cotta, as if he were concentrating very intensely. And it was clear to Ino, when he returned after clearing away her dessert plate, that his face was very red.

"Well, um. I hope everything was… to your liking," he said, hovering above Ino's chair.

"Yes, it was all delicious, I honestly had no idea you were such a good cook, Sasuke," Ino said.

"Ah, well, then…

And Sasuke's rough hand strayed to her chin, and he trailed a finger against the outline of her jaw.

"I, um… I'm ready to go to bed, then, if you are." He was obviously trying to make his voice softer.

"Go to… bed?" Ino felt the blood in her face rising all the way to her ears. "Are you… asking me to sleep over, or…?"

Because the other interpretation seemed downright _impossible_.

"If you… want to, I mean, I won't do anything you don't want to do." Sasuke's voice quickened, losing the velveteen he'd tried to put on it. "I mean…" He removed his hand from her face and shoved it in his pocket.

An expression of discomfort and amusement was fighting its way onto Ino's face.

What the _hell_.

"Sasuke, are you… asking me to sleep with you?" she said, because it was becoming very apparent that he wasn't going to say anything close to that.

"...again, I won't do anything you don't want to do, I just thought I'd… because… hrm…"

His lips pursed so tightly that he looked like he was trying to swallow them.

Ino wanted to kick her urge to laugh in the teeth. The only reason she even _felt_ like laughing was because his actions were just so… _not_-Sasuke. And he was obviously making a serious, _serious_ effort to be nice to her.

She allowed herself a smile, and a kind chuckle. "Well, Sasuke, um… it's typically not considered… gentlemanly to offer to, um…" She tilted her head in place of the word. "...on the - first date." Since what _else_ should she consider it? He had _never _done things like that for her before they were married, much less after.

"Offer to _what…? _I don't…" But a moment later it dawned on Sasuke, and he closed his eyes as if wincing. "Oh. Ino, I'm… I apologize, that was… incredibly rude of me, please, let me, um… get your coat…"

He shuffled out of the dining room with such speed that Ino immediately stood and went after him. "Sasuke, wait..."

"I shouldn't have made these assumptions, I was just… nevermind, I apologize, I won't… ask these things of you again." He was almost mumbling as he grabbed the coat, his hands clumsy.

"Sasuke, it's okay, I'm not… offended, or anything, I just…" She ran out of words, wanting to comfort him, but tangled in too many other emotions to find what to say.

"Please allow me to walk you home, at least," Sasuke said, finally managing to hold out the coat properly.

"...of course, I would… very much like that," Ino said. She dipped her arm into one sleeve, then the next, and felt intensely guilty and confused as Sasuke put on his own coat and began walking down the road with her.

She understood that he was making an effort, that he was trying to be nice to her, but… what in the world was going on?

In the silence of their walk, she unwound things.

Before they reached her house, she came to two conclusions.

One, that Sasuke was possessed.

Two, that he'd been given some questionable dating advice.

Considering the circumstances, the second conclusion seemed much more likely.

She stopped him with a gentle touch of the arm about a block before they reached home. "Sasuke, I do want to let you know that what you did tonight for me… it was very sweet."

His head stooped slightly. "It could have been better."

She paused before replying, a minor judgment call. "It _could_ have, but not by much. I really did enjoy myself, you know."

"Of course you did…"

"I _did_," she said. "I had a lovely time, and if you wanted to do something like this again with me… I'd be glad to."

Sasuke looked back at her, his eyes wide. "But I… what I said, it was uncalled-for, and-"

"Nobody's perfect, Sasuke. How our… date ended hasn't changed things."

And she reached forward, and gently cupped one of his hands with both of hers.

"If you wanted to spend another night with me like this - after some practice, if you think that would help," she added, with a kind laugh in her voice, "then please, don't hesitate."

Sasuke stopped walking, and breathed in through his nose.

"I'll work at being a better… date, I suppose," he finally said.

Ino smiled. "I look forward to that."

He left her at the gate of the house, letting go of her hand with a nod. But he stalled awkwardly where he stood, obviously not sure whether he should stay or leave.

"Well… 'til next time, hm?" Ino said.

"Ah. 'Til next time." He waved at her, and finally began back down the road.

Ino watched him go for a while, before returning to the house.

Things were suspiciously quiet once she got inside. And judging from the almost-staged way in which her children were waiting in the kitchen there, she had a feeling that they had been watching from the door until only a few seconds before she returned.

"Since you're so obviously curious," she said, loud enough to make it clear that she wanted it heard, "your father and I had a lovely time tonight. He made me dinner and we had some good conversation."

Inou made a dissatisfied noise, and shortly afterward left the kitchen for his room.

"Dad made you dinner? Tell me about it, tell me!" Karai said. She leaned forward eagerly, almost sounding out of breath.

For her sake - and really, for everyone else - Ino told her. Though she politely left out the latter end of the evening, to save Sasuke - and really, everyone else - the embarrassment.


	149. Amuse-Bouche

**Author's Note**

The following chapter contains discussion of sexual abuse.

* * *

_Chapter 149 - Amuse-Bouche_

* * *

There were two weeks of quiet, after that first date.

The invitation for the second date came through the mail, rather than through Naruto.

And by the third date, Sasuke had mustered up the courage to call her on the phone. "I was afraid that… someone else was going to pick up," he explained.

"The children won't mind if you call," Ino said, though she didn't quite believe herself yet, and she doubted Sasuke did either.

At the end of that date - following another dinner, sans the candles and all the other preparations-Ino decided that it was high time to get Sasuke to let his guard down at least a little.

At the gate, as they said goodbye, she kissed him, once, on the cheek.

Sasuke covered the kiss with his hand when she pulled away, and his eyes wavered.

"You don't have to return the favor right away," she told him, tilting her head girlishly. "Okay?"

"Ah… Sure," Sasuke replied, and stumbled through the rest of his goodbyes before making his way back to Naruto's. Ino had never before seen his face so red.

Even after the dates became regular, almost every weekend at most, Ino found herself leading the way in everything but the invitations, and the theme of the dates. Sometimes it would be dinner, always handmade by Sasuke, but some nights - nights Ino suspected Naruto needed to be home - they would go out to a restaurant or a movie, and talk for ages otherwise.

At the end of the night, he would sometimes send her home with a gift; leftovers, or sweets, and the occasional knit item. For Nadeshiko's birthday, he sent her home with a wrapped parcel, with express instructions that Ino tell him how she liked it. The gift, Ino discovered later, was a mint green cardigan with lace insets around the waist and small pearl buttons.

It suited Nadeshiko very much, unlike Karai's gift from a few months before: a fluffy sweater in an outrageously eye-catching shade of pink.

Privately, Ino felt that Karai, who hated drawing attention to herself, was just being polite in wearing it out.

(Privately, Karai was absolutely touched that her father, for one, personally made her something, and for two, made her something that obviously singled her out for attention.)

All the same, Sasuke smiled warmly, when he heard that Nadeshiko was wearing his gift. "I'm so glad she likes it," he told Ino. "It's the very least she deserves."

By then, the growing kindness in his voice - especially regarding Nadeshiko - no longer took Ino by surprise.

In conversation, Ino took to supplying Sasuke with the news he used to meekly ask for, about their children and grandson, before moving on to Sasuke's own life. He was hesitant in opening up, at first, which didn't surprise her. But little by little, she learned about his students, his friend Juugo, his life with Naruto. There was nothing too sensational, his stories full of tiny annoyances and greater joys.

By all accounts, he seemed to be perfectly fine without her.

But even with all of this, and the food and gifts and obvious attention, something weighed at the back of Ino's mind, and it took her months of consideration and courage-gathering to even bring it up.

Considering how much she'd taken charge with the other aspects of the new situation with Sasuke, Ino took it for granted that everything overtly romantic she had to initiate herself, from hand-holding to the most innocent kisses. But while Sasuke seemed to have changed in everything else - his courtesy, his gentleness, his hesitation - she realized that his reluctance with romance hadn't gone anywhere.

His awkward, first-date proposition only reaffirmed this, besides. He'd obviously been preparing himself, with that, and hadn't brought it up since.

So Ino waited until a night when they were both alone at Naruto's, when he didn't have a gift obviously prepared, when there was nothing to do but talk.

And when the night came, she asked him, "Sasuke, are you gay?"

They'd been sitting on the couch together, and had just finished talking about his frustration with Naruto not even trying to clean the house now that he was there, so Ino felt the transition had been as smooth as she could possibly have made it.

Still, Sasuke sputtered in reply, obviously shocked. "E-excuse me?"

"I'm honestly fine with that, if you are!" Ino continued, trying to sound as understanding as she really felt. "I mean, I've suspected something for a while, but…"

"Ino, no, I'm not - why would you-" His face grew redder as he exhaled. "Well, I suppose you have good reason to think so, what with me and Naruto and… well… yeah, I haven't exactly been doing a good job at being good date, either, haven't I..."

"You've been a wonderful date lately, Sasuke, it's just…" He'd denied it, and even all but trace amounts of her beliefs holding on to her mind, she continued. "It's more than just… this. Our dates, I mean. Back when we were… together, I just couldn't help but notice that you didn't seem… interested in me that way."

"Ah…" Sasuke's head lowered. "I know. I'm sorry. I… I've been trying to fix that, but…"

"Trying to fix your… interest?" Ino said. "Sasuke, honestly, if you… like men more than women, then-"

"It's not that, it's not that, okay? That's not the issue here!" Sasuke's voice rose momentarily, his eyes locking with hers, before he went back to staring at his knees. "I just… I have problems with that… sort of thing. In general. It's nothing to do with you." He closed his eyes. "And that just makes me feel worse about it, to be honest…"

Ino scooted closer to him on the couch, so that their hands were almost touching, but not quite. "You mean, you have… problems with romance, or…?"

"I've been talking to… people about it. But it barely helps," Sasuke said. "No matter what I do, I can't… do it. I can't even think about it without feeling…" He groaned. "Ino, I'm so sorry, this has caused you nothing but trouble. Can't even… touch you without thinking about…"

Ino's heart began to thud in her chest, and there was a feeling there that she could only compare to finally finding the center of a knot, where all the loops met and could be pulled apart.

"You can't have sex with me, can you." It was a statement, not a question.

Sasuke grimaced. "I can, but I don't… no, I can't bring myself to even wanting it. And it's not you!" he added, quickly, looking at her with transparent desperation. "Honestly, it's not you! You're… you're beautiful, Ino, I should have no problem with this, but…!"

"But…?"

His eyes fell, and pain entered them. "I just… keep thinking about… about everything that I had to go through, and…"

Ino, carefully, laid her hand on top of his, and put on a voice she'd used with her children, but never her husband. "Is this about what happened to your family?"

"No," Sasuke said. "It happened after."

The silence between them was heavy, full of unspoken words. But Ino waited, knowing not to press, for pulling or prying would only hurt him and what they'd managed to build.

Finally, Sasuke opened his mouth, and he spoke openly, and quietly, without stopping.

He told her about how, as a child, he'd been more concerned with the process of reproduction than the emotions that were meant to preclude them, when he learned the wet, sticky details. It was just another science, another subject to master, and understand better than everyone else.

The understanding was clinical, sterile, and only worsened once Orochimaru got involved.

Though Orochimaru's goals were ultimately to take Sasuke's body for his own, he was almost more invested than Sasuke was in restoring the Uchiha clan.

(Though his goals were less inclined with the glory of a clan's lost reputation and more with having a small, beautiful army of ruby-eyed geniuses at his beck and call.)

He had a far better idea about what would have to happen, for the Uchiha clan to return in full force. He didn't want to wait for a smattering of infants to grow up and have children of their own. He was practically immortal, but he hated waiting.

Luckily, Orochimaru had supplies. Labs, and in-vitro equipment, and great henhouses of stolen women for surrogates.

Sasuke already kept his body in perfect shape, that much he could count on. But the small things, he had to ensure himself.

Orochimaru prescribed vitamins and hormonal supplements, to ensure a healthy body and a healthier sperm count. Sasuke had to provide samples every week for analysis.

(Ino, here, touched her mouth in gentle horror. Sasuke's face was blank, detached, as he continued.)

Nobody would be inseminated yet, no, no, not until Sasuke's body was safely in Orochimaru's keeping. But that didn't mean that Orochimaru couldn't ensure that everything would be ready for when the day came.

So samples were given each week, regularly and dutifully.

(And Sasuke's feelings of disgust and obligation only grew with each cold hour he had to spend alone with a plastic cup, until not even a meaningless orgasm could dull the discomfort he felt.)

(Orochimaru had begun asking this of him when he was thirteen, barely a month after moving into the Sound compound. By sixteen, he dreaded these weekly offerings more than any sort of confrontation with his past.)

(Of course, he never let it show. He had duties, then, and an obligation to his past.)

In the meantime, Orochimaru experimented. He waxed fantastically about clones, gene-transplants, accelerated gestation. He went through women for these purposes like test tubes, slicing them open and pulling at their insides, unraveling why they failed like a kitten playing with a ball of yarn.

Sasuke said, or at least he said to Ino, that he should have known better when Orochimaru came to him one year with what he said would be a "wonderful surprise." At that time, at that age, he assumed it would be some sort of improvement to his curse seal, or a new jutsu.

What Orochimaru gave him was a laboratory filled with beds, and on those beds were gaunt, shriveled women with swollen bellies. There was a stink like blood and ammonia in the air.

"This is the future," Orochimaru told him, a hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "The women who will bring forth the next generation of the Uchihas."

The way he said it, Sasuke was obviously supposed to be impressed, understanding. After all, only a massive effort with several women at once would be able to create children on a scale that would allow the clan to be of a respectable size.

This was what Sasuke truly wanted, wasn't it? What he should have expected.

His clan, mass-produced. Exactly what he needed to restore it.

("Did he… actually go through with it? Any of it?" Ino said, hushed, almost nervous.)

What he remembered most strongly was a young girl, barely older than thirteen, writhing on her bed with a large bloody spot on her sheets, shining as she hemorrhaged.

And Orochimaru scoffing, idly treating her as she bled, an undone proto-Uchiha fetus destroying her from the inside out.

(Sasuke shook his head. "No. Nothing ever came of it.")

Sasuke managed to keep his face straight, at the time. Stoic, almost disinterested. "This won't happen when there are actually… Uchihas to be born, will it?" he said, trying to sound disappointed.

"Trust me, Sasuke-kun. I'll get everything ironed out by the time we have to get down to business."

Orochimaru's gloved hands were rust-colored with diseased blood. The girl's lips were pale, and her wide, brown eyes glazed over as she lost consciousness.

Sasuke never had to go back there again, though he avoided the area if he could help it.

(Yet he did return, years later, when the land had grown over and swallowed the pain-saturated labs.)

(He was too preoccupied by shadows and brothers to notice the hills that hadn't fallen, the doors that were barely covered by leaves and moss.)

(Or the woman with the wide, brown eyes, whose belly never carried another child, even though she wanted for one so badly when the scars had healed and the snake had died and set her free.)

(Fate, delivered by water and anger, was a strange thing.)

No, he never did go back. But the memories came with him, as he was pulled out of a war and back into peace.

So when the time came for him to be an adult, a husband, and to do the things that made a family, the memories unpacked themselves and made a mess of his mind.

Sex was a duty, an obligation, one that could be scheduled and regular and on his terms. It could be predictable. Safer. But even though he wasn't alone any more, and he had a woman instead of a cup, it was no less uncomfortable, no less painful. At least he knew, with Ino, that he was actually making children, that it was for his own sake and not for experiments. But that was hardly a comfort.

The births were another story.

(Ino, who for years and years had assumed his reluctance to be there for the births of his children was due to some sort of unspoken masculine code, put her hand on his shoulder here. "Sasuke, no wonder… I'm so sorry, I had no idea.")

("Nobody did," Sasuke replied.)

(What he didn't say was that the day Takeru was born, hurried and terrifying as it was, the loudest thought in his mind was that he would lose both Ino and the baby.)

(What he couldn't say was that this was not a fear born of love, but of ownership, and how hard it would be to rebuild his clan with them gone.)

Even as the years passed, and their relationship grew warmer, things never got easier. Sasuke just got better at hiding his discomfort, for the sake of making things easier to negotiate with Ino.

"I'm… ashamed to say it," Sasuke said, after another long pause, after his story ended, "but the… only reason I married you was because you were the only woman in my life that didn't hate me. I don't… think I even loved you."

Ino didn't want to ask, but she had to. "And you still don't?"

And Sasuke looked up, not at her, not at anything, and he inhaled deeply. "I don't even know. I'm trying, because that's what you deserve, but…"

But he couldn't finish the sentence, and he couldn't ignore Ino's hand leaving his shoulder.

When she finally spoke, her voice broke through the quiet with the clarity of a knife. "If you didn't care about me, you wouldn't be making this effort, Sasuke."

"Care about. Not love," Sasuke said.

Ino sighed. "I don't see the difference. Not here. And, Sasuke..." She pursed her lips, judging the words. "I… I do still love you."

He looked far more shocked than she was expecting. "You don't… have to lie to me."

"I'm not lying. I might even love you more now, because I see all this effort you're going through, when I used to think you didn't care about anything but…" She shook her head as she trailed off. "You're changing, Sasuke. Even if… years ago you didn't feel these things, what you're doing now is what matters."

Sasuke made a small groaning sound. "Ino, really…"

"Sasuke, you just… seriously opened up to me about something that for years I thought was my fault! Did you know that? All this time - and I knew you hated having sex with me, Sasuke, I've known that for years - I thought it was because I was ugly, or because you weren't into women, or-"

"Ino, you're not ugly, it's all-"

"Shh, Sasuke, I know, just let me talk for a moment!" she said. She felt herself smiling, but she couldn't quite place why. "So when you first asked me out, and you tried to go to bed with me? Sasuke, how much of an effort did that take?"

"Well, I just… wanted to make you feel… good, I suppose, or at least show I cared…"

"Even with everything you've told me?"

"…that's what normal people do, isn't it?" Sasuke said.

Ino leaned over and rested her forehead on his shoulder, now laughing softly. "All this time, this is what was going on…" She sat up. "I suppose I can't have expected you to have talked to someone about it, but… if you have that much difficulty having sex, you could have said something!"

"It isn't exactly something I'm proud of…" Sasuke said. "And I'm trying to… fix it, you know."

"Are you talking to someone about it?"

He shook his head. "You're the… first person I've ever told, actually. Not even Naruto knows what I've… had to do."

"I can't… imagine why you would tell him," Ino said. "I'm sure there are people at the hospital you can talk to, though."

He shook his head again. "No, not about this. I've been… talking a lot, with people, with Naruto, about you, the family, but this…" He exhaled. "This is something that only you've had to… put up with. From me. And it's not that important, anyways…"

"Not that important? Sasuke, it's very important."

"Well, we're not having any more children, so…"

"Sasuke, it doesn't have to be about that. Heck, for most people, it isn't. This obviously bothers you."

His reply – another uncomfortable groan – was all Ino needed to hear.

"I don't want you to have to deal with this. I do want you to be happy, you know," she said. "Even if you don't think you deserve it."

"…well I don't want to talk to anyone about it, not about this…" he said.

"Then talk to me. Whenever you feel like it. I'm here." Ino put her hands on his hands and smiled of her own volition; he didn't tense up at her touch. "Okay?"

Sasuke looked back at her with such an expression of vulnerability that she honestly thought he was going to burst into tears. "I don't know what I did to deserve you," he said.

"Absolutely nothing," Ino replied. "You don't deserve me. But you have me."

She held him for a while after that, easing her arms around his back and stroking his arm gently. He leaned into her touch and half-lay there, his eyes closed, his face troubled. "I'm not going to let you go through this alone anymore, Sasuke," she said, almost whispering. "You're already doing so much, and it's my turn to give back."

And once she was sure he was comfortable enough, she asked to sleep over.

Sasuke's body immediately stiffened. "If that's… what you want, then-"

"Not for sex!" she said. "Sasuke, there is no way I'd do that to you after hearing all this. But I think… it would be nice to sort of… practice being husband and wife instead of just going out like this, for a while. Sharing a bed, at least. Away from the children."

"Ah, well, then…" He pulled himself away from her arms and cupped his hands over his knees. "If that's what you want…"

Sasuke gave her some of his clothes for pajamas, and let her use the bedroom while he dressed in the bathroom. He knocked on the door before entering, and held himself like a thirteen-year-old at a folk dance who'd never even touched a girl's hand before, looking at the floor, a flustered grimace on his face.

"I promise. Nothing's happening tonight," Ino said. She sat down on the bed, and patted the space beside her. "Let's tuck in."

It took a while for both of them to fall asleep, both of them wondering if the other was truly comfortable with this.

And in the morning when, truly, nothing had happened, Ino grinned triumphantly at Sasuke when he got out of bed and stretched. "Was that so bad?" she said.

Sasuke didn't say anything, but he smiled sheepishly in reply.

(Of course, Naruto noticed Ino leaving in the morning, and gave Sasuke a great many winks and elbow-digs on their way into work.)

(Sasuke betrayed nothing, sending back sighs of exasperation and the reminder that, "She's my wife, you idiot.")

(The children also noticed Ino's evening absence, and money was exchanged between Takeru and Inou once the coast was clear.)

("Told you they were gonna do it eventually," Takeru said, relishing Inou's discomfort more than the petty cash.)

They practiced in this manner for a few more, random evenings – Naruto was out of the house suspiciously more often than usual – before, one night, Ino gently rapped on the bathroom door while Sasuke was changing, and kissed him on the mouth as he began to leave.

"Wh-what's this for?" he said, as he pulled away. "Did I do something…?"

"More practice. For the fun of it," Ino said. "Is that okay?"

"I, um…" Sasuke's eyes darted with embarrassment. "Well, if there's nothing else to do…"

"On the bed. We'll make it fun," Ino said. And he joined her there, facing each other on their knees, as they exchanged hesitant, then increasingly eager kisses. It was pretty good - better, at least, than when they were living together - until Ino felt Sasuke's hand traveling to the hem of her shirt, and he began to reach upward.

Of course, as soon as he noticed what he was doing, he jerked his hand away and held it as if it were an animal trying to escape. "Oh – Ino, I'm sorry, I didn't mean for that to happen, um…"

Ino, of course, reached forward and took the guilty hand, and led it back to the hem of her shirt. "It's all right, keep going," she said. "Go ahead."

With reluctance, he started the next kiss, resting his hand on her waist, and soon enough he was gasping for air again, and his hands began to wander.

Then, things were great.

Ino might have thought it strange, Sasuke's hands going places that only Shikamaru had once traveled, had it not felt so wonderful. Knowing it was Sasuke, wanting it, maybe even wanting her, only made it better.

"I have… no idea what came over me, um…" Sasuke said, lying back against his pillows after they'd grown tired and overheated.

"It's called making out, Sasuke. And yes, it's totally okay," Ino replied.

And so it continued in this manner, ending their dates with kisses and shared sleep, Ino no longer setting anything off, letting Sasuke make the first move, letting him take things as far as he was comfortable with. And she noticed – with no small amount of amusement – how very much like a child he seemed to be about it all, teaching himself how to kiss properly and behave around a girl.

And one summer night, a few tries after Sasuke had dared to undress Ino and proceed the rest of the night mutually shirtless, he finally, honestly and obviously, became aroused.

(It was quite possibly the most celebrated erection in Konoha's history, if only privately.)

Ino proceeded gently from there, with Sasuke's insistence that he was ready, that he wanted it. "We're not doing this for children… we're doing this… because it's fun…" he managed.

It was pretty good sex – not that there was much to compare it to, being that they hadn't been together in over ten years – and Ino was glad she wasn't out of practice, but nothing compared to the rush of joy and pleasure she felt from Sasuke finally, finally looking like he was enjoying himself with her.

When she dared to look at his face, he was smiling, biting his lip. There was no pain, no discomfort. Things were as they should have been.

"That's… what it's supposed to feel like…?" he gasped, in the aftermath.

"Yeah… that's about it…" Ino replied.

And there in bed, Sasuke laughed a little, tears leaking out of his eyes. Whether they were happy or regretful, Ino couldn't tell, nor did she want to.

Of course, even after that miraculous night, Sasuke rarely went that far again, only on particularly good nights, and Ino never pressed him on it. The fact that he was asking to be with her freely and enjoying himself at the same time was enough for her. The tension in the air that surrounded the end of their dates, over whether or not Sasuke felt like it, over whether or not they'd do anything, disappeared in time, and Ino felt herself wondering as she lay awake at night, "Is this how people like Sakura have it?"

(And another thought, almost as frequent but much darker, was "How long before things go wrong again?")

(She turned into the covers and silently fumed at that thought, banishing it as well as she could.)

He continued giving gifts to her, but something in the giving seemed to have changed. They were gifts given out of affection, or "just because." There was no longer a feeling of debt attached to them, or obligation. For Christmas – and of course they went on a date, as did practically every other couple in Konoha – he gave her a string of pearls that were obviously very expensive.

"Sasuke!" She tried to sound outraged as he fastened it around her neck. "Why all this?"

"Because you're worth a lot more than a couple hours towards a sweater," he replied, and kissed her.

Ino found herself wearing them every day after that, a sense of warmth and wanted-ness touching her heart whenever they were on her. Call it irrational, but it was there.

So when word reached her on Kumori's birthday of the gift and sacrifice Sasuke had made for Hajime, she was surprised, but hardly astonished.

"Ninako honestly thought that you'd planned this with Hajime," she told him over dinner, about a week after everything quieted down. "I mean, I heard nothing about this from you, so…"

"Ah, yes, I was… trying to keep this a bit of a secret," Sasuke replied. "Mostly because I wasn't… really sure if it was even going to work in the first place."

"Well, it did! And Sasuke, I have to tell you, he seems so much happier," Ino continued.

"I'm glad to hear it," Sasuke said.

"It… certainly would be nice if you could actually see it for yourself," Ino said, into her glass.

"Ino…" He sounded disappointed.

"I'm just saying," she said. "It's been… what, a year since you've been home?"

"It has," Sasuke said. "I just don't think I'd be welcome at this time."

"When do you think you would be welcome?"

Sasuke laced his fingers together, and his eyes narrowed. He inhaled with purpose.

(And Ino, for a moment, grew nervous. It had been so long, yet these silences always used to precede harsh words.)

Finally, he spoke. "…I'm just trying to be considerate. I know you'd welcome me, Ino, but the children… I don't want to hurt them."

Ino reached for him across the table. "I don't think there's any way you could hurt the children now, Sasuke," she said, and took his head. "You've changed."

His eyes fell. "Maybe I have. But I'm not going to go where I'm not welcome." He pulled his hand away. "You'll just… have to tell Hajime that I'm glad he's happy."

"I will," Ino said, and kept the conversation away from Sasuke's charity for the rest of the night.

It was the closest they'd come to an argument in all their time back together, and Ino had the feeling that, even with all of the progress she had made, there was much more work to be done to get Sasuke back to the family.

All in all, and despite Ino's best efforts, it took another year for Sasuke to even speak with his children in person.

It was a quiet year, with no major hiccups, and was almost boring if it weren't for the little victories in between that made things worth talking about. Kumori learned to walk; Sasuke's students, one after the other, were promoted to chuunin and freed up his time as they found jobs in the village; and Takeru learned to fight again, using a spider-like construction that he sat in and manipulated from the inside. He shared a secret smile with Shikake over its design.

There were birthdays and weddings and parties as well, but no matter how kindly and gently Ino asked, Sasuke would always refuse. "I won't go where I'm not welcome," was always his reply.

She resigned herself to thinking of this as just another hurdle, another step in Sasuke's journey of… whatever it was he was going through that was making him change like this. He was her husband again, yes, but only on the weekends. He wasn't yet the father of her children, much less a grandfather.

Still, she found happiness where she could get it, in Sasuke's arms and with his time, and in the sense of healing that warmed her home with gold and cream-paper light.

Sasuke's gifts continued, as they always did, feeling less like penance and more like distant love with each giving. Ino's messages to him about the children made them far more personal, and he began to include long letters with them - of course, not for her to read.

Most surprising was on Nadeshiko's 20th birthday. Ino expected something simple, another sweater or a book perhaps, when Sasuke presented her with a thin envelope and a wary smile. "Please tell me what she does with it," he said.

Ino expected money, but what she got instead was a deed to a plot of land on the corner of the Uchiha Memorial, within walking distance of the original home. Included was a letter from Senritsu Hashiki, promising a consultation visit and the beginnings of a house.

"Oh, finally, somewhere you can go where you won't bother us," Takeru commented, at the party, though he was smirking in a friendly manner.

"What made you think of that, Sasuke?" Ino said, when the met afterwards, after gushing for a fair amount of time.

"She's an adult now, and she should have somewhere of her own to live," he replied.

"Well, of course, but…"

"But?" Sasuke leaned forward.

"Well, Hajime and Ninako are a bit older than her," Ino continued, "and they're still living with me, so…"

His face fell slightly. "Ah. I suppose you do have a point, what with… the baby and everything…" He mumbled through the rest of the meal, and stayed on his own side of the bed that night, wrapped in thinking.

Ino, mulling over it, didn't know what amazed her more: the fact that he seemed to have put Nadeshiko first for once, or that he thought so much of her - seemingly - to give her a plot of land to do with as she pleased.

Nadeshiko moved into her home not long after, and with Hashiki's very approving help, she filled the earth around it with a small forest of flowers and trees. Whether it was the flowers or the house, Ino couldn't tell, but she noticed Nadeshiko smiling much more than usual once she was settled.

And sure enough, on Hajime's birthday the following September, he received his own plot of land, with plenty of space for his family of three. According to Ninako - since Hajime remained tight-lipped on the matter - the letter that came with the deed said something about how the gift was "long overdue."

Takeru, in November, didn't receive a house for his birthday, though there was an understandable reason for that. For a while before that, he had been taking diplomatic missions in Sand, and by the time his birthday rolled around, he'd already rented out an apartment there, and spent a great deal of his time away. "I have a perfectly good room at home for when I am home," he explained, at his party - because, of course, he was home for his birthday.

Sasuke instead sent him a first edition copy of Song of the White Sand, a sweeping epic concerning Wind Country bandits. Takeru seemed unimpressed, despite the fact that the book was beautifully ancient and known to be very hard to find.

(Of course, privately, he was very impressed, and wondered how in the world someone like Sasuke had gotten a copy.)

(Of course, Sasuke had connections.)

(And by connections, of course, that meant Naruto and his long-distance friendship with the Taki family. They were able to acquire it easily enough.)

Ino received no land for her September birthday, which was obvious, since she already had a perfectly usable house. But Sasuke ended up taking her on a vacation to a resort on the eastern coast in the Land of Waves, where they had a private cottage for the better part of a week.

"Hm. I'm glad the reviews were honest," Sasuke said, towards the tail end of the trip, as they sat in bed together, watching TV.

"Why, did you hear bad things?" Ino said.

"No, I just wanted to make sure it was somewhere nice before I… well, I suppose you'll see," Sasuke said, and crossed his feet almost cheekily.

As Ino would later find out, that exchange was the closest they would get to discussing family the entire time, which ended up making the whole stay extremely stress-free. When they weren't on the beach together - Sasuke got terribly sunburnt, but made an effort at laying out in the sun with Ino anyways - they were in restaurants, or in bed, and very comfortable.

Given all of this distant, yet generous, altruism, it was therefore completely unexpected when Sasuke presented Ino with her second Christmas present: divorce papers.


	150. Palate Cleanser

_Chapter 150 - Palate Cleanser_

* * *

Sasuke had handed Ino a small envelope, much like the ones that had held the deeds for Nadeshiko's and Hajime's houses. It wasn't in any sort of fine box or packaging, which was normal enough, but the papers inside were thin sheets full of writing and check boxes, all pre-signed by Sasuke.

"...what is this for?" Ino said, in looking them over. A wisp of a laugh was in her voice, one that was searching for a joke, if any, in all of this.

"It's me taking responsibility for things," Sasuke said. "I picked them up a few days ago; I don't know why I waited so long. The family is best off without me connected to them in any way."

"You mean… you want a divorce? Honestly?" The pages rustled slightly in her hands. "Sasuke, I…" She felt weak. "I thought things were getting… better for us."

"For… us, yes. But… the children, that's another story." The only comfort to her was that he seemed uncertain, maybe remorseful, as he told her this, rather than neutral and self-justified like he would be in the past. "There's just only so much I can do, Ino."

"Meaning?" Ino put the papers down. They were at the dinner table, and her gift to him - a set of hand-carved bone knitting needles - lay half-opened beside him.

"I'm beyond help. So this is the kindest thing I can do for them. They don't want me in their lives, anyways…"

"You don't know that," Ino said.

"No, I do," Sasuke replied. "I've… you know, tried to give back to them, to apologize, but not one of them has written back, or visited, or…"

"Maybe because you… haven't reached out for yourself? In person?" Ino said, her mouth twisted with half-sarcasm.

"I - I can't do that," Sasuke said. "I've tried, Ino, but I… there are just some things I can't do."

Maybe it was the unintended - or intended? - insult of the papers finally reaching Ino, or maybe it was the way his voice seemed so simpering and self-pitying, but Ino felt the heat of anger rising in her cheeks.

"How in the world have you tried?" she said. "It's been two years since they've even seen your face, Sasuke. Letters and - presents aren't enough, you know!"

"I know, I just-"

"You just what?"

Sasuke inhaled again, closed his eyes. "I don't want to hurt them," he said. The evenness of his voice seemed forced.

"Sasuke, I can't… see how you could hurt them," Ino said, honest wonder in her voice. "I mean, short of… raising your hand, or something, I can't think of-"

"Are they really, perfectly fine with the idea of… putting up with me again, after all I've done?" Sasuke said. "Nobody would feel uncomfortable, is that it?"

"Well…" Ino, in thinking, couldn't deny it. Imagining Sasuke in the house gave her images of silent, sulking dinners, and seething bitterness from her sons. "Well, the only thing that would make sure of that is if you actually came over!"

Sasuke grumbled, and looked at his shoulder. "That would only make things worse."

"Sitting around feeling sorry for yourself is what would make things worse!"

"No - no, me staying out of things? That's for the best. Trust me. I know."

"Sasuke…"

"I mean, just… think about what would happen if I went back. Okay?" His words quickened. "There I am, the worst father in the world! Here to… fail at everything again!" He rolled his eyes and ran a hand through his bangs. "Sure, if they hated me there, I could take it. I deserve it. But would it make things better? No, Probably not!"

Ino slumped forward, sending him a tired glance. "And how do you know that?" she said. "Sasuke, this is all 'what-if,' and I think-"

"It's not 'what-if.' It's I know." Sasuke had his hands pressed on the table, now. "What happened last time? I… I almost killed my own son - two of my sons!"

Ino caged the memory in her chest, and bit her lip for a moment. "Sasuke, that was - a completely different circumstance, you-"

"They'll remember, Ino. You don't forgive people like that! You shouldn't!" His voice was rising. "And - and what's Takeru going to say to me? He doesn't even think of me as his father, I'm sure! Which is totally my fault. I mean, hah, if I weren't so - so fucked up you'd have never had to, to do what you… had to do!" There was a crooked, painful smile on his face, and he was starting to gasp for air. "So, yeah, I think I have a pretty good idea of what would happen if I went home. So… just, just divorce me, and… and everything will be… better." He quieted down, somewhat, losing his breath. "For all of us. Okay?"

Ino forgot to breathe, for a moment. Her throat felt dry.

But she breathed, evenly, and swallowed, before speaking. "Sasuke… calm down." She had her hands raised, gently, and her face pursed with worry.

And Sasuke's expression folded from nervous anger to cold shame, and he held his forehead in his hands. "I can't do it. See? This is why. I can't… control myself. I'll just… I'll lose my temper, just like that, and I'll screw myself over, and I'll just make things worse…"

"Sasuke, just breathe, calm down…" She smoothed her voice, and reached forward to put her hands on his arms. "You're just… freaking yourself out. It's not so bad, okay?"

Sasuke just shook his head, groaning.

"Did you even talk to someone about this? Divorcing me, for the kids' sake?"

"I… didn't really think I needed to. It made sense to me and I'd been thinking about it for a while…"

Ino sighed, trying to sound sympathetic. "Generally with things like this you at least consult your friends, if you don't want to talk to your family…"

This seemed to at once calm and upset him, because his shoulders relaxed, but he sighed almost like a whine. "Ugh, Itachi was right about me. I'm a coward."

(Ino had some understanding that Sasuke and Itachi spoke to each other with Murasaki's help, when she was available, but the conversation at the lake two years before was outside of her knowledge.)

"You're only being a... little bit of a coward," Ino said, deciding to be at least a little firm with him.

(And suddenly, Ino realized why in the world she felt so oddly calm about this, rather than outraged: the subject aside, everything from Sasuke's voice to his posture reminded her exactly of Inou after a bad break-up.)

(Which, at the age of seventeen, he'd had several of.)

(Trying not to smile overmuch, she felt much more at ease with how to handle the whole situation.)

"Sometimes we make bad decisions," she said, quietly. "I can tell you're stressed out, so maybe that's why you went about this without thinking too much?"

"That has something to do with it," Sasuke admitted. He still had his forehead in his hands.

"Have I… been pressuring you too much to come back?"

"Ino, I don't want to blame you…"

"It's okay if you do. I admit it!" her tone brightened. "But it's because I worry, Sasuke. I honestly think that… what we have right now, it's nice, it's wonderful, but our family needs you. Both of us. We can't keep on ignoring that anymore."

Sasuke took away one of his hands, and propped up his forehead with the one left.

"Why don't you try? You'll be… stuck like this just worrying unless you try," she said. She reached for the papers, slightly crumpled on the table. "This isn't a solution, divorcing me isn't a solution."

"I was going to give you… half of my money, more than that…"

"Sasuke. One, that's a horrible excuse, and, two… well, I already have more than enough money…"

Sasuke let his head hang away from his hands. "Yeah, I… I know. I'm just making excuses."

Ino sighed again, shaking her head. "So, before we resort to things like this?" She held up the papers. "Why don't we try? Make that my Christmas present. Not this."

There was a joyless smile on his face. "That's what you really want, huh."

"I want absolutely nothing else."

(And Sasuke, stewing in self-loathing, steeled himself with words from his brother, and a half-broken promise to a friend, a son.)

"...when do you want me to… try?"

A smile like light off a bubble broke upon Ino's face. "Why not New Year's? Everyone will be home, and nobody will be in the mood for a fight. It should be fine!"

"Next week…?"

"Yes. Next week," Ino said. "The less time we waste, Sasuke, the more good we can do."

"No use arguing with that," Sasuke said.

Ino got up out of her chair, and walked to Sasuke's chair, arms held out. "Come here, let me give you a hug."

And he squirmed and fussed against her body, but held onto her in return all the same, for a very long time.

(Ino, privately, resisted her urge to giggle or kick herself. This was her husband, not her hormonal teenaged son, yet here she was, ending her comfort and counsel with a hug.)

(And yet, it seemed the good and right thing to do.)

They ripped up the divorce papers, after that. Ino did most of the ripping, but Sasuke did some half-hearted tearing of his own after Ino handed him a few pieces. He smirked, weakly, after it was done.

"So… we can agree, this was a little stupid?" Ino said, once they were done.

"...yes. It was very stupid." Sasuke let his paper fall from his fingers. "Can we… forget I thought of it?"

"Of course," Ino said, and kissed him on the cheek as she went to throw the papers into Naruto's garbage.

Well, of course, they were at Naruto's house. He'd been out of town for most of the week before, visiting with friends in other countries for the pre-holiday season. That night, he was in Lightning, as he told Sasuke over the phone that morning.

What he also reported, and what Sasuke didn't care as much about and more or less forgot about after the call was over, was that he was a guest at Fuzan and BB's wedding.

Fuzan had found returning to ninja life difficult, after Yuki's injury to his arm. Despite physical therapy, his right arm never regained its full strength, and he usually kept his hand in his pocket after that, to keep it out of the way. For most people, it wouldn't be a terribly debilitating thing; after all, there were several ninjas with one arm incapacitated or missing - the Raikage, for example - who had long and illustrious careers. But Fuzan wasn't nearly as talented as those individuals.

So Fuzan decided that this was a case of "Easy come, easy go," since it hadn't even been a year since his chuunin promotion. He'd had his taste of the ninja life, but found that life as BB's companion - with all of the attached celebrities and mild fame - was much cooler, by far.

Their wedding, which Naruto attended, was just before Christmas, after two years of further cohabitation. Naruto practically invited himself to the wedding, which caused Fuzan no small amount of glee at his bachelor party.

(The two made short work of starting a family, after that. BB knew of the complications that would be in store for her, when the time came for her to take the eight-tails into her body, so the less they waited, the better.)

(The following November, they were blessed with triplets, all girls.)

("Fo' fuck's sake, when I said I wanted kids, I didn't want 'em all at once!" BB said, when a sonogram jutsu confirmed things.)

(Fuzan, meanwhile, fainted away in the hospital room, and they spent more time ensuring he was okay than anything related to BB's pregnancy.)

(All the same, their daughters were delivered safely, and it was decided that they were more than enough for the two of them to handle. BB had her tubes tied afterward, so no matter what, nobody would be put in danger on behalf of her sex life.)

(They were a happy family. BB had an exciting and satisfying career, Bee was an eager grandfather that spoiled them rotten, and Fuzan looked after the girls with love and heaps of cartoons and comics.)

(Of course, this was all in the future, and very much unrelated with Sasuke's current predicament.)

"Really, though, Sasuke?" Ino said, unable to help herself, as she returned. "Divorce papers for Christmas?"

"I thought you would be…" Sasuke winced slightly. "...relieved to get them."

"Sasuke…"

They went out to rent a movie after that, and watched it together on the couch. Sasuke held Ino's hand the entire time, never really settling comfortably in his seat, and Ino stayed with him for comfort.

There were no kisses or cuddles in the night, as there were the year before, though Ino assured him, "It'll be okay, just get some sleep, you'll be feeling better in the morning," before tucking in herself.

She awoke in the night to a pulling sensation at her back.

And turning over slightly, her head peering over her shoulder, she saw Sasuke in the dark there, huddled close to her, fast asleep. He was clinging to her shirt tightly, as if it was all that was keeping him on the bed.

Ino sighed at the sight of him. She'd never seen him look so vulnerable, or scared.

Or sweet.

Gently, she pulled his fingers away from her shirt, and turned over to face him, folding her arms in with his. She fell back asleep shortly afterward, warmth in her heart.

Of course, when Sasuke woke up later, he was a bit surprised to find Ino tangled up in him like that. But he said nothing of it, shifting himself away as unobtrusively as he could, and dozing off again as he watched his wife sleep.


	151. Puff Pastry

_Chapter 151 - Puff Pastry_

* * *

Ino announced Sasuke's impending arrival for New Year's to the family only the day before he was due to come. Telling the children too early, she felt, would only cause bad emotions to stew. Too late - or not at all - would only cause outrage. It would all be fine.

She told herself.

At least Karai seemed excited, in the aftermath of the family dinner she had called together, though she always seemed excited. "It's been forever since Dad's been home! Like… what, two years?"

"Mm," Hajime said. Ninako was beside him, at the table, with Kumori on her lap. He was almost two, now, and had developed an active and curious mind, with hands that touched everything they could.

"Did he give any reason why he was coming now? And not, say, sooner?" Takeru said.

"Your father has been… doing a lot of work that's kept him from coming home," Ino said.

"Oh, come on. That's a lie and you know it." Inou had his arms crossed. "You probably guilt-tripped him into coming. He'll be here a night, bitch at all of us like he always does, and then never come back."

"Inou, please…" Ino said. "Give your father a little credit. He's been very good to me and I'm sure he'll be good to all of you."

Inou made a dismissive noise, and flipped his hair as he crossed his arms tighter.

"At least he'll have a chance to meet Kumori," Ninako said, and her son burbled slightly at the mention of his name. "I mean, my dad's had plenty of time with him, so it's only fair Sasuke gets a turn."

"He'll only be here a night, right?" Hajime said, as if he hadn't heard her.

"I told him he could stay longer if you were all okay with it," Ino replied.

"Good. He'll be out of our hair sooner, then," Inou said.

Ino decided not to tell Sasuke any of this when she went to fetch him on New Year's Eve. He seemed to be holding himself together remarkably well, acting perfectly stoic and composed, though she knew how nervous he truly was.

He also had a thin package under his arm, tied with ribbon. "What is that?" Ino asked.

"Birthday present. You know, for… Kumori. Thought I'd bring it with me."

"Oh, of course! Great idea." Ino took his arm in hers. "I'm sure he'll love it."

"Mm." He held firmly onto her arm as they walked together in the winter streets.

They stopped, together, at the gate of the house, so Sasuke could gather his breath. "You okay?" she asked.

Sasuke took a few breaths in. "Yes. I'm fine. Let's go in."

And they did.

Karai was first to greet him; she was wearing the fuzzy, highlighter-pink sweater Sasuke had made for her, which caused Ino a small note of distress - she'd been wearing a completely different outfit earlier that day.

(Sasuke felt a similar pang of distress, though more out of nervousness. She still wore the sweater? Wait, had she worn the sweater before? Was she doing this to appease him?)

Her hair had grown, since he last saw her; it was to her shoulders, now, tame bangs in the front, but wild and unruly behind. She was taller, also, which he noticed most strongly when she skipped forward with her arms outstretched, her head almost above her shoulders, rather than his mid-chest.

"Father!" She hugged him for the briefest of moments, before suddenly jumping back.

(Remembering how things used to be.)

"Oh, I'm sorry, Father, I just got a little too excited…" she said, but trailed off when she saw Sasuke, after handing Kumori's gift to Ino, hold his arms out.

"Don't apologize. It's been a long time, Karai." He smiled.

(And Karai knew, in her heart, that he meant it.)

"It has!" She leaped forward and hugged him, pressing her ear against his chest. "I missed you so much, Father."

"And I… missed you," Sasuke said, hugging her back. He pulled away slightly to get a better look. "You've gotten taller. And you're wearing my sweater."

"Yeah! I love it! It's just so… me!" She bounced away and linked her hands behind her back. "I'm glad I finally get to thank you personally."

Sasuke smiled again, and began to take off his coat.

"Mom, you need help with dinner tonight, yeah?" Karai continued.

"Yes, Karai." Ino hung up her own coat.

"Good, 'cos Ninako an' Nadeshiko are already getting things started."

"Oh, Ninako's here! Good, good." Ino clapped her hands together. "Sasuke, would you like to help with dinner? I'm sure you'd love to show off what you've learned."

"Mom says you've been cooking dinner for her, at your place," Karai said.

"She said correctly," Sasuke replied, and went into the kitchen.

Ninako had her sleeves rolled up and was washing rice in the sink; Nadeshiko was peeling vegetables nearby. She'd begun growing her hair out again, and it had reached her mid-back by then. She kept it gently tied back just below the nape of her neck with a white ribbon.

"Anything I can help with?" Sasuke said.

"Oh! Uh, hi there!" Ninako looked up from her chores and smiled, if a little nervously. "We just got started, so… I dunno, you feel like cutting some veggies with Nadeshiko?"

"Don't see why not," Sasuke said.

He hesitated for a moment, looking for space beside Nadeshiko at the counter; she went about her chore as if he weren't there, carefully pulling her knife under the skin of the carrots.

Until, with a smooth gesture, she stepped aside and put a peeled carrot to her left, followed by a knife. "Do you know how to cut them in cherry blossom shapes?" she asked.

"I… do, actually," Sasuke replied. He took his place beside his daughter, and rolled up his sleeves as he prepared to cut.

"That's good. I'll be cutting lotus root next," Nadeshiko said. "It's all for the hot pot."

"I'll do my best to make it look good, then," Sasuke said. He began to slice, carefully, and silently.

Ninako sent Ino a glance over her shoulder, another smile, though more confused than nervous. Karai, meanwhile, went about getting soba started for her and Ino to cook, humming as she went.

The first son to appear was Inou, since he still lived in the house full-time. He had been well aware of Sasuke's entrance, and wanted to make it very clear that he was his own person and that he did not approve of his father being there. He leaned against the kitchen door-frame with his arms crossed, after he came down the hallway, face away from the people in the room.

"Oh, Inou! Wanna gimme a hand with this?" Ninako called to him from the sink, draining the rice for the last time. "I gotta start getting the mochi ready."

Inou glanced at Sasuke, back at NInako, and sighed. "Sure, I guess." He took the rice pot from her and filled it with water, before putting it in the rice cooker.

"Is that Inou?" Sasuke said.

"Yeah, it's me," Inou replied, his lip curled. "What about it?"

Sasuke looked at him briefly, pausing his hands. "You've gotten taller."

"Well, yeah," Inou replied. "What did you expect me to do, shrink?"

"Of course not," Sasuke said, which Inou sighed at, loading the rice cooker with the pot. "You pierced your ears, too?" Sasuke continued.

Silver studs - the traditional sign of a chuunin-level Yamanaka - had indeed been placed in Inou's ears in Sasuke's absence. He wasn't around to say it was unbecoming or girly, and damn it if Inou wasn't going to make a decision for himself for once.

"Yeah, I did! You got something to say about it?" Inou replied, crossing his arms again.

"It suits you," was all Sasuke said. Nadeshiko, beside him, smiled slightly.

Inou's mouth opened and closed a few times as he tried to find a come-back, but he resigned himself to sitting at the kitchen table, arms crossed, as usual, on top of the surface.

The busy work of cooking was nearly done by the time Takeru came in, all the soba rolled and cut, the vegetables set aside for the hot pot. The rubber tips of his braces thumped in rhythm with his heavy feet, and he paused as he took stock of who was in the room.

"I imagine Hajime's still at home with Kumori?" he finally said.

"Yeah, they won't be long, though," Ninako replied. "Hajime will come over once he's done with his afternoon nap."

"Sounds about right," Takeru replied. He cleared his throat, and seemed to wait for a while before settling at the table across from Inou. They exchanged glances, though Inou huffed and looked away shortly afterward.

Hajime arrived a bit afterward, with Kumori in his arms, bundled up against the cold. "How long 'til dinner?" he asked, helping Kumori with his boots.

"Half an hour," Ino replied. Ninako left her station to take Kumori from him, cooing as she went.

"Look, Kumori, your other grandpa is here to see you today," she said, wiggling one of his little hands in Sasuke's direction.

"Gampa?" Kumori said. His head turned in response to his mother's voice, then towards his hand.

"It's good to see you, Hajime," Sasuke said. He was getting things out with the rest of the girls, at that point, setting up the hot pot and getting the sauce simmering.

"Same to you, I suppose," Hajime replied, dryly. "Mother, anything I can help with?"

"Everything's almost out already. Just get Kumori's high chair, if you need it," Ino replied.

Hajime went about his business as if he were alone in the room, getting the high chair from against the wall and bringing it nearer to one of the tables that had been set up for the massive dinner.

And Sasuke went to Ninako, and the grandchild he'd sent gifts to, but never met. "So this is Kumori, then?" he said.

"Mhm!" Ninako smiled. "Kumori, say hi to your grandpa." She waved his right hand at Sasuke, and guided it to one of Sasuke's hands. Kumori held on tightly.

"Gampa…" he said, almost thoughtfully. He was looking in Sasuke's general vicinity, but the complete blank grayness of his eyes gave nothing else away.

"What a head of hair," Sasuke said. "I think I remember having a cousin with curly hair like that."

"I had a feeling it came from Hajime's side of the family!" Ninako said. "I mean, nobody on my side has hair like that."

"Mm. He has your eyes, though. They're very beautiful," Sasuke said.

"...yeah, aren't they?" Ninako said, and though she was smiling, everyone heard the pause.

"Yes, is that where his name came from?" Sasuke continued. "Reminds me of clouds."

"Did Ino tell you that?" Ninako said.

"She might have," Sasuke replied.

"I did," Ino said.

"Ha! How did I know?" Ninako laughed a little.

Kumori, meanwhile, was squirming, holding his arms out towards Sasuke. "Up, wan' up," he said.

"Oh, uh, I think he wants you to hold him," Ninako said. "Do you mind?"

"Oh, uh, not at all," Sasuke said. "Been a while since I've done this, so…" He took Kumori from her, and the boy sat up on his forearms, bracing his hands on Sasuke's shoulders. Sasuke, a little baffled, let him stay there for a while, until Kumori began putting his hands, one by one, on his face.

"Ah, I should have warned you, he does that sometimes…" Ninako said.

"I don't mind-" Sasuke began, before one of Kumori's hands landed on his mouth.

"Gampa," Kumori said, rather satisfactorily, putting another hand on Sasuke's forehead.

Sasuke said nothing, his eyes closed, a bit of a grimace on his face.

Kumori tired of this fairly quickly, apparently, because he put his hands on Sasuke's chest and blinked a few times. "Hey-oh, Gampa."

"Um… Hey-oh," Sasuke replied.

"I'll… take him back," NInako said, putting her hands under Kumori's arms. "We'll have more time after dinner, yeah?" Kumori fussed as she settled him back into her grip, but eventually clung to her like a monkey.

"I'll put him in his high chair," Hajime said, coming to her with his own hands out. Ninako passed the baby over, and Hajime took to the task of getting him settled in with practiced movements and a dead look in his eyes.

Inou broke the still sighness with a groan. "Are we gonna_ eat_ already?"

"Well, everything's out, so…" Ino began.

"C'mon. I'm _star_ving." He leaned back in his chair and groaned again.

"If everything's ready, I'm fine with getting started," Sasuke said.

"Because we just _can't_ start without your permission, hm?" Takeru said.

Sasuke opened his mouth, like he was going to say something, but instead lowered his eyes, putting his hands in his pockets.

"...let's all get settled in. Before everything goes cold," Ino said, a smile of appeasement on her face.

The dinner went about as badly as she had expected.

The table sat eight people, and Sasuke and Hajime took either side, at Ino's insistence, though absolutely nothing was mentioned about who was the "true" head of the family. The siblings and wives were divided almost predictably; Karai and Nadeshiko sat at Sasuke's right, with their mother, while Takeru and Inou allied themselves on Hajime's side. Takeru took his place near Sasuke with prickly self-righteousness on his face, as if he were making some great sacrifice for the family.

Karai kept conversation going, as Ino knew she would, asking Sasuke about his students and his life and what he'd been doing lately. Nadeshiko was quiet; Ninako was polite, when she wasn't wiping Kumori's face and helping him with his fork and spoon; and the boys sulked, oscillating between concentrating deeply on eating their food, or picking at it.

Ino had heard all of Sasuke's stories before; how his student Kyou had gotten a chuunin-level certification by taking on an apprenticeship in the Konoha Archives; how the one named Sunao was working at a jounin qualification to become a teacher; how the last one, Go'on, was using his skills on relief missions to assess loss of wildlife and foliage in areas devastated by conflict or natural disaster.

He spoke also of friends; Naruto, naturally, but also the man named Juugo, and his son Asaoto, who had begun school and seemed to be developing a gift with computers. They were a new addition to the school system, and he made immediate sense of them while his teachers struggled with the rosters and documents within.

"Even I'm a little lost, when it comes to them," Sasuke admitted, after this report. "He ends up teaching me whenever I visit. Speaking of which," he continued, "Hajime, how is your work?"

Hajime was halfway through a slurp of noodles at the mention, and sauce spilled on his chin as he finished. "My work? Same as it always is, I suppose. Curse Seal monitoring." He wiped his chin. "What does that have to do with teaching?"

"I hear that… many people take to teaching after they have children, because the hours are better. To have time with them," Sasuke said. He looked at his hands. "I suppose I was wrong."

"Hey, that's not a half-bad idea, you know," Ninako said. "I mean, right now we kinda have to take turns being home if it's not a holiday like this. We worked it out with Enbi-san, see."

"Ah, you're still doing Curse Seal work too?" Sasuke said.

"Mm! Can't imagine doing anything else," Ninako replied.

Inou cleared his throat. "Feel like asking me about _my_ work?"

"Of course. Please, tell me," Sasuke said.

Inou tossed his hair a little, tucking the shorter of his bangs behind his ear. "I currently have the highest success rate on the force for closing cases. They're thinking of promoting me to detective soon."

"That's fantastic," Sasuke said. He smiled a little.

This didn't seem to satisfy Inou, because he casually returned to his meal after that. "I _guess_ it is."

"You know, Gaara-sama's thinking about naming me Ambassador of Leaf over in Sand," Takeru said, interrupting in everything but timing. "In talks with Naruto about it. He says I'm highly qualified."

"Is that so?" Sasuke said. He kept his eyes down. "I'll see if I can talk to Naruto about that."

"So you don't think I'm qualified?" Takeru said, flatly.

Sasuke looked up for a brief moment. "I'm sure you are. But a little outside help can't hurt."

"Sounds like the perfect job for you, in my opinion," Karai chimed in. "I mean, you're a total people person, big brother."

Takeru responded with a small "Hmph," and took a drink of water.

Karai spoke about her chuunin work, once it was clear that Sasuke wasn't going to talk to Nadeshiko, and thus everyone had had their turn. There was almost nothing else for conversation, afterward.

The washing up after dinner was similarly stilted. Everyone had a duty, though Ninako and Hajime were excused so they could clean up Kumori, whose face was covered with seaweed bits and other sticky things. One by one, as chores were finished, the family gathered in the living room. Karai and Sasuke were the last to arrive, since they volunteered to do the majority of the heavy scrubbing.

In their absence, the family talked.

"So, raise your hands, anyone surprised at how this night's going?" Inou said.

"How do you mean?" his mother said.

"How Dad's acting. It's exactly what I expected."

"I think he's been pretty friendly, to be honest," Ninako said, shrugging. Hajime held Kumori in his lap, beside her, his expression somewhere else.

"Yeah? He hasn't said a _word_ to me all _day,_" Takeru said.

"Yes he has," Ino said. "At dinner, remember? He said he'd talk to Naruto for you about the ambassador position."

"Only after I spoke up," Takeru said. "And I'd hardly call that meaningful conversation."

"Same," Inou replied. He sighed. "Can we, like, have him leave, already?"

"Everyone, please." Nadeshiko had barely said anything the whole night, so the sound of her dull voice seemed odd in the air. "We shouldn't judge so quickly."

Silence laced with shame fell for a few moments.

"...yeah, I mean, he's only been here a few hours, and talking during dinner is always gonna be a little awkward," Ninako offered.

"I promised him until the end of the night," said Ino, after exhaling. "Please, boys, give him at least that?"

"Fine," Hajime said.

"I'm not taking any insults from him, though," Inou added, snappishly. "Not one."

"Inou, he hasn't insulted you…" said Ino.

"Yeah. But he _might._"

Karai and Sasuke appeared a few seconds afterward, hands and sleeves wrinkled and damp from washing. Sasuke had Kumori's gift under his arm.

"Everything okay here?" Sasuke said.

"Oh, just fine," Ino replied.

"Ah. Well, since everyone's together, I thought it might be a good time for… me to give this to Kumori." He sheepishly lifted the package a little. "Would that be all right?"

"Oh, for his birthday?" Ninako said. "Hajime, let's open it!"

"Would be it all right if… Kumori opens it for himself?" Sasuke said. "The gift isn't in much danger of being broken if it's handled roughly, so I figured it wouldn't be a problem."

Ninako had a sunny smile. "Oh, wouldn't that be fun? Kumori, you wanna open your birthday present from Grandpa Sasuke?"

"Wha?" Kumori was experimentally pulling on his hands.

"Here, let me hand it to him." Ninako held out her hand, and Sasuke gave her the package, sitting down with Karai on the couch across from them. "Here, Kumori, a present!"

"Prezzen." The edges of the package touched one hand, and he soon had both hands on the thing. The paper wrinkled under his fingers, and then tore as he began to pull.

"Yeah, that's right, tear it up, honey!" Ninako said. Kumori giggled as he tore off more of the paper, the metallic stars on the wrapping making a crackly sound as they folded.

The gift turned out to be a picture book; it looked old, some of the brown cardstock showing at the corners of the cover. "S'a book," Kumori said.

"Yeah, it's a book!" Ninako said. Hajime, silent, didn't seem to share her enthusiasm.

"Whassit name?" Kumori said. He was holding the book upside-down, and began flipping through pages with thick little movements.

"It's called…" NInako tilted her head as she tried to get a view of the cover. "Hm, _The Monkey King_! It's called Monkey King, Kumori."

"Mongee." Kumori closed the book and held it out to Ninako. "Read, Mommy, read!"

"Okay, sweetheart, I'll read it when it's bedtime," Ninako said. "How did you know he loves books?"

"Ino helped," Sasuke replied. "Though, the book… came from my family. One of the things I managed to save from when I was a child."

"I'm sure he'll love it," Ninako said. Hajime said nothing, just holding Kumori as he flipped through the pages again.

Kumori did love it, when the time came for bedtime stories. Hajime and Ninako left early, to put him to sleep; everyone else would stay up until midnight, somehow, to greet the year ahead.

(Though Takeru and Inou retreated to their bedrooms at 10, leaving the parents and the girls to watch the gala on TV.)

Hajime changed into his pajamas while Ninako read the book in Kumori's room; he'd graduated from a crib to a small bed on the floor, and both he and his mother sat on it after he'd been bathed and dressed, his curls wispy and damp.

The story itself was a simplified version of the classic _Journey to the West_, and fairly thick for a picture book, with many stories to choose from. Ninako got through two of them, reading loudly and animatedly, making Kumori giggle in between his yawns. He went down easily, after that, Ninako tucking him in and kissing him goodnight.

(And Ninako had noticed, on the inside of the book, a white paper sticker with neat writing that declared the book "Property of Uchiha Kumori.")

(Though her Byakugan revealed writing beneath the sticker: printed lines saying "This Book Belongs To:" and, written in crayon below, "UCHIA SASKE.")

(Somehow, it made the gift seem far more valuable.)

Hajime was waiting for her on the edge of the bed, fingers laced together, thinking. "Hey, you okay over there?" Ninako said.

"Mm."

"I'm guessing that's a bad 'Mm,'" Ninako said. She began taking off her sweater to get ready for bed. "What's on your mind?"

"What do you think?"

"Your dad?"

"Mm." Hajime leaned his head back, staring at the ceiling.

"Okay, so… what about him?" Ninako said. "He seemed to be pretty well-behaved today."

"He's being passive-aggressive about… everything," Hajime said. "You, my brothers,_ especially_ Kumori."

"Okay…? How do you mean?" Ninako sat down next to him.

"Well, he hardly said anything to Inou and Takeru - practically ignored them all night - and he was only making an effort with me, probably, because my mom told him to," Hajime said. "Like, did you hear what he said to you?"

"Uh… meaningless small talk?"

"Yeah, exactly! That's totally not like him."

"Probably isn't. I think he was just trying to be nice, Hajime," Ninako said, leaning back against her hands. "Like, nice doesn't come easy to him, right? So that's actually kinda great of him."

Hajime sighed. "But you can't ignore what he did to Kumori."

"What, uh… did he do?"

"He called his eyes_ beautiful._"

Ninako gave a worried smirk. "Uh, have you seen our kid lately? He's _does_ have beautiful eyes."

"Yeah. Blind ones." Hajime shook his head, sighing again. "My dad? Was insulting him."

"...somehow I find that a bit of a stretch," Ninako said. "Especially if he was trying to be nice."

"Passive-aggressive."

"_Nice._ He even complimented his hair. Remember, his cousin?" she said. "He was playing up the fact that Kumori's related to his family too. If that ain't acceptance as part of his family, I dunno what is."

"Then explain the book," Hajime said. His voice was shifting down, like it did when he was feeling like an argument.

"It was a nice birthday present?"

"A _picture_ book for a _blind_ kid."

"Right, like none of Kumori's other books have pictures," Ninako said. "He loves being read to, Hajime. If it was just pictures then maybe you'd have a point, but there's more than that there."

Hajime sighed, and leaned forward, bracing himself against his forearms.

"Why can't you just take it at face value?" NInako continued. "Like… it's been two years, I really doubt there's ulterior motives underneath a little birthday present. And he, like, made clothes for Kumori last year too, and-" She made a little noise there, as the thought hit her, something halfway between a laugh and a scoff. "Oh, and, uh, don't forget kinda being responsible for us being together right now. In this house. That he gave us. That's kind of a big deal."

Hajime grumbled a little.

"Seriously, Hajime, you're just overthinking things because it's… been a long time since you've actually_ seen_ your dad, much less talked to him," Ninako said. She put her arm around him. "And honestly, what was the last thing he actually said to you?"

"He disowned me," Hajime said.

"Yeah, exactly. Not exactly a high note to pick up on…" Ninako patted his shoulder. "Just put yourself in his shoes for a bit, okay? If the last thing you ever said to Kumori was something like that, two years ago, and you wanted to make up for it, it wouldn't really help if he wasn't willing to meet you halfway."

"I would never do that to Kumori."

"I know, honey." She pulled him closer. "But just try for a bit. Be nice to him tomorrow. It can't hurt."

Hajime groaned again and left Ninako's arm to lay on his back and stare at the ceiling. "At least you're trying," he said.

"I can't make up for the both of us," she replied.

Sasuke, as it happened, was having a similarly stressful time.

He paced the bedroom that belonged to Ino - and, by rights, him too, though he had a hard time thinking of it that way. Ino sat on the bed, worriedly watching and listening as he vented.

"This is going horribly. This is awful. They all hate me. They don't want me here. I should just leave."

"Sasuke, calm down…"

"Did you see how Inou _looked_ at me all night? He doesn't want me here. Nobody does."

"Sasuke…"

"And Takeru! I couldn't think of a single thing to say to him that couldn't be seen as an insult! Do they know I'm trying? I almost hope they don't. They should hate me."

"There, there… Come here, sit down." Ino made a space for him on the bed, and Sasuke took it, cradling his forehead in his palms.

"This just isn't going well," Sasuke said.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that," Ino said. "The girls seemed to like having you around. Karai especially."

"I wasn't worried about Karai," Sasuke said.

"Nadeshiko, then? She was smiling at you all night."

Sasuke groaned, slipping his head further down, his hands on the back of his neck.

"The boys just… need a little time, I think," Ino said. "Maybe tomorrow, after we visit the temple, you can have some one-on-one time with each of them? In private, so they can… get everything out that they need to."

"Funny," Sasuke said, "you're not the first person that's suggested that."

"Ah?"

"Just… you know, staying quiet and letting them tell me everything I've done wrong. That might be nice."

"For them, maybe, but you should be allowed to have your say, too," Ino said. "I know there's… a lot that's behind us, but the reason I called you home is so we can move forward. Can't really do that unless you get to explain yourself as well."

"I guess…" Sasuke sighed deeply, propping his head on up on his palms now. "Can't expect forgiveness, though."

"You might be surprised," Ino said, smiling. "Besides, I don't think anyone expects everything to be sunshine and rainbows after only a day back. It'll take time."

Sasuke groaned, and got off of the bed to take his shirt off. "I'm just going to start over in the morning."

"Good idea. It'll clear your head a little," Ino said. "Want me to help on the side?"

"No," Sasuke said, then, "Thank you, though."

He slept in a tightly-curled ball that night, and Ino kept her hand near him the entire time.


	152. Tarte Tatin

_Chapter 152 - Tarte Tatin_

* * *

Nadeshiko was first in the kitchen, the next morning. This was a surprise to Sasuke, who had told Ino he would handle the meal so she could sleep in and prepare for the rest of the day.

(Nadeshiko had been neutrally kind to him the day before, but his heart still quickened.)

(His desire for comfort regarded her, as politely as possible, as a guest in his house, and not as a daughter.)

(But he remembered things, and swallowed for bravery.)

"Ah, good morning," he said.

Nadeshiko was cracking eggs into a bowl to make sweet omelette batter. "Good morning."

"Did your mother ask you to make breakfast?"

"No. I thought I'd come down and get things started while everyone was asleep," she replied. "I'm used to waking up early, for work."

Sasuke swallowed again. "Do you mind if I… help you?"

She looked over her shoulder, and the corner of her mouth barely turned up into a smile. "I wouldn't mind at all. Two sets of hands would make things go by much faster."

"Is the rice started yet?"

"No."

"Then I'll make the rice."

The rest of the cooking passed in near-silence; every now and then, Sasuke would ask about a task, and Nadeshiko would confirm it, and it would be done. Fish was grilled and soup was made, and the pickled vegetables set out.

Nobody was yet in the kitchen by the time everything was made and ready, and Sasuke felt the silence with tense anxiousness.

What was he supposed to do now? Apologize? And if he were, for what? He highly doubted that it would be enough to say, "By the way, I'm sorry for pretending you didn't exist for most of your life, can we just pretend that didn't happen?"

Not for what he had done to Nadeshiko. He doubted any amount of words would be able to repay the heavy debt he owed her.

And small talk… that felt so stupid. Why talk about cooking when that was all they'd done together the entire time? Dinner, then breakfast, and nothing else. It would seem like he didn't care.

(...and he wanted to care. He wanted so, so badly to care.)

To look like he was trying to make a change… he had to contradict himself. His past self, anyways. To do things that… obviously he wouldn't have done in the past, but seemed like the right things to do. He'd done this with Ino. He hurt, for a time. But he survived.

He'd survive.

Looking at Nadeshiko, his mind filled with guilt, memories of things said and done that he, now, absolutely, would take back in an instant, would apologize for over and over. Sour, bitter recognition mixed in his stomach, of residual hate, of growing remorse.

Looking at Nadeshiko, he saw - really saw, rather than looking and not noticing - that her hair was tied back, something he'd never allowed her to do as a child.

As a grown woman, her face softened and unweathered by war, it was so much less instinctually uncomfortable to look at than it had been as a child. Perhaps it was meeting, and knowing, and seeing Yakata, and seeing Itachi's youth accurately projected on his face, rather than the familial shadow upon Nadeshiko. Or perhaps it was her childhood androgyny that made the resemblance that much stronger, and therefore that much harder to bear.

(And perhaps why he had rejected her so strongly, when yet another, denied, crow-born trait had manifested in her.)

This, he could do. "Your hair looks lovely, pulled back like that," he told her.

She blinked, soft surprise on her face. "Ah, you think so?"

"Yes. How long have you been wearing it like that?"

"After I began growing it out again. It started getting in the way of my work."

"At the flower shop, right?"

"Mm."

There was a feeling of emotional inertia building; that the longer he kept the conversation, the easier it would be. "What have you been doing outside of work?" He resisted closing his eyes as he struggled to recall her hobbies, squeezing small the guilt he felt towards his ignorance. "Any… good books lately?"

"Not lately," she replied. His heart sank when she didn't respond further, struggling to find a replacement for a dead conversation. And yet, she continued: "An author I admire hasn't come out with a new book in a long while, and I haven't found anything new that excites me."

"Oh. Who's the author?" Sasuke said.

"Masaru Kojiro. He writes wonderful fantasy stories," Nadeshiko replied. "His Yukara Cycle is what I've been following lately."

"Is it good?"

Her eyes darkened with a smile that did not reach her mouth. "Yes, they're my favorite."

The suggestion went through Sasuke's mind so quickly that it was out of his mouth before he could even question it. "Do you have a copy I could borrow?"

Her smile disappeared, her eyes widening. "You want to borrow a copy from me?"

"I'd like to see what it is you like so much about it," Sasuke said. The words rolled out of his mouth, easier and easier. "Perhaps we could talk about it once I'm finished."

Nadeshiko seemed, for the first time in his coming, surprised by him, as if something had finally gotten past the thick layer of neutral emotion that shielded her. After blinking a few times, an awkward, raw smile came upon her face. "Let me get them from my house."

When Inou came down, a half hour later, he remained in the hallway for a good few moments, not quite sure if he believed what he was seeing.

Sasuke was sitting at the breakfast table, amongst the set plates and early garnishes, the first volume of the Yukara Cycle in his hands. His eyes were locked on the paper, reading at great speed and concentration. Nadeshiko stood nearby, the prepared food on the counter beside her, her hands clasped behind her back as she watched him.

It took her a while to notice Inou's presence; when she did, she whispered, "Good morning."

"...good morning," Inou replied. "Uh… what the hell is going on?"

"Nadeshiko has lent me a really interesting book," Sasuke said, not looking up. When his eyes glanced away, he added, "Oh, and, good morning, Inou."

"We've been talking most of the morning," Nadeshiko said.

"...right. I'm gonna go wash my face. I don't think I'm awake yet," Inou said, and turned on his heel back down the hallway.

Sasuke processed the reaction almost like a compliment, for a moment, before the story absorbed him again. He wasn't one for fiction, much less fantasy, but it was pretty plain to him why Nadeshiko liked it: it was well-written, plain and simple, and pulled him from reality with remarkable ease.

He continued reading until people started filtering into the kitchen, Nadeshiko taking the prepared egg mixture from the fridge and pouring it into the omelette-pan to cook. The paperback slipped easily into his pocket, out of sight, as he began getting the servings lately for everyone else.

In a voice meant for nobody but her to hear, he said to Nadeshiko, leaning close to her ear, "That Akiko girl, in the story. I really like how she goes about things."

And Nadeshiko, for the first time in his memory, laughed.


	153. Nueva Cocina

_Chapter 153 - Nueva Cocina_

* * *

The visit to the temple in the morning was a peaceful one, at least. The Uchiha family, along with practically everyone else in Konoha, crowded and prayed and rang bells, but mostly socialized with neighbors and traded gossip.

Sasuke ran into Juugo and Asaoto, there, and introduced them to his family proper; Asaoto's voice was muffled under many sweaters and a thick hand-knit scarf around his mouth, but was very excited to say hello.

("I'm glad you finally returned," Juugo said to Sasuke, quietly, while Asaoto spoke to Ino.)

(Sasuke tried to look confident in return. "I just hope I'm doing the right things.")

("You'll be fine," Juugo said, with many ounces of trust.)

Yakata's family was there, as well, though only Nadeshiko really noticed and reached out. Yakata was now thirteen; his voice squeaked at times, and he kept his hair cut no longer than his chin, his bangs flipping upward beneath his cap. He worked at the flower shop daily, at that point, and was a frequent guest at Nadeshiko's house, for tea and conversation.

("Is, is that Sasuke?" he asked her, pointing to him in the crowd, and she nodded in reply. "Oh, I, I hope everything's all right with, with you all.")

("Everything's fine," Nadeshiko assured him.)

(The debt that Sasuke owed Yakata was not one he felt he could repay easily and at once. He stayed a safe distance from the boy, budgeting his apologies.)

Only Hajime and Ninako were absent; at Hinata's suggestion, they were going to spend New Year's Day with her family, who seemed to have softened in their opinion towards Kumori since Sasuke's intervention the previous year. Hanabi, at least, was willing to speak openly and non-toxically about their relationship, though still denying them marriage.

("It's tradition. I cannot unwrite generations worth of law. That is heresy," she explained to Ninako, on her birthday, when she was called home by her parents. "I can, however, interpret them however I please.")

(Hanabi still did not smile, but something in her face had changed.)

(It should be mentioned that, following Ninako's informal adoption into the Uchiha clan, Hanabi began taking suggestions from Andou for her rule, allowing him to make small changes to clan law - never formally rewriting or deleting them, but taking footnotes and exceptions and moving them from small to large print.)

(Murasaki was also a frequent guest of the Hyuuga clan, and various doctors from the central hospital. But Hanabi was absolutely not seeking help, or asking to be changed.)

(She was merely preparing things for Andou's appointment as head of the Hyuuga clan, which involved contacting his late father for advice and counsel on occasion.)

(Nothing more.)

The temple visit left most of the family in good spirits; Karai noted, with some degree of amusement, that she got the highest level of good luck possible, when they drew fortune-straws. "Guess that means things'll be good overall!" she said.

Even Inou, who tried his best to make his seventeen-year-old disdain for the world very apparent, could only manage to keep quiet. Truthfully, he was still trying to digest the fact that his father and Nadeshiko-the-unfavorite had been_ talking_ that morning, much less_ reading_ things together.

(Reading was _his_ Thing with Nadeshiko, what they shared and bonded over. It felt almost like an intrusion, though his gut wasn't sure whether it was unwelcome or not.)

Takeru, however, had a belligerent temper with a long memory, and it festered until the afternoon; lunch had been finished and the family drifted to various corners of the house, finding ways to pass the time until Hajime and Ninako came back for dinner.

Something had happened at breakfast; a small thing, a kind thing, but one that burrowed beneath his skin and poisoned his mood.

Takeru had wanted the soy sauce passed to him, during the meal. Given the crowded table, it took too long for someone to hear him, much less give him what he wanted, so he resorted to the strategic use of chakra threads to pick up the bottle and bring it to his plate.

"Hey, rude!" Inou said. "I was gonna use that!"

"I'll give it to you when I'm _done,_ drama queen," Takeru replied.

"When did you learn that technique?" Sasuke was asking the question, though he was focused on his bowl of miso soup.

Takeru paused with the bottle in his hand. "Are you talking to me?"

"I am," Sasuke said.

"I learned it when I was in therapy for my back and legs. Helps me get things out of my reach," Takeru said. "Why do you ask?" he continued, a slice of venom in his tone.

"I'm just glad to see you're still dedicated to learning new things, even in this…" His eyes glanced at him for a moment, before back at the bowl. "...new situation of yours. Adapting, rather than giving up."

"Of course I_ adapted,_" Takeru said. "Retiring because of an injury is for cowards."

"You're certainly not a coward, son," Sasuke replied.

The word seemed to slip out of him so easily, there.

Of course, the table fell silent. Sasuke looked up, suddenly vaguely worried. "Did I say something wrong?" he said.

"Not at all," Takeru replied, and his fingers glowed. "Inou, here's your soy sauce."

The conversation resumed, filling the space, and the silence.

But the seed had already been planted.

So in the afternoon, he found the man, reading in the living room with Nadeshiko, and slid the door open roughly. "You. Can we talk?"

Sasuke was nearly finished with the first volume of the Yukara Cycle, and his mouth was crooked with vivid discussion in between the chapters. Upon seeing Takeru, his expression drained and became neutral. "Of course, Takeru. We can talk."

"In private," Takeru said.

Nadeshiko said nothing, bowing her head, leaving the living room, closing the door behind her.

"What do you want to talk to me about?" Sasuke said, once it was clear nobody was around.

Takeru didn't even bother with a preamble. "What are you playing at, with me?"

"Excuse me?"

"What you said to me at breakfast."

Sasuke looked genuinely lost. "...what exactly did I say?"

"You called me 'son.'" There was no pride or sense of ownership in how Takeru said it.

"...well, I suppose I said it because you_ are_ my son," Sasuke said, quietly. "It's what I'm supposed to do."

"What you're supposed to-'" Takeru interrupted himself with a scoff. "Could you make it any_ less_ obvious that you're trying too hard?"

"I don't know what you mean," Sasuke said.

"Really. _Really?_ In all my years of knowing you, you have _never_ given _any_ time to people that were below your station. Below the _Uchiha_ family. And that's what I am, aren't I? A crippled bastard that isn't even related to you."

Sasuke didn't say anything.

"I know you don't approve of me. And you know what? I accepted that. Long ago," Takeru said. "So if you want to even pretend you care then you should start by not lying to me. I've had enough of people lying to me."

Sasuke waited until it was certain that Takeru wasn't going to continue. "When I call you my son, Takeru, I'm not lying to you, or anyone else."

"Oh, please. There is no way that's true. Need I remind you? You're not even my father?"

Sasuke didn't say anything.

"And, like… even if I were your son? There is no way in hell you are genuinely proud of me. I mean, look at me!" He lifted an arm away from one of his braces to gesture. "I'm a cripple. I can't even piss standing up anymore. Hardly the model of Uchiha _perfection._"

"You… haven't given up on your career, though," Sasuke said. "That's worth being proud of, I think."

"It's a bare fucking minimum," Takeru replied.

"No," Sasuke said, "it isn't. The easy thing to do would be to give up, which… obviously, you haven't done. And I'm proud of you for that."

"I'm sure that's admirable to normal people, but not to you," Takeru said. "I know you. Stop lying to me and just be honest."

"Son, I'm not-"

"_Don't call me your son,_" Takeru said. "I am not your son, and you know it, and I do not want to be lied to anymore."

Sasuke kept his eyes on his knees. "...I'm sorry, Takeru, I just don't know what else to say."

"Don't say _that,_ for starters," Takeru said.

"What do you want me to say to you, then? What do you want me to call you?" Sasuke raised his head, and looked Takeru directly in the eyes, his voice growing stronger.

In Takeru's mind, an unspoken lecture, in Sasuke's voice, in a tone that was always directed at someone else, began reeling off words: _"Shall I call you Disappointment? Or Failure? Since you've clearly not done enough to improve your life since your little accident. Oh, wait, no. That wasn't an accident. It was clearly your fault. You must have done something to provoke this. What a mess you are._"

But in reality, Sasuke remained quiet. His mouth was closed tight, as if his lips were sewn together.

Oh, Takeru knew what he_ really_ wanted to say. The silence was just another lie, and his anger heated his ears. "How the hell should I know? Just don't call me your son, all right? I know for a fact that you don't give a shit about me, and that you're just doing this because… I don't fucking know, just _stop._"

(Of course, Takeru had theories. Mainly, he believed that it was because Sasuke was sleeping with Ino, and she was behind this little peace mission, badgering him into these false displays of concern.)

(But something - call it tact, or the need to be seen as the better man - stayed his tongue.)

What might have convinced someone else of hurt filled Sasuke's face. "...what makes you think that I don't care about you?"

That was it.

"Are you serious? Are you fucking _serious?_" Takeru took a few heavy metal-steps forward. "Here, let me illuminate you! For the sake of simplicity I'm just going to ignore the fact that you haven't even bothered to come home for _two years_. I mean, this is about me, isn't it?"

Sasuke didn't say anything.

"When I was in the hospital, you didn't visit me once. And I mean, sure, I can understand that, maybe; nobody else bothered. But you didn't so much as send me a damn letter after. And you ignored my birthday."

(Of course, Takeru knew that Sasuke hadn't forgotten, for the two years after. But this was an argument he was looking to win, evidence be damned.)

"You abandoned me. I mean, you abandoned the whole family, pretty much, but with me? You made damn sure I knew it." He exhaled through his nose. "So, yeah. I think I have a pretty convincing case here."

Sasuke nodded slightly, tightening his mouth. "You have… every reason to feel that way," he said. "I just… hope you understand that, everything I did, I did for the sake of the family. So, if you feel… things would have turned out better with me there, then I'm… sorry, Takeru."

"_Save_ it. You're not sorry," Takeru said, lowly.

Sasuke lowered his head, his shoulders hunched. "...I'm just doing the best I can, Takeru. I'm sorry I can't do more."

He was silent, after that, for a while.

"Is that it, then?" Takeru said. "Is that all you have to say to me?"

Sasuke didn't say anything.

"Because, I can't help but feel that if this is really the best you can do? Then what the _hell_ took you so long?!" Takeru was shouting. He wanted to be heard. "I mean, how much fucking effort does it take for you to just be in the same house as your family? To send a letter?"

"...you're right. It doesn't take a lot of effort," Sasuke said. "I have no excuses, and I should have done a lot more for you, and your family. You have every right to be angry at me. I'm sorry I couldn't have done more sooner."

Sasuke's words were like water to Takeru's anger, or knives, dampening and chopping it into smaller pieces with the impossible sincerity and logic of his words. Takeru was angry. He wanted to be angry.

But with pathetic, spineless replies like this, how could he stay angry? It was like playing a stacked game. There was no satisfaction in it.

"...well, it's too late for you, now," Takeru decided on. "Apologizing won't do you any good. I'm done with you. I don't need or want you in my life in any way."

(Sasuke felt almost relieved to hear those words. He'd been anticipating them, feeling them, and now, finally, hearing them.)

"I understand," Sasuke said, and he lowered his head.

Takeru could have left the room with at least some degree of closure, had Sasuke just stayed quiet.

"I just hope you know that I am not disappointed in you in any way," Sasuke said, quietly, almost to himself. "And, to me, you'll always be my son."

Takeru's anger was cold, small, and sharp. "I fucking_ told_ you," he hissed. "I am _not_ your son, and you are _not_ allowed to call me that."

Sasuke looked up at him, there, and the whites of his eyes showed under his black irises. "If that's what you truly want, I will never call you 'son' again. But I will always think of you as my son. And you cannot deny me that."

Takeru's words were a reflexive comeback. "You have no right."

"I have every right, Takeru!" And suddenly Sasuke's weak, limpid voice gained strength, and steel, and soft outrage. "I raised you, damn it! I taught you everything you know! I gave you your name! _That_ makes you my son! Not the blood in your veins. And that is all that matters to me!"For a moment, Takeru thought he saw Sasuke's eyes growing shiny, wet at the corners.

But a moment later, his posture had collapsed, and he seemed shameful and pathetic again.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have raised my voice." His voice and his eyes seemed tired and dry as he looked up at Takeru again. "Is there anything else you want to say to me?"

Takeru felt like his limbs were made of cotton. "...no." He cleared his throat. "That'll be all." He turned around and began out of the living room. "I'll tell Nadeshiko that she can go back to her quality time with you."

(A spindly, sarcastic little comment twirled at the back of his tongue, something about special treatment for blood relatives, or something like that.)

(But it didn't feel right to set free.)

"That won't be necessary," Sasuke said. "I'm going to take a walk, I think."

Takeru nodded in acknowledgment, and began down the hallway for his room, already thinking things over. His mind processed words and actions with safe strategy, as if he were constructing a battle plan, a means of handling this strange new enemy.

(But Sasuke wasn't an enemy.)

Sasuke sought similar safety with Ino in the kitchen, which was, thankfully, otherwise empty. "Everything okay?" she asked him.

(Of course, she'd heard the raised voices, though she didn't quite make out the words.)

"I'm fine," Sasuke said. "I just think that I'll be leaving soon."

"Oh, Sasuke, stay at least for dinner," Ino said. "I'm sure you'll be welcome at least one more night."

(Everything Takeru had said to him had just reaffirmed the narrative in his mind, that he was unwelcome, that he was not trusted, that there was nothing but anger towards his belated presence in the home.)

"I really don't want to overstay my welcome," Sasuke said.

"Then tell me, Father, if you _do_ leave this evening, will it be for good? Or shall I expect you to come crawling back for _other_ functions?"

(Takeru had heard things from the hallway, and he had come to conclusions.)

"Takeru!" Ino said, sounding disappointed.

(Takeru's conclusion was that his father was not an enemy.)

Sasuke didn't say anything.

"Well? Are you or aren't you planning on coming back?"

"As of right now, I'm not particularly inclined to return any time soon," Sasuke said. "I imagine I'm something of a bother to you all, and I don't want to cause any more trouble."

"Really? Hm. How disappointing," Takeru said. "I was looking forward to seeing you again soon. I mean, two years of absence? I'd say that's worth a lot of owed conversation." He smirked, and there was gold in his smile.

(Takeru was not one to put forth offers of forgiveness with tears or embraces.)

(Sasuke's heart translated for him, and eased a great deal of his fear.)

"I'll have to see how the rest of the family feels towards me being here," Sasuke said, "but I'd be glad to meet with you for any sort of conversation, Takeru. You just let me know."

"Hmph. It's the least you could do," Takeru said, and began down the hallway. "After all, isn't that what fathers are supposed to do? Listen to their sons when they want to talk?"

And Sasuke smiled back at him. "I believe that's in the job description somewhere."

"Then try to live up to it," Takeru said, and continued on to his room.

"...so, um, I take it that you let Takeru talk to you in there?" Ino said.

"Yes," Sasuke replied. "I let him do most of the talking, and I think… we reached an agreement in there somewhere."

"Well, so long as things are working out for you…" Ino said, trying to sound cheerful. "Still, I suppose we should talk to all the kids about if they're fine with you staying another night."

"Mm." Though Sasuke's face was grim, the embers of hope warmed his voice.

Things were probably going to be okay.


	154. Petit Fours

_Chapter 154 - Petit Fours_

* * *

The subject of Sasuke staying with the family for another night was brought up before dinner, once Hajime and his family had returned from visiting with the Hyuuga. Ino acted as ambassador in the kitchen, as they were preparing things, gently shooing Sasuke into the laundry room on a false errand, so the pressure of his presence wouldn't affect things.

"Now, everyone, I know that your father agreed to stay only one night, but I was wondering if you would be okay with him staying until tomorrow morning," she said. "Of course, if any of you are uncomfortable with the idea, then he'll be heading back home after dinner."

"I don't mind at all," Nadeshiko said, immediately cracking the silence.

"Yeah, I'd be fine with it," Karai added, nodding, not wanting to be the only speaker.

"Consider _my _permission _given_," Takeru said. "I have nothing against him being here."

"Hajime, what do you think?" Ninako said, when the silence continued.

"...well, I'd like to talk to him after dinner, so I suppose he can stay for that," Hajime replied.

This left only Inou, who fussed against the expectant quiet, crossing his arms. "Well, I _guess_ he can stay, if all of _you_ want it," he said. "I don't really _care_, really."

"I'll let him know when he gets back, then," Ino said, filled with more relief than anticipation.

Sasuke reacted with low energy. "Looks like I'm staying another night, then," he said, and immediately continued on to, "How can I help with the dinner?"

They enjoyed a pleasant meal after that, with easy conversation and even some laughter.

But Hajime had to make good on his promise to talk to Sasuke, and he brought it up as they were enjoying after-dinner tea together in the kitchen. "Father, can we talk?"

"Of course," Sasuke said, sounding remarkably calm. "We can talk in the living room."

"No, I… want to talk to you here. No secrets," Hajime said.

"...all right, that's fine," Sasuke replied. "What do you want to talk to me about?"

(The rest of the table held its breath.)

(And Hajime, like so many other times in his life, found himself faltering when he wanted to say something important or meaningful.)

"...Kumori," he finally managed.

"Is this about Kumori?" Sasuke said.

"Yes. You… _know_ he's blind, right?"

"...I'm well aware, Hajime," Sasuke said. "And… I do hope you know that I don't find that an issue. I've known a great many ninja who've had long and successful careers without any sense of sight."

"...ninja," Hajime said. "Well, that's, uh, another thing. What if Kumori doesn't _want_ to become a ninja?"

"Then that's his choice, I suppose," Sasuke replied, shrugging, very little weight in his voice. "Though, that's just my opinion. He's your son, and how you raise him is your business. Not mine."

"You don't… have any expectations of him?" Hajime felt like his throat was lined with cellophane, stiff and unsure.

"I expect him to be happy, but that's something I can't exactly enforce," Sasuke said.

"Even as… an Uchiha? You know, as your… grandchild?" Hajime exhaled, full of frustration. "I mean, like, the expectations that you held for us. For him?"

"...the expectations that I had for my own children don't apply to him, I think," Sasuke said. "He isn't my son, after all. He's out of my hands."

"Then I… hope you're telling the truth," Hajime said. He cleared his throat. "That's… about all I wanted to say to you, I guess."

Sasuke nodded a few times. "Thank you for telling me. I promise to continue trusting your judgment," he said. "For what it's worth, I think you're doing an excellent job so far."

"Glad to know I'm not the only one who thinks that!" Ninako said, when Hajime didn't (or couldn't) reply.

"Well, since I had my turn _yesterday_, does anyone _else_ have anything to air with Father?" Takeru said, his eyebrows raised.

"...yeah, _I _wanna talk," Inou said, shifting himself in his chair to look more devil-may-care. "I mean, it's not like I care about what you think, 'cos I _don't_, but."

"I'd be glad to listen to you," Sasuke said, and for a moment he sounded oddly like Nadeshiko, his voice detached and monotone.

Inou's glance was sharp and unforgiving. "Okay, so. I am really, _really _not cool with you being back here like there's nothing wrong. I mean, I'm not the only one who feels this, right?"

Before Sasuke could even begin to reply, Takeru sighed, deeply. "I think that everyone here is well _aware_ of that, little brother. And it's in rather bad taste for you to bring it _up_, I think."

"Bad _taste?_" Inou said.

"The whole purpose of this visit was for Father to prove he was interested in moving forward if _we_ were," Takeru said. "He's shown enough of an effort to convince_ me_, and I'm inclined to believe I'm not alone in this opinion." He looked around at them like a tired dog. "Well, aren't I? If you're going to say something, make it about the _present_, little brother, or we'll be here for _hours_."

"...I'd hate to say it, but I actually agree with Takeru," Hajime said, though he was looking out the window. "I guess there's only so many times someone can say sorry before it stops losing its meaning."

"How wise of you, brother," Takeru said, in a tone that wasn't clearly sarcasm or sincerity.

"Hajime, Takeru, I don't mind if Inou wants to bring up something from a while back," Sasuke said.

Inou, however, held his breath for a moment, before groaning, tossing his head back. "Ugh! Fine! It's not like I care _anyways_. I just wanna clear some things up, okay?"

"Okay," Sasuke said.

"So, like, my life right now? I'm doing stuff that I _know_ you wouldn't approve of before. And I don't care if you approve or not. Because I'm living my life the way _I_ want, and I'm _happy_."

"I'm glad you're happy," Sasuke said.

"Yeah? Good," Inou said. He crossed a leg over his knee. "Because if you bring up… like, Uchiha pride or whatever or try to convince me to change? I'm not gonna listen."

"Makes sense," Sasuke said, though something like a laugh chuffed out of his mouth after he spoke.

"What, you think this is funny?" Inou said.

"No, not funny, just…" Sasuke shook his head. "Your mother's been talking to me about you a lot, recently. It's just unusual for me to hear it directly from you for once."

"Really, huh," Inou said, trying to sound nonchalant. "What sorta stuff, Mom?"

"Oh, just, your job, things like that…" Ino said. "And your, um... preparations for becoming Yamanaka head..." she added, almost mumbling.

"You _told_ him that?"

Sasuke nodded, confirming this. "Yes. I don't know how much of a difference it would make for me to say this, but I _am _proud of you for going your own way, like this," he continued. He smiled a little. "And I do support you, no matter how different you end up. I actually look forward to seeing where you go."

As hard as Inou tried to suppress it, his voice grew soft. "You… really mean that?"

"Of course I do, I'm your father," Sasuke replied. "I'm supposed to be right behind you, no matter what."

"So… you'd be okay with me moving into the Yamanaka compound when I come of age?"

"Okay with it?" Sasuke said. "I think that's a _great_ idea_._ Your mother's been very excited for you to start taking on your responsibilities as Yamanaka heir. I'm certainly proud to have _two_ clan heads in my family."

(Ninako dug her elbow into Hajime's ribs, her lips puckered in a smile she was trying to keep from growing. Hajime hid his expression with another glance out the window.)

Inou's face turned slightly pink, and an ungainly, prideful smile creased his mouth. His joy at being recognized was wrestling hard with his desire to hold onto his adolescent outrage. "Oh, that's, uh… well I'm glad you feel that way," he said. "I mean, honestly, I thought you were gonna, like… ignore me or disown me or something if I told you."

"Of course not," Sasuke said. "It's your heritage. It was unfair to deny you any of it growing up, so the least I can do is support you now, to… make up for that."

"Wow, uh, okay…" Inou tucked some of his hair behind his ear, bashfully happy. "At this point I'll have to introduce you to my boyfriend, since you seem to be taking this so well…"

Sasuke's face was stone-still. "Boyfriend?"

"Uh, yeah, we met at work," Inou said.

"...that's unacceptable."

Inou's good mood evaporated in an instant. "_Excuse me?_"

"You met at work? As in, you work together? Unless that's all right with your supervisor then I can't exactly approve." Sasuke's face remained utterly deadpan.

"For your_ information_, my _supervisor_ has _nothing_ against gay people," Inou said, huffing a little. "So if you can't _deal _with that, then-"

"That isn't what I meant," Sasuke interrupted, and though his tone was firm, it was dispassionate. "From what I understand, relationships between members of the same _department_ tend to cause issues. Are you two in the same department?"

Inou felt fuzzy between his ears. "...well, no, I mean, he's in Processing and I'm in Investigations, so we interact on cases sometimes, but we're not... exactly in the same department, so…"

"So long as it isn't causing any problems," Sasuke said. He cleared his throat. "As your father, I advise you to keep your work and your relationships separate, but… of course, that's just advice, and you don't need to follow it."

"...sure," Inou said. The fuzzy feeling between his ears turned slightly dizzy.

"I would like to meet him, though," Sasuke continued. "He must be quite something, if you like him."

"I'll, uh… talk to him about that," Inou said.

It was a lucky thing that Kumori had become bored in the living room next door, because he began shouting and knocking his wooden blocks together.

"Whoops, looks like that's my cue!" Ninako said, hastily smiling. "Uh, good conversation, everyone! Fun to listen to. 'Scuze me…" She ducked out of the kitchen shortly thereafter, Hajime following behind her, nodding to excuse himself.

"I'll come with!" Karai said, dashing behind them as she left the kitchen. "C'mere Kumori, Auntie Karai's here!"

"If you'll excuse me, then, I think I'll enjoy some time alone with my wife, since it seems I'll be staying for a while longer," Sasuke said. His voice was still solemnly stony, his face giving nothing away but the slightest blush of his cheeks.

"Go fulfill your husbandly duties, Father, I'll leave you be," Takeru said, smirking. "You needn't be so subtle about it with us."

"Nope, not hearing this, I am _not _hearing this." Inou ran out of the kitchen with his hands over his ears, before his face could grow any redder.

"...you know, I didn't mean it like that," Sasuke said, frowning slightly.

"Sure you did." Takeru tossed his hair and reached for his braces. "Go on, then. I'll surely see you in the morning."

"I'll be heading home, I suppose," Nadeshiko said. She got out of her chair. "I'll have volume two of the Yukara Cycle ready for you at breakfast, Father."

"Thank you, Nadeshiko," Sasuke said. He held his arm out for Ino as he stood and, albeit awkwardly, she took it.

Once they were finally in their bedroom, the door closed behind them, Sasuke finally spoke. "Ino?"

"Yes, Sasuke?" They were still standing, barely a few feet away from the door, his arm locked into hers.

"How long has Inou been seeing men?"

"Oh, well… he brought a boy home a few months after he started work with the Police Force, so I suppose it's been almost two years," Ino said.

"That _long?_" Sasuke said. "And no girls, huh..." he added, without any inflection.

Ino pulled away from him, not-quite-disbelief and not-quite-pity on her face. "Sasuke, did you not know he was gay?"

"If he was… open about it while I was still home then that's news to me," Sasuke said. "I never really… noticed, though…" He groaned and went to sit on the bed.

(Ino had had a feeling about her son's preferences since he was very young - the first real clue was his sneaky preference for her shampoo in the bath - and it would be a stretch to say that anyone in the family was terribly surprised when Inou began dating other boys.)

(The closest he got to formally "coming out" was a belligerent "Yeah, so what?!" when Takeru asked, on his third boyfriend, if this was going to be "a recurring thing.")

(Sasuke's lack of presence in the house probably contributed something towards Inou's confidence in his choices, all things considered. Without him, there was nobody to criticize his choice of friends, or lovers, or whom he would make grandchildren with, or if he would be making grandchildren at all.)

(Well, that, and there were a remarkable amount of attractive young men in the force whom Inou was suddenly interacting with, rather than the androgynous, disinterested Shikake, and decidedly-not-his-taste Chouko.)

(Inou discovered that he was a sucker for glasses.)

"Sasuke, are you going to be okay with this?" Ino continued, treading carefully.

"Of course I'm _okay_ with it," Sasuke said, groaning again. "I just want to know how the hell I didn't _notice_ before."

Ino put her hand on his shoulder with a kind smile. "Sasuke, it's probably for the best that you didn't notice before," she said.

"And why is that?" he said, his head still hanging low.

"Well, you… probably don't want me to answer that."

(All Ino could think about was a Sasuke from a previous life, shoving Inou at girls he approved of, or even arranging a marriage.)

"All the same, it would mean a lot to Inou if you… outright approved of him… going on like this," Ino continued. "I mean, even if you don't approve of this, privately."

"What makes you think I wouldn't approve?" Sasuke said.

(In truth, the Sasuke in the past would have simply ignored it, regardless of his personal opinions, since Inou's production of children or lack thereof would be the Yamanaka clan's problem, not his.)

"Well… tradition, and family, I suppose…" Ino said, in a small voice. "I don't expect him to be having children any time soon, so…"

(That's how it would have been, anyways.)

Sasuke finally looked up at her, and he seemed befuddled. "Ino, I live with Naruto. If I wasn't okay with that sort of thing then I'd have found my own place a long time ago."

Ino took a moment to process this. "...wait, _Naruto's _gay?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Not exactly. From what I understand, he sort of handles things on a case-by-case basis," Sasuke said, his voice almost conversational. "I don't ask about it, but I noticed at least _that_."

"Oh, uh, I see…" Ino said, suddenly wondering who in the world the famously-single Hokage had been dating, much less which _man_ he had been dating.

(For the record, Naruto had enjoyed two very long, very stable, and surprisingly chaste relationships in his adult life. Hinata was one of them, obviously, but he'd also been Gaara's sometime-companion for almost as long.)

(With Hinata he could afford to be gossiped about, but for the sake of politics and the infrequency of their meetings, he kept things far more subtle where Gaara was concerned.)

(Sasuke, of course, didn't elaborate any of this to Ino, since it was none of his business.)

"So I don't mind, really, but… well, how do I go about showing Inou that?"

"To be honest, I think what you said at dinner will be okay for now, but…" Ino chewed on her thumbnail. "Well, also, if you're nice to his boyfriend, when he comes by. He's a nice young man."

"I'll do my best," Sasuke said, shrugging, though he groaned again shortly afterward, slumping over and propping himself up on his knees.

"Sasuke, it's okay if you didn't notice at first," Ino said, sitting down beside him.

"It's not that."

"What is it?"

"Inou's too young to be dating," he grumbled. "Fifteen years old and he was already going out? Hrm..."

Ino laughed, resting her head on his shoulder. "Okay, Sasuke, I'll allow you that."

"Allow me _what_."

"A completely sensible gripe for a father to have."

She nuzzled him like a cat, enjoying the reluctant chuckle he gave her in return.

Sasuke left, the next morning, as scheduled, after everyone gathered for one last big breakfast. Kumori put up something of a fight, making grabby-hands at Sasuke and whining "Gampa…" when taken away.

(Ino, as it happened, was "Gamma," and would be for a long while yet.)

"It's all right, Kumori, Grampa will be back very soon," Ninako said.

"That's not a guarantee…" Sasuke said, gently.

"No guarantee my _foot_," Takeru said. "You're welcome back any time, Father." He looked around when he wasn't backed up. "Well, _isn't_ he?"

"I'd be glad to see you again," Nadeshiko said. She'd given him the second volume of the Yukara Cycle earlier, as promised, and they'd scheduled up a meeting to discuss the story once he'd finished, on the side.

"...yeah, I guess you can come back," Inou said, his arms crossed, as usual. "I mean, it's no big deal. _I _don't care."

"I don't, either," Hajime said. He managed to sound disinterested, despite holding Kumori back from another hug with his grandfather.

"Looks like everyone wants you back, Father!" Karai said, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "I mean, at least for another visit. I mean."

Sasuke chuckled quietly. "I'll work it out with your mother. It was nice being back again."

And he was back again, the next weekend, in place of a date with Ino. And so it continued, for the weeks afterward, for the odd visit, or birthday, or in one instance, meeting Inou's latest boyfriend.

(The one he'd been dating during the previous New Year didn't last very long after. He vented to Nadeshiko over the phone for hours about it and paced his mother's kitchen in between.)

(When the next one came around, and had lasted longer than a few weeks, Inou introduced the boy to his family, and he was treated with general friendliness all around.)

(Though Sasuke, catching the boy alone later on, murmured to him, "If you break my son's heart, I will make you severely regret it.")

(That relationship ended far less messily than the others. Inou actually stayed friends with him long after.)

The celebrations and the parties that the family was invited to continued, of course. Sasuke was astonished to find himself invited to the Tsuchikage's wedding to one Inaba Nobuhiro, since he barely knew either of them, but got pulled along at Ino's and Naruto's request.

The groom, Nobuhiro, sought him out at the reception after the fact. "You Uchiha Sasuke?"

"I am," Sasuke said, trying not to phrase it like a question.

Nobuhiro shook his hand with huge enthusiasm. "I believe I owe you a drink for taking care of one of my biggest problems, in the past. Sound good?"

"...I'm not much for drinks," Sasuke said, "but it would be rude not to accept."

Sasuke and Nobuhiro never really spoke, after that, but Nobuhiro got satisfaction out of the meeting, and Sasuke, mostly confusion.

(Nobuhiro also got a daughter named Rin out of the marriage, a year or so later, which the Land of Earth celebrated with almost too much fanfare. Yuki got special permission from Kiine to visit his new niece, much like Nobuhiro had gone with Tensho's blessing to marry the ninja woman he loved.)

Sasuke's gifts continued about as frequently as the parties, as well. One of the greatest surprises was a vacation package he presented to Ninako for her birthday, at the same resort he and Ino had visited for hers. "Our trip was sort of trying it out, for them," he admitted to Ino, privately. "Didn't want to send them anywhere lackluster."

Though the package was meant for Hajime and NInako alone, they brought Kumori along anyways, where he experienced the ocean for the first time and developed an enormous distaste for salt water.

When the New Year rolled around again, and with it Kumori's third birthday, Sasuke announced that he was moving back into the house to live with them, having discussed it with Ino.

By that time, he no longer felt so unwelcome, and the feeling was mutual.

Of course, there were still issues. There always had been, and for a long while, they would remain. But they were understood, at least, and lived with, and talked out, instead of rotting and poisoning the family as they had before.

Takeru and Inou recovered fairly quickly, but their brother, Hajime, took another year to even begin forgiving Sasuke, and it was Kumori that helped him.


	155. Acquired Taste

_Chapter 155 - Acquired Taste_

* * *

By the time Kumori was four years old, Hajime and Ninako had worked out an alternating schedule of sorts that would allow them time with their son and with each other. They always had Sundays off together, but everything else was carefully balanced so that Kumori always had at least one parent home to be with.

On the days when this simply wasn't possible, or when Hajime and Ninako needed some time to themselves, Kumori was usually left at Nadeshiko's, just down the road. Takeru, the usual babysitter, had become unavailable since he moved permanently to Sand - yes, he was _indeed_ qualified to be Leaf's Ambassador - and Nadeshiko didn't mind looking after her nephew at all. His time at her house was spent learning the names and the smells of the flowers in her garden, and listening to stories.

Things would be easier once Kumori turned five and was thus safely kept at school for most of the day, allowing his parents to not only have consistent work, but to work together for the first time in years.

(Hanabi had, in her usual way, reinterpreted a previous ruling, rather than rewriting it, since to rewrite would be to admit she'd ruled wrongly in the past.)

(Which, as clan head, she obviously was incapable of doing.)

(Her claim was that her decree for Hajime and Ninako were never to work together again was regarding to that very specific job in the Curse Seal Program. It had absolutely nothing to do with their present positions, still in the Curse Seal Program, but in a different department.)

(Hanabi eventually learned to be more subtle.)

But until then, turns were taken. And while it was good for Ninako - she avoided any separation from her son that lasted more than a day - it wore heavily on Hajime, who tended to lose himself in his work, and often brought paperwork home to finish in the kitchen.

Hajime tolerated it, as was his nature, but his sleep schedule began to suffer, and he found himself sleeping late into his days off with Kumori, having stayed up all night to finish the work he'd brought home the day before. Kumori, who was a bright little child, taught himself how to make toast or milk and cereal, and patiently sat in the living room with the television on, waiting for his father to wake up.

Of course, once Ninako found out this was happening, she did something about it. And as far as talking to Hajime about it, she gently asked him not to work himself so hard on the days when he was on duty, because she was worried about his health.

"I'm fine," he replied, then. "I know my limits."

Of course, it took a bit of a shock for Hajime to understand what, exactly, he was doing.

That was where Sasuke came in.

The whole thing came to a head on yet another one of Hajime's overspent nights. He came home from work late, long after even Ninako had gone to bed, and ate some leftovers without really tasting them before taking to his paperwork. The sun was coming up by the time he finished, and he collapsed into bed beside Ninako after taking off everything but his underwear.

When he finally woke up, some hours later, Kumori was nowhere to be found in the house.

His panic was slow to come over him, since he was still fairly groggy, but it sharpened as he became more fully awake, and his heart began to race.

Since he doubted he could reach Ninako at the Curse Seal Program Offices, he reached out to the next logical choice.

_Nadeshiko? Is Kumori at your house?_

Nadeshiko took a mercifully quick time to answer. _I'm at work, Hajime. I believe he's staying with Mother, at her house._

Hajime was getting his shoes on. _I'm going over to check_.

He didn't bother knocking as he entered his mother's house. "Mom? Is Kumori here?"

Ino came out of the kitchen, drying off her hands with a dishcloth. "Hajime? Why, yes, of course he is."

"When did he come over?"

"Oh, earlier this morning," Ino said. "Ninako said it was okay."

"When did she say that?"

"She worked it out with us a few weeks ago. You've been so busy lately at work that she told Kumori to come to us if you were too tired to look after him."

Even though she didn't mean it that way in the slightest, the words hit him like an insult. "Well, she, um… didn't tell me about that. At all."

"Oh, I thought she did," Ino said. "You'll have to talk to her about it."

"Yeah, I will," Hajime said. "Where is Kumori now?"

"He's with your father in the living room," Ino replied. Her voice softened, seeing something in Hajime's face. "Is that okay?"

"Just let me take him home," Hajime said.

"Well… you know where the living room is," Ino said, stepping aside.

Sasuke was reading to his grandson, on the couch, from the Monkey King book. Kumori leaned against his grandfather's arm, tucked into his knees, his head tilted slightly up as he listened.

"...and so, he hopped up onto the cloud, and it carried him away as light as a feather," Sasuke read, and turned the page.

"Gampa?" Kumori said.

"Hm?"

"So, you said earlier, Goku, he's-a made of stone, yeah?"

Sasuke tilted his head to look down. "What makes you say that?"

"He was, uh, born from a stone. A stone egg."

"Ah, yes, in the beginning," Sasuke said.

"So, uh, how come… how come he can float on a cloud? 'Cos stones are heavy. They don't float."

"Hm. I honestly don't know," Sasuke said. "Then again, Goku doesn't seem to follow many rules."

"Nuh-uh." Kumori shook his head. He paused, thinking. "I'm not made-a stone."

"No, you certainly are not."

"But if I sat on a cloud, I'd still sink."

"Most likely." Sasuke was chuckling a little, now, and adjusted the book in his lap. "Shall we continue?"

"Yup. Sorry for in… inner-hopting." Kumori furrowed his brow as he remembered the word.

"What a big word!" Sasuke said. "Where did you learn it?"

"Listenin' to the TV."

"I see, I see," Sasuke said. "Well, it's all right if you interrupt. Asking questions is good for your brain."

Hajime finally entered the room, here, unable to stand any more. "Kumori? What are you doing here?"

Kumori broke into a wide smile. "Daddy! You're awake!" He clambered off of Sasuke's lap and ran to his father, arms spread out for a hug.

Hajime picked him up, but didn't smile back. "When did you come over here?"

"After breakfast. You were still sleepin' and 'cos Mommy said it was okay, I walked to Gamma and Gampa's."

"You walked all by yourself?"

"Yeah. I know the way." Kumori frowned when he didn't receive an answer. "Daddy, are you angry?"

"No, I'm not angry, Kumori," Hajime said. "I was just a little… scared when I couldn't find you."

"M'sorry, Daddy," Kumori said.

"It's all right, Kumori. I'll take you home now."

"Okay, lemme get my book!" He wiggled in Hajime's arms and was put down, and he wandered over to Sasuke, his hands out.

"Here you go," Sasuke said, pressing the spine into his palms.

Kumori held the book to his chest. "Bye-bye, Gampa. Thanks for readin' to me."

"You're welcome," Sasuke replied. "I'll see you later."

His eyes met with Hajime's, but Hajime said nothing to him. "Come on, Kumori, let me carry you home."

"Okay," Kumori said, letting his father take him. They left the house without another word, not even to Ino.

When they were almost halfway there, Kumori lifted his head from Hajime's shoulder and spoke. "Daddy, are you for real not mad at me?"

"Kumori, I am _not_ mad at you," Hajime said. "I'm just… worried. You shouldn't be walking out all by yourself."

"But I know the _way_," Kumori said. "For _real, _Daddy."

"And what if you tripped and fell, and hurt yourself? Who would help you?"

"Gamma an' Gampa, or Aunt Nadeshiko," Kumori said. "But I don' ever trip, an' I know the way…"

Hajime grumbled a little. "Kumori, if you want to leave the house and visit Grandma, can you please not go off on your own like that?" he said. "Wait until I'm awake."

"Okay, Daddy…" Kumori said. "I'll be real quiet too. I won' even listen to the TV."

Hajime held his son a little tighter as they went along.

He had a discussion with Ninako, after dinner, after Kumori was safely in his room. After all, Kumori wasn't at fault here. But Ninako could be reasoned with.

"So, when did you talk to my mom about Kumori staying with her on my days off?" They were sitting on the couch together, the television on, though Hajime was too tangled in his thoughts to pay attention.

"You mean when you're too passed-out to look after him?" Ninako said. "I went to her a few Sundays ago."

Hajime reached for the remote, and muted the TV.

"Honey, you were basically leaving Kumori alone in the house, I had to do _something_," Ninako continued. "I mean, unless you start leaving work at work. Like I've been trying to get you to do."

"I have responsibilities," Hajime said, lowly.

"Yeah, and so do I, but you don't see me sleeping my days off," Ninako said. "Besides, you have _me_ here. You don't have to do everything by yourself."

Hajime sighed, and turned the TV off. "Wasn't there anyone else you could have talked to? Gotten her to come over instead of having Kumori have to… walk over there all by himself?"

"I tell him to use the phone to call Ino and have her pick him up," Ninako said. "Believe me, I know that your parents' place isn't that far away, but I don't like him walking off on his own either!"

Hajime rubbed his temple, sighing again. "Why couldn't you have talked to me about this?"

"I _tried_, Hajime, but you weren't _listening,_" she said. "And honestly, did I really have a choice? Your parents agreed with me."

"You talked to my dad too?"

"Well of course I did, Hajime," she said. "I mean, it's not fair to assume Ino should take care of anything. He actually came up with the idea when I went to go talk to them about it."

Hajime made a bitter sort of laugh in his voice. "I don't know whether or not to be surprised. I bet it's because he wants to… micromanage his training or something. He's not even in school yet…"

"Hajime!" She nudged him somewhat roughly. "Isn't that a little unfair?"

"It's not unfair when I know how he works," Hajime said. "He already had expectations of me when I was Kumori's age. I can tell it's only a matter of time now."

"Oh, you're just assuming," Ninako said. "I mean, have you seen how he actually is with Kumori? He's an utter lamb."

"You don't know what he's capable of. I don't want Kumori to be hurt." Hajime leaned forward against his knees. "And to be honest, the less time my father gets with him, the better."

"Well, that's awful selfish of you!" Ninako said.

"It might be selfish, but it's for Kumori's sake," Hajime said. "If I… give him enough time, then who the hell knows what kind of… poison he could tell our son? I'm his father, not him!"

"Oh, I see what this is about," Ninako said, shaking her head.

"And what _is _this about?"

"Since I've heard that story before about how your dad _used _to be, you're totally scared of your dad replacing you because you don't have the time for Kumori."

"I never said that!"

"Lemme repeat for you? 'I'm his father, not him'? Exactly what you said," Ninako said. Hajime sighed in reply, and she continued. "Look, I know you have a lot on your plate right now, with work, but unless you make the time to be a dad, then this is how it's gotta be."

"Ninako, stop it."

"You can't deny it, Hajime. Am I gonna have to start giving you a bedtime?" she said. "What's going on is you're being irresponsible and you're setting the bar way too high at work. I've told you this time and again, and you've gotta listen to me. All right?"

Hajime groaned and lay back against the couch.

"Now if you'll excuse me, since there's only so many times I can repeat myself, I'm gonna go to bed, and I'm not letting you in until you've had some time to clear your head." Ninako got up off the couch. "And I'll talk to Kumori about not walking to your parents' house alone in the morning."

Hajime allowed himself to thoroughly stew in the living room, for several minutes after Ninako left, because that was the least she deserved.

His worry was legitimate, he knew. She didn't know his father like he did. And Kumori was at a dangerous age, the age where Hajime began to remember things, and the bad memories began to outnumber the good.

Hajime wished that he could give his father the benefit of the doubt. But he knew too well.

Once enough time had passed and his head had cooled a little, Ninako's advice was far more palatable, and he rubbed his forehead in protest against his stubbornness. When he went to his bedroom, the door was closed, so he knocked a little.

"Yes?" she said within.

"If I bring home any paperwork tomorrow you have my permission to slap me."

He heard her footsteps, and she opened the door for him. "Good. Come to bed."

It took a great deal of effort not to go about his work as usual, the next day; it felt natural to volunteer for every, tiny task, and oversee everything in his department personally. But at the end of the day, there was nothing extra to take home, and Ninako's smile was triumphant when she greeted him home.

Still, Hajime felt the need to confirm some things. And as he tucked Kumori in that night, after reading to him, he couldn't help himself in speaking. "So, tomorrow, I'm going to be up nice and early, and we'll have a lot of time together. You won't have to go to Grandma."

"Really, Daddy?" Kumori said. "But if you're sleepy, you should sleep."

"Don't worry, Kumori, I'll get enough sleep," he said. "But if you wake up and I'm still not out of bed, you can wake me up, okay?"

"Okay…" The boy didn't seem convinced. "I jus' don' wanna wake you up if you still gotta sleep. I try to be real quiet, Daddy."

"You are quiet, Kumori, but you don't need to worry about that," Hajime said. "I'm going to try and be around a lot more."

"Can I still see Gampa sometimes?" Kumori said.

"…now, why would you say that?" Hajime said.

"Well, 'cos, Mommy said today that you don't like me goin' over and that I should, uh, ask you if I wanna visit." He shifted uneasily in his bed. "I like when Gampa reads to me. And Gamma gives me cookies."

(What took his parents a good while to figure out was that Kumori had a great natural talent for sensing the subtlest shifts in chakra, and that included anything to do with emotion. He was a good listener, and a bright child, to be sure, but there was far more to it than that.)

"…I like it when, um, you read to me even more, Daddy," he continued. "Gampa doesn't do voices like you or Mommy."

"Ah, is that so," Hajime said. "Well, then… I will do a lot more voices for you next time I read you a story."

"Okay," Kumori said.

"Now, let's tuck you in, and I'll see you bright and early in the morning." Hajime reached for his blankets, and kissed Kumori on the head.

"Night-night, Daddy."

"Goodnight, son."

Hajime kept himself from asking Ninako about what, exactly, she'd discussed with their son, as he got into bed with her. This wasn't the sort of thing he could have an argument over, and he had a feeling he'd lose or end up repeating himself unnecessarily.

The next day was about as fine as it could have been. Hajime, as promised, woke up early and spent much time on stories and television and making lunch, and Kumori seemed happy enough with what they got together. And the days continued, as scheduled, and Hajime tried not to work too hard, since that, at least, he could control.

But sure enough, there came a day when he came home, and found that Kumori was not with Ninako. "He's… with your parents," she reluctantly admitted, when he asked. "He insisted."

"Did my mother pick him up?"

"I dropped him off. I told him you'd be by to pick him up before dinner." She paused. "Will you?"

"Of course." Hajime was well-practiced at hiding disappointment, or fear.

And exactly as he expected, Kumori was with Sasuke when he came to call, a good long while before dinner. But instead of immediately collecting his son, he had to set some things straight with his mother. "How long has this been going on?" he whispered, in her kitchen. "This sneaking around. I know what's going on."

"Hajime, he just wants time with his grandson," Ino said.

"Ah, so this is on his terms, is it?"

"No, sweetheart, Kumori always asks for him," Ino said. "And it's only ever for a few hours at a time. Sometimes they go to the movies."

"They go to the-!" Hajime groaned. "Mom!"

"If you have an issue with this, take it up with your father!" Ino said. "Honestly! The way you talk about him, Hajime, it's like you're afraid he'll break Kumori!"

Hajime grumbled a little, and went to get his son from the living room, and spoke no further of it with either his mother or his wife, much less to Sasuke.

Of course, there was only so long that even Hajime could last without saying anything. It was easier to bear when Kumori was small and could not leave the home without accompaniment, but now he was walking alone and forming his own opinions and budding a personality, and as such was even more vulnerable than before.

Hajime had a family, his own family, and he had to set his terms. So on a Sunday afternoon, with Ninako out shopping with Kumori and his mother, Hajime made his way to the old house, and asked Sasuke if they could talk. "Man to man, father to father. All right?"

Sasuke nodded, once, twice. "That's perfectly reasonable. What do you want to discuss?"

Hajime inhaled deeply before continuing. "I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm worried about how you've been acting around my son."

"What, exactly?" Sasuke said. He looked genuinely, if only a little, worried.

"Well… that's the thing. I don't know what, exactly, you're doing, but you're having an effect on him that… worries me."

"Has he been misbehaving?" Sasuke said.

"No, he's been… perfectly well-behaved," Hajime replied. "But he's…" How could he put this without sounding _stupid?_ "I'm beginning to worry that you're starting to replace me in the house."

Sasuke's face curdled a little. "Hajime, there's no way I would ever be able to replace you. You're Kumori's father."

"I'm starting to doubt that," Hajime said. "Ninako's been telling me that on her days off, he's been asking to be with you."

"Well… yes, he has," Sasuke said.

"And that… it tells me that there's something you're doing to him that's making him prefer you to me." That was about as mature as he could make it sound. When dealing with Sasuke, he had to be careful not to look childish at all.

"...is that how it comes off, then?" Sasuke said.

"Just a bit, yeah."

"Ah, well, I'm sorry for that…" Sasuke said. "I haven't heard anything from Kumori to make me feel like he's choosing me over you, though."

"Oh, really. What would make you think that?"

Sasuke shrugged uneasily. "Asking to see me when he's with you, I suppose. Or saying I'm more… 'fun' than you."

"Kumori is four, but I don't think he's that direct," Hajime said. "And since I'm not around, there's no way for me to know. But I have a feeling."

"Mm. Though, Kumori _has _told me once or twice that he came over because his mother wanted to do something," Sasuke continued. "If you want me to stop seeing Kumori altogether then I can say something to Ninako about it."

And Ninako would _not _be okay with that, nor would his mother. No matter what Hajime personally wanted. "No, that's not a solution, Dad. If Ninako wants to spend some time out by herself then that's… her business. But I just want to set some things straight about your behavior."

"Absolutely," Sasuke said. "The last thing I want to do is intrude on the way you run your family."

Hajime felt his back stiffen and bristle. "Well, then. Going forward. I don't… want you training Kumori in anything. He isn't even in school yet."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Sasuke said.

"And… and the way you talk to him, don't tell him what he can and cannot do."

"That isn't my business, but I'll keep that in mind. Unless it… has to do with how your mother wants things in her house," he added, almost sheepishly. "She likes her kitchen a certain way."

"_That_ I don't have a problem with," Hajime said. "It's just… things like, telling him what sorts of things he should be doing in his free time, or school things, or…"

(Or basically anything that Sasuke ever said to him, as a child. But the words remained stuck to his teeth.)

"I really don't think I've said anything like that to Kumori, but I'll… keep alert," Sasuke said. "I don't want to be repeating history with him, you know."

Hajime wasn't sure, for a moment, if he'd heard correctly. "Repeating history?" he said, cautiously.

"I know I didn't… do the best job with you, Hajime, and Kumori…" He sighed, lowering his eyes. "The last thing I want is for your relationship with Kumori to be like ours. And I will do anything I can to make sure that never happens."

The sticky words in Hajime's mouth tasted bitter. "You… regret our relationship?"

"There are few things I'm more ashamed of," Sasuke said. "Really, the fact that I tried to disown you alone is…" He sighed again. "I'm more or less a failure, as far as fathers go. The best I can do is work at being a decent grandfather."

"So you… you actually admit that you were a…" Reflex kept him from continuing.

"I was a horrible father, Hajime, you don't have to worry about hurting my feelings," Sasuke said, his face almost stern about it.

"Well, um…" For lack of a better action, Hajime laced his fingers together, tapping his thumbs idly.

"Do you not think I'm being sincere?" Sasuke said.

"It's… well, kinda hard to believe, given our… history, and all," Hajime replied.

Sasuke nodded, mouth pursed in thought. "I don't blame you. I wouldn't believe me, either."

Hajime shook his head a few times. "I'm sorry, it's just, we don't see that much of each other anymore, so when I see you… doing things like reading to Kumori, talking to Nadeshiko… it just doesn't feel like you, and I have a hard time believing you're being… genuine about it."

"Not seeing each other much might have something to do with it," Sasuke said. "I can hardly suppose you trust me with your son if you don't know what sorts of things we do together."

"Maybe some… meetings? Together?" Hajime said. "I mean, you and Mom coming over for dinner, or something. I mean…" He was getting emotional, stupid-emotional, but he couldn't help himself. "I _wish _I could trust you, Dad, it's just…"

"You don't need to say any more," Sasuke said. "Son, I've done nothing to earn your trust, and I should have made that clear with you before spending time with _your_ son. And until you feel comfortable, I'll keep my distance."

"You don't have to put it so… formally," Hajime said. Even when he was a tyrant, his father was too… logical about things. "It's fine, just… I'll talk to Ninako about it and see if I can bring Kumori over more often. Okay?"

"Fine with me," Sasuke said. Hajime rose, to leave, but he continued, "Though, son?"

"What is it?"

"If you don't mind, we could also meet to talk. One-on-one, like this." Sasuke cleared his throat. "So you can tell me how I'm doing."

"Uh… sure, when are you thinking?" Hajime said.

Sasuke shrugged. "Once a week. After work for you, maybe? I don't want to get in the way."

"I'll… let you know if I figure something out," Hajime said.

"If you don't want to, it's fine," Sasuke said, a little hurriedly. "I just don't want to… overstep boundaries. I'm available, you know."

"Dad, it's _okay_," Hajime said. "I'll… get back to you on that."

The conversation wrinkled like slightly-wet paper in Hajime's mind as he waited for Ninako to get back from shopping with Kumori, and he smoothed it as he thought.

It was probably the most honest, and most unbelievable conversation he'd ever had with his father. For safety, from history, his gut told him to be careful, to not go too far. With his mother and Ninako there, he felt he might be able to… move forward, or whatever it was.

And while Hajime was aware that his father had reached out and reconnected with Takeru - almost immediately, to nobody's surprise - and to Inou - they met almost every week to discuss work, now - it was the first time his father had ever made an attempt to reach out to _him _- and apologize! And admit guilt! And all sorts of other impossible things!

...maybe Hajime was holding on to stiff expectations, or maybe he was being just cautious enough. After all, this concerned his son, and his well-being, and his future happiness.

Well, he'd be able to see things through. And besides, Kumori would be in school in a few months, and this wouldn't even be an issue anymore.

He discussed it all with Ninako when she came home, after Kumori had been put to bed. "Ooh, little dinner meetings, huh? So you can see for yourself how nice he is. Sounds fantastic."

"I just don't want my father alone with Kumori just yet," he said, needlessly. She rolled her eyes at him, which confirmed this - she already knew, and probably thought he was being foolish - but at least she didn't tell him so.

The dinners, and later the Sunday afternoons together as couples, were almost therapeutic. Hajime saw, and maybe even believed, that Sasuke truly meant it, that he wasn't just trying to get Kumori on his side, when he was so kind and so gentle with his grandson.

Hajime eventually called him on the telephone, on another absent day, when the girls weren't home. "Hey, Dad. You mind if I take you up on that offer to meet you one on one?"

"Of course, I'd be glad to. Is there anything I've been doing lately that's been bothering you?"

"No, just… man to man. Or, uh, dad to dad. Figure you should know how you're doing."

He could almost hear his father smiling on the other end. "Just tell me when, son."

Hajime never said it out loud, but he stopped thinking of Sasuke as a threat, that day.

Just another father.


End file.
